Edited by Mohan Das Viswam Government offices need to manage large volumes of documents of various categories. These documents can be Policies, Forms, Acts & Regulations, Circulars, Guidelines, Standards and Manuals. Maintaining a central, single repository of documents from where, all department/ministry users can access the information, helps in reducing the administrative overload, leading to better management of documents. eOffice enables users to create and manage electronic documents that can be searched, viewed, and shared. It is well capable of keeping track of the different versions modified by different users (Tracking history). It also contains a dynamic workflow to keep document at various stages. Padamvir Singh, IAS, Director, LBSNAA, Mussoorie states: 'eOffice KMS has provided LBSNAA employees a one-stop platform to access organizational knowledge, hitherto scattered in silos. It has improved transparency, efficiency and speed in decision-making. We invariably showcase our ICT initiatives including e-office in all training programmes-induction as well as inservice which helps disseminate such good practices across the country.' Background Knowledge and Document Management Systems are built ensuring the following set of features: • Metadata: The system contains metadata like title, description, author, keywords etc for easy segregation of documents. • Indexing: Index and create catalogs for easy searching • Storage and Retrieval: The system ensures easy storage and retrieval of electronic documents. • Security: The system ensures that which information has to be shown to whom and when. • Workflow: The system has a workflow to control the various stages of the document. • Collaboration: Users can share, comment and also able to get alerts on the documents. • Versioning: Versioning allows users to retrieve previous versions and to continue work from a selected point. • Searching: Easy and advance search helps users to retrieve the documents easily. • Publishing: This feature ensures that the documents are accessible to all the users. How eOffice KMS works? eOffice KMS is a web based document management system with advanced range of features. eOffice KMS supports creation of electronic documents either by uploading an electronic file or by creating an online document using advanced text editor. The document so created can be shared with other users or can be submitted for a review to publish it for all other users by the reviewer. This serves as Notice Board to the organization. Documents are managed in two separate repositories: a central repository acting as the one single repository for the organization. Documents are kept in a categorized manner in the form of folders and subfolders. The other repository is “the user’s my repository” where users can create their own documents and also share these documents with other users. These repositories also act as the document stores and the documents can be easily accessed any where using internet and web browser. eOffice KMS also ensures high security of the documents. It manages what and which information is to be shared with whom and when. The documents and folders are secured using the flexible dynamic workflow, build according to the need of organization. Collaboration is another feature provided in eOffice KMS. A document can be shared with other users. Users can provide comments on the documents. Documents and folders can be subscribed for alerts. It also supports the advanced editing option with working copy support using the check out and check in options. Document versioning with comparison is also available with eOffice KMS. Searching and retrieving documents in eOffice KMS is simple. The system provides a live search feature along with an advance search option to search the documents based on their title, description or any other content placed within the documents. eOffice KMS is now extended to mobile devices using mOffice Android App and Java based mobile browser. This has ensured that the documents can now be accessed and shared while on the move. Salient Features of eOffice KMS • Document & Folder Creation & Management: The system facilitates easy creation of electronic documents by uploading or from email inbox. • Easy Searching & Retrieval: It ensures easy searching and access of documents anywhere, anytime. • Document Security: Role based access for each document • Collaboration Features: KMS helps in sharing, subscriptions and discussion & alerts on documents. • Document Versioning: Every change in document is kept as separate version along with the track change feature. • Easy Sharing: Personal Contact List has been provided in the system for easy sharing. • Working Copy Support: This feature helps in avoiding duplicity of work among multiple users. • Multi-lingual Support: This feature supports any Unicode supported languages. Benefits of KMS • Organization wise access to documents • Quick and easy retrieval of documents • Central storage of documents with access permission ensures enhanced security and integrity of documents • Securely stores and indexes documents for fast retrieval • Reduced storage cost Technology Architecture eOffice KMS is built using Open Source Technology Framework. It has been developed using Python and designed to work with Zope and Plone (Content Management System). The RDBMS used in backend is PostgreSQL. Implementation eOffice KMS has been successfully implemented in over 55 Ministries and Departments of Government of India, State Governments, District Collectorates and PSUs. Some of the major implementations along its statistics are depicted in the bar graph The offline desktop based version of the KMS is in the process of development.