national conference on e-governance 2019 8-9 august 2019

National Conference on e-Governance 2019

8-9 August 2019

Shillong, Meghalaya

Introduction to Secretariat Reforms

• “Secretariat Reforms” as the name suggests is to bring about changes in system, processes

and structure of government.

• Pre-existing Legacy practices leads to:

Lack of transparency and accountability

Delay in decision-making

Resulting slow down in the public service delivery

• Secretariat Reforms is of paramount importance because of:

Intra and inter-departmental file movement, which otherwise requires huge time.

Theft and missing of files.

Protecting the files kept in record rooms from wear and tear and any misuse.

In any unforeseen event such as fire, no backups are available for the physical files.

More manual intervention in searching, transit and handling of files.

Absence of the officials during the processing of file.

• eOffice becomes the defacto tool/instrument for secretarial reforms

Role of “eOffice” in Secretariat Reforms

• Government transactions, be they with citizens, business, other governments or internal, have

one core element i.e. DECISION MAKING, which is delayed in the absence of eGovernance

• The eOffice project under Digital India Initiative, takes an important step towards

strengthening the governmental decision-making machinery by extending the use of modern

information and communication technology to the government processes.


• Some of the features of eOffice are as follows:

Empowers users to take faster decisions by providing information on fingertips.

All transactions are captured with audit trails which can not be tampered.

Unproductive, unintended touch points/dealing hands for any file movement are

eliminated.

Monitoring mechanism available to track file pendency and disposals and users can be

made accountable for pending files and rewarded for efficiency.

Ensure authenticity of records with use digital signatures

Inter/Intra Departmental File movement

Advanced Searching Mechanism

Auditing of files

Preservation of Data in case of any disaster/unforeseen event

Acknowledgement, SMS/Email Alerts, Citizen interface – where information reaches out to

public (Government at the doorstep of Citizen)


• Acknowledgement of inward correspondence to citizen for tracking.

• Seamless integration of eOffice with CM Dashboard for monitoring.

• Inter-departmental file transfer between Secretariat and Districts.

• Standardization of File Numbering Pattern (Classification and Categorization of files) for easy

retrieval. Weeding out of files (Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra, LBSNAA and North24

Parganas, West Bengal)

• Many more such examples

Implementation Challenges

Change Management - Reluctant to accept the change and do away with traditional way

of working

Reason

Low level of Computer Proficiency

Fear of - To keep secrecy of data and information’s, Data loss, Loss of job (Due to lack of

computer literacy).

Overcome Strategy

Capacity Building of employees on regular basis

Increasing moral boosting of employee with some kind of appreciation for good performing

employees.

Guiding them how the application will help them in Work-Life balance.

Give them a feeling of direct/indirect contribution of growth and development of country as

well as saving the environment by adopting a paperless working environment.


Inadequate Infrastructure (Client System, Scanner, Network Connectivity, Bandwidth,

and etc)

Reason

Could be No need/Not required, financial crisis, lack of maintenance, geographical constraints

etc.

Overcome Strategy

Ensuring each and every person should have individual workstations

A transition strategy for replacement of out-dated computer system with newer computer

system.

Adequate bandwidth as per usage and no of users

Adequate number of Scanners


Resistance for Government Process Reengineering-GPR (Standardisation and

Simplification of Processes)

Reason

Fear of increase in working time period and complexity.

Fear to cope up with changing processes and fear of joblessness/transfer

strong believe in translation rather transformation.

Overcome Strategy

Capacity building with sessions on benefits of GPR

Proving necessary SOP’s, Guidelines, and FAQ’s for smooth functioning and performing the

role assigned.

Defining proper hierarchy, workflow and reporting structure for quick disposal of cases


Defunct Central point for Inward and Outward - CRU (Central Registry Unit)

Reason

CRU unit is treated as only a receiving and dispatching of general letters.

Most of letters treated as so called Urgent/Classified, addressed directly to officer concerned

where CRU plays a very little role.

Existing Problem – Chance of losing inward is high if received at multiple points. Fixing

accountability for the disposal of cases is difficult

Overcome Strategy

Digital CRU (Single point contact for inward and outward) with Adequate number of Scanners,

computer system with skilled resources

Ensure that all inwards and Outwards are routed through CRU only


Lack of Higher level Commitment

Reason Lack of Commitment/mandate from Higher Management / Frequent change of Higher

Management

No Governance Structure/Frequent change in Governance Structure for eOffice Roll out

Overcome Strategy Apprise the management on overall impact (tangible and intangible) on Organisation’s

productivity by bringing transparency, Accountability and Efficiency in working environment and

get a consent/mandate on it.

