Online Filing of Entrepreneurs Memorandum (OFEM) is an initiative for Department of Commerce and Industries, Government of Manipur to facilitate entrepreneurs in obtaining acknowledgement to Entrepreneurs Memorandum (EM) Part-I readily without any need of contacting the concerned General Manager of District Industries Centre. INTRODUCTION The Director, Commerce and Industry, Government of Manipur wanted to introduce ICT in the department to accord convenience in filing of Entrepreneurs Memorandum online. Accordingly in 2013, NIC customized a system software application developed by NIC Chennai to suit the requirements of Manipur. The application so developed included security audit and was developed as per the National Industry Classification (NIC) 2008 and Standard Industry Commodity Classification (ASICC) standards. The software application was implemented and inaugurated on June 12, 2013 by the Hon’ble Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Govindas Konthoujam and Shri O Nabkishore Singh, IAS and Principal Secretary. The online service for filing of Entrepreneurs Memorandum enables the entrepreneurs to obtain acknowledgement online for future references till she/he gets the actual certificates. The url of the portal is http://www.msmeonline.man.nic.in. Presently, the system is fully operational in all the nine districts of Manipur. WORKFLOW OF THE SYSTEM Once an entrepreneur submits her/his application online, an acknowledgment along with the application form is generated by the system in pdf format. The self-certified acknowledgement is then submitted to the concerned General Manager within 30 days for getting final certificate. In case, the self-certified copy of the application generated is not received by the General Manager of the District Industries Centre concerned within one month from the date of online filing of the application, the online acknowledgement is treated as cancelled and same is displayed on the website. An authorised user of the department can log in to the system and accepts, rejects or cancels an application by citing a valid reason. Various MIS reports are also generated by the system for further submission to MSME. The system is actively used by banks while processing loan applications received from entrepreneurs. The application is also linked to the eTaal Portal, http://etaal.gov.in, and through the eTaal service, the filing figures of MSME is reflected at the national level. FILING STATUS Manipur is a small state but the filing status reflects the popularity of the application. The district-wise filing figures since June 2013 has been provided here in the form of a table. TECHNOLOGY USED The application has been developed using Open Source technology with Apache HTTPD as web server, PostgreSQL as database and PHP, AJAX as application development platform. The application is deployed on Linux operating system and is hosted on the NIC Manipur, Mini Data Centre, Imphal. Most of the modules have been designed as reusable components to avoid duplicity of efforts. MAJOR BENEFITS The OFEM system comes with the following major benefits: The system is available 24 x 7. Search facility for the National Industry Classification Code(NIC) and the ASICC code has been provided in the system. Instant registration status is readily available. The system reduces redundant tasks at Directorate Office. The system facilitates greater transparency and accountability. Data exchange between the nine District Industry Centres and Financial Institutions has improved with implementation of OFEM. CONCLUSION OFEM solution has been implemented in all the nine districts of Manipur and has benefitted entrepreneurs to a great extent. There is a scope of improvement by including modules such as Subsidy Application, introduction of Part-II Filing, etc. This could be done with inputs from the government as well as entrepreneurs.