The document discusses process excellence at VFS Global, an organization that manages visa application processes for diplomatic missions. It notes that process management, quality assurance, and process improvement are key to delivering quality service and meeting client expectations. Six Sigma is a major initiative used to support the process excellence framework. The document also presents a project charter to reduce fingerprint override rates in Mumbai from 12% to 7% through a Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control approach led by a team of black belts and green belts.

1. Introduction
• Organization Background
– Organization Background : Part of the Zurich based Kuoni Travel Group, VFS Global was established
in 2001, in Mumbai India, as a specialist partner for diplomatic missions worldwide. VFS Global
serves diplomatic missions by managing all the administrative and non-judgmental tasks related to
the entire lifecycle of a visa application process, enabling diplomatic missions to focus on the key
tasks of assessment and interview.
– With an employee strength of 4000 (+), as on date, VFS serves diplomatic missions of 35 countries
through its 425(+) offices and has operations in 52 countries across 5 continents. and processes in
excess of 36 million visa applications (contracted) annually.
• Process Excellence at VFS Global
– Process excellence is at the core of our business; the objectives being to deliver quality and value
add to our customers (applicants) and clients (Embassy), improve productivity and ensure consistent
performance of processes. It is critical to provide the agreed level of service to our client (UK
mission) and not only meet but also exceed clients’ expectations.
– Process Management, Quality Assurance and Process Improvement are the three key components of
the process excellence model and Six Sigma is one of the major initiatives contributing to the overall
framework in the Organization since March 2008. This framework is supported by a team of over 80
YB (Yellow Belts), 25 GB (Green Belts) and team of 3 Black Belts (BB) comprising of people having
relevant Process Excellence experience and certification from various companies .
– A robust governance process, the Business Quality Council (BQC) ensures the prioritization and
successful delivery of the identified initiatives.
1

2. Project Charter D M A I C
Business Case
UK Visa had come up with the process of capturing fingerprints for secure immigrations. This is an extremely critical step as it becomes a bypass
to Immigration Safety measures and failure (override) could result in fraud, terrorist activities and other grave security concerns in UK. By reducing
the overrides it not only does it improve Mission/applicant satisfaction but would result in significant savings to VFS Global due to rework reduction.
Problem Statement Milestone
Based on Sep ’10 to Nov ’10 overrides data in Mumbai Visa Application Define Dec 13, 2010
Center’s (VAC) it was at around 12% on an average which is too high and it
defeats the purpose of Biometrics Enrolment as it becomes a bypass to Measure Jan 07, 2011
Immigration Safety measures. We are targeting overrides below 7% of
fingerprints enrolled. Analyze Jan 25, 2011
Improve Feb 28, 2011
Control May 30, 2011
Goal Statement
Name Role
To decrease Overrides to 7% from the current 12% by Aug’11 Jo Parry Sponsor
(UKBA)
Murali Sponsor
Scoping (Regional Head)
Starts : Applicants come to Out of Scope:
enroll fingerprints through • Biometric Exception and Om Sharma (VP -Process Sponsor
Exemption cases Excellence)
Biometric Enrolment System
at UK Visa Bio-Booth counter • Non-UK VAC in India, UK VAC
other than in Mumbai Hariprasad Black Belt
Ends : Once fingerprints are
enrolled. • Process not related to Biometrics
Biometric Officers – Team Members
Mumbai 2

3. Team roles D M A I C
Stakeholders Responsibility Role Key Responsibilities
Jo Parry Champion © I Decision making
Murali Steering Committee A/I Review performance and strategy
Change Management and Decision on Key
Om Sharma Steering Committee A/I
Issues
Murzban Steering Committee © A/I Resource Allocation
Hariprasad BB - Project Manager M/I/R
Project Management
Prajakta BB - Project Support M/I/R
Report progress
Minal BB - Project Support M/I/R
Operations team Members © R
Report gaps Report progress &
Quality Auditors Members R Action Planning support initiatives
A Approver R Resource M Member I Interested Party

