CHAPTER – I

INTRODUCTION

Page No.

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Overview of e-Governance and e-Services 2

1.21 e-Governance : International Scenario 12

1.22 e-Governance : Initiatives in India 33

1.23 e-Governance in Maharashtra State 50

1.3 Highlights of United Nations e-Governance Survey 2012 62

1.4 ICT for managing services in Higher Education Sector 69

1.5 e-Suvidha : Educational e-Governance initiative of Government of

Maharashtra for offering e-services to students

86

1.51 Introduction to educational e-Governance Initiative e-Suvidha 86

1.52 Digital University Software Framework 87

1.53 e-Services offered : Information Services, Administrative and

Facilitation Services, Learning Services , Participative and

Collaboration Services

87

1.6 Student e-Services Management with e-Suvidha in North

Maharashtra University

99

1.61 Student e-Services offered in North Maharashtra University 99

1.62 Student Services in North Maharashtra University : Pre and

Post e-Suvidha scenario

100

1.63 Assessment Framework for educational e-Governance

system- ‘e-Suvidha’

103

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1.1 Introduction

There are many successful e-Governance projects implemented in India which are of

Government-to-Citizen nature. The services using Information and Communication

Technology [ICT] have become part of our life. It may be train reservation, electricity

bill payment, mobile recharge or insurance premium payment; many of us prefer to do

these activities using ICT in convenient way, saving our time, money and efforts.

Higher Education sector is no exception for use of ICT. Internationally many

universities and colleges have adopted e-Governance for administration and students

e-services purpose. In India also apex educational bodies like University Grants

Commission and All India Council for Technical Education have adopted e-

Governance. Similarly many universities and colleges have adopted e-Governance in

country. Open and Distance education institutions are also widely using ICT.

In order to aware citizens for using ICT in day to day life, efforts for increasing e-

literacy are essential. Hence Maharashtra Government wants their citizens to be part

of Knowledge based world. Maharashtra Government established Maharashtra

Knowledge Corporation Limited popularly known as MKCL to change the face of

ICT in the state. Maharashtra State – Certificate course in IT, commonly referred as

MS-CIT is proved very successful in preparing e-Literate community. MS-CIT has

reached to all corners of state and has prepared millions of people including students,

government employees, housewives, teachers, senior citizens etc.

After preparing e-Literate community, Government of Maharashtra and MKCL

decided to bring educational e-Governance revolution in the state. They initiated

educational e-Governance project called ‗e-Suvidha‘ with primary objective of

providing e-services to students of higher education at moderate cost. It also intends

to achieve cost efficiency, time efficiency and reducing load on college

administration. The e-Suvidha also intends to help university and colleges in effective

decision making. Currently more than 2 million students are facilitated with e-services

using ‗e-Suvidha‘. Currently all state universities are covered under e-Suvidha and

Government indents to include deemed universities and institutions of national

importance from the state which will bring another 2 million students under its ambit.

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Digital University framework is developed by MKCL for providing e-Services with

‗e-Suvidha‘ scheme. The ‗e-Suvidha‘ offers e-services to students of universities at

very reasonable cost of Rs.50 per academic year i.e. around $ 1 is charged towards e-

Suvidha fee from each student per year.

North Maharashtra University has adopted e-Suvidha from 2006-07 by signing

Memorandum of Understanding with MKCL. Since then it has offered e-services to e-

Suvidha to 3, 67,000 students till 2012-13. In academic year 2012-13 North

Maharashtra University provided e-Suvidha to more than 84,000 students.

The student life cycle right from admission to declaration of results and further

assistance for job is provided by university under ‗e-Suvidha‘ scheme. The

educational e-Governance initiative e-Suvidha is helping affiliated colleges for better

student services management in electronic way.

1.2 Overview of E-Governance and e-Services

E-Governance is of composed information technology, people and government. E-

Governance is the application of electronic means to improve the interaction between

government and citizens, and to increase the administrative effectiveness and

efficiency in the government operations. It is the application of information

technology for efficient and effective functioning of government processes in order to

establish Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent (SMART)

government.

Simple: Simple would mean simplicity of the laws, rules, regulations, processes and

procedures in government. The multiplicity of laws and their complexity together

with the requirements to fill in a number of forms drive citizens to intermediaries

resulting in delay in securing services and creating scope for corrupt practices.

Abolishing outdated and irrelevant laws and rewriting new laws is essential for

simplicity. Some of the new laws for single window digital signature are required for

effective introduction of e-governance applications.

Moral: The maintenance of high ethical standards in the system, are essential. ICT

may help in improving ethical values due to usage of workflow based working.

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Systems can act as watch dogs. Accountable: Every level in government pyramid is

accountable for fulfilling goals and targets. All this involves considerable teamwork

and sharing of the responsibility. A Rationally designed system of performance

indicators is perceived to be answer to the demands of accountability in a government

system.

Responsive: In this context of good governance means to be alive to the needs of the

public and to exhibit the required degree of urgency in responding to such needs. It

includes quality of service and its timeliness. Service delayed can mean service

denied. Citizen charters are a set of assurances given by government agencies on the

quality of service and the time limit for their delivery. Citizen charter can play a very

useful role in areas of public service involving grant of permissions, licenses,

certificates, and clearances, redressal of complaints, registration of various kinds, etc.

ICT can play a significant role in improving the responsiveness of governments. ICT

streamlines the steps associated with the receipt of the request for a service,

processing of the request and the delivery of the service.

Transparent: This is related to right to information for citizens. Citizens has right to

know decisions taken by government. Transparency is applicable for procurement

decisions, bid evaluation processes, assessment of taxes, appointments of public posts,

disciplinary matters, allocation of resources etc. Transparency brings equity in public

life. Transparency helps to reduce corruption. It enforces decision makers to act on

cases in time since procedures are monitored by citizens. ( E-government the science

of the possibilities – book by Mr Satyanaraya, NISG )

E-governance is the use of ICT for planning, implementation and monitoring of

government programs, projects and activities. E-governance is a process of reforms in

the way Government work, share information, engage citizens and deliver services to

external and internal clients for the benefit of both government and the client that they

serve. (http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/documents/opportunities-and-challangces-in-

egovernace.pdf by Dr Subhash Bhatnagar )

The e-Governance efforts by the European Union are based on the definition:

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―e-Government is the use of Information and Communication Technologies in public

administrations combined with organizational change and new skills in order to

improve public services and democratic processes‖

US 2002 E-Government Act, defining e-government as -

―The use by the Government of web-based Internet applications and other information

technologies, combined with processes that implement these technologies, to a)

enhance the access to and delivery of Government information and services to the

public, other agencies, and other Government entities or b) bring about improvements

in Government operations that may include effectiveness, efficiency, service quality,

or transformation;‖

E-government definition from World Bank:

E-Government refers to the use by government agencies of information technologies

(such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the

ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government.

These technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of

government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry,

citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government

management. The resulting benefits can be less corruption, increased transparency,

greater convenience, revenue growth, and/or cost reductions.

( http://web.worldbank.org )

The e-Governance projects have very high potential of offering benefits such as cost

effective solutions, improved and easy-to-access services to citizens, and improved

processing of transactions both within the government and between the government

and other agencies. The planning, implementation and monitoring of government

programs, projects and activities can be significantly strengthen by this application.

Rapid growth of Internet has led governments in both developing and developed

countries to use the technology for an efficient and effective service to the citizens.

Besides fast, convenient, cheap and reliable delivery of the services, Internet

technology enables to bring more transparency in governance and gives many benefits

to the e-Governance community. The government services can be extended to all

geographical segments all over the country round the clock.

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E-Governance benefited users -

The three main benefited user groups that can be distinguished in e-governance

concepts are government, citizens and businesses.

E-Governance is the use of information and communication technologies to support

good governance.

The most common interactions in e-governance are Government to Citizens (G2C),

Citizens to Government (C2G), Government to Businesses (G2B) and Government to

Government (G2G).

Hon . Dr Abdul Kalam Ex- president of India in his inaugural address at the

International Conference on e-governance (ICEG 2003) , IIT Delhi 18 dec 2003 said

that , E-government is a transparent smart e-governance with seamless access, secure

and authentic flow of information crossing the inter-departmental barrier and

providing a fair and unbiased service to the citizen.

Differentiating the two Concepts, E-governance and E-government:

E-Government and e-governance can be defined as two very distinct terms. E-

Governance is a broader topic that deals with the whole spectrum of the relationship

and networks within government regarding the usage and application of ICT. E-

Government is actually a narrower discipline dealing with the development of online

services to the citizen, more the e on any particular government service - such as e-

tax, e-transportation or e-health. E-Governance is a wider concept that defines and

assesses the impacts technologies are having on the practice and administration of

governments and the relationships between public servants and the wider society,

such as dealings with the elected bodies or outside groups such as not for profits

organizations, NGO‟s or private sector corporate entities. E-Governance encompasses

a series of necessary steps for government agencies to develop and administer to

ensure successful implementation of e-government services to the public at large.

Following table gives comparison of government and governance. Use of electronic

for these sectors defines e-government and e-governance

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Table 1: Government Compared to Governance

GOVERNMENT GOVERNANCE

Superstructure Functionality

Decisions Processes

Rules Goals

Rules Performance

Implementation Coordination

e-Government e-Governance

electronic service delivery electronic consultation

electronic workflow electronic controllership

electronic voting electronic engagement

electronic productivity electronic productivity

Source: [Riley, 2004]

Overview of E-Service

The concept of E-service (short form of electronic service), represents one prominent

application of utilizing the use of Information and communication technologies

(ICTs) in different areas. However, providing an exact definition of e-service is hard

to come by as researchers have been using different definitions to describe e-service.

Despite these different definitions, it can be argued that they all agree about the role

of technology in facilitating the delivery of services which make them more of

electronic services.

Rowley (2006) defines e-services as: ―…deeds, efforts or performances whose

delivery is mediated by information technology. Such e-service includes the service

element of e-tailing, customer support, and service delivery‖.

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This definition reflects three main components- service provider, service receiver and

the channels of service delivery (i.e., technology). For example, as concerned to

public e-service, public agencies are the service provider and citizens as well as

businesses are the service receiver. The channel of service delivery is the third

requirement of e-service. Internet is the main channel of e-service delivery while

other classic channels (e.g. telephone, call center, public kiosk, mobile phone,

television) are also considered.

E-Service usually referees to ‗The provision of services via the Internet (the prefix 'e'

standing for ‗electronic‘, as it does in many other usages), thus e-Service may also

include e-Commerce, although it may also include non-commercial services (online),

which is usually provided by the government.‘

'E-Service constitutes the online services available on the Internet, whereby a valid

transaction of buying and selling is possible, as opposed to the traditional websites,

whereby only descriptive information are available, and no online transaction is made

possible.' (Jeong, 2007)

Lu (2001) identifies a number of benefits for e-services, some of these are:

• Accessing a greater customer base

• Broadening market reach

• Lowering of entry barrier to new markets and cost of acquiring new customers

• Alternative communication channel to customers

• Increasing services to customers

• Enhancing perceived company image

• Gaining competitive advantages

• Potential for increasing customer knowledge

The term ‗E-service‘ has many applications and can be found in many disciplines.

The two dominant application areas of e-services are:

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E-Business (or E-Commerce): e-services mostly provided by businesses or Non-

government Organizations (NGOs) (private sector).

E-government: e-services provided by government to citizens or business (public

sector is the supply side). The use and description of the e-service in this page will be

limited to the context of e-government only where of the e-service is usually

associated with prefix ―public‖: Public e-services. In some cases, we will have to

describe aspects that are related to both fields like some conferences or journals which

cover the concept of ―e-Service‖ in both domains of e-government and e-business.

Some major cost factors related to e-Services are (Lu, 2001):

• Expense of setting up applications

• Maintaining applications

• Internet connection

• Hardware/software

• Security concerns

• legal issues

• Training; and

• Rapid technology changes

• Extinguishing Paranormal Beings

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Some of the major keywords of e-service as found in the

e-government research are as follows:

Acceptance

User acceptance of technology is defined as ―the demonstrable willingness within a

user group to employ information technology for the tasks it is designed to support‖.

This definition can be brought into the context of e-service where acceptance can be

defined as the users‘ willingness to use e-service or the willingness to decide when

and how to use the e-service.

Accessibility

Users‘ ability to access to the e-service is important. The improvement in e-services‘

accessibility like: design for accessibility from the outset of website development,

Involve users with disabilities in the testing of the site, focus on the benefits of an

accessible web site to all users is expected.

Administrative literacy

According to Grönlund et al. (2007), for a simple e-service, the needs for knowledge

and skills, content and procedures are considerably less. However, in complicated

services there are needed to change some prevailed skills, such as replacing verbal

skills with skill in searching for information online.

Benchmarking

This theme is concerned with establishing standards for measuring e-services or the

best practices within the field. This theme also includes the international

benchmarking of e-government services (UN reports, EU reports); much critic has

been targeting these reports being incomprehensive and useless. According Bannister

(2007)

―…benchmarks are not a reliable tool for measuring real e-government progress.

Furthermore, if they are poorly designed, they risk distorting government policies as

countries may chase the benchmark rather than looking at real local and national

needs‖

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Digital divide

Digital divide is considered one of the main barriers to implementing e-services; some

people do not have means to access the e-services and some others do not know how

to use the technology (or the e-service). According to Helbig et al. (2009), ―we

suggest E-Government and the digital divide should be seen as complementary social

phenomena (i.e., demand and supply). Moreover, a serious e-government digital

divide is that services mostly used by social elites."

E-readiness

Most of the reports and the established criteria focus on assessing the services in

terms of infrastructure and public policies ignoring the citizen participation or e-

readiness. According to by Shalini (2009), ―the results of the research project reveal

that a high index may be only indicating that a country is e-ready in terms of ICT

infrastructure and info-structure, institutions, policies, and political commitment, but

it is a very poor measure of the e-readiness of citizens. To summarize the findings, it

can be said that Mauritius is ready but the Mauritians are not‖

``E-readiness, as the Economist Intelligence Unit defines, is the measure of a

country‘s ability to leverage digital channels for communication, commerce and

government in order to further economic and social development.

Implied in this measure is the extent to which the usage of communications devices

and Internet services creates efficiencies for business and citizens, and the extent to

which this usage is leveraged in the development of information and communications

technology (ICT) industries. In general terms, the definition of e-readiness is relative,

for instance depending on a country in question's priorities and perspective.