A well thought out Governance Structure and Project Implementation Unit with clear roles,

responsibility, roadmap, plan & Strategy is very much required for smooth and sustainable

implementation.

Regular review of project deliverables & enforcement for smooth implementation.

Ownership of the project of eOffice Implementation and Data Management

Reason Department feels IT projects are additional overheads to their existing work.

Poor Acceptance of IT Projects in Government.

Fear of improper data management leads to system crash and erratic behaviour of the project.

Change of Organisation Structure, Merging/Demerging of Units, maintaining hierarchy

Overcome Strategy Capacity building

Self-sufficient IT support team/help desk units to manage and their regular training to under

take users queries and hand holding

Preparation of SOP/Guidelines for Data Management(Template Standardisation, EMD

standardisation, Transfer Management, Master Data Management).

Digitisation of Legacy Records with proper weeding out mechanism


One India One Product, meeting needs of different types of organisations

with level of users, making the product device and platform independent,

supporting all Indic Language, safeguarding data (ensuring Safety and

Security) and deployment & its management in more than 400 plus

organisations with > 2.5 lakhs user base.

Technical Challenges

Change in Office Procedures and Change Requests as per the type of organisation

(Central Govt, State Govt, PSU, autonomous bodies, educational institutes,

Constitutional authorities, and etc)

Reason Almost 90% working procedures are similar with CSMeOP but still found variation of

10%.However accommodating those 10% in same product having single code base is really

challenging task.

Accommodating the change requests received from lowest level workforce (DH/Case Worker)

up to highest level workforce (Secy, CS, Minsters) having different roles, work culture, way of

working, thinking and perception

Conflicting Change Requests

Overcome Strategy Considering CR’s as Configurable Parameters (department/user level) without impacting

others

To model the processes to make them generic for the benefit of all.



Device and Platform and Browser Independence

Reason Making the same Product Device (Desktop, Laptop, IPAD, TAB, Mobile) and its underlying

Environment/platform (OS-Linux-RHEL, Ubuntu, BOSS, Windows, Apple Macintosh, IoS

Browser – Mozilla, IE/Edge, Chrome, Safari, and etc) independent with usage of DSC, Open

Source Editor and Open Source Tools for conversion from HTML to PDF.

Overcome Strategy Use of Industry Standards, Latest Technology (like HTML 5).

R&D on regular basis to resolve technical issues.

More Control on Server Side than on Client environment


Support for Indian Languages

Reason To develop an multilingual product (To support all Indic language)

Overcome Strategy Use of Unicode, tools that support Indic language

Continuous R&D


Securing the Application and Data

Reason • As the product is accessed over various network, device and Platform

• Continuous development for Change Requests and environmental factors

Overcome Strategy Intranet Access

Security Audit of the product on regular basis.

Use of DSC/eSign to avoid data tempering.

Regular backup of Data in near site and far site

Controlled Access mechanism


CR Management & Meeting timeline for Deliverables

Reason • Use of the product at various level of Government with varying user base

Overcome Strategy • Prioritizing the task, Agile Development, Strictly following the Release Cycle and announcing

the upcoming features well in advance.

• Building repo with departments to understand the requirements

• Keep departmental staffs regularly informed with new updates of the application.

• Establishment of change management committee in the user department, who will look into

the impact of change and feasibility of the requirement as eOffice is a generic application

sometimes all the requirements specific to department are hard to incorporate


Deployment of the Product and its maintenance

Reason • Deployment, Maintenance and Support for more than 400 locations within a fixed timeframe for

every release.

.

Overcome Strategy • Use of Tools and Proper documentation on department specific configurations.

• R&D for new tools and technology.


Technology Up-gradation/Adoption on regular basis

Reason • Maintenance is a key factor for long living systems in a rapidly changing technical environment.

• Technology tends to get out of date very fast and there is always a need to buy new

infrastructure, tools & technology, hire resources to keep self updated.

• Regulations of different devices and their different characteristics may vary and the system in

use must be capable to handle all the emerging need.

Overcome Strategy • Be up to date with all the latest technology coming to the market.

• Use of technologies and products which are tried and tested for longer periods.

• Upgrading of versions on regular basis.

• R&D for new tools and technology

Successful & Sustainable eOffice Implementation Approach

• Prior to procurement, department is to ensure that the product eOffice meets its

requirement/need.

• Make aware of the product & its benefit to all stake holders (Internal-Employees and its

Management, and External (if any)-Unions, GOI) who have direct/indirect role in successful

implementation.

• eOffice is to be mandated by Department/Govt., so that, administration will be bind to roll out.