4. SIPOC D M A I C
SUPPLIER INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT CUSTOMER
• Application UK Visa Applicant • Processed • Applicant
• Applicant
pays fees for the application
docket • Embassy
• Submission relevant visa type
• Applicant • Fingerprint
counter
captured with
• Biometric Applicant submits
specified
equipment documents at the
Submission quality
counter
VAC staff checks
forms and
documents for
accuracy
Applicant sent to
Biometric counter
The overrides is
Staff captures captured on a piece of
fingerprint of paper by the Biometric
specified quality
counter staff which is
then consolidated at the
end of day
Does the
Tracked as
fingerprint
N Biometric
quality meet the
override
standard?
Y
End

5. CTQ Drilldown D M A I C
Project Y / CTQ Overrides
Type of data
Quasi - Continuous
Operational Overrides are the occasion when an attempt has been
Definition
made to take fingerprint to the standard required, however it
fails the system threshold for quality
Target Average = 7%
USL 8%
LSL 0%
Unit of Measurement %
Defect Definition System not able to take the predefined fingerprint quality of
applicant in three attempts. The best of 3 attempts are then
taken as the final fingerprints.
Formula Total number of overrides/ Total number of applicants 5

6. Normality Test D M A I C
R un C ha r t of O v e r r ide s da ta Process capability for Overrides data
0.15
0.14 USL
Overrides data
Process Data Within
0.13 LSL * Overall
Target *
0.12 USL 0.08000 Potential (Within) C apability
Sample Mean 0.11969 Z.Bench -3.23
0.11 Sample N 31 Z.LSL *
StDev (Within) 0.01228 Z.USL -3.23
0.10 C pk -1.08
StDev (O v erall) 0.01390
C C pk -1.08
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Obs e r v a t io n O v erall C apability
N u mb er o f r u n s ab o u t med ian : 17 N u mb er o f r u n s u p o r d o w n : 18 Z.Bench -2.86
E xp ec ted n u mb er o f r u n s: 16.48387 E xp ec ted n u mb er o f r u n s: 20.33333 Z.LSL *
Lo n g est r u n ab o u t med ian : 5 Lo n g est r u n u p o r d o w n : 4
A p p r o x P - V alu e fo r C lu ster in g : 0.57486 A p p r o x P - V alu e fo r T ren d s: 0.15284
Z.USL -2.86
A p p r o x P - V alu e fo r M ixtu res: 0.42514 A p p r o x P - V alu e fo r O sc illatio n : 0.84716 Ppk -0.95
C pm *
P value (> 0.05) indicates there are no clusters,
mixtures, trends or oscillations in the data set. So 0.08 0.09 0.10 0.11 0.12 0.13 0.14 0.15
the process is statistically stable. O bserv ed Performance Exp. Within Performance Exp. O v erall Performance
PPM < LSL * PPM < LSL * PPM < LSL *
PPM > USL 1000000.00 PPM > USL 999385.42 PPM > USL 997859.02
N o r ma l i ty te s t f o r O v e r r i d e s d a ta PPM Total 1000000.00 PPM Total 999385.42 PPM Total 997859.02
No r m a l
99
M ean 0.1197
S tD ev 0.01378
95
90
N
AD
31
0.291 Z-bench: -3.23
P - V alu e 0.586
80 DPMO: 997859
70
Percent
60
50
40
30
20
10
5
1
0 .0 8 0 .0 9 0 .1 0 0 .1 1 0 .1 2 0 .1 3
Ov e r r id e s d a t a
0 .1 4 0 .1 5 0 .1 6
P value (> 0.05) indicates data is normal
6