Efficiency

As opposed to effectiveness, efficiency is focused on the internal competence within

the government departments when delivering e-services. There is a complaint that

researchers focus more on effectiveness ―There is an emerging trend seemingly

moving away from the efficiency target and focusing on users and governance

outcome. While the latter is worthwhile, efficiency must still remain a key priority for

eGovernment given the budget constraints compounded in the future by the costs of

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an ageing population. Moreover, efficiency gains are those that can be most likely

proven empirically through robust methodologies‖

Security

Security is the most important challenge that faces the implementation of e-services

because without a guarantee of privacy and security citizens will not be willing to take

up e-government services. These security concerns, such as hacker attacks and the

theft of credit card information, make governments hesitant to provide public online

services.

According to the GAO report of 2002 ―security concerns present one of the toughest

challenges to extending the reach of e-government. The rash of hacker attacks, Web

page defacing, and credit card information being posted on electronic bulletin boards

can make many federal agency officials—as well as the general public—reluctant to

conduct sensitive government transactions involving personal or financial data over

the Internet.‖ By and Large, Security is one of the major challenges that faces the

implementation and development of electronic services. People want to be assured

that they are safe when they are conducting online services and that their information

will remain secure and confidential

Stakeholders

Axelsson et al. (2009) argue that the stakeholder concept-which was originally used in

private firms-, can be used in public setting and in the context of e-government.

According to them, several scholars have discussed the use of the stakeholder theory

in public settings.The stakeholder theory suggests that need to focus on all the

involved stakeholder s when designing the e-service; not only on the government and

citizens.

Usability

Compared to Accessibility, There is sufficient literature that addresses the issue of

usability; researchers have developed different models and methods to measure the

usability and effectiveness of eGovernment websites.

However, But still there is call to improve these measures and make it more

compressive -

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``The word usability has cropped up a few times already in this unit. In the context of

biometric identification, usability referred to the smoothness of enrollment and other

tasks associated with setting up an identification system.

A system that produced few false matches during enrollment of applicants was

described as usable. Another meaning of usability is related to the ease of use of an

interface. Although this meaning of the term is often used in the context of computer

interfaces, there is no reason to confine it to computers.´´

1.21 E-Governance: International Scenario

Internationally countries have initiated e-Governance programs in order to make

government and its organizations efficient, more responsive and transparent.

According to the 2012 United Nations E-government Survey rankings, the Republic

of Korea is the world leader followed by the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and

Denmark.

On a regional level, Europe and Eastern Asia lead, followed by Northern America,

South Asia and Africa.

Initiatives in the USA

In 2001 an initiative known as ‗Expanding Electronic Government‘ was initiated as a

part of the President‘s Management Agenda. The objective was to make use of

information technology to eliminate wasteful federal spending, reduce governmental

paperwork and improve government response time to citizens. This expansion of e-

government had three guiding principles:

i. It should be citizen-centered and not bureaucracy or agency-centered.

ii. It should produce measurable improvements for citizens.

iii. It should be market-based, aimed at promoting innovation.

The approach of the Federal Government was aimed first at modernizing the use of

information technology within its agencies through using the principles of e-business;

secondly, it aimed at integrating information technology applications across different

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agencies with a focus on different groups of citizens including individuals, businesses,

Federal Government employees, etc. The first strategy envisaged adoption of certain

e-Governance practices within government agencies and departments. The second

strategy involved achieving the following performance objectives in case of specified

‗Portfolios‘:

• Government to Citizen (G to C): To provide one-stop, on-line access to information

and services to individuals.

• Government to Business (G to B): The Federal Government should not continue to

make businesses report the same data multiple times to multiple agencies.

Government should re-use the data appropriately and take advantage of commercial

electronic transaction protocols.

• Government to Government (G to G): Federal, State and Local Governments should

work together to improve services to citizens within key lines of business.

• Internal Efficiency and Effectiveness (IEE): The Federal Government should

modernize internal processes to reduce costs.

The initial e-government accomplishments can be gauged from the activation of the

following programs:

• FirstGov.gov: This is the citizens gateway to millions of pages of information

contained in more than 22000 Federal and State Websites.

• Volunteer.gov: Allows citizens‘ to volunteer for more than hundred thousand

openings at National Parks, Veteran Hospitals and other federal facilities.

• Recreation.gov: Provides citizens one-stop online access to National Parks and

Public recreation areas.

• GovBenefits.gov: Provides one-stop access to information and services of over four

hundred government programs for the benefit of citizens.

• IRS Free Filing: Allows citizens to file their taxes on-line for free.

• BusinessLaw.gov: Provides on-line resource guide to small businesses enabling

access to legal and regulatory information, compliance assistance etc.

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• Regulations.gov: Provides a single system supporting the rule making process.

• GoLearn.gov.: Provides e-training courses, e-books and career development

resources.

• E-Payroll: Consolidates government payroll processing centres.

• E-Clearance: Provides an integrated data base to enable reductions in the security

clearance backlog.

These initial efforts also led to the realization that a ‗Federal Enterprise Architecture‘

(FEA) was needed for implementing such initiatives. Basically, ‗enterprise

architecture‘ is the comprehensive view of what an organization does, how it does it

and how it is

e-Governance : International Scenario supported by information technology. This led

to the establishment of the FEA in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

The importance of e-Governance was also recognized by the US Congress which

resulted in the passage of the E-Government Act of 2002 which was signed by the

President on December 17, 2002.

The Act -

• Codifies and expands the E-Government leadership role of OMB through the

establishment of an Office of E-Government and IT headed by a Presidentially-

appointed Administrator;

• Authorizes several initiatives (E-Rulemaking, Geospatial One-Stop, E-Records

Management, E-Authentication and Disaster Management), and endorses the

FirstGov.gov portal;

• Sponsors ongoing dialogue with state, local and tribal governments, as well as the

general public, the private, and non-profit sectors to find innovative ways to use IT to

improve the delivery of government information and services; and

• Establishes an E-Government Fund, administered by GSA, to support IT projects

approved by OMB, that enable the Government to conduct activities electronically.

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Thus, the Office of Management and Budget‘s (OMB) E-Government and

Information Technology Office, has, with the support of the General Services

Administration (GSA) and the Federal Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council,

established the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) Program which builds a

comprehensive business-driven blueprint of the entire Federal Government. The

development of this framework aims to enable the Federal Government to identify

opportunities to leverage technology to -

• Reduce redundancy;

• Facilitate horizontal (cross-federal) and vertical (federal, state and local) information

sharing;

• Establish a direct relationship between IT and mission/program performance to

support citizen-centered, customer-focused government; and

• Maximize IT investments to better achieve mission outcomes.

In a document titled ―Implementing the President‟s Management Agenda for E-

Government‖, executive office of the president, Office of Management and Budget,

USA has mentioned following important aspects –

The primary goals for the President‟s “Expanding E-Government” initiative are

to:

• Make it easy for citizens to obtain service and interact with the federal government;

• Improve government efficiency and effectiveness; and

• Improve government‘s responsiveness to citizens.

The President's vision for reforming government emphasizes that "government needs

to reform its operations—how it goes about its business and how it treats the people it

serves.‖

The vision is guided by three principles:

• Citizen-centered, not bureaucracy-centered;

• Results-oriented; and

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• Market-based, actively promoting innovation.

An effective strategy will result in significant improvements in the federal

government, including:

• Simplifying delivery of services to citizens;

• Eliminating layers of government management;

• Making it possible for citizens, businesses, other levels of government and federal

employees to easily find information and get service from the federal government;

• Simplifying agencies' business processes and reducing costs through integrating and

eliminating redundant systems;

• Enabling achievement of the other elements of the President‘s Management Agenda;

and Streamlining government operations to guarantee rapid response to citizen needs.

This focuses on four citizen-centered groups, each providing opportunities to

transform delivery of services.

• Individuals/Citizens: Government-to-Citizens (G2C); Build easy to find, easy to use,

one stop Points-of-service that make it easy for citizens to access high-quality

government services.

• Businesses: Government-to-Business (G2B); Reduce government‘s burden on

businesses by eliminating redundant collection of data and better leveraging E-

business technologies for communication.

• Intergovernmental: Government-to-Government (G2G); Make it easier for states and

localities to meet reporting requirements and participate as full partners with the

federal government in citizen services, while enabling better performance

measurement, especially for grants. Other levels of government will see significant

administrative savings and will be able to improve program delivery because more

accurate data is available in a timely fashion.

• Intra-governmental: Internal Efficiency and Effectiveness (IEE); Make better use of

modern technology to reduce costs and improve quality of federal government agency

administration, by using industry best practices in areas such as supply-chain

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management, financial management and knowledge management. Agencies will be

able to improve effectiveness and efficiency, eliminating delays in processing and

improving employee satisfaction and retention.

Summary of E-Government Portfolios:

G2C

Use the web for accessing services such as benefits, loans, recreational sites &

educational material. Key lines of business: social services, recreation & natural

resources, grants, loans, taxes.

G2B

Reduce burden on businesses by adopting processes that enable collecting data once

for multiple uses & streamlining redundant data .Key lines of business: regulation,

economic development, trade, permits/licenses, grants/loans, asset management

G2G

Share & integrate federal, state & local data Key lines of business: economic

development, recreation & natural resources, public safety, law enforcement, disaster

response management, grants/loans

IEE

Adopt commercial best practices in government operation (supply chain management,

HR document workflow) Key lines of business: supply chain management, HR,

finance

USA Initiative Summaries:

Government to Citizen:

Recreation One-Stop

This initiative will build upon "Recreation.gov" and will provide a one-stop,

searchable database of recreation areas nationwide, featuring online mapping and

integrated transactions, including online campground reservations and the purchase of

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recreational passes, maps and other products. The project will include links to

recreational opportunities provided by all levels of government.

Value to Citizen: A single source of information through a simpler and more user

friendly site will reduce search time and provide better service to citizens. The value

of the service will increase through more detailed information and the ability to

conduct transactions online. Users will be able to find information and conduct

transactions at a single site, rather than searching through multiple agency Web sites.

Value to the Government: Through reduced duplication, increased sales and

employee time savings, this project should save federal agencies approximately $5

million annually in avoided costs.

Eligibility Assistance Online

Through a common Internet portal, citizens (with a focus on high-need demographic

groups) will have an online tool for identifying government benefit programs from

which they may be eligible to receive assistance.

Value to Citizen: Each citizen attempting to determine benefits eligibility should

save approximately 50 minutes by using this service over current services. Citizens

can also learn about benefits they were eligible to receive but might not know about.

Value to the Government: Customer service calls will be reduced by approximately

750,000 a year, and the government will save approximately $4 million a year

through eliminating redundancy.

Online Access for Loans

The Online Access for Loans initiative allows citizens and businesses to find the loan

programs that meet their needs.

Value to Citizen: Citizens will have faster, easier access to loan information and

transactions.

Value to the Government: Employees will save time in managing the loan process.

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USA Services

The USA Service initiative will use best practices in customer relationship

management to enable citizens to quickly obtain service online, while improving

responsiveness and consistency across government agencies. This initiative would

enable citizens to personalize the combination of services they obtain across multiple

programs and agencies in a privacy-protected environment.

Value to Citizen: More timely and helpful customer service and more consistent

customer service across lines of communication and government programs.

Value to the Government: Redundancy of operation will be eliminated across

agencies and employees will save time operating customer relationship management

tools.

EZ Tax Filing

The initiative would make it easier for citizens to files taxes in a Web-enabled

environment.

Value to Citizen: Citizens will no longer have to pay for basic, automated tax

preparation. Refund checks will be delivered sooner, online security will be increased

and customer service will be improved.

Value to the Government: More information is delivered electronically, reducing

data errors.

A higher percentage of tax forms are filled out correctly, reducing customer follow-

up. Call center receives fewer calls, reducing staffing costs.

Government to Business

Online Rulemaking Management

This initiative would provide access to the rulemaking process for citizens anytime,

anywhere. An existing ―e-Docket‖ system would be expanded and enhanced to serve

as a government-wide system for agency dockets. Other agency systems would use

the system by creating ―storefronts‖ consistent with statutory requirements for each

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agency under the Administrative Procedures Act. Comments would be organized

using knowledge management tools to improve the quality of rules.

Value to Citizen: A single portal for businesses and citizens to access the rulemaking

process, creating a more collaborative and transparent atmosphere in which to make

policy and public safety decisions. It will also improve the quality of policy decision

making by increasing citizen and business participation in the rulemaking process.

Public participation is estimated to increase by 600 percent.

Value to the Government: Elimination of duplicative and redundant systems that

currently exist or are being developed. Estimated $9.75 million in savings from

consolidating space and FTE costs for 57 rulemaking agencies. Without a

government-wide e-Docket system, the federal government will expend nearly $1

billion in development and annual operational costs.

Expanding Electronic Tax Products for Businesses

This initiative‘s goals include decreasing the number of tax-related forms that an

employer must file, providing timely and accurate tax information to employers,

increasing the availability of electronic tax filing and modeling simplified federal and

state tax employment laws.

Value to Citizen: Reduce the burden of compliance with tax laws for businesses.

Upon implementation, this initiative offers cost savings of up to $182 per year, per

small business. Aggregated, small businesses stand to save up to $6.4 billion over six

years.

Benefits to large and mid-sized companies should be greater as they tend to spend

considerably more time and effort on tax preparation.

Value to the Government: Increases the accuracy and reliability of tax data, as well

as the costs associated with paper processing. IRS and SSA may save $16 million

annually in staff and printing/mailing costs. It also reduces the costs to states for

processing wage and tax data by 5.6 percent.

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Federal Asset Sales

Prospective customers will be able to find assets that they are interested in, regardless

of the agency that holds those assets. Customers will be able to bid and/or make

purchases electronically for financial, real and disposable assets.

Value to Citizen: The creation of a single, easy-to-find point of access, rather than

150 disparate sites, will lower transaction costs and make it easier to do business with

the government.

Value to the Government: An estimated $15 million may be saved by consolidating

150 federal Web sites. Additional potential cost savings of approximately $750

million annually associated with the costs of excess building space could be achieved.

International Trade Process Streamlining

The initiative would create a single customer-focused site where new or existing

exporters could be assisted electronically through the entire export process. The 20

current Web sites would be organized and accessed through a single entry point.

Value to Citizen: The average export transaction by small to medium exporters

(SME) is $400,000. If 224,000 SMEs increase even by a small amount, exports might

increase by a billion dollars or more.

Value to the Government: Could streamline 19 agencies involved in trade

promotion.

One-Stop Business Compliance Information

This initiative would provide information on laws and regulations that can help users

understand compliance information. It would also offer wizards and tutorials to help

users determine if rules apply to them and how to proceed. To the maximum extent

possible, permits would be completed, submitted and approved online.

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Value to Citizen: Currently, the regulatory burden on small business is $7,000 per

employee. The creation of a single, cross-agency, business compliance portal will

reduce the regulatory burden on the private sector.

