Human Resources Query Desk

Human Resources Query Desk*

Nagesh Shastri, Senior Technical Director, NIC Cell
nagesh@nic.in

ABSTRACT
Human Resources Query Desk (INTELLIMATE) was developed for Directorate of Organisation & Personnel Management (DOPM), Central Board of Excise and Customs, Ministry of Finance to create a database of personal and posting details of Group A officers and provide a decision support system to facilitate their transfers/postings. It is used by the Board for its human resource deployment since last three years. The database contains all personal and posting details of nearly 2000 Group A officers. Web module enables the officers to view their history of posting. Personnel information in respect of officers is captured by the system, followed by history of posting of officers and training details. These details are collected from various chief commissioners for the officers working under their charge on paper form and entered into the system centrally. The data thus captured, forms the base to enable generation of queries.

1. Introduction Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) is a part of the Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It deals with the tasks of formulation of policy concerning levy and collection of Customs and Central Excise duties and administration of matters relating to Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax. The Board is the administrative authority for its subordinate organizations, including Custom Houses, Central Excise Commissionerates and the Central Revenues Control Laboratory. Directorate of Organization & Personnel Management (DOPM), a directorate of CBEC, is maintaining and regularly updating Centralised Data Bank of IRS (C&CE) Group A officers of Central Board of Excise and Customs. 2. Project Conceptualization To keep track of posting of officers over entire period of their service and to use the information for facilitating decisions regarding their future postings is a challenging task for any

*This chapter is re-produced with permission from the book Compendium of eGovernance Initiatives in India, Editors: Piyush Gupta, RK Bagga, Published by University Press, 2008.

Human Resources Query Desk

organization. CBEC requested NIC to develop an application system to computerize the data of history of postings of their Group A officers. Scope of the application covered, capturing their personnel information, history of postings and training details and develop queries, in line with existing transfer policies to enable the Board to take informed decisions for posting and transfer of officers. The system takes care of the following major functionalities like: a) Personal Details b) Posting Details c) Choice of Posting d) Training Details e) Leave Details f) Query Module g) Search Criteria h) Audit trail 3. Project vision To develop a data bank of personal information and history of postings with a view to facilitate transparency and efficiency in the transfer process in Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC). 4. Stakeholders 1. Central Board of Excise & Customs 2. IRS (C&CE) Group A officers 5. Goals & Objectives To facilitate transparency and efficiency in the transfer policy in CBEC. To eliminate of human errors in processes. To increase the reporting and querying capabilities. To create a centralised database of personal information and history of posting. Historical Data Maintenance. 6. Project Plan Technology Architecture

*This chapter is re-produced with permission from the book Compendium of eGovernance Initiatives in India, Editors: Piyush Gupta, RK Bagga, Published by University Press, 2008.

Human Resources Query Desk

Human Resources Query Desk uses state-of-the-art IT tools. It was developed as 3-tier web based architecture. Microsoft Active Server Page 3.0 and HTML was used for the front end design of the application. Microsoft SQL Server 2000 was used as back end database. Software on Server Microsoft Windows 2000 as Server OS Microsoft SQL Server 2000 as RDBMS IIS connectivity to establish connection between application and SQL Server 2000 Software on Clients Microsoft Windows 98/XP/2000 as OS LAN Connectivity to access the application Internet Explorer Trend Anti-virus for virus protection Printer driver for printing purposes Security The web application is hosted on NIC web server behind the firewall to ensure its integrity and security. Apart from this, other security considerations are taken into account a) Sever-level security b) Database-level security c) Application-level/role-based security d) User authentication and password using salted MD5. e) Backup facility 7. Milestones Creation of various master directory viz. Chief Commissionerates, Commissionerates, Directorates, Stations, Qualification, State, Category, Languages, Pay scale etc to facilitate data entry. To capture personal information and history of posting in respect of group A Officers. Analyse the information to facilitate generation of various reports in a timely manner to assist the Board officers in deciding transfer and posting of officers. Generation of various reports for the officers completed specified period in Sensitive Post/Region/Station etc.

