The Fourth Mountain in Heaven (Revisited)

Ravi Srivastava, the Regional Passport Officer (RPO) of the passport office situated in
the city of Karnavati, switched on the fan in his fourth floor office. He had just returned
from a visit to New Delhi where concerns were being raised about the huge backlog in
clearing passport applications. Apparently a lot of people had complained about the
inordinate delay in issuing passports. In some instances, applicants had been unable to
undertake their foreign trips just because their requests for a passport through the
tatkaal scheme were not processed in time.
The passport office is open for business five days a week from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from
2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The ground floor comprises 4 counters for scrutinizing the application
forms. An officer, whose job is to check whether all the documents are in order, mans
each counter. Three of these counters process application forms pertaining to applications
under the standard scheme, while the fourth is devoted to deal with applications under the
tatkaal scheme. Currently the counter for the tatkaal scheme is open only during the prelunch session. The applicants under the standard scheme outnumber those applying under
the tatkaal scheme by a ratio of 5:2. If the officers find some irregularities, the applicant
is either asked to come back later with the proper documents or referred to the PRO.
Otherwise the applicant is asked to deposit the requisite fee at one of the 5 cash counters.
The percentage of applicants directed to the different sections is provided in Table 1.
Table 2 provides the processing times at each of these sections. (For the purpose of this
problem you may ignore the variability in the processing times.) On an average 70% of
the applicants meeting the PRO are directed to the cash counters, the rest are asked to
come back later with proper documents.
Table 1: Percentage of applicants directed to different sections
Type of
Application
Standard
Tatkaal

% of applicants
directed to PRO
30
90

% of applicants directed
to Cash Counters
55
-

% of applicants asked
to come back later
15
10

Table 2: Processing times at various sections

Type of
Application
Standard
Tatkaal

Processing time
required for
scrutiny (mins)
10
10

Processing time
taken by PRO
(mins)
5
5

Processing time at
Cash Counter
(mins)
2
2

The number of applicants visiting the passport office each day has steadily increased
from an average of 70 applicants in 2000 to 105 in 2003. Ravi had earlier requested the
headquarters for additional manpower, but the request was not granted. While he asked
his secretary to prepare a new request for additional manpower citing the huge backlog,
he considered the implications of the following proposal.

Proposal:

Provide one more officer for scrutinising the applications under the tatkaal
scheme by moving him from the standard scheme.

1. Draw the process flow diagram. (3 marks)

2. Estimate the capacity of the current situation at the passport office (3 marks)
3. Would you recommend the implementation of the new proposal? Provide quantitative
analysis to back up your recommendation. (4 marks)
Process Flow Chart
15%
C

S1
Standard

Applicant
s

S3

EXIT

30%

70%

10mins

C
2mins

PRO

90%
Tatkaal

55%

S2

5mins

30%

T1
10%

10mins

Under Current Situation

Process
Scrutiny
Standard
Tatkaal
PRO
Cash-counters

Process

Working

Time (mins)

Hrs.

10
10
5
2

6
3
6
6

Capacity Demand Applicants Utilisation

Counters (App/day) (App/day) Served
# of

3
1
1
5

108
18
72
900

75
30

75
18
38.7
68.34

69.44
100
53.75
0.08

Capacity of the system = 108 standard +18 tatkaal = 126 applications/day

At full capacity, number of applicants who visit PRO = 0.3*108 + 0.9*18 = 48.6
applicants per day, which is less than the capacity of PRO counter (72
applicants/day).

Under New proposal

Process
Scrutiny
Standard

Process
Working
# of
Capacity Demand Applicants Utilisation
Time (mins)
Hrs.
Counters (App/day) App/day) served
10

72

75

72

100

Tatkaal
PRO
Cash-counters

10
5
2

3
6
6

2
1
5

36
72
900

30

30
48.6
73.62

83.33
67.5
0.08

Capacity of the system = 72 standard + 36 tatkaal = 108 applications/day

At full capacity, number of applicants who visit PRO = 0.3*72 + 0.9*36 = 54
applicants per day, which is less than the capacity of PRO counter.

Recommendation
The proposal allows us to serve the tatkaal customers better but it would result in
unmet demand for the applicants under the standard scheme. The number of
applicants under the standard scheme who cannot be serviced would be 3 per day.
This is in contrast to the current situation where 12 applicants per day are not
serviced under the tatkaal scheme.
The decision to implement the proposal would depend on the policy guidelines set
by the government. If the government considers that the utility of a passport to an
applicant is the same under both the schemes, then the RPO may be directed not to
favour one category of applicants over the other. In such a situation, the new
proposal would be recommended as it decreases unmet demand from 12 per day to
3 per day.
If RPO has a directive to favour one category over another, the decision to
implement the new proposal will follow accordingly.
If the RPO has a directive to base his decisions purely on profitability basis, the new
proposal is recommended. This is based on (i) the fact that a tatkaal application
requires the same processing effort at each station and (ii) the assumption that the
tatkaal fee is more than the fee under the standard scheme.