Case study Amsterdam Airport Schiphol - Automated border control gates aim to reduce queues and maintain security at the Netherlands' busy ...
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Case study Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Automated border control gates aim to reduce queues and maintain security at the Netherlands’ busy international terminal
Preparing for Growth
Ranked as Europe’s fourth largest airport, Amsterdam
Airport Schiphol processes over 50 million passengers
a year and more than 130,000 tonnes of cargo
per month.1 With an annual expected growth in
passengers of approximately 5 percent, but no
anticipated increases to its more than 400 border
guards, airport executives were all too aware of the
need to achieve speed and mobility while enhancing
security and safety for travelers and trade.
Seeking a solution that provided self-service border
control, Amsterdam’s Ministry of the Interior and
Kingdom Relations, the Royal Military Police2 and
the Schiphol Group approached Accenture to launch
a trial automated border control system at Schiphol
airport. In March 2012, the Minister for Immigration,
Integration and Asylum Policy, Gerd Leers, announced
the trial of a new system which involves using
electronic gates equipped with facial recognition
to compare passengers’ identity with the digital
photographs in their passports. The system can also
identify forged passports and persons who may be on
an authority’s “wanted” list.
1
http://www.schiphol.nl/
2
Known as the Royal Maréchaussée
1
2
Business challenges
Increasing traffic volumes and concerns 300,000 flight slots at present, there in the initial scope of the project. Since
about passenger protection are not the is vast potential to expand. As a result, around 80 percent of all travelers have a
only challenges for border management Amsterdam Schiphol can enjoy growth European Union e-passport, automated
agencies worldwide. As with many until at least 2020, deferring the need border gates were an obvious choice
international businesses, the economic to build new airports to cope with for easing border control at Schiphol.
downturn—with the potential for staff traveler demands. To accommodate periods of peak
reductions—and growing technological demand, more automated border control
Following a thorough assessment of
demands have had an impact on gates would be required, so balancing
passenger traffic to better understand
airports’ operational efficiencies. wait times with throughput was an
how many travelers use which
Indeed, difficulties with implementing important criteria. At present, the
departure, arrival or Schengen hall at
a chip in the passport as part of the accepted waiting times as detailed in
the airport, the Schiphol airport and
authentication process and the ever- the service level agreement between
border teams examined 21 activities
growing requirement for both national the airport and border staff are: 10-6-6,
to establish where automation of the
and European watch lists serve to make which translates as 10 minutes waiting
border process could be most effective.
the border process more complex and time at the departure filter, six minutes
Fundamental passenger processing
time consuming. at the arrivals filter and six minutes
elements such as swiftly authenticating
for passengers in transit. The advent of
For Amsterdam airport, recent changes a passport photograph are an obvious
e-gates aims to reduce this waiting time
initiated by the Dutch government target for automation and can quickly
to zero.
positively affect its opportunity for bring value. Other activities, such as
growth. With government agreement obtaining travel data on a boarding
to increase the number of planes pass, or assimilating the behavior of
active at the airport to a maximum of passengers, also known as profiling, are
500,000 per year, against its current more complex and were not included
How Accenture helped
Following success with a response to freeing up border agency resources to Aside from overseeing the Self-Service
tender from the Ministry of Interior, manage immigration exceptions, such as Passport Control project, Accenture
Accenture initiated the first phase of a overstays. A monitoring station is also was also responsible for designing
Self-Service Passport Control project in part of the e-gates configuration; here, the animations to instruct travelers
August 2011. Accenture recommended a supervisor can oversee the status on how to use the gates. Within the
a staged implementation of border of the e-gates, transactions times, first six weeks of the trial, more than
e-gates to automate the passport alerts and assess the time spent on the 210,000 passengers have been through
checking process. The first twelve clearance process in real-time. the e-gates. What is more, in the first
gates were installed in October 2011 in weekend of their use, the gates were
The physical gates were supplied by
departure hall 3, in succession arrivals able to identify discrepancies in four
Portugal-based Vision-Box, a company
hall 3 and the Schengen/non-Schengen travelers’ passports that resulted in
specializing in automated border
border crossing area at the airport by exclusions from crossing the border.
control systems, and the software
June 2012. Gates were delivered in
was developed through collaboration
batches of six up until a formal launch
between Accenture and Vision-Box.
of the trial in March 2012, by which
Accenture was able to draw on our
time 24 gates were available. By the
experiences of earlier projects using
summer of 2012, 36 gates are expected
automated border control at two
to be up and running. Each batch of
airports in the United Kingdom to
six gates requires two border guards,
provide a solution that was both swift
replacing an allocation of two border
to install and easy to manage.
guards for two manual desks and
3Where are the benefits?