Value to the Government: Streamlined business processes and economies of scale

would reduce agency costs for achieving business compliance. Government-wide

savings of an estimated $10 to $20 million could be realized after full implementation.

Additional savings would be realized as a result of staff reductions from online

permitting.

Consolidated Health Informatics (business case)

The initiative would provide the basis for a simplified and unified system for sharing

and reusing medical record information among government agencies and their private

healthcare providers and insurers. It would enable a single mechanism for making

those records accessible.

Value to Citizen: Reduce private sector healthcare expenditures for administration

(accounts for $57 billion) and improve healthcare for one-half of the population of the

United States.

Value to the Government: Order of magnitude savings (from days to minutes) are

possible in the area of managing, transporting, copying and exchanging paper medical

records. Upon full implementation, this initiative could result in savings of up to $100

million.

Government to Government

Geospatial Information One-Stop

The Geospatial Information One-Stop will provide access to the federal government's

spatial data assets in a single location and help make state and local spatial data assets

more accessible. federal agencies will also make their planned and future spatial data

activities available to state and local governments to promote collaboration and

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reduce duplicative efforts. Data standards developed through an intergovernmental

process will result in data that can be used multiple times for multiple purposes,

saving taxpayer money. It will also help empower the private sector by

communicating the characteristics of a desired standardized data product.

Value to Citizen: Standardized and reliable spatial data can help save hundreds of

millions of dollars annually through consolidation and coordination of spatial data

acquisition and maintenance. It will reduce search time for geospatial assets from

weeks to minutes. Lastly, it can help improve and expedite citizen service by making

data more readily available to agencies requiring that information to perform their

governmental functions.

Value to the Government: Full deployment will result in easier, more reliable access

to spatial data that should result in hundreds of millions of dollars saved annually by

eliminating redundant data collection and increasing opportunities for cost-sharing

partnerships. Consolidation and coordination of spatial data assets are critical enablers

for other E-Government initiatives, as well as for the Homeland Security effort.

e-Grants

This initiative will create an electronic grants portal for grant recipients and the grant

making agencies that will streamline, simplify and provide an electronic option for

grants management across the government. This effort will include the work of the 26

federal grant-making agencies. Value to Citizen: A single grant portal will simplify

the application process and increase awareness of grant opportunities resulting in a

reduction of time spent preparing and searching for grants.

Value to the Government: Save $1 billion in federal funds currently devoted to the

administration of grants. Consolidated Web site will save as much as $20 million in

postage costs.

Disaster Assistance and Crisis Response

This initiative involves a public, one-stop portal containing information from

applicable public and private organizations involved in disaster preparedness,

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response, recovery and mitigation. This portal will also serve as a single point of

application for all disaster assistance programs.

Value to Citizen: Accurate and timely data may result in saved lives and reduction in

property damage. Tens of millions of dollars will be saved in the reduction of

insurance costs and lawsuits. A single point of application for disaster assistance will

save time during the application and disbursement process.

Value to the Government: Elimination of redundant programs and administrative

costs in agencies that provide disaster assistance.

Wireless Public SAFEty Interoperable COMmunications/ Project SAFECOM

For public safety officials to be effective in their daily responsibilities, as well as

before, during and after an emergency event, public safety agencies throughout all

levels of government, i.e. federal, state and local, must be able to communicate with

each other. This initiative would address the Nation‘s critical shortcomings in efforts

by public safety agencies to achieve interoperability and eliminate redundant wireless

communications infrastructures. At the same time, it would assist state and local

interoperability and interoperability between federal public safety networks.

Value to Citizen: Coordinated public safety/law enforcement communication will

result in saved lives, as well as better-managed disaster response. Consolidated

networks will yield cost savings through reduction in communication devices,

management overhead of multiple networks, maintenance and training.

Value to the Government: Billions of dollars could be saved through a right-sized

set of consolidated, interoperable federal networks, linked to state wireless networks,

resulting in a reduction in communications infrastructure, overhead, maintenance and

training.

e-Vital (business case)

This initiative would expand the existing vital records online data exchange efforts

between federal agencies and state governments.

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Value to Citizen: Elimination of burden imposed on citizens to obtain and deliver

vital record information from local government to the federal government. Enables

more efficient and effective benefit qualification.

Value to the Government: Save millions of dollars annually through fraud detection

from computer matching programs as well as from reductions in erroneous payments.

Internal Efficiency and Effectiveness

e-Training

The vision is to provide a repository of government-owned courseware to be made

available to all governments (federal, state and local), to provide high interest and

government-required training to government employees at economies of scale pricing.

In addition, this would foster development of communities of practice. This initiative

supports achievement of the President‘s Human Capital initiative.

Value to Citizen: Easy one-stop access to just-in-time training with more effective

development and retention of high-quality, diversified work force

Value to the Government: Low-cost delivery of effective training

Recruitment One-Stop

This initiative would improve the federal hiring process by improving the

functionality of the federal automated employment information system. It would

provide job seekers with streamlined resume submission, online feedback about their

status in the employment process and integration with automated assessment tools.

The initiative will provide federal employers with a searchable resume database.

Value to Citizen: This process will allow job seekers to enter their resume

information once to apply for multiple federal vacancies and to receive up-to-the

minute information regarding the status of their application(s).

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Value to the Government: This process will give agencies broader and faster access

to resumes and the automated tools needed to select candidates. It makes the

government a competitive player with the private sector in the recruitment market.

Enterprise HR Integrations

Integrated Human Resources and e-Clearance

This initiative will eliminate the need for paper employee records, enable strategic

decisions regarding the use of human capital and financial resources to improve

agency performance and address emerging needs. It will also allow for the electronic

transfer of HR data throughout the federal sector, better protect the rights and benefits

of the federal workforce and streamline and improve government-wide reporting and

data analyses. It will reduce the time required to seek and access employee and

contractor security clearance information.

Value to Citizen: Improves services and protects the rights and benefits of the federal

workforce and provides faster security clearances.

Value to the Government: Streamlines reporting, reduces dependency on paper

based processes, while improving HR capabilities and communications, all at a lower

cost.

e- Payroll/HR (Payroll Processing Consolidation)

The vision is to simplify and unify elements of the Payroll/HR process in order to

consolidate and integrate HR and payroll systems across government. This effort will

provide several hundred million dollars of savings to organizations and significantly

reduce future information technology (IT) investments and could foster direct

privatization. This initiative supports achievement of the five dimensions of the

President‘s Management Agenda.

Value to Citizen: A government that works more efficiently is one that better serves

its citizens.

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Value to the Government: Allows the federal government to consolidate payroll

operations to simplify and unify processes, thus saving dollars that would be spent on

multiple facilities, systems and management.

e-Travel

Agencies will use a common travel management system throughout the federal

government. Existing travel management resources will be consolidated and processes

will be simplified for cheaper, more efficient operation.

Value to Citizen: One-stop integrated travel services for all federal employees

Value to the Government: Reduced cycle time and improved travel and budget

information at a lower cost.

Integrated Acquisition Environment

Agencies will begin sharing common data elements to enable other agencies to make

more informed procurement, logistical, payment and performance assessment

decisions. It will also allow agencies to make maximum use of E-market approaches.

Value to Citizen: Cost savings to the taxpayer based on a more effective process that

leverages scale with more supplier opportunities.

Value to the Government: Will make the purchase of goods and services faster and

less expensive, while providing more access to small business.

Electronic Records Management

This initiative will provide the tools that agencies will need to manage their records in

electronic form, addressing specific areas of electronic records management where

agencies are having major difficulties. This project will provide guidance on

electronic records management applicable government-wide and will provide tools for

agencies to transfer electronic records to NARA in a variety of data types and formats

so that they may be preserved in for future use by the government and citizens.

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Value to Citizen: Easier process for creating information, with more reliable storage,

that is also in compliance with the Federal Records Act

Value to the Government: More efficient operations that meet the statutory

requirements of the Federal Records Act.

e-Authentication

e-Authentication will build and enable the mutual trust needed to support wide spread

use of electronic interactions between the public and government and across

governments. This will establish a method for satisfactorily establishing ‗identity,‘

without which the promise of E-Government will never reach its full potential. The

project will establish common interoperable authentication solutions for all of the

EGovernment initiatives.

Value to Citizen: Secure, consistent method of proving identity to the federal

government.

Value to the Government: Eliminate redundancy in electronic signature technology

and policy

operations, thereby reducing costs and employee time required.

Initiatives in the UK

In year 2000, the Cabinet Office in the UK came out with the document ‗E-

Government: A Strategic Framework for Public Services in the Information Age‘.

This document did not propose any technical solutions to a set of business needs.

Instead, by recognizing that the business of Government is too varied and complex for

adopting such an approach, it provided a strategic direction to the public sector for

transforming itself by exploiting the possibilities of new technology. This strategy

focuses on using e-business methods as a means of meeting the government‘s targets

for electronic service delivery, electronic procurement and e-commerce. The strategy

has four guiding principles:

• Building services around citizens‘ choices

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• Making Government and its services more accessible over the internet and through

mobile phones, digital TV, call centers and personal computers

• Social inclusion

• Using information better.

This strategy is centered around certain framework policies which are geared towards

providing standardization and building confidence. Thus, the ‗Security Framework

Policy‘ provides a framework against which service providers will need to assess their

services. However, service providers are free to propose implementations within the

framework. The ‗Authentication Framework Policy‘ and guidelines establish a

common approach to authentication for government departments, agencies and the

wider public sector. This framework policy does not assume the establishment of a

single, national system of identification. It looks to the establishment of a range of

authentication services by central and local government and private and public sector

bodies. Further, the ‗Smart Card Framework Policy‘ provides a mandatory set of

standards to facilitate interoperability. This is intended to allow the holder of a smart

card issued by any private or public sector body to access the broadest possible range

of public services. The strategy also proposes the development of a ‗Privacy

Framework‘ to secure the system. The overall common policy and standards are set

out in the ‗interoperability framework policy‘.

The institutional mechanism for implementing the strategy is described below:

A. The e-Envoy, supported by the Information Age Government Champions, will

• articulate a detailed change programme

• lead its implementation

• identify new opportunities for cross-cutting initiatives

• report regularly on progress to Ministers.

The Central IT Unit (CITU) in the Cabinet Office, in collaboration with counterparts

in the devolved administrations and lead agencies, will -

• support citizen-focused service integration

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• lead implementation of framework policies, standards and guidelines

• promote shared infrastructure and applications

• establish a government portal

• promote common policies on the management of information.

. Public sector organizations will -

• establish new ways of doing business

• implement common standards and framework policies

• develop e-business strategies

• provide services which are accessible via the government and other portals.

In 2005, the Cabinet Office came out with the document ‗Transformational

Government: enabled by technology‘. This document recognizes that many systems

and processes are still paper based and staff-intensive. They are structured around the

‗product‘ or the underlying legislation rather than the customer. Further, most

government agencies are designed as islands, having their own databases,

infrastructure and security and identity procedures. This makes it difficult to work

with other parts of government as also with the voluntary and community sector. The

document also recognizes that the number, scale and sheer difficulty of public sector

projects puts a stress on the capacity of the public and the private sectors to deliver

efficiently. Accordingly, the document stresses on three key transformations.

These are:

• Services enabled by IT must be designed around the citizen or business, not the

provider, and provided through modern, co-ordinated delivery channels. This will

improve the customer experience, achieve better policy outcomes, reduce paperwork

and improve efficiency by reducing duplication and routine processing, leveraging

delivery capacity and streamlining processes.

• Government must move to a shared service culture – in the front-office, in the back-

office, in information and in infrastructure – and release efficiencies by

standardization, simplification and sharing.

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• There must be broadening and deepening of government‘s professionalism in terms

of the planning, delivery management, skills and governance of IT enabled change.

This will result in more successful outcomes; fewer costly delivery failures; and

increased confidence by citizens and politicians in the delivery of change by the

public services.

Initiatives in New Zealand

Understanding the importance of opportunities offered by ICT, the New Zealand

Government came out with its e-government vision document in May 2000 and an ‗E-

Government Unit‘ was established by the State Services Commission (SSC) in July

2000. In April 2001, the government came out with its ‗E-Government Strategy‘. This

strategy had a simple operational vision: ‗New Zealand will be a world leader in e-

government‘. This vision was supported by a time-bound mission: ―By 2004, the

Internet will be the dominant means of enabling ready access to government

information, services and processes.‖ Basically, this strategy was in the nature of a

programme for action for the State Services Commission‘s E-government Unit (EGU)

and government agencies working alongside the Unit, aimed at making the most of e-

technology in government. The overall objective was to create ―a public sector

(including the public service, Crown entities, State Owned Enterprises and local

government) that is: structured, resourced and managed to perform in a manner which

meets the needs of New Zealanders in the information age and which increasingly

delivers information and services using online capabilities.‖ As per this strategy, e-

government was expected to provide:

• Better services – more convenient and reliable, with lower compliance costs, higher

quality and value;

• Cost effectiveness and efficiency – cheaper, better information and services for

customers and better value for taxpayers;

• Improved reputation – building an image of New Zealand as a modern nation, an

attractive location for people and business;

• Greater participation by people in government – making it easier for those who wish

to contribute; and

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• Leadership – supporting the knowledge society through public sector innovation.

In the Report entitled ‗Achieving e-government 2004‘, the progress in implementing

the strategy was examined by assessing agency websites, appraising the quality of

agency metadata records used on the government portal, consulting with agencies,

reviewing the EGU‘s contribution and analyzing recent e-government surveys to

measure the demand for e-government. The Report showed that the target for 2004

had been achieved. The strategy has been revised regularly and the last revision

(fourth revision) was in 2006.

Its goals are as follows:

• By 2007, information and communication technologies will be integral to the

delivery of government information, services and processes.

• By 2010, the operations of government will be transformed as government agencies

and their partners will use technology to provide user-centered information and

services and achieve joint outcomes.

• By 2020, people‘s engagement with the government will have been transformed, as

increasing and innovative use is made of the opportunities offered by network

technologies.

The new strategy envisions that ―The E-government Strategy is the all-of-government

approach to transforming how agencies use technology to deliver services, provide

information, and interact with people, as they work to achieve the outcomes sought by

government.‖ The new strategy combines efforts in different areas to provide an

integrated front. These area specific strategies are:

• New Zealand Digital Content Strategy

• Public Broadcasting Program of Action

• Geospatial Information Strategy

• Justice Sector Information Strategy

• Health Information Strategy for New Zealand

• ICT Strategic Framework for Education.

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1.22 E-Governance: Initiatives in India

Introduction

Knowing the increasing importance of electronics, the Government of India

established the Department of Electronics in 1970.

Next important establishment of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in 1977 was

the first major step towards e-Governance in India as it brought ‗information‘ and its

communication in focus.