*This chapter is re-produced with permission from the book Compendium of eGovernance Initiatives in India, Editors: Piyush Gupta, RK Bagga, Published by University Press, 2008.

Human Resources Query Desk

Successful completion of consecutive 3 Annual General Transfer (AGT) through this application. A specific search criteria is provided for better search option.

8. Project Management Structure Project Management Team is headed by Commissioner (DOPM), CBEC. Apart from Commissioner, Staff and Officers (8) involved in the capturing and validating the data. The development team comprised of one manager, one systems analyst and one programmer. Implementation Initially the application was implemented as pilot in Directorate of Organization & Personnel Management (DOPM), CBEC at Rajendra Place in July2004 for six months to test proof the concept. On successful completion of the pilot phase, the manual system was discontinued. Since last three years the system is fully operational and three AGTs are successfully completed using this application. Capacity Building a) For successful implementation of application, 15 days Training was provided to the all users (staff & officers) at all level (Data Entry Operator (DEO) / Supervisor / Assistant Commissioner) before they were put on the job. b) Training was given to the users whenever a new service/module was included or any change in the application took place. c) Efficient change management policy is in place, and the changes are done with consent of the stakeholders. Benefits Centralized personnel database for CBEC. Effective implementation of transfer policy. Speedy and accurate reporting of officers pertaining to personal and posting details. Elimination of Human errors in processes. Improve efficiency, performance and facilitate decision making process.

*This chapter is re-produced with permission from the book Compendium of eGovernance Initiatives in India, Editors: Piyush Gupta, RK Bagga, Published by University Press, 2008.

Human Resources Query Desk

GUI based software for better user interface and adaptability. Provide different access levels on the basis of post to enhance security of the system. Historical Data Maintenance. Road ahead a.) Continue enhancement of the application to make it more user friendly. b.) Incorporation of officers choice of posting on the grounds like medical, spouses profession, Children education etc. c.) Security audit of the application. d.) Customisation of application for Group B, C, D officers and staff. 9. Issues and their solutions Critical Success Factors a) Commitment of top management. b) Efforts made by staff to verify the output generated by the computerised system. c) Feedback provided by the stakeholders. d) Adherence to the time line by the development team. 10. Status and results Present status The system is in use since last three years and it has enabled creation of a centralised database of personal information and history of posting of Group A officers of CBEC. 11. Achievements a.) Manual system was discontinued after the successful implementation of the project since past 3 years. b.) Greater transparency and efficiency in the transfer process in Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC). c.) Reduction in time taken for generation of reports for Annual General Transfer (AGT). d.) Generation of error free reports. e.) Generation of reports in the manual system used to take about 15 days. The computerised system provides flexibility

*This chapter is re-produced with permission from the book Compendium of eGovernance Initiatives in India, Editors: Piyush Gupta, RK Bagga, Published by University Press, 2008.

Human Resources Query Desk

in specifying query parameters and reports can be generated in a very short period. 12. Conclusion The application is used by Directorate of Org & Personal Management (DOPM), Central Board of Excise and Customs, Ministry of Finance to develop a data bank of personal information and history of postings with a view to facilitate transparency and efficiency in the transfer process in Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC). 13. Software Architecture Marital Status Languages Category Rank

All Queries Personal Details Posting Details Training Details Sanction Strength

Qualificatio n Pay Scale

Seniority
SQL Server 2000

Intelimate

Station Chief Comm./comm./Di rectorate Chief Commissi Commissi onarate

ACR General Query

Directorat e

*This chapter is re-produced with permission from the book Compendium of eGovernance Initiatives in India, Editors: Piyush Gupta, RK Bagga, Published by University Press, 2008.

Human Resources Query Desk

14. A view of Query Selection Screen

*This chapter is re-produced with permission from the book Compendium of eGovernance Initiatives in India, Editors: Piyush Gupta, RK Bagga, Published by University Press, 2008.