Sachivalaya Vahini or E-Governance in Secretariat
E GOVERNANCE CASE STUDY (BSCCSIT/BCA/MASTERS)
Introduction
Secretariat is the highest policy making body and the apex seat of the State government. It is a repository of a wealth of governmental knowledge, which needs to be managed efficiently for achieving the desired objectives. In its capacity as the apex policy making and decision making authority at the State government level, the Secretariat has to deal with a large number of departments, organizations and individuals. This process involves enormous amount of communication, besides holding, maintaining and processing of large volumes of data files or other formats. Conventionally, all the files were created and maintained manually resulting in very slow and inefficient process.
Secretariat LAN (Local Area Network), the fibre optic Intranet set up by the Directorate of Information Technology (DIT).* Government of Karnataka, Banglores, connects more than 1000 computers spread across 40 Secretariat departments catering to the needs of 6000 secretariat staff. To promote e-governance by facilitating the policy and decision making process and to introduce the concept of inflammation and Knowledge Management making use of this large network, national Information's Centre (NIC). Karnatak State Unit, Banglore, designed, developed and implemented a suite of software packages in all the 40 departments of the secretariat, under the title Sachivalaya Vahini,
Services
Patra-The Letter Monitoring System (LMS)
This is a software package for managing the large number of letters received in any department of the secretariat. The letters can be scanned and moved from desk to desk and even across departments for action to be taken, till the letters are filed or disposed. Records of dispatched letters can also be maintained.
Highlights
• Status of letter received (where it is and why it is pending) can be known without any delay.
• The entire movements of the flow of the letter can be traced, including action taken without any delay.
• The file note in which the letter is filed can be identified.
• Any query based on any parameter of the subject of the letter can be answered.
• Pendency of all letter received can be ascertained, department wise, section wise, or officer wise.
Kadatha-File Monitoring System (FMS)
This is a decision support system aiming at monitoring, tracking and helping in the speedy disposal of files, thereby increasing the efficiency of the workforce. Electronic files can be moved from desk to desk and even across the departments.
Highlights
• Nothings on the file can be entered.
• Draft documents can be attached to the file.
• Electronic file can be moved from desk to desk and across departments.
• Status of file, for instance, where the file is pending and for what reason it is pending can be known instantaneously.
• All the letters in the file can be viewed.
• Individual office wise, sections wise, departments wise and across the departments pendency of files can be obtained.
• All the registers and records that are maintained manually can be generated without any effort.
• Pendency of all letters received can be ascertained department wise, section wise or office wise.
• Extensive queries based on any parameter of the file or on actions taken on the file can be answered.
Mokaddame-Court Case monitoring System (CCMS)
This package is to monitor the court cases in which government is the respondent of petitioner. Cases received, Petitioner/respondent details, court orders, cases put up for hearing on a particular day and the line, can be managed efficiently with this system.
Highlights
• Provides information about all cases filed against the government and by the government.
• Cases due for hearing on a particular date can be known immediately. • Status of any case can be known without any time delay.
• Orders issued by various courts on a particulars subject are made available.
• Various reports-courtwise, subjectwise, respondenwise, petitionerwise, casewise, etc, can be generated.
• Automatic generation of notices with regard to appointment of government advocates, and instruction to prepare draft Statement of objections.
Aayayaya-Budget Monitoring System (BMS)
This module aims to arrive at the budget estimate and to monitor the proposals , once the budgeted amount is allocated to the department.
Highlights
• Appendix-B and all the required annexure which assist in the salary related budget estimation process can be generated.
• head of account wise budget annual allocation is maintained.
• Sending/updating of proposals and issue of government orders can be carried out.
• All the proposals pending for approval of Finance Department can be viewed. • All the proposals pending for approval of Finance Department can be viewed.
• Departments can analyze supplementary budget requirements, with drawal/surrender of proposals and reallocation of funds.
• Monthly Multi-level Review (MMR) of Expenditure can be processed. Sibbandi-Personnel Information System (PIS)
Personnel Information System capture all the details of the employees as recorded in the service register.
Highlights
• All details of the employees can be searched on under the name of the employee.
• Entire service history of employees can be viewed in a very short time. • Employees leave details can be monitored.
• Employees who are going to retire for any given period can be assessed.
• Employees who have been promoted/not promoted for any given period can be found out.
• Repository of Employee information can be generated.
Customer Support System (CSS)
Through the Customer Support System, any complaints regarding Hardware, Network, Application Software System Software, etc can be lodged, and the system will help monitor the complaints by giving online information.
Highlights
• All complaints regarding Hardware, Network, Application software, System Software, etc. can be lodged.
• When the concerned person who has to rectify the problem logs in, the complaints related will be displayed.
• Once the problem is attended or rectified, the status can be updated.
• The call will be cleared, when the customer who has lodged the complaint authorizes his satisfaction regarding the rectification of the problem.
• Numerous reports like calls registered for a given period, calls which have not been attended, calls which were attended, rectified, etc can be generated, which will help in the monitoring process.
Special Features
Integration
All the above discussed applications are integrated with one another so that one application can access the data of another application. Depending on the access rights of the user who logged in, different menus will appear.
Dash board
This will give an overall view of pendency and status of letters, files, court cases, budget proposals and personnel related details.
Single login
Once a user is logged into one application, he can access any other application without logging again. From any application, any other application can be called.
Management and Security Features
• The applications run on Windows 2000 Advanced Server/SQL Server Enterprise Edition/VB 6.0 MS Access 2000 platform
• Centralized database server is maintained to facilitate easy maintenance and backup.
• Active directory services are used for deploying applications to all clients automatically.
• Automatic DSN creation through application.
• Database accessibility is through database users with restricted permissions. • Database updation is possible only through 'Application Roles'.
• Application accessibility is through domain login.
• Active directory group policy is used for access control.
Training
NIC has trained more than 6000 secretariat staff of all levels on the application packages. Over 80 demonstration of the software were given to various departments, and based on the feedback received, software features were enhanced.
Implementation Status
a. Patra. Letter monitoring System: This is being used by all departments. At present there are more than 3,00,000 letters being monitored through the system.
b. Kadatha. File monitoring system: This is being used by all departments. More than 2,00,000 files movement and pendency are being monitored through the system.
c. Mokaddame. Court Case monitoring system: Its usage was started by forest, Cooperation and Finance Departments.
d. Sibbandi. Personnel Information System: All service register details of around 3,000 secretariat staff have been entered and data validation is going on.
e. Customer support system: This was launched to register complaints regarding secretariat LAN related hardware and software problems and to initiate remedial action.
Future Enhancements
(i) Web enabling: All queries related to the above package of general public interest are being web enabled.
(ii) Knowledge management. A knowledge base consisting of all Acts. Rules and Regulations, Circulars, Government Orders, etc. will be set up so that any application can access this.
(iii) Knowledge base to assist in the decision making process.
(iv) Public grievances system: A general public grievance system is being prepared.
(v) Customer feedback system. A feedback mechanism for the customer (or user) of the software is proposed to be provided.
(vi) Stores management system. A management information system for stores is also proposed to be developed.
(vii) Organizations structure. Organizations structure of every department will be made available along with complete information of the departments with link to employees information, department schemes, and any other relevant information.
(ix) Notice board. Any Circular or Order issued by any official or department will automatically be made available to the concerned persons.
Conclusion
In this case study we studied the details of suits of software applications in Karnataka State Secretariat at Bangalore, such as Letter Monitoring, File Monitoring, Court Cases Monitoring, Personnel Information System, Customer Support System, including training implementation details. They system can also be adopted in other state secretariats.