At the end of the 2004/2005 financial year the Registrar General’s Department achieved a eighty-six percent (86%) success rate. Of the fifty-eight (58) Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) used during the period to assess the Agency’s performance fifty (50) KPIs were favourable in surpassing or meeting their targets, while eight (8) were unfavourable.
The Registrar General’s Department in it’s seventh year as an executive agency continued to achieve a creditable performance in terms of meeting the targets of its Key Performance Indictors. At the end of the 2004/2005 financial year there was an outcome of 86% success. The Agency was able to meet, and in some cases exceed, fifty of its fifty-eight Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
During the year a total of two hundred and eighty-seven thousand five hundred and thirty-one (287,531) applications were received. Of this number, two hundred and fifty seven thousand, seven hundred and twenty-three (257,723) were printed and delivered to customers by special delivery service.
Although the first, second and third quarters of the fiscal year saw a significant reduction in customer complaints, by the final quarter there was a massive increase in complaint levels. This resulted in an unfavourable outcome at the end of the year.
The initial low complaint levels can be attributed to the implementation of the online query system and the prototype version of the application tracking system. This enabled customers to get a better understating of the status of their respective applications.
At the end of the 2004/2005 financial year the average waiting time for customers visiting the head office and regional offices were 26 minutes and 30 minutes respectively. These results indicate a remarkable reduction in the 56 minutes waiting at the head office and the 32 minutes waiting time reported at the regional offices during the previous financial year (2003/2004).
The RGD was selected from a total of over one hundred and fourteen commonwealth country agencies and ministries as one of the fourteen finalists in the “Innovations in Governance” awards competition at the 10th Biennial CAPAM Conference in Singapore. The CEO was also invited to serve on the panel of adjudicators.
The Vital Statistics unit, an essential arm of the organization, continued its pivotal role of ensuring that the Agency achieves its objectives through the registration of vital events of births, deaths and marriages.
Throughout the 2004/2005 financial year the unit assisted in the accurate and timely delivery of data on Vital Statistics to it’s stakeholders including STATIN (Statistical Institute of Jamaica and PIOJ (Planning Institute of Jamaica).
Eighty-one thousand four hundred and thirty-eight (81,438) registrations were recorded from April 2004 to March 2004, this represents the total number of registrations for the fiscal year, while eighty-three thousand eight hundred and sixty (83,860) registrations were recorded during the calendar year January to December 2004.
Six hundred and forty-nine (649) Registry Weddings were conducted by the Registrar General’s Department during the year. The Registry Wedding service continues to surpass the annual targets.
This success at the Head Office Location has not however been replicated at the Regional Offices. At the end of the year targets for the Regional Offices remained unfavourable.
The South East Regional office in Half Way Tree by the second quarter of the fiscal year, had far outgrown its physical capacity to accommodate customers. As a result the office was relocated to a more spacious facility at 4 Trevennion Park Road.
In keeping with the drive to decentralize services, the Agency opened three (3) new regional offices in the 2004/2005 financial year. A South Western Regional Office has been opened in Santa Cruz, St. Elizabeth, an Eastern Regional Office in Port Antonio, Portland and a West South Western Regional Office in Savanna–la-mar, Westmoreland. These locations have been providing easier access to RGD’s services island wide.
The Island Record Office was able to report a significant achievement. Through the genealogical research service a father and daughter were reunited after being separated for thirty-five (35) years. A reunion was also made possible between a mother and son who had been separated for over 12 year. Total Genealogical Search Hours for the year amounted to one thousand, one hundred and ninety-eight (1,198) just short of 200% of its target of six hundred and twenty (620) hours. This is significantly higher than the 2003/2004 research hours which were recorded at seven hundred and sixty-two (762) hours.
Twenty-two thousand six hundred and ninety-four (22,694) IRO documents were recorded as at March 2005 against a target of twenty-four thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine (24,759).
The Production and Customer Care department experienced many challenges during the 2004/2005 financial year.
During the second quarter of the year there was a notable reduction in the number of production days for record updating certificates. This was due primarily to a brief pause in the processing of record updating applications to facilitate the modification of record updating processing methodology.
In the last quarter, the Production department was faced with challenges that affected the rate at which it was able to achieve its targets. BATS (application tracking), and BDMS (certificate production) experienced on-going downtime and the vacancies that existed in various key areas of the department prevented the achievement of optimal output levels.
However, the department was able to achieve success in efforts made towards the reduction of the backlog of Ordinary applications.
The RIM department continued to focus on the further development of the Application Tracking System (ATS). The North Eastern Regional Office’s network facilities were updated in order to be on par with the other regional offices. At the end of the second quarter, staff members at this office had individual VPN user Ids.
RIM continued to support the VSSRS department in the utilization of updated systems and software for the production of Vital Statistics Reports. At the end of the second quarter of the 2004/2005 financial year, over two hundred and ninety-five thousand (295, 000) records relating to vital events registered in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 were keyed and awaited uploading into the respective databases.
The final upgrade of the financial accounting software was also facilitated by the RIM department.
During the year a failure in the firewall system affected access to the Internet and disabled the use of the Customer Online Query System for five days. BDMS version3 using MS SQL database, was successfully implemented during the third quarter of 2004/2005 and is currently operating satisfactorily.
As part of the Agency’s efforts towards improved customer service, the Agency's website was reviewed and plans put in place for its upgrade. Tenders were invited for the website re-development. This project is expected to be completed by the end of 2005/2006.
To provide more efficient information systems support a helpdesk software was installed and deployed internally to streamline the department’s handling of the staff’s network, and software challenges. All problems are reported to the helpdesk number and are logged before being dispatched to RIM personnel for their attention.
In the last quarter of the financial year a new server room was assigned to the RIM department. The Agency’s server room, data centre and production departments were further secured with the installation of Security Access Control doors.
The department undertook a massive clean up of the duplicate storage area while the Customer Service Improvement Project went into high gear. A new RIM Director was appointed, who assumed duties in March 2005. A series of virus infiltrations plagued the RGD computer system in March forcing the team to becoming more vigilant in maintaining anti-virus compatibility.
The Marketing and Planning Department continued its usual function of disseminating information relating to the Agency’s services and educating citizens on vital registration processes. Nine hundred and thirty six (936) “RGD and You” sessions were aired on eleven (11) radio stations resulting from the signing of contracts with Radio Mona and Roots FM.
The department participated in a total of twenty-seven (27) presentations to various groups locally and as a part of the North American Overseas Outreach. The Overseas Outreach saw a total of sixteen (16) different outreach meetings being held in cities across North America.
All local radio stations and the print media were monitored on a daily basis for customer service complaints and other issues affecting the Agency. On all occasions requiring response the CEO, DCEO or Marketing responded.
The department continued to provide communication and promotional support for the Agency’s operational activities inclusive of the opening of the new regional offices and relocation of the South East Regional Office.
A total of twenty-three (23) outreaches/exhibitions were conducted for the year while a total of thirty-four thousand six hundred and sixty-six (34,666) pieces of literature were distributed. The department continued to provide updates to the web intranet and Website. A total of twelve updates were made to the RGD website.
The Department also planned and implemented the Annual Prayer Breakfast and a Father’s Day Public Forum in association with the Kiwanis Club of Caymanas Business District.
The Marketing and Planning department continued to utilize the services of the Jamaica Information Service for consultancy and assistance in implementing the Agency’s public education plan.