The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), Hyderabad under the Govt. of Telangana is a huge organization with administrative jurisdiction of over 625 Sq Kms and with a mandate to cater to the day-to-day civic needs of about 90 lakh population. It has 5 Zonal Offices and 18 Circle Offices. The administration is most diversified with functions related to Engineering, Town Planning, Health & Sanitation, Urban Biodiversity, Revenue, Sports etc. The Commissioner, GHMC as the head of the huge organization receives about 250 to 300 files per day on an average. Timely disposal of these files proved to be very crucial. More than the huge number of files, the physical movement of files was a disturbing affair. Many a times, the Commissioner’s table is saddled with heaps of files giving an awkward look. To overcome all these issues, effective file management through eOffice has become a need of the hour at the GHMC.
Before implementation of eOffice in GHMC, there were several other issues related to the physical movement of files. Some files, especially relating to town planning would be very voluminous with title documents, link documents, plans etc and are quite unwieldy to handle and few of these files would occupy the whole space on Commissioner’s Desk. Another issue is that files of urgent nature often get mixed up with routine files and their retrieval takes time and energy. Finally, at the end of the day, all the leftover files have to be carried to the Camp Office of the Commissioner. There used to be separate vehicle and Office Boys to carry these files back and forth to Commissioner’s Camp Office, as at any point of time there would be 100 to 150 files which are to be packed up in 10 to 15 huge bags. To overcome all these issues, effective file management has become a need of the hour to the GHMC. Ushering in a concept of “paperless administration” is seriously thought off, as a necessity. Against the above backdrop, the GHMC has proposed to conduct its office procedures electronically for a simplified, responsive, effective and transparent working by making use of eOffice platform developed by the NIC. The GHMC formally launched its eOffice on 5th November, 2014. With the establishment of paraphernalia and training of staff, its usage was formalized in December, 2014. Within no time, the GHMC created a sort of history - in shortest time it has taken to implement eOffice and in the volume of transactions conducted through eOffice. The GHMC has become the first ever civic body in the country to have implemented the eOffice in a comprehensive manner. Now, physical file transaction is dispensed with and all file transactions are being carried out electronically through eOffice.
THE PROCESS It was not an easy process to transform from physical files to electronic files. Greatest obstacle proved to be motivating the functionaries to shift from physical files to electronic mode. There was lot of skepticism and disbelief about the proposed transformation. With proper motivation and intensive training, confidence has been created about the efficacy of the eOffice. 2200 employees were provided hands-on-training. About 1750 digital signatures have been obtained and free mails have been created for all functionaries. Physical infrastructure of computers, printers, scanners, etc have been created at Circle, Zonal and Head Office level and connectivity is provided. AO size scanners were also put-in place for digitizing large size plans, papers, etc.
Identification of work-flow process and mapping of the employees as per the hierarchy according to Employees Master Data is proved to be very critical and the same was done successfully. This facilitated successful movement of eOffice files.
GHMC has become the first City Corporation in the country in implementing e-office in all its sections and departments. Since 10th Dec, 2014 all files in GHMC are moving through electronic mode using eOffice. Around 2.48 crore pages were digitized. About 28,199 electronic files have been created during the past 5 months and 1,79,295 files were moved across the functionaries. During the same period, 46,448 receipts were created with 1,11,642 movements across sections. NIC Telangana, NIC New Delhi and GHMC, Hyderabad made it a grand success. Net connectivity has been enhanced to facilitate hassle-free transactions. As per the eOffice Division, NIC, New Delhi, the average upload size of GHMC in any working day is 2.44 GB and on weekends, it is 471 MB. The average upload per week is 12.31 GB and is highest for any organization using eOffice in the country.
Commissioner, GHMC expressed that after implementing eOffice, not a single paper is appearing on his table. He also said that, “I am very proud that GHMC is the first corporation in implementing eOffice in India. All the Zones, Circles and sections were completely turned into electronic offices very fast.”
SPECIFIC FEATURES OF GHMC eOFFICE The GHMC has got several features of the eOffice changed according to its needs. e-files coming into the inbox of officials are displayed in the order of its receipt, unlike in normal e-mail box where latest communication received is displayed first. This change draws the attention of the officials to the oldest pending file first, so that they will act to dispose the pending files. Earlier, whenever the officials log into their eOffice inbox, the total number of pending files are displayed in a static way without recourse to the number of files cleared by him in the session. The GHMC got it dynamic, so that the officials will get the actual number of pending files after disposal of each file.
IMPACT The eOffice has enhanced transparency, accountability, assured data security and data integrity, and above all provided a platform for reinventing and re-engineering the government.
IMPACT OF IMPLEMENTING eOFFICE yyQuick disposal of approvals and sanctions from GHMC yyAs the file movement became transparent, the disposal rate is improved. yyProductivity of GHMC per se is improved. yyeOffice has brought in accountability and reduced indecisiveness. yyStatus of documents/files is quickly known over net to the authorities concerned even when the concerned person holding it is on leave, which used to be long pending affair earlier. yyAll desks are free of physical papers and files. yyThe total cost of the stationery and printing has greatly reduced. yyGHMC has set a new national record in implementation of eOffice.
eOFFICE, THE GAME-CHANGER The electronic filing has many advantages. It has increased the speed with which applications can be filed, and facilitated 24 X 7 file movement, making it possible to receive files on days the office is officially closed, and extending the time for moving files on any given day till midnight. In fact, the eOffice has proved to be a game-changer in GHMC.
Now, even the ordinary citizens have become well aware of the electronic movement of files in GHMC and the general citizen’s perception is very positive as it results in quick transactions. This initiative is expected to save the Corporation’s 2.4 crore man hours every year and spare about 10000 employees from doing unproductive processes and procedures. It also helps in completing the procedures in a jiff unlike in the past, taking days together. The eOffice has scaled down the use of paper drastically contributing to the cause of environment protection.
NETWORK & HARDWARE STATUS yy100 Mbps MPLS/internet connectivity established at primary data centre (CGG, Gachibowli) yy40 Mbps MPLS/internet connectivity established at Head Office yy10 Mbps MPLS/internet connectivity established at all Zonal & Circle Offices yyAdditional 10 Mbps internet connectivity (Reliance) providing at all Zonal & Circle Offices yy243 Scanners issued to Head Office, Zonal & Circle Offices yy130 Computers issued to Head Office, Zonal & Circle Offices
For further information: Dr. A RAMA MOHAN RAO DDG & SIO NIC, Telangana State Unit Hyderabad E-mail: arrao@nic.in