In the early 1980s, use of computers was confined to very few organizations. The

advent of personal computers brought the storage, retrieval and processing capacities

of computers to Government offices. By the late 1980s, a large number of

government officers had computers but they were mostly used for ‗word processing‘.

The introduction of better software and computers were put to other uses like

managing databases and processing information. Advances in communications

technology further improved the versatility and reach of computers, and many

Government departments started using ICT for a number of applications like tracking

movement of papers and files, monitoring of development programs, processing of

employees‘ pay rolls, generation of reports etc.

The main development for e-Governance was provided by the launching of NICNET

in 1987 – the national satellite-based computer network. This was followed by the

launch of the District Information System of the National Informatics Centre

(DISNIC) program to computerize all district offices in the country for which free

hardware and software was offered to the State Governments. NICNET was extended

via the State capitals to all district headquarters by 1990.

In the subsequent years, with ongoing computerization, telephone connectivity and

internet connectivity, came a large number of e-Governance initiatives, both at the

Union and State levels.

A National Task Force on Information Technology and Software Development was

constituted in May 1998.

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The recognition to Information Technology as a frontier area of knowledge ,

government focused on utilizing it as an enabling tool for assimilating and processing

all other spheres of knowledge.

In 1999, the Union Ministry of Information Technology was created. Later in 2000, a

12-point minimum agenda for e-Governance was identified by Government of India

for implementation in all the Union Government Ministries and Departments.

Prior to 2006 when the Government of India formally launched its National e-

Governance Plan (NeGP), some Departments of Government of India as well as State

Governments had initiated steps to adopt e-Governance.

In this context it would be useful to highlight some of the important e-Governance

initiatives implemented by the Union and State Governments in the last 10 to 15

years, assess their strengths and weaknesses and identify the lessons learnt from them.

These initiatives are discussed under the following categories:

i. Government to Citizen (G2C) initiatives

ii. Government to Business (G2B) initiatives

iii. Government to Government (G2G) initiatives

The above categories are discussed below in brief with supporting projects.

Government to Citizen (G2C) Initiatives

The e-Governance scenario in India has come a long way since computers were first

introduced. The focus now is on extending the reach of governance to have a major

impact on the people at large. As stated earlier, e-Governance is an important tool to

enhance the quality of government services to citizens, to bring in more transparency,

to reduce corruption and subjectivity, to reduce costs for citizens and to make

government more accessible. A large number of initiatives have been taken in this

category by the Union and the State Governments. IT Act was introduced in year

2000.

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Some projects are described below -

Bhoomi Project in Karnataka : Online Delivery of Land Records

Bhoomi is a self-sustainable e-Governance project for the computerized delivery of

20 million rural land records to 6.7 million farmers through 177 Government-owned

kiosks in the State of Karnataka. It was felt that rural land records are central conduits

to delivering better IT-enabled services to citizens because they contain multiple data

elements: ownership, tenancy, loans, nature of title, irrigation details, crops grown etc.

In addition to providing the proof of title to the land, this land record is used by the

farmer for a variety of purposes: from documenting crop loans and legal actions, to

securing scholarships for school-children. These records were hitherto maintained

manually by 9,000 village officials. Through this project, computerized kiosks are

currently offering farmers two critical services - procurement of land records and

requests for changes to land title. Millions of records are now being legally

maintained in the digital format. To ensure authenticity of data management, a

biometric finger authentication system has been used for the first time in an e-

Governance project in India. To make the project self-sustaining and expandable,

Bhoomi levies user charges.

Gyandoot Project (State - Madhya Pradesh)

Gyandoot is an Intranet-based Government to Citizen (G2C) service delivery

initiative. It was initiated in the Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh in January 2000 with

the twin objective of providing relevant information to the rural population and acting

as an interface between the district administration and the people. The basic idea

behind this project was to establish and foster a technologically innovative initiative

which is owned and operated by the community itself. Initially, computers were

installed in twenty village Panchayat centres and connected to the District Rural

Development Authority in Dhar town. These were called Soochanalayas which were

operated by local rural youth selected for this purpose (called Soochaks). No fixed

salary or stipend was paid to them. Later more number of Soochanalayas were

opened as private enterprise. The Soochanalayas are connected to the Intranet through

dial-up lines. The services offered through the Gyandoot network include -

Daily agricultural commodity rates (mandi bhav)

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Income certificate

Domicile certificate

Caste certificate

Public grievance redressal

Rural Hindi email

BPL family list

Rural Hindi newspaper.

Lokvani Project (State -Uttar Pradesh)

Lokvani is a public-private partnership project at Sitapur District in Uttar Pradesh

which was initiated in November, 2004. Its objective is to provide a single window,

self-sustainable e-Governance solution with regard to handling of grievances, land

record maintenance and providing a mixture of essential services. As 88 per cent of

the District population resides in villages and the literacy rate is only 38 per cent, the

programme had to be designed in a way which was user-friendly and within the reach

of the people both geographically as well as socially. To achieve this, the programme

format uses the local language, Hindi, and is spread throughout the district to a chain

of Lokvani Kiosk Centres. These Kiosks have been established by licensing the

already existing cyber cafes. The services offered by Lokvani are:

Availability of land records (khataunis) on the internet

Online registration, disposal and monitoring of public grievances

Information of various Government schemes

Online availability of prescribed Government forms

Online status of Arms License applications

GPF Account details of Basic Education teachers

Details of work done under MPLAD/Vidhayak Nidhi

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Details of allotment of funds to Gram Sabhas under different development

schemes

Details of allotment of food grains to Kotedars (fair price shops)

Other useful information of public interest.

Project FRIENDS (State – Kerala)

FRIENDS (Fast, Reliable, Instant, Efficient Network for the Disbursement of

Services) is a Single Window Facility providing citizens the means to pay taxes and

other financial dues to the State Government. It was launched in Thiruvananthapuram

in June 2000 and replicated in other district headquarters during 2001-02. The

services are provided through FRIENDS Janasevana Kendrams located in the district

headquarters.

This project is a classic case of achieving front end computerized service delivery to

citizens without waiting for completion of back end computerization in various

government departments. This project thus tries to avoid the complex issues involved

in business process re-engineering in the participating departments. In fact, the

FRIENDS counters are not even networked with the participating

departments/entities. Print-outs of payments made through the counters are physically

distributed to participating entities for processing. To remove bottlenecks at the time

of processing, a government order was issued to treat a receipt from a FRIENDS

counter as equivalent to a receipt from the concerned government entity.

With the success of the project, efforts have been initiated to develop FREES

(FRIENDS Re-engineered and Enterprises Enabled Software) which would

incorporate the ‗Any Centre Any Payment Mode‘.

e-Mitra Project in Rajasthan

This e-Governance initiative builds upon the experiences gained through the

LokMitra and JanMitra pilot projects launched in 2002. While LokMitra was centred

in the city of Jaipur, JanMitra was piloted in Jhalawar district to provide information

and services under one roof to urban and rural populations. e-Mitra is an integration

of these two projects in all the 32 districts using PPP model. There are two major

components – ‗back office processing‘ and ‗service counters‘. Back office processing

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includes computerization of participating departments and establishing an IT enabled

hub in form of a mini data centre at the district level (e-Mitra data centre). All

participating departments and the service centres hook up to this data centre. It is

managed by the Facility Management Service Provider on behalf of the district e-

Governance Society (under Chairmanship of the district collector). Private partners

(Local Service Providers) run the kiosks/centres. In case of collection on account of

payment of utility bills and government levies, the Local Service Provider does not

charge the citizen, but gets reimbursement from the concerned organization through

the e-Mitra Society. In case of other services, the transaction fees is prescribed by the

Society.

This project is an improvement on earlier schemes as it also involves back office

computerization. Further, the citizen is not required to pay any fees for availing of the

facility for making payment for government utilities.

The e-Mitra project has been chosen by the Government of Rajasthan to roll out the

Community Service Centre project under NeGP.

eSeva Project (State - Andhra Pradesh)

This project is designed to provide ‗Government to Citizen‘ and ‗e-Business to

Citizen‘ services. Originally, it was implemented in the form of the TWINS (Twin

Cities Integrated Network Services) project in 1999 in the twin cities of Hyderabad

and Secunderabad. The highlight of the eSeva project is that all the services are

delivered online to consumers /citizens by connecting them to the respective

government departments and providing online information at the point of service

delivery. The network architecture is designed as an Intranet on a Wide Area Network

(WAN). The network is designed in three tiers,38 each tier being physically located in

different places. The first tier for the client-end is located at the eSeva centres. The

second tier consists of the data servers and the application servers. The third tier

comprises Departmental servers as the backend in the concerned departments

(Electricity, Municipality, Passport Office, Transport Department, Registration,

Commercial Tax, etc). These servers keep consolidated databases. Presently, eSeva is

providing ‗One-stop-shop‘ for over 66 G2Cand B2Cservices in 46 eSeva centres in

the twin cities and Ranga Reddy district. Centres have also been opened in 20 other

districts. The services include online payment of utility bills, issuing certificates,

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issuing licenses & permits, e-forms etc. Payments can be made by cash or cheque or

DD or credit card or Internet Banking.

The project has become very popular among the citizens especially for payment of

utility bills. In fact, it has been asserted that the success of this project is largely based

on payment of electricity bills.40 This project exemplifies the potential for integration

of delivery of Union, State and Local Government services at one point. However, it

also shows that the model based on payment of utility bills could not be rolled out in

the rural hinterland.

Revenue Administration through Computerized Energy (RACE) Billing Project,

(State –Bihar)

The Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (PESU), which is one of the seven area boards

of the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB), caters to the energy requirements of the

Patna Urban Area. The entire billing and payment process was manual and anomalies

in the system were resulting in harassment to the consumers and loss of revenue to the

Board. The major problems which had cropped up in the system were irregular billing

cycle, ineffective data management, lack of transparency and delayed accounting. To

address these problems, it was decided by the BSEB to take the assistance of ICT in

providing value added and consumer-friendly service to the clients. A separate

department of IT was created in BSEB to implement the project and the software was

designed by NIC.

To begin with, a pilot was executed in one of the divisions for implementing the

RACE software in 2001. Different modules were implemented incrementally and by

July 2007, payment of bills of any division at any one of the 31 collection counters as

per convenience was facilitated. Bills are now being generated with a barcode and

consumers can download the bills using the internet and also see the details of

payments made by them.

Admission to Professional Colleges – Common Entrance Test (CET) (State-

Karnataka)

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The rapid growth in the demand as well as supply of professional education, the

process of admission to these institutions became a major challenge in the early

1990s. Recourse was then taken to ICT to make the process of admission transparent

and objective. One of the pioneering efforts was made by Karnataka. The State

Government decided to conduct a common entrance test based on which admission to

different colleges and disciplines was made. The allocation of seats in different

colleges/disciplines is done through a process of ‗computerized counseling‘ where the

student can choose the discipline he/she wants – based, of course, on merit. Use of

ICT in the admission process has helped in making the admission process totally

transparent, fair and objective. Many institutions have now switched over to similar

ICT based admission process.

Government to Business (G2B) Initiatives :

G2Binitiatives encompass all activities of government which impinge upon business

organizations. These include registrations under different statutes, licenses under

different laws and exchange of information between government and business. The

objective of bringing these activities under e-Governance is to provide a congenial

legal environment to business, expedite various processes and provide relevant

information to business.

e-Procurement Project (State -Andhra Pradesh)

Prior to the introduction of an e-Procurement system in Andhra Pradesh, procurement

in Government departments was done through a manual tendering process.

The process consisted of a long chain of internal authorizations and scrutiny which

necessitated several visits by the suppliers to government departments. The manual

tender system suffered from various deficiencies, including discrimination, cartel

formation, delays, lack of transparency etc.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh introduced the e-Procurement project in 2003

with the following objectives:

To reduce the time and cost of doing business for both vendors and government;

To realize better value for money spent through increased competition and the

prevention of cartel formation;

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To standardize procurement processes across government departments/agencies;

To increase buying power through demand aggregation;

To provide a single-stop shop for all procurements; and

To allow equal opportunity to all vendors.

e-Procurement Project (State – Gujarat)

The system of e-procurement was introduced in the State of Gujarat from October

2004 onwards. Roll out of the system was carried out in a phased manner starting

from few works/items for limited departments and was made compulsory for all

government departments in 2007. The project was funded by the State Government

with the objective of deriving the benefits of increased efficiency from e-enablement

of business processes.

It aims to establish transparency in procurement process, shortening of procurement

cycle, availing of competitive price, enhancing confidence of suppliers and

establishing flexible and economical bidding process for suppliers. It has been

introduced to cover the following transactions:

Purchases and procurement of goods, plants, equipment, machinery,

medicines, medical and surgical supplies and stores items, food and civil

supplies stores items and purchases, printing and stationery items and

purchase, all types of vehicle purchases, furniture and fixtures etc.

All types of civil construction and related work

Outsourcing of required services

Auctioning of old plants, equipment, machinery, buildings, vehicles, furniture

and fixtures, lands, properties, etc

All other purchases and work orders.

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MCA 21 Project

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has implemented the MCA 21 Mission Mode

Project under the NeGP in September 2006. The project aims at providing easy and

secure online access to all registry related services provided by the Union Ministry of

Corporate Affairs to corporates and other stakeholders at any time and in a manner

that best suits them. The goals of this project were formulated keeping in mind

different stakeholders. These were:

a. Business: to enable registration of a company and file statutory documents quickly

and easily.

b. Public: to get easy access to relevant records and effective grievances redressal.

c. Professionals: to enable them to offer efficient services to their client companies.

d. Financial Institutions: to easily find charges for registration and verification.

e. Employees: to enable them to ensure proactive and effective compliance of relevant

laws and corporate governance.

4.4 Government to Government (G2G) Initiatives

In the government system there is large scale processing of information and decision

making. G2G initiatives help in making the internal government processes more

efficient. Many a time G2Cand G2Bprocesses necessitate the improvements in G2G

processes.

Khajane Project (State – Karnataka)

It is a comprehensive online treasury computerization project of the Government of

Karnataka. The project has resulted in the computerization of the entire treasury

related activities of the State Government and the system has the ability to track every

activity right from the approval of the State Budget to the point of rendering accounts

to the government. The project was implemented to eliminate systemic deficiencies in

the manual treasury system. The aspects of the project which require highlighting are:

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• A prior study of deficiencies of the system was conducted. The best

practices of the treasury system of some other States (Andhra Pradesh,

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal) were studied.

• To eliminate redundant processes, systematic re-engineering was done.

Processes were adopted to suit computer applications. A procedure manual

was brought out.

• Staff feedback was obtained. Motivation of staff was accorded high

priority. User-friendliness of the software, simplification of processes and

reduction of drudgery was highlighted.

