Cabinet meetings of State Govts have three stages (1) Pre-meeting - Schedule, inform offices, collect Agenda points, Finalize & put up to Cabinet for Approval (2) During Meeting - Recording Decisions are taken and (3) Post meeting - Outcomes of the meeting including MoM, Action Points, Directions to offices etc.
eCabinet/ eMantrimandal is a powerful software portal for State governments to conduct Cabinet meetings electronically and online mode. Developed by NIC, it maximizes the usage of technology in meetings and reduces paper use. eCabinet automates workflow activities of meetings; before, during and after. It is designed for smart tablets, with rich UI and UX elements, for ease of use. Push & Pull mechanism built-in portal ensures high security needed for Cabinet matters. eCabinet is another milestone in the Digital India movement and enables smart governance.
Conduct of Physical (manual) Cabinet meetings is a Race Against Time, involving multiple interactions between several offices and efforts till the last minute. Every meeting consumes huge resources of paper, fuel, manpower, time and efforts. It faces multiple challenges - information is not available in the right form at right time, Collecting & storing information is not structured, lack of Institutional memory over a time period.
The eCabinet software of NIC overcomes all major challenges in the conduct of Physical meetings. With eCabinet, physical papers are replaced with electronic data & the physical movement of documents between offices are replaced with a seamless electronic flow of information, in all stages. The Knowledge repository of meetings is a dynamically built-in database, facilitating quick and easy search & retrieval of decisions taken in meetings & review action taken on them. eCabinet leads to Good Governance.
The eCabinet (eMantrimandal) was launched by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Uttarakhand in Jan 2020, with the above objectives. The success of the project is gauged from the fact that all cabinet meetings of Uttarakhand from Jan 2020 have been held using eCabinet. Ministers and senior officers attend meeting with their Smart tablets, preconfigured with software and Agenda points & enclosures till the last minute. Many times Ministers attend meeting remotely through Video conferencing services.
The eMantrimandal is a milestone in Digital India programme, saving environment. I compliment National Informatics Centre, Uttarakhand for the innovative initiative. TRIVENDRA SINGH RAWAT, Chief Minister, Uttarakhand
When the meeting is in progress in the meeting hall, decisions taken are synopsized electronically in the system and the progress of the meeting is updated live & displayed in large LED screens to officers. The proceedings of the meeting (MoM, Decisions taken, Press Release, Instructions to offices etc) are also automated with workflow for each and outcomes are disseminated quickly.
The institutional memory of cabinet meetings is built dynamically. Ministers and officers can search for decisions taken in meetings based on parameters and review action taken by offices and review progress in the system.
eCabinet, therefore, serves as a powerful tool for Govts to migrate from Physical (manual) meetings to Online Virtual meetings & bring in a Corporate style of functioning. Its relevance in the Covid-19 situation is huge, as it reduces the spread of Virus through the physical movement of papers and persons.
Features of the Product • Replace paper-based conduct of Cabinet Meetings with electronic information • Automate workflow activities before, during and after Meetings in Online mode • Generate all Outputs & Outcomes of meetings electronically in every stage (Before, During and After) • Designed & Developed for Smart Tablets, with rich UI & UX features, for ease of use by Ministers • Enhanced level of Security in Triple layers, with Push & Pull features • Build institutional memory & knowledge repository, enabling quick retrieval of Cabinet decisions • Customized Dashboard for Ministers, Senior officers and Departments • Available In Bi-lingual (Hindi & English) mode
Technologies Used • Front End: DOT NET/AJAX/JQUERY/Bootstrap • Back End: MS SQL Server • Mobile App: Android based
Software Architecture • Enhanced security with Three Layers • System architecture designed with 2 Sub-systems: • Gopan for Cabinet dept in Intranet (Local LAN) • Departments portal in the Internet • Seamless integration between the Two-subsystems with Push and Pull features • Designed & Developed for Smart Tablets, with rich UI & UX features, for ease of use by Ministers • Enhanced level of Security in Triple layers, with Push & Pull features • Usage of Word processor of eOffice, for rich text features to generate electronically
Impact • Saves huge resources of Paper, fuel and manpower. In 28 Cabinet Meetings in Jan - Dec 2020: • Saving an estimated 10+ Trees (25+ Sets of Papers per Cabinet Meeting), 1000+ litres of Fuel for Vehicles to deliver meeting documents, 200+ Man Hours • Online Data updation by Each, Information for all, leading to coordinated action • Better decision making, Quick retrieval of Decisions taken in meetings and review Action taken • Enables Virtual participation of Ministers from anywhere, anytime with updated information • Brings in Corporate style in the conduct of meetings, with standardization of data, formats and works.
The eMantrimandal has resulted in Hon’ble Ministers getting information wherever they are and on time. It improves Government functioning & monitoring. I congratulate officers of Gopan Department and National Informatics Centre for this project accomplishment. OM PRAKASH, IAS, Chief Secretary, Uttarakhand
Way Forward • eCabinet Journey - From Application to Product – Implement in Pilot states - A Generic product for roll out in States • Make it Configurable, multilingual as per needs of State • Integrate with external systems (eOffice, Project Monitoring, PFMS, CM Dashboard etc) • Plan for – 24 / 7 support, as Cabinet meetings are Mission critical • Envisage & establish a Business model for Project roll out and Project Management.
For further information, please contact: STATE INFORMATICS OFFICER NIC Uttarakhand State Centre Secretariate Compound, Subhash Road Rajpur Road, Dehradun-248001 UTTARAKHAND Email: sio-ua@nic.in, Phone: 0135-2713739