|
Nominee
RIA in action at DSIIDC
A challenge in most government offices is finding information
amidst the pile of papers that have been lying there for decades. People who
would use their right to information with Delhi Industrial and Infrastructure
Development Corporation also shared similar feelings. Surinder Kapoor,
CIO of DSIIC felt the need to change this and implemented a File management
System to monitor and track documents
"Earlier people falsely claimed that the
dispatch of a file when in reality, the file
would actually be lying with them"
- Surinder Kapoor
Chief Information Officer, Delhi State Industrial & Infrastructure
Development Corporation (DSIIDC) |
About two years ago, the Government of Delhi, passed a bill
under the ‘Delhi Right to Information Act’ With the implementation
of this act, it became necessary to have records of various transactions and
ensure transparency. Surinder Kapoor, Chief Information Officer, Delhi State
Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) stood witness
to the rather lackadaisical management of things around him and thus decided
to implement what he calls the “File Management System” or FMS. This
system helped track the movement of the files and helped the information seekers
to understand where the file was located. It also helped identify the last officer
who dispatched and when.
Inside DSIIDC
The Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. has
helped shape the industrial growth of the Indian capital, a throbbing city of
some 10 million people. Since its initiation in February 1971, the DSIIDC has
projected, aided, counselled, assisted, financed and promoted the interest of
industries in Delhi. The number of industries in the city total over 1,00,000,
making Delhi the epicentre for a wide variety of industrial products including
high value and high-technology goods. The DSIIDC’s involvement in the industrial
growth of the capital is a success story.
The complaint
“People used to sign documents incorrectly and sometimes
could not locate the file,” exclaims Kapoor. Earlier, the whole system
was in a sorry state of affairs. There were several issues that concerned the
file that was required to be attended to. Apart from having difficulty on locating
the file, after the file was worked on, it was necessary to physically transport
the file to the destination. This file would sometimes remain at the source
and not get to the destination or the officials would not sign the file on time.
This, Kapoor felt, was unprofessional and a source of inconvenience for citizens
demanding information.
| Company Name |
Delhi State International & Infrastructure
Development Corp. Ltd (DSIIDC) |
| Initiative |
Implementation of File Monitoring System
(FMS) for transparent transactions and records. |
| Project Started |
August 2004 |
| Project Completed |
- An infrastructure that can support broad information integration
for the enterprise portal, relational databases, business intelligence,
and enterprise content management applications
- Unified portal creation and administration across the enterprise
- A service oriented architecture that has the ability to unlock existing
assets as re-usable Web services
|
| Investment Made |
Approximately Rs. 20 crores |
| Objective |
To develop a Web-based file monitoring
system (FMS) to locate files and records and respond to citizens filing
requests under the Delhi Right of Information Act. |
| Major Benefits |
This system does not tolerate sloppy
work. The officers now have to be prompt in addressing queries and also
are not able to make any false entries as far as the date and time of signing
a particular document is concerned. |
The system’s innards
- Front-end: PHP
- Database: MySQL
|
The FMS works on the same logic as a manual. The file is received
in the central diary and then sent to the concerned officer who was and then
sent to the concerned officer who looks after the needful and passes it on to
the next officer and the process continues. The main advantage of the FMS is
that no one can alter or change the date and time of the receipt as it would
maintain a record of the same. “Earlier people falsely claimed that the
dispatch of a file when in reality, the file would actually be lying with them,”
complains Kapoor. Since the FMS records the date and time of the dispatch of
the file, it is not possible to falsely report the date and time of the dispatch.
How did it help
This project was developed by the DSIIDC in-house IT Team. Speaking on the innovation
behind this project, Kapoor comments that it has helped the organisation minimise
the time it takes to move a file or letter. Kapoor feels that officials now
do not keep a file or a letter with them unnecessarily because it can be located
easily through the system. This system has helped over 150 employees and 20
officials. “People from other government agencies have also appreciated
this project,” says Kapoor proudly as he talks about his brainchild.
Having deployed this project, it was necessary to train the lower level employees
to use the system. “We trained them to use this system for a period of
three months,” says Kapoor. The senior officials, however, were given a
day’s training on the new system. The front end runs on PHP while there’s
a SQL Server database at the backend. The system currently runs on a local server
and the six offices have their own servers. Going forward, plans exist to port
the solution onto a Web-based architecture in the next six months.
The bumps
More often than not, people resist change and things were no different while
implementing the file monitoring system at DSIIDC. What Kapoor started with
zest and enthusiasm, met with several roadblocks while implementation. “People
were afraid of getting exposed,” reminisces Kapoor. This file meant keeping
track of which file was with which official and thus there was little scope
for sloppiness. Naturally, the officials at DSCIIDC were averse to the idea.
|