• Adequate infrastructure in place(Computer system for all, scanning systems as per need,

Connectivity to server with adequate bandwidth, structured LAN, Power backup)

• Computer Proficiency(MS Office operation and browsing) of users

• Formation of eOffice Governance Structure - Formation PSC(Project Steering Committee)

&PIC (Project Implementation Committee) headed by in the rank of director

Successful & Sustainable eOffice Implementation Approach

• Establishment of in-house support and capacity building team

• Plan to Fail but not Fail to Plan – Project Planning and Strategy is very very important.

• Regular review of implementation progress.

• Owning the project and data management by departmental identified users with support of in-house IT support resources.

• Govt process Reengineering and Preparation of SOP for dealing with different cases of the department.

• Setting up one point for Inward/Outward the CRU/R&I Unit.

• Digitization Strategy.

• Capacity Building of users on regular basis.

• Top Down Approach- High level Commitment from higher Ups.

• Some Standard Practices: Stop Parallel movement of physical files and eFile, Discourage use of printers. Non Acceptance of Physical Files.

Open API

Framework

for

eOffice

Employee and Organization Unit (OU) Data Sharing APIs

eOffice-PIMS

External

Data Sources

(SAP/ERP/Other

Applications)

S. No. API Description

1 PIMS_Read Employee Data External application can use this API to get employee data from eOffice.

2 PIMS_Read Organisation Unit Data

External application can use this API to get organization unit data from eOffice.

3 PIMS_Write Employee Data This API implies for inserting & updating employee information from External application to eOffice.

4 PIMS_Write Reactivating Employee This API implies for reactivating a employee.

5 PIMS_Write Organisation Unit Data

This API implies for inserting & updating organization unit data from External application to eOffice.

These API(s) are implemented by NIC, Government of Andhra Pradesh and

Government of Kerala.

External

Application

Receipt

Creation

Approved

Draft

mail/dispatch)

Receipt

No. Decisions in eFile

Set Flag for

Receipt

Receipt Status

Receipt Movements

External

Application eOffice-eFile

Application

eFile Core APIs


1 eFile_Receipt Creation This API enables receipt diarization with different metadata fields and receipt number generation.

2 eFile_Receipt Action Status This API gives the status of action initiated on receipts.

3 eFile_Final Dispatch Against a Receipt This API gives the list of all dispatches (with reply type as final) made against receipts in a eFile Instance.

4 eFile_Receipt Details This API gives details of the receipt.

5 eFile_Receipt Movement History The web service gives details of receipt for all the movements.

These API(s) are implemented by Government of Sri Lanka and Government

of Kerala.

1. Organization Unit/Employee Pendency 2. OU/Employee Performance 3. CM Dashboard many more……

External Dashboards & Reporting APIs


1 eFile_Files Created Instance wise (P/E) This API gives the count of created files (both Physical and Electronic) for all eFile instances.

2 eFile_Files Created Department wise (P/E) This API gives the count of created files (both Physical and Electronic) for all departments within a eFile instance.

3 eFile_Receipts Created Instance wise (P/E) This API gives the count of created receipts (both Physical and Electronic) for all eFile instances.

4 eFile_Receipts Created Department wise (P/E) This API gives the count of created receipts (both Physical and Electronic) for all departments within a eFile instance.

5 eFile_Receipt File Unread Count This API gives the total unread file/receipt count.

6 eFile_Files Pendency Deptwise This API gives the list of files pending department wise.

………… …………. ………….

121 eFile_File Movement details This API gives the details of file for a particular movement.

These API(s) are implemented in NIC, Railway Board and Government of

Andhra Pradesh.

Way Forward

UX Redesign and Standardisation

• Better UI & UX

• Localisation

• Context sensitive menus

• Ease of working on components of files

• Responsive design for working on tablets & Ipads

Simplified Processes

• Multiple signatures in draft/MoM

• Flagging of receipts/files

• Personalised Address Book

• Unified dispatch etc.

Performance and Scalability

• Decoupled Processing at front

end & backend

• Multitenancy

• Read and write Optimization

• Faster Search and Response

Notification & Dashboard

• Subscription based model for

notifications

• Enhanced Desktop notification

• Email/SMS notification

• Dashboard Services

• Analytics on various parameters

API based collaboration

• Intra eOffice (within same instance across different depts.) file /receipt exchange

• Inter eOffice (across instances) file

exchange

• Letter Dispatched to Receipt Diary for Intra/Inter eOffice

instances

Current Status of eOffice Implementation

Note: The above counts are as on 31st JULY 2019

S.No. Enterprises Category No. of Units where eOffice is

implemented Total

1. Central

Government

Ministries and Departments 79

215

Attached/Subordinate Offices/PSUs etc. 136

2. State

Government

Secretariats 22

207 District Administrations 95

Other Departments/PSUs etc. 90

TOTAL 422 422

national conference on e-governance 2019 8-9 august 2019

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