• Software development was supervised by treasury teams. Software was

tested in representative treasury environments. Feedback was utilized in

modifying the software.

• Training was provided before software roll-out.

The system includes features such as budget control, online funds transfer etc. This

project manages to minimize efforts devoted earlier to reconcile the entries in the

accounts and provides accurate information on a timely basis. Thus it has contributed

in bringing efficiency in the government and aids the decision making process. This

project has turned out to be success story.

SmartGov (State - Andhra Pradesh)

The Andhra Pradesh Secretariat comprises a number of departments. The processing

of information in the Government is predominantly workflow intensive. Information

moves in the form of paper files from one officer to another for seeking opinions,

comments, approvals etc. SmartGov has been developed to streamline operations,

enhance efficiency through workflow automation and knowledge management for

implementation in the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat. The solution automates the

functioning of all levels of Government entities and provides a well-defined

mechanism for transforming the ―hard copy environment‖ to a ―digital environment‖.

It enhances productivity through use of IT as a tool. SmartGov replaces the paper file

with an e-file. SmartGov provides the features of creation, movement, tracking and

closure of e-files, automation of repetitive tasks, decision support system through

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knowledge management, prioritization of work, easy access to files through an

efficient document management system and collaboration between departments. This

project is being extended to more departments.

An Overview of National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) of Govt. of India

An Electronic Governance Strategic Plan is a long term plan for developing

Electronic Governance specifying the vision and goals and how these goals will be

achieved based on the internal capabilities, needs of stakeholders and other external

factors, through a coherent set of concrete initiatives. It also specifies priority

initiatives, challenges, required policies, regulations and measures for success.

The Government of India has defined its Electronic Governance Strategic Plan, which

provides the roadmap of Electronic Governance implementation during 2003-2007.

The plan seeks to create the right governance and institutional mechanisms, to set up

the core infrastructure and policies, and to implement a number of Mission Mode

Projects (MMPs) with the goal of creating a citizen- and business-centric environment

for governance

The following are the main features of the plan-

Vision

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) has been conceptualized with the following

vision:

―Make all Government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through

common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency and reliability of

such services at affordable costs to realize the basic needs of the common man‖.

The Government approved the National e-Governance Plan on May 18 2006,

comprising of 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPS) and 8 components – three Core

Components, and five others Mission Mode Projects

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The 8 integrated projects include:

1) e-BIZ - seeks to address several issues related to approvals and permissions for

businesses, reducing the points of contact between the business entities and the

Government agencies, standardizing required information, establishing a single-

window service, and reducing the burden of compliance.

2) National Service Delivery Gateway - acts a messaging middleware providing

intelligent routing services from a Service Seeker to a Service Provider.

3) Common Service Centers - proposes to set up to 87,419 centers for providing

common services in 17 States.

4) e-Procurement - establishes a one stop-shop providing all services related to

government procurement.

5) e-Office - provides a middleware for streamlining, aligning, optimizing and

automating all internal processes across government boundaries.

6) e-Courts - offers online availability of judgments and cause list, e-filing of cases

and notifications through e-mails.

7) India Portal - provides one-stop access to government services.

8) Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) for Trade - introduces electronic filing and

clearance of import and export documents, e-payment of duties or charges by Ports,

Airports, Customs, etc., and electronic exchange of documents between community

partners and Customs, Ports, and other government agencies.

The 8 central projects comprise:

1) Income Tax – includes 19 defined services to be provided online like e-filing of tax

returns through intermediaries, online submission of forms, online payment of taxes

through selected banks, issue of refunds through Electronic Clearance System, etc.

2) MCA21- offers availability of all Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA) services

including

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filing of documents, registration of companies and public access to corporate

information through a secure portal.

3) Insurance - provides insurance-related services through the four public sector

general insurance companies.

4) Central Excise - enables filing of service tax and Excise Returns, e-Payments of

custom duties, automated clearance of courier consignments, etc.

5) National ID/UID - creates a central database and generates unique identifiers for

residents across the country primarily for effective reach of social sector benefits.

6) Pensions - tracks and handles pension settlements.

7) Banking - integrates core banking solutions of various banks.

8) Passport, Visas and Immigration - enables applications for new passports, renew

old passports, track application status, and handle immigration formalities for all

international incoming flights.

The 11 state projects involve:

1) Agriculture – provides services like market prices, soil information, crop diseases

and management, good practices for horticulture, sericulture, etc.

2) Employment Exchange – enables to match the requirements of employers and

potential employees, provides guidance to the unemployed, and facilitates online

registration of vacancies by employers.

3) Commercial Taxes – improves efficiency of VAT administration by enabling

electronic filing of returns and clearance of refunds, online payment of taxes, etc.

4) Land Records – identifies and automates 14 services like integration of textual and

spatial land records data, integration of registration and mutation processes, automatic

updating of land records providing conclusive title to land owners, etc;

5) Road Transport – includes services like vehicle registration and driving licenses;

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6) Gram Panchayat – issues trade licenses, certificates, house related services, receipt

of fund progress reports, individual beneficiaries of various schemes, etc.

7) Municipalities – provides G2C services like issuing birth and death certificates,

payment of utility bills, issuing licenses, etc.

8) Police –implements Common Integrated Police Application (CIPA) and hardware

in Police Stations.

9) Property Registration – replaces manual systems of verification and scrutiny of

documents, capturing and preserving copies of documents, and conducting searches

and of maintaining back office records.

10) Treasuries – involves payment of salaries to government employees, payment of

expenses, etc.

11) e-District – automates backend processes to enable the delivery of G2C services

through Common Services Centers. In addition to the eleven projects defined, each

State can add up to five state-specific projects.

Core Components

Three main core components were identified by the Plan: State Wide Area Network,

State

Data Center, and Common Services Centre

The seven guiding principles include:

1) Deliver Public Value - delivery of value added government services that is citizen

centered. The focus here is on transformation within government and its processes to

achieve and deliver services that are easy to access and convenient to realize.

2) Change Management - It is appreciated that the change that is being aimed at as an

outcome of this exercise has to be constantly managed at all levels. Process

reengineering as part of project design, focused on value addition to services,

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necessitate that reengineered processes are managed as part of a dedicated change

management policy. Explicit Change Management strategy addressing internal and

external stakeholders and their concerns form an integral part of project formulation

and design.

3) Think Big, Start Small, and Scale Fast – this three phases model the

implementation strategy, where pilots are taken up to launch and test the efficacy of

models. This would enable proper customization before the project is rolled out on a

full scale. Process reengineering is essential feature of such pilots.

4) Centralized Initiative and Decentralized Implementation – each MMP is to be

conceptualized and implemented by the respective Ministry or line department at

central or state level. States have been given flexibility to identify up to 5 additional

state specific projects, which are very relevant for the economic development of the

State.

5) Common Core and Support Infrastructure - Common core infrastructure in the

form of State Wide Areas Network (SWAN), State Data Centre (SDC) and Electronic

Service Delivery Gateways (SDG) has been envisaged for optimal utilization of

limited resources and to ensure interoperability for seamless delivery of public

services. Similarly to ensure wider accessibility to public service delivery, over

100,000 Common Services Centres (CSCs) are being created in the villages, which

will act as one-stop shop for government as well as private services. The core and

support infrastructure is likely to be in place by March 2009.

6) Capacity Building - Capacity Building (CB) Scheme approved with an outlay of

Rs. 313 cr. enables the creation of State e-Governance Mission Teams for providing

technical and professional support to decision-makers in States and for imparting

specialized training and orientation for State parliamentarians, bureaucrats and SeMT

members. The teams also enables to strengthening State level training institutions. In

addition, the Scheme enables the creation of a CB Management Cell at the National

level for facilitating implementation and providing support to Central Line Ministries

for overall program management.

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7) Public Private Partnership (PPP) – PPPs would be promoted wherever feasible to

enlarge the pool of resources and to enhance capacity to effectively delivery public

without compromising on the security aspects.

National Portal of India

Government of India has developed http://www.india.gov.in as national portal of

India from where services and projects are made available in integrated form. It

consists of India who‘s who, constitution of India and India‘s website directory of

important projects and services.

World Ranking

United Nations E-Government Survey 2012 has given India at 125th

rank in the world

on the basis of E-Government Development Index. As India is second largest

populated country in the world, it has to take more efforts to improve its position. The

survey has shown its satisfaction on initiatives taken in India for effective e-

Governance.

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1.23 E-Governance in Maharashtra State

E-Governance Policy of Maharashtra

The Government of Maharashtra is very instrumental in promotion of ICT and e-

Governance in India. The state government is focusing on citizens needs and trying

for better service delivery. The government wants to avail greater transparency and

access to information on public administration processes is the trust area of state. In

order to strengthen e-governance in the state, Information Technology department of

the state government declared e-Governance policy of Maharashtra in 2011. The

important aspects of e-Governance policy of the state are described below -

Introduction to policy:

Government of Maharashtra is one of the pioneers in promotion of ICT and e-

Governance in India. It has been at forefront in implementing e-governance initiatives

that focus on citizens‘ needs and ensure superior service delivery.

The e-governance policy 2011 is a step further towards promoting e-Governance in

the State.

The Policy aims to maintain and strengthen the leadership of the state in the area of e-

Governance and take it towards m-Governance. The Policy would enable citizens to

avail of various services online, or at a place near their home, without having to visit

Government offices at minimum possible cost. The policy would enable Government

to function more efficiently and move towards a paperless environment.

Applicability of the Policy:

As per the decision of the Government, the policy shall be applicable to any authority

or body in Maharashtra established or constituted by any Central or State law, any

body owned and controlled by the State Government and shall also include the bodies

whose composition and administration are predominantly controlled by the State

Government. The policy will be applicable in advisory nature to any other

organization which receives

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any Government aid (aid shall include all aid in the form of Government land at

concessional rates or any other monetary concessions like exemption from tax, etc.,

by Government as specified by Government, from time to time) directly or indirectly

by the State Government, or the functions of such body are of public nature or interest

or on which office bearers are appointed by the State Government. The policy shall

also be applicable to partnerships, Joint Venture companies of the state government.

Integrated Environment:

Almost all departments have taken initiative for implementing e-Governance in their

respective departments. However to ensure implementation of these initiatives and

interoperability of each of these and establish an integrated environment for

delivering seamless Government to Citizen (G2C), Government to Business

(G2B),Government to Government (G2G) and Government to Employees (G2E)

services in a cost effective manner, the e-Governance policy has been prepared. The

government policy puts in place a framework for development and implementation of

e-Governance systems and applications in the state.This policy shall help in garnering

increased public participation in policy formulation.

Promotion of Use of UID :

The state shall make an attempt to work out a time bound approach to incorporate and

encourage the use of UID for various e-Governance projects to facilitate the delivery

of services to the right beneficiary. All projects cleared by PIC/HPC will clearly

define the integration of UID in the project. To avoid multiplicity of smart cards the

state shall promote the use of UID based biometric authentication for citizen service

delivery

Use of Marathi in e-Governance implementation:

As per policy, the State shall establish Marathi as first and mandatory language in all

e-Governance initiatives across applications and processes so that the benefits of e-

Governance reach all the citizens of the State.

Marathi shall co-exist with English along with complying with national and

international standards for information interchange.

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Use of Marathi on computers should follow applicable national and international

standards, such as UNICODE for information interchange, Open Font Format for

display and print.

The State Government shall adopt a standardized format for keyboard inputting in all

PCs in the state. Content creation in Marathi will also be encouraged.

E-enablement of Services :

The state government shall follow a standardized state-of-the-art Service oriented

Architecture for various e-Governance projects keeping in mind Govt. of India

guidelines in this respect. Each department shall prepare a list of citizen services for

e-enablement of services in a time bound manner and departmental e-Governance

initiatives shall be done in a planned manner in consultation with the IT Department.

The e-enablement of services shall include information availability, submission of

online forms, online processing and payments, online verification, online status

tracking and online availability of services with special stress being on service

delivery in Marathi.

Service Delivery Channels:

Government of Maharashtra predicts the use of multiple service delivery services to

provide Citizens with services at their doorsteps. Various citizen services shall be

made available online through the State Portal to be developed in-line with the

National Portal of Government of India and through other channels like Common

Service Centers (Maha e-Seva Kendra), Setu, CFC, Mobile platforms etc. All

departmental portals and websites should be integrated with the state portal. Access to

the state portal should be made available to all citizens. All websites and Web-based

applications will comply with Website design guidelines issued from time to time by

Govt. of India, should work across various browsers and operating systems, should

have proper security certifications, and should follow Web Accessibility Guidelines.

The state will also promote the use of other innovative means of providing services to

citizens like through mobile based technology, call centers, IPTV etc.

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It shall be the attempt of the state government to promote m-Governance in the state.

Service Delivery Gateway

The state government is creating a State Service Delivery Gateway in-line with the

national delivery gateway being designed by Government of India to act at a

middleware between the State Portal and the departmental e-Governance applications.

SSDG shall act as hub for all the interactions between service seekers and various

service providers.

DIT shall develop Payment Gateways for Receipts, payments, refunds and mobile

based payments in collaboration with Treasuries/Finance department, DIT shall

promote Financial Inclusion through use of technology, including mobile based

payments and authentication, in collaboration with Govt. of India Finance

departments, UIDAI and various financial institutions.

Maharashtra Mandatory Electronic Delivery of Public Services Act

To promote electronic service delivery of citizen centric services, Govt. of

Maharashtra will prepare a legislation named as ―Maharashtra Mandatory Electronic

Delivery of Public Services Act (MMEDPS Act )‖ to make it mandatory for all

government offices/departments to provide certain citizen centric services

electronically to citizens. Through this Act, every citizen shall have the option of

availing the services through electronic (online) medium.

Governance of Implementation

It will be endeavor of the State to have adequately trained and qualified staff upto the

district level for promoting and monitoring the implementation of e-Governance in

the State. The State Government shall engage with adequate experts, advisors and

consultants who can work actively with the State in the area of e-Governance.

The IT department shall act as a nodal agency for all e-Governance implementation in

the state. The State shall provision for adequate budget for e-Governance

implementation in the State.

The state shall make adequate endeavor to encourage, publicize and recognize

successful implementation of e-Governance through awards and conference.

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The state shall conduct periodic impact assessment of key projects to ensure

compliance to the desired outcomes of the project.

Government shall endeavor for Government-Industry-Academia interaction to

increase employability in the state.

