There was a time when shipping agents would drop by the billing counter of Rajang Port Authority (RPA) to send in hard copies of the necessary shipping documents.
From there, up to eight staff members would enter, check and process the data from the submitted documents into the port authority’s system.
The entire work process, totalling 12 steps, took around two hours and 45 minutes to complete just one submission of shipping documents. And on a per day average, only 62 invoices related to shipping documentation could be issued.
This, RPA realised, did not support its mission of providing “reliable, responsive, quality and value for money services” to its stakeholders while ensuring significant contribution to the economic growth of central Sarawak.
In 2018, the port authority embarked on a service delivery innovation project that fundamentally enhanced the workflow of processing shipping documents through the latest technology.
The Key Focus Activity (KFA) – ‘Providing Service Delivery (Shipping Documentation) with Excellence through Digital Economy’ – has come to transform the way RPA conducts its counter operations more effectively than before, with the injection of digital technology into its existing system.
The innovation project was even recognised by the Sarawak Government when it won third place in the Key Focus Activity Award during the Sarawak Civil Service Quality Awards (AKPANS) in 2019.
With the KFA executed, shipping agents can now send their documents online, and only one staff member of the port authority is needed to check and process the data.
More importantly, RPA has managed to reduce the time and steps required to process the submitted documents – by two hours to only 45 minutes and by five steps to seven – enabling the organisation to issue 115 shipping documentation-related invoices a day on average.
Furthermore, the improved efficiency and productivity of its service delivery is reflected in its cost savings.
When the process took nearly three hours to complete one submission, the port authority spent an extra RM1,350 per month on staff (RM1,200; cost for data entry & checking) and amenities (RM150; cost for air-conditioning, computers, lightings).
Following the KFA implementation, it only incurred an extra cost of RM350 per month, with extra cost on staff for data checking at RM330 and amenities at RM20.