7. Gage R&R D M A I C
Repeatability is high, hence,
a. Instrument is improper –
Maintenance of equipment
needs to be standardized
b. Method of measurement is not
OK – It was observed that staff
with low Overrides% followed
a practice of attempting three
times to capture the fingerprint
which improved the success
rates
The above mentioned solutions with be
included in the Improve Phase
Study Var %Study Var
Source StdDev (SD) (6 * SD) (%SV)
Total Gage R&R 0.401988 2.41193 86.94
Repeatability 0.391948 2.35169 84.77
Reproducibility 0.089281 0.53568 19.31
Operator 0.089281 0.53568 19.31
Part-To-Part 0.228416 1.37050 49.40
Total Variation 0.462351 2.77410 100.00

8. Target setting D M A I C
Target Setting
O n e-S am p le T : O verrid es
Boxplot of Overrides
T es t o f m u = 0.0 7 vs > 0.07 (with Ho and 95% t-confidence interval for the mean)
95%
Low er
V ariable N M ean S tD ev S E M ean B ound T P
O verrides 30 0.119190 0.013722 0.002505 0.114933 19.63 0.000
As the p value is less than 0.05, the target is statistically
significant.
_
X
Ho
< 11.92 % >
Mean
0.07 0.08 0.09 0.10 0.11 0.12 0.13 0.14 0.15
< 7.0% > Overrides
Baseline Target
< 997859 >
DPMO
< 99785 >
Baseline Target

9. Quick Wins D M A I C
In case of overrides the data was captured manually on 9
Current Process sheets of paper by the staff. This additional activity
contributed to nearly 5 mins/ override
Proposed Solution To have a drop down included in the software itself with the
most frequent reasons for overrides.
Application screenshot
1. NVA step reduced which resulted in nearly savings of 4
Benefits minutes/override
2. Real time report extraction resulted in more focus.

10. Pareto Analysis D M A I C
Pareto : Reason-wise
Sequence Pareto chart for Overrides
600
1: Aged Applicant (> 40 years)
100
2: Children between 5 - 7 Years
3: Scanner problem 500
4: Medical Issues 80
5: Too Moist Fingers 400
6: Too Dry Fingers
Percent
7: Low Sensitivity of scanners
Count
60
8: Too Dark Or Too White 300
Fingers
9: Others 40
200
100 20
0 0
Defects Category 1 6 5 8 3 9 Other
Count 214 187 61 26 21 20 21
Percent 38.9 34.0 11.1 4.7 3.8 3.6 3.8
Cum % 38.9 72.9 84.0 88.7 92.5 96.2 100.0

11. Root causes D M A I C
Defect Definition
Image1: Fingerprint Samples
Image 2: Application Snapshot

12. Root causes D M A I C
Field Names Field Definitions
On biometrics, overrides are the occasions when attempts have been made to take fingerprints to the standard
Total Overrides required, but all attempts fail the system threshold for quality. The poor quality fingerprints are nevertheless recorded.
Check the Biometric Captured image on extreme right.
Arthritis patients who have problem placing their fingers on the scanner in right position. Skin Infections where the
Medical Issues
ridges and whorls are indistinct. Burnt Fingers
Aged Applicant (> 40
Due to old age, the whorls and the ridges are indistinct refer to 4th image from left leading to overrides
years)
Children between 5 - At tender age the fingers are too tender hence the whorls and ridges are again indistinct refer to second image from
10 Years left which leads to overrides
Burns or cuts in childhood leaving marks on the fingers. Check the 6th image from left.
Scarred and Cracked
Lady applicants who do household work regularly, sometimes we find cracks or burns on their finger tips. Chose this
fingers
section only for age between 10 to 40
Very Rough or Coarse Finger tips. Check the 1st image from left "Too Much Pressure or we" and Chose this section
Too Moist Fingers
only for age between 10 to 40
People from cold regions have poor prints genetically and hence overrides becomes a must. Check the 4th image
Too Dry Fingers
from left "No Moisture". Chose this section only for age between 10 to 40
Fingerprints are indistinct due to fingers being too white or too dark, due to which the machine is unable to distinguish
Too Dark Or Too White
between the ridges and whorls. Check the 4th image from left "No Moisture". Chose this section only for age between
Fingers
10 to 40
Low Sensitivity of Apparently despite the fingers being good (clear ridges and whorls and with no scars) the machine isn't able to
scanners capture good quality fingerprint chose this option. Chose this section only for age between 10 to 40
Ridges and whorls too Finger texture is such that the whorls and the ridges are indistinct. Too dark fingers where the whorls and ridges are
thin all black and white in case of pale fingers. Chose this section only for age between 10 to 40

