During the period of lockdown necessitated by COVID-19, work from home became the new mantra in public as well as the private sector. Governments whether Central or State, have traditionally followed a paper-based office. While the seeds of switchover to a less paper office were sown much earlier, eOffice, a fully functional digital workplace solution, aimed at quick disposal of files and receipts efficiently and transparently. eOffice emerged as a game-changer, by facilitating unhindered work, unfettered and secured access to the files, to the Government officials.
Majority of the Central Government Ministries/Departments, States Secretariats, and Districts in States like West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Madhya Pradesh, etc., continued to function seamlessly during the complete lockdown state, undoubtedly aided by eOffice.
There is a significant rise in the use of eOffice and eFiles during this period, as paper-based files can be hosts for COVID-19 infection where the virus can survive for 24 hours to 72 hours. Moreover, it was difficult to continue to work with traditional paper-based file systems during a complete lockdown state, without significant delays in the functioning of any government office.
“The world is going to become a different one post Covid-19. Work from home may become the new norm. I have asked my department to work with a robust mechanism so that India’s work from home model is economical and beneficial” - Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister of Law and Justice, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology
Apart from the fear of COVID-19 infection, two other major factors contributed significantly, towards the smooth transition of the Government, from working from office to working from home. Firstly, most of the Government of India Ministries/Departments, Attached offices, and States with their districts were already working on eOffice and its adoption was on the ascendant. Even several PSUs had also adopted eOffice. Secondly, the availability of interdepartmental file transfers through eOffice.
It is pertinent to mention that eOffice implementation for the Government of India is restricted within the NICNET environment only. This is where two enabling technologies played their part in the smooth transition to work from home. These technologies were; WebVPN solution of NIC for secured access to eOffice and eSign technology for digitally signing the eFiles. As soon as the lockdown was announced, NIC moved swiftly to facilitate Government departments in obtaining WebVPN facility to enable access of eOffice over the secure channel, at any time, and from anywhere. Further, eOffice is eSign enabled, therefore, digital signing of noting and drafts continued seamlessly.
Summary of transactions in Central Government during lockdown Since the lockdown was announced on 24th March 2020, over 1.93 Lakhs new files, 8.70 Lakhs new receipts were created and 36 Lakhs plus transactions (file and receipt movements) were done through eOffice by Departments hosted in Shastri Park National Data Centre.
Similar is the case in states like West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, etc. The usual Government file work is going on almost as usual across the country wherever eOffice has been adopted. As of now, eOffice has been implemented in 453 Organisations including 81 Central Government Ministries/Departments, 162 Central Government Attached Offices/Subordinate Offices/PSUs, etc., 26 States Government Secretariats and 184 District Administrations/Other State Organisations. The current situation has led to an increased demand for onboarding on eOffice platform by several Government organizations across the country.
Due to the increase in COVID-19 cases, several officials were working from home. With an increase in new eOffice deployments, the support requirements also increased manifolds. During the lockdown period, eOffice Project Division continued to provide support in a time-bound manner. Nearly 100 training were conducted covering 5000 users. A total of 5000 tickets were resolved. eOffice and SPARROW products were deployed for new organisations including CBIC with 50,000 users.
New Organisations on-boarded on eOffice during the lockdown period
- Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC)
- Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT)
- Metro Railway Kolkata
- Indian Institute of Technology (ISM), Dhanbad
- National Archives of India (NAI)
- Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)
- Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC)
New Organisations adopting SPARROW during the lockdown period On 12th June 2020, at the conclusion of Webinar about the implementation of eOffice, Hon’ble MoS, Dr. Jitendra Singh emphasized the importance of quickly adopting eOffice by governments in northeastern states by the year 2022.
eOffice product has played a key role in enabling, the concept of work from home in Government Offices, a rather alien and hitherto mode, generally seen in private companies. As we come to terms with physical distancing, major office work of processing of files is getting accomplished in eOffice, by working from home; eOffice has truly stood the test of the time and proved to be a game-changer in the current crisis of Covid19 pandemic.