With increased globalization resulting Benefits to the airport and
in a rapid growth of international
travel and trade, verifying identities at border authorities
country borders is more complex than • More effective border forces: The
ever. The proliferation of information e-gates are taking over some of the
has increased the need for accurate routine work of the Royal Military
identification of individuals and a more Police, freeing them up for more
efficient, open movement of travelers informed decision making about
and goods. Safe and fast border entrants to the country. The system
passage has benefits for travelers and uses a technical platform that enables
border authorities. consultation with the databases of
other agencies to highlight passenger
Benefits to travelers anomalies and help prevent fraud and
• Greater speed and efficiency: immigration discrepancies.
Automated systems mean a “one- • Enhancing cost efficiencies: Using
step” process with travelers being less physical space and processing
processed through the automated more travelers helps to introduce
gates in less than 15 seconds. Taking greater cost efficiencies and position
up less physical space, a greater the airport for future growth.
number of automated gates than Minimal time and cost for training
manual desks also means minimal meant border guards used a “train
queuing for the traveler. the trainer” approach which was
• A more enjoyable “customer completed in a matter of days.
experience”: Straightforward and • Greater control and management:
simple to use, the e-gates raise the Automation helps increase the
appeal of using the airport. Travelers capacity for better control and
are empowered to manage their management of the total border
progress through the border process. process. Monitoring stations enable
• Meets global travel demands: The the smooth running of the e-gates
e-gates suit the demand for a greater and highlight problems quickly and
volume of country border transactions easily. A unique, one-step, two-door
and introduces a self-service gate design gives the border guards
approach, with minimal intervention better control over the border process.
from the authorities. As of this date, the Self-Service Passport
Control project has delivered on its
promise. A three-month trial has fine-
tuned the system and aligned all the
processes and information streams. As
a result, the system is now operationally
sound and successfully demonstrated.
“With passenger increases at Schiphol
airport in the region of 5 percent every
year, even with an economic downturn,
we knew queue waiting times would
only get worse,” says Kier-co Gerritsen
Project Manager, Self-Service Passport
Control project, Dutch Ministry of
the Interior, the Netherlands. “By
introducing automated border control
so that we can operate a self-service
passport system, we can not only
improve the traveler experience but also
gain new efficiencies at the border.”
4How the e-gates work
To be eligible for automated and identity verification are
border control, passengers’ successful, the gates open
passports must meet the and the traveler is free to
following requirements: continue on his journey. If
clear evidence of correct there are difficulties, the
authentication, biometric matter can be escalated to
capabilities such as a border staff. A lighted symbol
chip and photograph of at the exit gate indicates the
reasonable quality, and gate status for border agents
issuance from the European monitoring the system.
Union member states or
the European Economic If automated border control
Region (Norway, Iceland, cannot be completed, a
Liechtenstein or Switzerland). message is displayed to
the traveler directing them
Instead of European Union toward manual immigration
travelers having their processing, without any
passports manually checked further feedback on why
by a border agent, they can they have been rejected.
enter a gate and place their The border guard processing
passport on an automated the manual control is aware
device. In a matter of of the rejection causes
seconds, the device can through an information
read and authenticate the display at the exit door,
passport while a camera while the supervisor at the
located on the automated monitoring station has the
border control takes a possibility of accessing a
picture of the traveler’s face. very detailed overview of
The photograph is checked the failed transaction.
in the system for a biometric
match with the picture
stored on the ePassport’s
chip. The passport data is
also used for background
checks to identify potential
fraud or authentication
issues. If all the ePassport
checks, background checks
5High performance
delivered
Accenture has solid experience
of delivering coordinated border
management and identity services. Our
approach to border management is
intelligence-led, requiring a complete view
of risks and opportunities, a knowledge-
sharing culture and a strategy built
on proactive decision making. Having
already completed successful automated
border control projects in the United
Kingdom, the Ministry of Interior and
the Amsterdam airport were able to
benefit from the skills and experience
of the Accenture team and to achieve
an end-to-end border management
solution. “Accenture has successfully
demonstrated experience and insight, not
only in border management and control,
but also in the local Netherlands market,”
says Richard Camman, Border and
Identity Management Lead for Europe,
Africa and Latin America, Accenture.
“By combining our know-how with the
latest technologies, Accenture is helping
to not only innovate border management
processes but also prepare the airport for
high performance in the future.”
6Contacts Richard Camman Border and Identity Management Lead Europe, Africa and Latin America Tel +312 059 39 069 Email richard.camman@accenture.com About Accenture Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 249,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011. Its home page is www.accenture.com Copyright © 2012 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture. 12-2051
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