13. Solution Design Matrix D M A I C
Impact
Feasibility
High Low
High
Solution Design Matrix 1 2
Low
3 4
Responsible
Root cause Brainstormed solution Ratings Target date Status
team
1. Moisten Hands by rubbing them over
cheeks/forehead
Dry Hands 1 15th Feb 2011 Project team Closed
2. Apply cream and incase it becomes too moist dry it
using a tissue
Standard 1. All staff to attempt 3 times before escalating it to
1 15th Feb 2011 Project team Closed
process the supervisor
1. Complete the cycle once and see which hand has
Old Aged
the problem and then try to recapture the same 1 15th Feb 2011 Project team Closed
applicants
hand rather than doing entire transaction again
1. Request applicants to clean/wash hands with wet
Moist Hands 1 21st Feb 2011 Project team Closed
tissue
1. Ask applicants parent to put pressure by placing
Children
their fingers on the child's fingers. The fingers
between 5 - 10 1 21st Feb 2011 Project team Closed
should be pressed below the nail so that equal
Years
pressure is put and the impression is not too dark
1. Try changing the booth and recapture the
transaction
Finger not 2. Regular maintenance of the biometric equipment
being read 3. Biometric staff to have short nail to ensure no
1 24th Feb 2011 Project team Closed
properly by the scratches on the equipment
scanner 4. Fingerprint capturing plate should be covered
during non operational hours to avoid accumulation
of dust
13

14. Revised Process
D M A I C
New Process performance
Capability
Process capability for Overrides data < 11.92 % >
USL
< 7.0 %>
Mean
Process Data Within
LSL * Overall < 5.5 % >
Target *
USL 0.08000 Potential (Within) Capability
Sample Mean 0.05534 Z.Bench 2.09
Sample N 36 Z.LSL *
StDev(Within) 0.01181 Z.USL 2.09
StDev(Overall) 0.01629 Cpk 0.70
CCpk 0.70
Overall Capability
Z.Bench 1.51
Baseline Target Improved
Z.LSL * < 997859 >
Z.USL 1.51
DPMO
Ppk
Cpm
0.50
*
< 99785 >
< 64947 >
0.016 0.032 0.048 0.064 0.080
Observed Performance Exp. Within Performance Exp. Overall Performance
PPM < LSL * PPM < LSL * PPM < LSL *
PPM > USL 83333.33 PPM > USL 18349.28 PPM > USL 64947.55
PPM Total 83333.33 PPM Total 18349.28 PPM Total 64947.55
Baseline Target Improved
PPM: 64947
Z value: 2.09 DPMO reduced by 93.5%
14

15. Control Chart D M A I C
Control Chart
I-MR Chart: Post Improvement
I-M R C h a r t o f A fte r O v e r r id e s
0 .1 0
U C L= 0 .0 9 0 7 5
Individual V alue
0 .0 8
0 .0 6 _
X = 0 .0 5 5 3 4
0 .0 4
0 .0 2 LC L= 0 .0 1 9 9 2
4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36
O b s e r v a tio n
U C L= 0 .0 4 3 5 1
0 .0 4
M oving Range
0 .0 3
0 .0 2
__
M R = 0 .0 1 3 3 2
0 .0 1
0 .0 0 LC L= 0
4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36
O b s e r v a tio n
After implementation of counter measures process control limit became narrow

