Use of KPIs in Effective Performance Management of Custom Office

Custom Offices engage in the task of guiding the imports and exports of products across boundaries according to the relevant rules and regulations, framed by the nation's government.

The principle underlying the operation of such centers is that the government charges a certain amount on importing of products; this collection is then used for public welfare. So, these shoulder an immensely responsible task, thereby calling for administration of foolproof systems to maintain the service performance levels. KPIs are considered as effective tool used to take of every aspect of custom office and manage their performance in a better way.

KPIs in custom office can be broadly classified under four major perspectives- financial, operations, compliance and planning and training. Financial perspective includes KPIs like % increase in revenues, increase in passenger movement charges, etc. Operations perspective includes KPIs such as number of yearly consignments inspected, number of units of twenty-foot equivalent inspected, etc. Compliance perspective on the other hand comprises of KPIs like % of import audits with revenue adjustment of $1,000 or more and Company audit activities in imports. Lastly Planning and Training perspective incorporates KPIs like number of Knowledge enhancement, % increase in Cross training sessions within the department, etc.

The challenges confronted in the process relate to following the movements, co-ordination, prioritization of international import freight, performing all the tasks by abiding by the laws pre-et for the functions. People tend to find loopholes in the framed structure in some or the other way, so as to make situations favorable to them. Staying acquainted to the latest developments in logistics and other business areas is yet another area that hampers the smooth working of these centers. This is to say that, because an extremely wide range of industries get their goods move through these offices the management needs to be very aware and be on their toes every time to cope up with the inevitable and sometimes, not much favored dynamicity.

By organizing optimum and relevant indicators on a BSC, not only will the staff at such checking booths be at an advantage, but also the ones passing through the scrutiny will be benefited. This is because, once the 'performance measures' have been clearly spelt and penned down, chances of flouting the laws get alleviated directly. Simultaneously, less time will have to be put in for the investigation process, easing the lives of people undergoing the introspection. Also, one can be assured of timely reporting and completion of jobs with the appropriate tools been provided to workers to proceed efficiently. KPIs help in keeping eye on unscrupulous matter causing, better evaluation of charges to be collected and it goes without saying that all this converges in less instances of misusing the regulations.

With KPIs to assist in the task, proper flow of information can be achieved. This dilutes the chances of misrepresentation and misleading the management, which is often the way by which people tilt the bar on their side. However, when a clear idea of 'what counts' and 'what does not' is handed over to employees, surveillance is going to be more precise and fine, for sure.