Infrastructure Requirement

The Maharashtra State-wide Area Network (MSWAN) shall connect State Head

Quarters with all Districts, Talukas and Divisional Head Quarters and provide a

secure network for data, voice and video interaction. Horizontal connectivity will be

provided to other offices from the nearest POP. MSWAN shall also facilitate VPN

connectivity for Government offices. VSAT Connectivity for facilitating Disaster

Management and Disaster response shall be maintained by Government of

Maharashtra. Policy states that every office of the State Government should have

internet connectivity, preferably broadband and video conferencing facility to

facilitate effective working of the departments and reducing effort on traveling etc.

The state shall aim at networking all the offices till the village level.

The State Data Center (SDC) for the entire state of Maharashtra for all G2C, G2B,

G2G and G2Eservices shall be created. Apart from the State Data Center (SDC), State

Government may also avail of the services of public/private managed Data Center

services if there be a need for the same.

The Data Center shall provide facilities for various departments of Government of

Maharashtra to locate their server infrastructure, obtain hosting services for the

software application, manage the data center operations and disaster recovery and

backup.

Adequate bandwidth shall be provisioned at the data center to ensure quick and timely

response to service requests. Adequate Disaster Recovery infrastructure shall be

maintained by the state for ensuring recovery and business continuity in case of any

disaster scenario at the Data Center.

The State Government shall also make an endeavour to facilitate the reach of high

speed broadband to all parts of the State, including rural areas.

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The focus shall be on promoting and leveraging ‗Green IT‘ in all ICT infrastructural

set-up.

Procurement of IT Products and Services

In order to implement the various e-Governance projects in the state in the

recommended architecture with appropriate hardware, software and services with

focus on Green ICT, the procurement of IT products and services are critical.

To ensure participation of good quality bidders, it is important that adequate publicity

be given to these tenders and the tender document is easily available to all these

prospective bidders.

Each department shall constitute a Departmental Project Implementation Committee

(PIC) for overseeing departmental e-Governance projects with representatives from

the Planning, Finance, Industries and IT department, apart from members from the

parent department.

The department may also have members from NIC and other reputed external

personnel from the field of IT and e-Governance for the Departmental Project

Implementation Committee.

The approval of the Departmental Project Implementation Committee or the High

Power Committee, which is headed by the Chief Secretary, shall be obtained

regarding all IT products and services purchases.

All relevant Central Vigilance Committee guidelines regarding IT products and

services purchase needs to be followed by all departments. All the tenders that are

being issued be vetted by the Project Implementation Committee if the tender budget

is more than 10 lacs but less than Rs.5 crores and by the High Power Committee if

the budget is more than Rs.5 crores.

All tenders shall be uploaded on the Government of Maharashtra website

(www.maharashtra.gov.in) or the state e-Tendering website.

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The policy also gives guidelines regarding capacity building; Joint Venture,

Collaboration and Partnership; review and audit and budgetary allocation.

The state has planned to increase the allocation on e-Governance to 3% in a phased

manner over a period of time.

The citizen centric e-Governance policy is very appreciable initiative of Government

of Maharashtra.

The policy will prove helping hand for all departments. The thought of integrated

website of all departments and integrated gateway of e-governance will make e-

governance efficient and effective. The Maharashtra mandatory electronic service

delivery of public services act will prove very useful for citizen. The act will make all

government departments mandatory to deliver services in electronic way for the

citizens. The provision for necessary infrastructure is taken care in policy. The policy

will defiantly prove as land marking initiative of Government of Maharashtra and

timely amendments in it will make Maharashtra ahead in use of ICT and e-

Governance in the country.

Important decisions of Government of Maharashtra regarding e-Governance

development in the state:

The state government has included contribution of IAS (Indian Administrative

Services) officers in achieving e-Governance objectives in the Annual

Performance Report. This decision was declared with Government Resolution

issued on 10 Feb. 2010. This decision will motivate IAS officers in achieving

e-Governance objectives.

The state government has informed all its departments to spend half percent of

budgeted amount on e-Governance. This decision was declared with

Government Resolution issued on 18 June 2010. The list of identified citizen

centric services and projects for various departments is also provided with this

Government Resolution. For Higher and Technical Education department

following projects and services are identified –

E-delivery of education (webinar and videos)

Admission System

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Student Portal

e-Scholarship

Application and Registration of Technical Colleges and its monitoring

Marathi has been made the first and mandatory language in all e-Governance

initiatives through the section 6.1 in e-Governance Policy released on 23rd

September 2011 vide Government Resolution.

e-Office solution developed by NIC has been made mandatory in all

Government Department in Mantralaya from 1st January, 2013. The

Government Resolution to this effect was issued on 9th August, 2012

Tech Saturday

In its on-going efforts to impart training and capacity building to all

government officers across the state, DIT has launched an innovative and

unique initiative called ―Tech Saturday‖. In this initiative, every month‘s first

Saturday has been dedicated as ―Tech Saturday‖ wherein training is provided

across the state on usage of technology and new developments.

Quiz and games are held to make it a fun based learning event. This event also

encompasses demonstrations of products and technologies by different IT

companies to the participants.

The first Tech Saturday was held on 5th November, 2011 and since then it has

grown in leaps and bounds. There has been training on numerous topics

including Usage on Marathi, Unicode, Green Computing, Productivity

enhancements for Government & Public Sector, cyber security and so on.

From December 2012, Tech Saturdays are being conducted at all districts on

every first Saturday of the month.

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SETU Project :

SETU, a society formed by Government of Maharashtra vide G. R. dated 23rd August

2002, in Marathi language means a bridge, a bridge between the people and the

Government. Setu is focused on the common man and its objective is to provide to the

citizens of the State more and more services & information in an efficient, reliable,

transparent and integrated manner on a sustained basis.

Setu is also the State Designated Agency (SDA) for implementation of various

projects including MSWAN, eDistrict, SDC, CSC, UID etc.

The society has been set up at two levels. An Apex body at the State Level has been

registered, which guides and monitors the District Level bodies. The State Level

society has the Chief Secretary as Chairman, Additional Chief Secretary

(Administrative Reforms), Principal Secretary (Finance), Principal Secretary

(Planning), Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) and Secretary (Information

Technology) as permanent members and Director IT as a member Secretary.

MahaOnline Project:

MahaOnline Limited is a joint venture formed in 2010 between Government of

Maharashtra and TATA Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS). MahaOnline was formed to

facilitate e-enablement and delivery of citizen centric services of GoM.

MahaOnline caters to the needs of various departments of Maharashtra state and

provides several e-Governance services to its citizens. MahaOnline is involved in

creation of 90+ applications / websites across departments of Maharashtra including

applications having SMS gateways, payment gateways, GIS, BI etc.

MahaOnline is also implementing Sangram project for Rural Development

Department under which 27000 operators would be active in Gram Panchayats and all

Panchayat services and certificates will be made online.

MahaOnline is also actively involved in various capacity building initiatives in e-

governance in Maharashtra. URL: www.mahaonline.gov.in

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Important District Level e-Governance Projects in Maharashtra

Court Listing System – Kolhapur

Gram Panchayat Election Management at Kolhapur District

Second World War Soldier/ Widow Pension Distribution at Kolhapur District

Property Card Information System – Mumbai City

BEDA (Bombay Entertainment Duty Act) Revenue Monitoring System

Collector Meeting Scheduler at Sindhudurg

Arms / Weapons Licensing Software at Sindhudurg

VLE Specimen Signature Application at Nanded District

PARADISE (SetuOnline) Application at Nanded

e-Kotwal System at Yavatmal

Sardar Sarovar Rehabilitees Management Information System at Nandurbar

Forest Right Act Monitoring System at Nandurbar

Sangli IT – Kiosk

Tree Plantation & Tracking Software at Nanded

Society & Member Monitoring System and Leased Land Monitoring System

Software for management of Cattle Camp / Chara Depot at Ahmednagar

Setu services offered at Latur

Dilasa Project at Aurangabad

Software for Evaluation of performance of Tehsildars

Nazul Land Record Management System at Nagpur

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Maharashtra – Leading state in E-readiness

Government of Maharashtra has always been in forefront in service transformation

through use of technology. It has consistently featured at the top of the pyramid and

adjudged as ―Leader‖ in e-Governance in the ―India: e-Readiness Assessment Report‖

published by Department of IT, Government of India.

Maharashtra Government has received more than 50 awards for its several e-

Governance Initiatives. The award includes -

Skoch Financial Inclusion Award 2013 to eScholarship Project, Department

of Social Justice and Special Assistance, Government of Maharashtra for

empowerment of marginalised.

Skoch Financial Inclusion Award 2013 to UID linked Financial Inclusion of

Wardha District,Government of Maharashtra in ICT based innovation

category.

Web Ratna Award 2012, Government of Maharashtra was awarded the Gold

Award for Comprehensive web presence (State). The award was conferred

by Shri Kapil Sibal among other dignitaries and awardees.

Aadhaar Excellence award by Hon. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on

20th

October 2012 for improving delivery of services to people using the

scheme.

Gold National Award on e-Governance 2012 for Exemplary Re-Use of ICT

Based Solutions to Commissionerate of Agriculture, Department of

Agriculture, Government of Maharashtra.

Jury Choice eIndia Award in Government to Business (Best ICT in

Financial Inclusion Initiative of the Year) category for e-Scholarship solution,

2011.

CSI-Nihilent e-Governance Awards 2010: Department of Sales Tax,

Government of Maharashtra won the Appreciation Award in ‗Department

Category‘.

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Jury Award eIndia 2010 in Digital LEARNING ICT Enabled School

category to MKCL Digital School Programme.

CSI Nihilent e-Governance award for the Best Citizen Centric Project to

SETU, Government of Maharashtra 2002.

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1.3 Highlights of United Nations E-government Survey 2012

As per the United Nations E-government Survey 2012 rankings, the Republic of Korea is the

world leader (0.9283) followed by the Netherlands (0.9125), the United Kingdom (0.8960)

and Denmark (0.8889), with the United States, Canada, France, Norway, Singapore and

Sweden close behind.

The improvement in all the indicators of the e-government development index has led to a

world average of 0.4877 as compared to 0.4406 in 2010. This reflects that countries in general

have improved their online service delivery to cater to citizens‘ needs. On a regional level,

Europe (0.7188) and Eastern Asia (0.6344) lead, followed by Northern America (0.8559),

South Asia (0.3464) and Africa (0.2762).

In spite of the progress, there remains an imbalance in the digital divide between developed

and the developing countries, especially in Africa. The latter region had a mean e-government

development index of about 30 per cent of Northern America and about half of the world

average. The digital divide is rooted in the lack of e-infrastructure, which has slowed down

information-use and knowledge-creation.

The tremendous difference of Internet speed and subscriptions between the developing and

the developed world proves that there are yet many milestones to be reached in order to close

the gap of the digital divide.

Whole-of-government approaches lead the way in forerunner countries employing e-

government to improve efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery in government

structures is one facet of economic sustainability.

The 2012 Survey finds that many Member States are moving from a decentralized

single-purpose organization model, to an integrated unified whole-of-government model

contributing to efficiency and effectiveness. The model aims at centralizing the entry

point of service delivery to a single portal where citizens can access all government-

supplied services, regardless of which government authority provides them.

In some countries, the whole-of-government approach helps build a transparent government

system with interconnected departments and divisions, feeding into the funnel of greater

government efficiency and effectiveness.

Member States are paying closer attention to multichannel service delivery. The increasing

power of ICT has also provided governments with the flexibility of providing services and

information to citizens through multichannel. Citizens have diverse needs and demands for

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services; therefore it is no longer sustainable for governments to utilize one preferred way of

service provision over the other. It is now ever more essential that governments exploit all

possible delivery channels in order to reach out to as many people as possible, no matter how

poor, illiterate or isolated.

The 2012 Survey shows that 71 Member States partner with third party organizations such as

those in the civil society or the private sector to provide e-services.

Progress on the digital divide is far from satisfactory though rapid dispersion of mobile

technology gives hope for improvement. This year‘s Survey also indicates that global

infrastructure access has improved, with the global average ICT index value reflecting an

increase in mobile penetration – the global average number of mobile subscriptions per 100

inhabitants is now 88.5. Broadband penetration, however, remains very low, with a global

average of only 8.7 fixed broadband connections per 100 inhabitants. Mobile- based

technologies have become the most rapidly adapted technologies to provide e-services,

playing a pivotal role, especially in developing countries.

Rural areas with very little access to telephony can now benefit from mobile and broadband

services to access services. According to the 2012 Survey, 25 countries have developed

separate m-government websites, and 24 countries provide the option of making payments via

mobile phones.

A lot needs to be done to include vulnerable groups in the benefits of technology. With a

focus on social sustainability, the underlying approach of the top performers in 2012 is

inclusion for all, which has led to the expansion of information and services to vulnerable

groups, people who live in isolated rural areas and the disabled. Further, in pursuit of greater

efficiency, more and more governments are paying closer attention to citizens‘ use of online

services. The levels still remain low with only around a quarter – or 47 countries – providing

information on how citizens use services.

Developing countries make progress in e-participation

Many developing countries have adopted citizen inclusion as key in providing ―customer‖-

oriented services. While the Republic of Korea and the Netherlands are the world leaders,

Singapore and Kazakhstan are close behind. Europe has the largest share of the top e-

participation countries. Despite progress the gains are not spread evenly, both across and

within countries, with the majority still offering low levels of engagement possibilities.

Citizens demand more services while the primary focus of Member States has been the

provision of services from a supplier perspective, recently there has been a shift towards a

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more consumer demand driven policy and greater emphasis on citizen usage. Nevertheless the

level of citizen up-take currently remains at low levels. Usage divides across and within

countries is one of the many challenges hindering high levels of citizen up-take. According to

the 2012 Survey, only 24 countries openly promote free access to e-government services

through free wi-fi or kiosks. Leveraging social media for the benefit of e-service uptake is

another area where a greater effort can make a difference since currently only 40 per cent of

Member States are using a social networking site.

A good beginning but e-environment initiatives have a long way to go with the worldwide

focus on sustainable development this year the 2012 United Nations e-Government Survey

devoted a special section to examining the effort made by Member States in provision of

environment-related online information and services.

In keeping with institutional development identified as one of the two main themes for

Rio+20, the 2012 Survey assessed Member States‘ on- line offerings in three areas cited in

the Secretary General‘s Report to the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations

Conference on Sustainable Development: 1) dissemination of information; 2) institutional

integration with respect to environmental matters; and 3) opportunities for citizen engagement

on environmental issues.

A majority of countries provide online information or education to citizens regarding clean

water (111 countries), clean air (105 countries), and resource conservation (104 countries).

Nearly half of countries, 86, provide information pertaining to energy. However few countries

provide features designed to proactively notify citizens of environmental issues or permit

citizens to focus online searches specifically on the environment.

Similarly, citizen engagement on environment issues is in its infancy. While Europe takes the

lead, other regions are slow to follow.

