Driving towards the future
One of the biggest projects currently underway in the Road Safety Authority (RSA) is the Integrated Customer Journey (ICJ), focussed on providing Driving Licence customers with a seamless journey through the various stages of the licensing process, writes Moyagh Murdock, CEO of the RSA.
The ICJ ranges from learning to drive as a young person covering the driver theory test, the learner permit process, mandatory driving lessons, the driving test all the way through to the final application for a full driving licence and ultimately for the higher-class professional drivers’ licence. At the moment a customer has to interact, separately, with lots of different parts of the organisation, as he or she moves onto the next milestone. It also involves having to provide the same application information multiple times. What we want to do is reuse existing data that’s been provided to us by the customer so that they do not have to present the same documentation at various stages of the application process. We want to apply the “build once, use often” principle.
This really is about reducing the administrative burden on both the customer and the RSA so that the efficiency of doing business is improved, time is saved, processing errors are minimised and customers benefit from a fast efficient service. The need to visit an RSA service centre in person will be eliminated. It will be an effective platform for the future of RSA where digital and online will be the norm.
When completed an online ‘portal’ will allow the customer to set their driving goal and see a clear journey map to achieve it and view data driven information that assists them in understanding the requirements to access a service based on their data. Data protection rights of the individual are fundamental to the solution design process, which is centred on privacy by design and by default.
Two examples of what it will do in practice are the way people apply for a driving test and a driving licence.
The driving test booking process will improve the customer experience by allowing the customer to fully manage their driving test booking, to self-serve effectively. The service will be more responsive to changes in demand for driving tests and enable better resource allocation and planning across the regional test centres. Crucially it will help us to identify customer behaviour and trends – for example identifying the causes of customers who are unsuccessful in passing their driving test and providing evidence based feedback to driver education stakeholders for the benefit of road safety.
Applying for a driving licence is currently done though our National Driver Licence Service (NDLS) where a customer applies in person at a high street office which verifies the identity of the customer. The RSA went live with Phase I of an online application service on 29 June 2018 allowing customers who were renewing licences and do not require supporting documentation to apply online. The online service is accessed through MyGovID. This changed the NDLS to a two-channel application process – using the front office and using an online service.
We are now well advanced in developing Phase II of the online channel with delivery planned for October 2019. This will allow all customers to apply online or approximately 650,000 renewals and new full licence applications per year.
Critically this will all be facilitated through the new portal so that it becomes a one stop shop for customers learning to drive. In the future, it will be the gateway to accessing other RSA services.
The ICJ is a core goal of the RSA’s Corporate Strategy vision – to save lives on our roads. It is in line with the Government’s digital strategy which promotes convenient, intuitive and joined up digital services for citizens.
T: 09 625 000
E: info@rsa.ie
W: www.rsa.ie