16. ActionPlan
Control Measures CheckDo D M A I C
Sl. PLAN DO
CHECK ACT
No. Action Plan Description Responsibility Frequency
Corrective action to
Regular Internal Audits
Regional Quality 1 audit every be suggested by the
1 Internal Audit to be conducted to Internal Audit Report
Manager month Regional Quality
ensure SOP adherence
Manager
Any probable override
case to be informed to Feedback provided to
the supervisor and the staff &
Escalation
2 supervisor to handle that VAC Manager As applicable Day End Report performance
Matrix
case and share the monitored to prevent
learning with other recurrence
officers
VAC Manager to escalate in the
Corrective action to
Monitoring Control chart published MIS to circulate 1st week of event report not published as per
3 be taken by the VAC
Plan for overrides data report every month defined timelines. Also review
supervisor
performance with the officers
Reducing Overrides Staff to check their own
added as a KRA of the performance on a weekly
Supervisor to take
Biometrics Staff, Center MIS to circulate basis Perfor
4 Staff KRA Weekly corrective action if
Supervisor, Operations report mance to be discussed with staff
required
manager and the Unit in the monthly review meeting
Manager with supervisor
Inter Visa Application
Center VAC Manager to
Competition initiated review performance
Inter - VAC MIS to circulate
5 (overrides - 25% weight- Weekly Global Performance Report weekly & suggest
Competition report
age and target <= 4% as corrective action (if
a qualifier to get into the applicable
competition) 16

17. Project Closure
Learning
• Process Learning : Putting more focus on those overrides cases which are happening because of dry hand,
moist hand , old age applicant, child below 5~7 years age group. Learning shared with all VACs across the
globe.
• Change Management: Mission resistance observed initially when suggested the need for a maintenance
plan for the Biometric machines. Mission agreed for a regular machine maintenance & replacement
• People Management: Inconsistency observed in the number of attempts made by the staff to capture the
biometric. SOP designed and Internal Audits conducted to ensure adherence
Team Recognition
• Client Recognition: Team received appreciation from Mission for taking the initiative to reduce overrides
• Internal management Recognition : The project bagged the an internal award from the Process Excellence
(received from the management) in the Quarterly Quality Summit
• Case study published in the Quarterly company newsletter
17

18. Project Benefits
Average number
Solution Time Man hours
of overrides per FTE’s saved $ savings (annualized)
deployed saved saved/month
month
{1 FTE works for 8 hours
in a day for 22 days in a
{1 FTE receives on an
Drop down month.}
average of
included in the
4 mins/ $333/month}
software rather 8885 592
override
than updating on Hence 592/(22*8)
3 * $333 * 12
sheets of paper = 3.5
= $12,000
Overrides % 3
2 * $333 * 12
decreased from minutes/ 8885 444 Hence 444/(22*8) = 2.5
= $7992
12% to 7% override
Improved
Mission and
Soft savings
applicant
satisfaction
Hence in 2 VAC’s in Mumbai, the savings generated is $19,992. If the learning's of the
project are implemented across the globe the savings would increase exponentially
18

19. Summary
A.Methodology Used- DMAIC
B.Please indicate why this project is an excellent improvement example.
Biometrics is a relatively new concept introduced by a few missions in the Visa processing process. It is also a
very critical step in ensuring secure immigration. More missions are in the process of including biometrics in
their Visa processing process .The project aimed at reducing the overrides (Overrides are the occasion when
three attempts have been made to take fingerprint to the standard required, but all three attempts fail the
system threshold for quality) from 12% to <7%.. The improvement project helped in ensuring better scores
from missions & saving penalties. Moreover, the best practices could be successfully deployed for other
missions thereby, ensuring secure immigrations. The improvements realized from this project have been
globally applied attracting appreciations from mission helping us gain competitive advantage.
19