The important points that can be narrated are -

To recognize the role of national governments in tapping into the transformative nature of e-

government for sustainable development as it relates to whole-of government approaches and

multichannel service delivery. In this regard countries must at a minimum establish a

persistent online presence with at least basic services in order to build trust in government.

Shifting from a structurally disintegrated government to one that is a more interconnected

single-purpose whole-of-government will require collaboration and streamlining not only

along the whole spectrum of governance but also with private sector and civil societies.

Prerequisites for achieving this shift include long-term vision and leadership commitment, a

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strategic framework, an IT management program aligned with the overall strategy, and

technical integration of IT systems. Whole-of-government practices will not only boost

efficiency of government agencies but also utilization of public services if properly

administered in accordance with a clear strategy and motivated leadership.

It needs to be reiterated that the digital divide is still an obstacle we face. With all the cut-

ting-edge technologies and development of social media and networking tools, which have re-

shaped parts of our modern world, it is becoming more challenging to diminish the digital

divide. Not only is the non-availability of infrastructure such as broadband the main reason

behind this divide, but differences in skills and lack of means to access information also play

a major role. Therefore it is vital for governments to learn from global best practices and

collaborate internationally to develop a harmonized framework with indigenous ICT content.

An effective approach must address both access to infrastructure as well as well as barriers to

using online services that may persist even when such access is available.

There is a need to reach out to all citizens, particularly the disadvantaged and vulnerable

groups, in order to bridge the gap and maximize the utilization of online service delivery.

However, governance processes for the effectiveness and benefit of all cannot be realized

without a well-established coordination framework encompassing the involvement of all

national and international stakeholders, including third party organizations, which can play a

pivotal role in the process. This is particularly important in the context of multichannel

service delivery, where it is important to follow an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary

approach to developing new channels. In other words, service delivery via new channels

should not come at the expense of service delivery via established channels.

Low usage and user uptake indicates that e-services up-take has untapped potential for the

improvement of service delivery in line with citizen demand.

The 2012 Survey assessment points to horizontal and vertical e-government linkages among

various institutions and nodal points that have created opportunities for greater participation

and social inclusiveness. By bringing technology to the people instead of making the people

come to technology hubs, and by creating opportunities for online service delivery, e-

government has contributed to coordinated efforts for increased e-government among public

sector officials, public institutions and citizens.

As the collective global effort, led by the United Nations, gains momentum towards a greater

acceptance of the institutional linkages among the economic, social and environmental pillars

of sustainable development, there is a need to be cognizant of the importance of e-government

that is for the people, in achieving higher standards of living for future generations.

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Key Findings for countries with Large Population:

United Nations survey 2012 has given special recognition to those large populated countries

having population of over 100 million. The survey says that such countries have made

tremendous effort to provide e-government services to their people , despite challenges they

face.

Table 2: E-Government development in largest population countries

Country E-Gov. development

index – 2012

World e-gov.

development

ranking -2012

Population

(in million)

China 0.5359 78 1,341

India 0.3829 125 1,225

United States 0.8687 5 310

Indonesia 0.4949 97 240

Brazil 0.6167 59 195

Pakistan 0.2823 156 174

Nigeria 0.2676 162 158

Bangladesh 0.2991 150 149

Russian Federation 0.7345 27 143

Japan 0.8019 18 127

Mexico 0.6240 55 113

(Source: UN e-Gov. Survey 2012)

Lack of access to both ICT and education infrastructure in the developing countries is a major

constraint on e-Government development. A country having high income has more resources

to apply on e-government than a country with a low income. The survey report has given

example of India which has about 4000 times the population and 130 times the area of

Belize. India has only about one quarter of the gross National Income of Belize. So, the

efforts required by India to provide e-government services are far greater than that of Belize.

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Fig. 1: Regional averages in e-government development

The above figure shows regional averages in E-Governance Development Index (EGDI) in

the world.

The Europe region has highest index, followed by American region, Asia region, Oceania

region and Africa region. Europe has scored 0.7188 while world average is 0.4882.

Fig. 2: Asia - Regional averages in e-government development

The above figure shows regional averages in E-Governance Development Index (EGDI) in

the Asia.

0.278

0.5403

0.4992

0.7188

0.424

0.4882

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

Africa

Americas

Asia

Europe

Oceania

World Average

E-Gov. Development Index(EGDI)

E-Gov. DevelopmentIndex(EGDI)

0.4941

0.6344

0.3464

0.4793

0.5547

0.4992

0.4882

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

Central Asia

Eastern Asia

Southern Asia

South-East Asia

Western Asia

Regional Average

World Average

E-Gov. Development Index(EGDI)

E-Gov. DevelopmentIndex(EGDI)

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The Eastern Asia region has highest index, followed by Western Asia, Central Asia, South-

East Asia and Southern Asia. Eastern Asia has scored 0.6344 while regional average is 0.4992

and world average is 0.4882.

Table 3: E-Government development in Southern Asia

Country E-Gov. development

index – 2012

World e-gov.

development ranking -

2012

Maldives 0.4994 95

Iran 0.4876 100

Sri Lanka 0.4357 115

India 0.3829 125

Bangladesh 0.2991 150

Bhutan 0.2942 152

Pakistan 0.2823 156

Nepal 0.2664 164

Afghanistan 0.1701 184

Sub Regional Average 0.3464

World Average 0.4882

The above table shows e-Government development in South Asia. Maldives is leader in the

region with index score 0.4994, followed by Iran, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan,

Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan. Maldives is having world e-Government raking as 95.

India having rank 125 while Afghanistan 184. India is having 0.3829 indexes whereas sub

regional average index is 0.3464.

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1.4 ICT for managing services in Higher Education Sector

India, like any other knowledge economy, depends on the development of its

educational sector.

Higher education drives the competitiveness and employment generation in India.

However, research findings have shown that the overall state of higher education is

dismal in the country.

There is a severe constraint on the availability of skilled labor (Agarwal, 2006). There

exist socio-economic, cultural, time and geographical barriers for people who wish to

pursue higher education (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007). Innovative use of

Information and Communication Technology can potentially solve this problem.

Education is the driving force of economic and social development in any country.

Considering this, it is necessary to find ways to make education of good quality,

accessible and affordable to all, using the latest technology available.

India has a billion-plus population and a high proportion of the young and hence it has

a large formal education system. The demand for education in developing countries

like India has skyrocketed as education is still regarded as an important bridge of

social, economic and political mobility (Amutabi and Oketch, 2003).

The challenges before the education system in India can be said to be of the following

nature:

Access to education- There exist infrastructure, socio- economic, linguistic and

physical barriers in India for people who wish to access education (Bhattacharya and

Sharma, 2007).

Quality of education- This includes infrastructure, teacher and the processes quality.

Resources allocated- Central and State Governments reserve about 3.5% of GDP for

education as compared to the 6% that has been aimed (Ministry of Human Resource

Development, 2007).

There exist drawbacks in general education in India as well as all over the world like

lack of learning materials, teachers, remoteness of education facilities, high dropout

rate etc (UNESCO,2002).

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Table 4 : The four main rationales for introducing ICT in education

Rationale Basis

Social Perceived role that technology now plays

in society and the need for familiarizing

students with technology.

Vocational Preparing students for jobs that require

skills in technology.

Catalytic Utility of technology to improve

performance and effectiveness in

teaching, management and many other

social activities.

Pedagogical To utilize technology in enhancing

learning, flexibility and efficiency in

curriculum delivery.

(Source: Cross and Adam (2007))

ICT can be used as a tool in the process of education in the following ways:

Informative tool: It provides vast amount of data in various formats such as audio,

video, documents.

Situating tool: It creates situations, which the student experiences in real life. Thus,

simulation and virtual reality is possible.

Constructive tool: To manipulate the data and generate analysis.

Communicative tool: It can be used to remove communication barriers such as that

of space and time .

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Table 5: Benefits of ICT in education to the main stakeholders

Stakeholder Benefits

Student Increased access,

Flexibility of content and delivery,

Combination of work and education,

Learner-centered approach,

Higher quality of education and new

ways of interaction

Employers High quality, cost effective professional

development in the workplace,

Upgrading of employee skills, increased

productivity,

Development of a new learning culture,

Sharing of costs and of training time with

the employees,

Increased portability of training.

Governments Increase the capacity and cost

effectiveness of education and training

systems,

To reach target groups with limited

access to conventional education and

training,

To support and enhance the quality and

relevance of existing educational

structures,

To ensure the connection of educational

institutions and curricula to the emerging

networks and information resources,

To promote innovation and opportunities

for lifelong learning

Source: (UNESCO, 2002)

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India is making use of powerful combination of ICTs such as open source software,

satellite technology, local language interfaces, easy to use human-computer interfaces,

digital libraries, etc. with a long-term plan to reach the remotest of the villages.

Community service centers have been started to promote e-learning throughout the

country (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007).

Noteworthy initiatives of use of ICT in education in India include:

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) uses radio, television, and

Internet technologies.

National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning: a concept similar to

the open courseware initiative of MIT. It uses Internet and television

technologies (National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning, India,

2007).

Eklavya initiative: Uses Internet and television to promote distance learning

(EKLAVYA Technology Channel, India, 2007).

IIT-Kanpur has developed Brihaspati, an open source e-learning platform

Premier institutions like IIM-Calcutta have entered into a strategic alliance

with NIIT for providing programmes through virtual classrooms.

Jadavpur University is using a mobile-learning centre

IIT-Bombay has started the program of CDEEP (Centre for Distance

Engineering Education Program) as emulated classroom interaction through

the use of real time interactive satellite technology (Centre for Distance

Engineering Education Programme, India, 2007).

e-Suvidha to students of Higher Education in Maharashtra.

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There are many e-Governance initiatives in Universities and Colleges across the

world. Some notable projects are as listed below -

E-Governance Initiatives in Higher Education in Global context –

Student e-Services at University of Houston Downtown –

The University of Houston–Downtown (UHD) is a four-year state university, and is

a separate and distinct component institution of the University of Houston System,

located at Houston, USA.

This university provides following e-Services to students -

Scheduling Resources –

Class Schedule & e-Syllabi

Course Catalog

Course curriculum

Course Transfer Information

Degree Planning worksheets

Academic Calendar

Final Exam Schedule

Student Transfer

Online Status and Setup -

Change my password

Forgot my password

My personal profile and emergency alerts

My admission and enrollment status

My Advising and major

My transcripts and grade

My email

My blackboard

My course evaluation

My vaccination status

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Registration and Payment -

My registration and schedule

My Financial Aid and Scholarship Information

My Payment

Other Online Options -

Order Graduation Videos

Library Databases

Software Download

FAQ

(Reference : https://global.dt.uh.edu/eservices/)

The majority of universities and colleges, particularly in developed countries

provides e-services to its students.

It includes University of Oxford, Imperial College, London, Newcastle University,

United Kingdom etc.

ICTs Initiatives for Higher Education in Africa

ICTs initiatives relevant to higher education institutions in Africa can generally be

grouped into three broad categories: 1) individual institutions‘ initiatives aimed at

expanding access to ICTs, as part of an institutional or national education network, 2)

regional initiatives that cover most countries or universities, and 3) initiatives aimed

at increasing the flow of content in higher education.

Almost all tertiary education institutions in Africa have some form of ICTs activities

that fall into two main stages of development:

1) The emerging stage, where ICTs are used by staff and selected students for basic

chores such as word processing, communications, and access to learning resources on

the Internet and CD-ROMs. The majority of institutions in the region fall into this

category, although some have been moving forward to integrate ICTs into teaching

and learning.

2) The integration stage, where ICTs are fully incorporated in content and in

providing access to courseware and campus services to staff and students. A few

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universities at this stage were able to implement an elaborate management

information system for managing finances, research

outputs, student enrolment, course transfers and online libraries. Academic

institutions in Botswana, Egypt, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa,

and Tunisia have been striving to integrate ICTs fully into their teaching and learning

processes. The University of Botswana, for example, has introduced a robust ICTs

infrastructure, where every staff member has access to the internet, and faculty and

students actively participate in shaping its e-learning platform.

TAFE NSW e-Services

TAFE NSW is Australia‘s leading provider of vocational education and training with

more than 500,000 enrolments each year. It provides e-Services.

Student e-Services

TAFE NSW provides logged-on access to a range of services for students. With

Student e-Services, you can:

view your personal details, enrolment details and unit/module results

view your employer details

change your contact details

request a transcript of results

view notifications and calendar information such as scheduled TAFE NSW

final examinations.

( Reference : https://www.tafensw.edu.au/eservices/#.UhiAWn8b_Z4 )

e-Services Integration at University of Hull , United Kingdom :

The e-Services Integration Group of Academic Services was formed in the summer of

2003. The objectives of e-SIG are to work with colleagues across sections of

Academic Services, and the broader University community, to lead and co-ordinate

the development of online services for the University.

e-SIG is currently actively pursuing the following development priorities:

Further developing the university portal, port.hull, and associated services

Deployment of the Hypercontent Web Content Management System

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Evaluating and developing tools and environments to support e-Learning and

e-Research

Evaluating and planning the deployment of an institutional repository

The work of has been recognized internationally. The Development Group has been

chosen as a Sun Microsystems international ―Centre of Excellence‖. This recognizes

work undertaken by e-Services Integration and others across Academic Services and

the university as a whole in the now-concluded Digital University Project, including

Deployment of the university portal, port.hull, based around Portal from the

Java Architectures Special Interest Group (JA-SIG)

Integration of a range of services accessed from port.hull

Development of a web content management system

Developing accessible interfaces for those with a range of visual impairments

The Centre represents a significant partnership with Sun Microsystems to further

develop the aims of the Digital University Project, and brings considerable

international prestige and recognition to the university for work in this area.

E-Governance in University of Bangladesh

Prof.Abdus Sobhan, Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) in his presentation on

e-Governance in University Administration at ICEGOV 2008, Cairo, Egypt has

presented following points -

The interfaces in the university e-Governance Framework are :

University to Citizen (U2C)

University to Business (U2B)

University to University (U2U)

University to Donors (U2D)

University to Regulators (U2R)

University to Employee (U2E)

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The author makes following comments about status of e-Governance in Universities

of Bangladesh –

Most of the universities run on the basis of up to Participation Model of e-

Governance. The author could not identify a University with Model of e-Governance.

Instead of equally emphasizing both internal and external services e-Governance

services are mostly focused on external services. The expenditure is approximately 5-

15% of their revenue on ICT development.

Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) is approved by the government of

Bangladesh; and is under the regulatory jurisdiction of UGC, Bangladesh.

External (Academic) Services

Main e–Governance services include:

a) Convenient online access to study materials Faculties submit study materials

through dynamic web page (over 150 faculty members and over 300 course sections);

b) Several web-based applications have been built to provide common services

(course registration, digital library, prepaid printing, email, dissemination of schedule

for seminars and thesis defense, publishing admission test result, etc) for the

stakeholders.

Internal (Administrative) Services

– Though standalone software applications are used for internal administration, no

decision support system is deployed for ensuring accountability and avoiding

nepotism.

– In IUB, though software used in departments, they lack to work in harmony as for e-

Governance services.

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Initiatives in Indian Context –

E-Governance at University Grants Commission (UGC)

The UGC which is apex body of higher education in India has initiated for e-

Governance.

Important activities covered under e-Governance are –

UGC National Eligibility Test for Lectureship Online

Online Application for Academic Jobs for NET/PhD candidates

Online Application for Major Research Project

e-SARTS : e-Scholarship-Fellowship Award Registration Tracking System

e-Payment

Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Scheme-Central Plan Scheme Monitoring

System(CPSMS)

Online Circulars

Online Tenders

Online Information Services for Colleges, universities , students and

individuals

E-Governance at All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE)

AICTE implemented e-Governance and all institutes under its ambit are accessing

services in electronic way. The activities like application for new institute, new

course, additional division, fees payment etc. are done using AICTE e-Governance

portal.

This has brought transparency, accountability and speed in its business.

e-Services by Institute of Charted Accountants of India (ICAI)

ICAI provides following e-Services to its students and members -

Pay Balance Membership Fee Online

Online Membership Payment

e-Journal

Do Not Disturb (DND)

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Student's Feedback Forms

Digital Certification Centre

Members Directory Search - As on Date

List of Firms as on 1st April 2012

ICAI e-Library

Students: Examination Forms

Online Payments - Certificate Courses for Members/ Conferences/ Seminars/

Journal

Students - Register online to CPT Course

Students e-Learning

Webcasts for Students: Intermediate (IPC) Course, Final Course and

Accounting Standards

Online Application Form for Admission to Intermediate (Integrated

Professional Competence) Course under Direct Entry Scheme.

Create your mail ID yourname@icai.org

e-Sahaayataa (e-Helpline for Administrative Queries & Grievances) ,

Announcement regarding ―e-Sahaayataa‖

Application form for Appointment of Visiting Faculty for ITT Centers of ICAI

Members: Update Your Residential and Professional Addresses

Member Records & Firm Name Search

Compendium of Opinions

Contribute for CABF

Unique Document Identification Number for Practicing Chartered

Accountants

Download Firm Constitution Certificate

Online Ordering of Publications

List of Members

ICAI CA Shiksha eLearning

Restore your Membership

(Reference : http://www.icai.org/new_post.html?post_id=5509 )

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E-Governance system practices of the Kashmir University:

The said system is implemented with following vision –

To provide a platform where involvement of all the stakeholders is ensured for

decision making

To transform the system into an extremely efficient, secure, transparent and

result oriented one

To facilitate the requisite technological support required for teaching and

learning process

To offer technological support to all the constituent administrative units of the

System

The important features of e-Governance system of Kashmir University are –

Establishment of a fully equipped Information Centre with connectivity and

man power in each College

Establishment of Data Centre and Backup Data Centre

Online services for departments, colleges and related personnel

Development of in-house solutions for up-gradation and maintenance

Providing requisite information in each department/centre of the University

The important modules of the system are –

Students‟ Online Services

Students often need to travel physically to the University and queue up for petty tasks

like getting the latest syllabus, confirming or correcting their registration details with

the University or to see the nature of objections pending against them in

examinations. For this purpose, the Directorate conceived the idea of a centralized

module where each student can access the relevant details.

Syllabi & Statutes

To facilitate the access of students to the relevant syllabuses of all subjects and

courses as well as the rules and statutes governing various academic activities of the

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University, the Directorate of IT & SS undertook complete digitization process of

syllabi and statutes.

Feedback Forum

This system has been developed to automate all specific queries, complaints and

suggestions pertaining to various academic and administrative departments of the

University. It provides a reliable and time-efficient method of grievance redressal and

information dissemination for various stakeholders of the University including current

students, prospective students, teachers, administrators and other employees. This has

been one of the most widely used parts of the University website ever since its launch.

This initiative has been greatly hailed by students for facilitating timely replies to

their queries.

Conferences

The University regularly conducts a number of conferences, seminars and other

academic events for which participants across the globe submit their papers and

presentations. This system caters to the need of automation of the process of

acceptance, update and publishing of the conference papers.

Sub-Modules

Conferences and Events Registration system has the following sub-modules:

JK Science Congress

Researchers who intend to submit their papers at the JK Science Congress need to

register themselves in this system. The system stores their abstracts and other profile

information to the database and processes it for the organizers.

Key highlights are:

• Email Confirmation and Reminders

• Unique username password access to all attendees

• Online submission of abstract

• Online checking of status of acceptance of paper abstract

• Registration is blocked after cut-off date

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e-NOC (No Objection Certificate)

The Dean Students‘ Welfare (DSW) Office may issue the NOC for a candidate as

long as no other department of the University has raised any pending objection

against the concerned student.

E-entrance Test- An over view

As part of the Directorate‘s plan to promote IT in every sphere of the Varsity, a

modest attempt was made to have online admission process for P G programs. For

this purpose, the routine manual system was done away with and replaced with a

more efficient and reliable e-based system.

Following important reports are generated:

a. List of candidates (Date-Wise, Category-Wise)

b. One page Application Form

c. Programme-Wise Statistics

d. Merit List

e. Selection List

Mysore University: e-Governance Adoption

One of the oldest universities in India, Karnataka‘s state university, University of

Mysore‘s moving towards a paperless system.

This will also help in reducing staff shortage problem.

According to plans, Crawford Hall, the administrative headquarters of the university

and other departments including academic sections would be included under the e-

governance. Pursuing the plan, a blue print has been prepared to turn e-governance

into reality.

The university has 58 study centres, eight research centres, four postgraduate centres

and employs more than 600 staff in the districts of Mysore, Hassan, Mandya and

Chamarajanagar. The university has 112 offices in order to maintain its administrative

process. More than 90,000 in these four districts are pursuing various courses in the

university.

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At present, the university releases the exam results, time table, courses and details of

entrance exams on the university website. With the implementation of e-governance,

maintenance of records would also go online.

Each student would be given e-mail and password once e-governance is implemented.

Through this application, students can get details of examination fee, applications,

laboratory and attendance through e-mail.

Recognized under the university with potential for excellence by the University

Grants Commission (UGC), sources said Rs. 4 crore has been allocated for

implementation of e-governance. In the first phase, Rs 2.4 crore has been released and

an action plan has already been prepared by the university.

While the university has 1,300 posts and around 600 are employed, introducing the e-

governance would help improve performance in the varsity.

Online Scholarship Management System (OSMS)

Implementing Agency: Andhra Pradesh State Minorities Finance Corporation Ltd.

The Online Scholarship Management System (OSMS) for Minority students

was taken up to enable students to apply for the Fee reimbursement and Scholarship

scheme of Government of Andhra Pradesh.

The students apply online on the website and after filling the application; they take the

printouts and along with required 2-3 documents, submit the application form to

the College. The College Authorities in turn give the confide certificate and

write their bank account number for the reimbursement of tuition fee. These

forms then come to the office of the Executive Director of Andhra Pradesh

State Minorities Finance Corporation, whereby the documents are validated online

with respect to the printouts and online sanction is given.

An online advice is sent to the bankers to transfer the fees amount directly into

the bank account of the college and the scholarship amount to the bank account of the

student.

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Students can track their applications by typing the Unique Token number issued to

them. Colleges can download the sanction proceedings and can know as to how many

students have been sanctioned scholarship and tuition fee and to how many students

the tuition fee and scholarship is pending due to want of which certificate.

The Online Scholarship System is being used by more than five lakh students every

year. Due to this the drop-out rate among the minority students has been reduced to a

large extent and the number of minority students taking admission in the professional

courses and specialized courses has increased considerably.

e-Governance in Karunya Deemed University (Karnataka State):

Karunya Deemed University , Karnataka has established e-Governance center.

Following are major e-Services provided by e-Governance center of the University :

E-Application

Online Information

E-Payment

E-Journal

Individual account for student and alumni

ePASS

Implementing Agency: Center for Good Governance, Andhra Pradesh

The Government of Andhra Pradesh is providing financial assistance to the Scheduled

Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Backward Class, Disabled, and Economically Backward

Class students studying post matriculation courses on saturation approach to enable

them to complete their education. To transfer the scholarships online to college and

student accounts the ePASS was implemented. The eligible Post Matric Students

register online, their documents are verified online verification and the scholarships is

released to

college and student bank accounts. Over 27 lakh students are getting the benefit from

this system. The bills are submitted online to the Treasury. The treasury uses CINB

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(Corporate Internet Banking) to transfer money to student and college accounts. SBI

e-cards are used for the students. All the document images are kept online for

verification and release. Money is transferred to bank accounts within 24 hours using

the SFTP server of Treasury and SBI. The reverse information from banks is

completed the same day.

The usage of digital signatures; development of a fully automated

helpdesk; integration with University database for monitoring academic

performance; Biometric Attendance Monitoring System and extending it to Pre

Matric Students scheme and similar schemes are some of the futuristic goals of

the project.

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1.5 E-Suvidha: Educational eGovernance initiative of Government of

Maharashtra for offering e-Services to students

1.51 Introduction to Educational eGovernance initiative eSuvidha

Government of Maharashtra has serious thought on problems faced by students and

decided to avail e-Suvidha to students of higher and technical education in the state

from 2006 at moderate cost of Rs.50 per year.

This effort has not only made available useful services at low cost to students but also

e-Suvidha has bridged the gap of urban and rural student by providing equal

opportunity to them.

The state has issued a government resolution on June 29, 2006 detailing

implementation of e-Suvidha scheme for students at universities and colleges through

the MKCL. The universities had to a memorandum of understanding with MKCL,

which would provide the necessary infrastructure for online services and start entering

data of their admitted students, teachers and other administrative data.

Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited popularly known as MKCL was

established by Government of Maharashtra for creating to new paradigm in education

and for development through universalization and integration of information

technology in teaching, learning and educational management process is particular

and socio-economic transformative process in general. MKCL has trained 60 lack

students in information technology under its Maharashtra State – Certificate in IT

program.

MKCL is offering e-Suvidha facility in university and colleges in Maharashtra under

its Digital University, Digital College and Digital Directorate frameworks. Digital

University is integrated eGovernance solution for administration of university,

colleges and student life cycle.

As on today MKCL is providing e-Suvidha to 12 universities, 4000 plus colleges and

22 lack plus students. In April 2011 Maharashtra Government has decided to go

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beyond state universities and instructed to all universities including deemed

universities and autonomous institutes in the state to adopt e-Suvidha scheme for

providing various academic and administrative services. This will enlarge the span of

e-Suvidha in the state.

1.52 Digital University Software Framework

Digital University

Digital University is a fully web-based software framework developed and designed

by MKCL in partnership with various universities.

This framework is an Education Portal that offers direct facilitation services to

various colleges and universities. It is an e- platform for University Students to Learn,

Participate and Collaborate for Knowledge Sharing and more.

It can seamlessly exchange electronic data and information with other frameworks

such as Digital College and Digital Directorate

Digital University comes under MKCL's Educational e-governance program

Digital College is software framework mapped on functionalities of a typical ‗Brick

& Mortar‘ college, reengineered to offer set of innovative services to students,

teachers, management and external entities that interact with the college, utilizing a

combination of internet and intranet technologies. It is seamlessly integrated with the

Digital University Framework so as to offer electronic exchange of data and

information between the college and University in the form of digital objects.

1.53 e-Services offered :

Administrative Services offered -

Admission Eligibility

Scholarships / Freeships, Concessions

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Applying for University Examination

Library Management

Academic and Administrative Planning

Co-curricular and Extra-curricular activities

Student Relationship Management

Academic Services offered -

LMS facility to authenticate the user, authorize the student to access the

content and keep account of the usage of the learning resources

Availability Interactive Digital Content, pre-stored audio-video lectures

recorded by expert faculties

Facility to participate in a Live lecture through Distributed Classrooms

Active participation in ‗Group Discussion Forum'

Customized adaptive evaluation / testing

Access to digital question bank

Personalized feedback on performance

Content Management System that offers Creation of knowledge and

information repository - Authoring and publishing Digital Content Facility of

fast and efficient transfer of content from one location to the other using the

content distribution network (CDN)

Information Services offered -

These services will facilitate availability of general and personalized information to

all the students on the portal (website) which is maintained by the University itself,

through the Digital University software framework.

Information about

University and its Departments

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Officers, Authorities, and Committees of the University,

Affiliated Colleges/Recognized Institutes of the University and their

Accreditation and Recognition Status

Academics: Faculties, Courses, Syllabi, etc.

Admission: Rules and Regulations for various courses

Scholarships and Concessions and other schemes of the Government

Educational Loan Schemes

Awards and Honors (by and to University)

News and Events

Circulars, Government Resolutions, Notices

Co-curricular and Extra-curricular activities, Competitions and Awards

‗EASY‘ (Employment Assistance Services to Youth) jobs

Competitive Examinations

Learning Services

These services, using the state-of-the-art eLearning technologies, will facilitate

student for a technology driven, learner autonomy centric new education paradigm for

enhanced enjoyable value adding and personalized learning experience.

Learning Management System

Content Management System

Distributed Classroom

Online Evaluation System

Assignment Management System

Question Banks and Model Answers

Project Reports, New Project Ideas

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Personality Development, Business English, Soft Skills

Profiling Tests

Webcasts

Video Lecture Streaming

Podcasts

Administrative and Facilitation Services

These services will facilitate availability of following personalized administrative and

facilitation services to the students

Personal Profile Update

Eligibility Processing

Application for Examination

Examination schedules, time tables, centers and venues

Examination Hall Ticket

e-Statement of Marks

Verification and Re-valuation

Convocation

Issue of Migration Certificate

e-Transcript

Status of various applications

Progression Record from admission to convocation

Syllabi, List of Recommended Books, References

Contact session time table

Personalized Alerts, Notices, Calendar, Planner, Organizer

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Messaging Services amongst students and teachers

Selection of contact session center

Complaint registration and redress

Participative and Collaboration Services

These services attempt to exploit the power of ‗Learning by Collaboration‘ and

‗Participation‘ with use of information and communication technologies

Thematic eCommunities

Threaded Discussion Forums

Learning by Gaming

Blogs

Wikis

Opinion Polls

Express views

Share Content

To avail these enormous services, a e-Suvidha enabled student has to login to the

Digital University Portal of his/her own university with a ‗Login Id‘ and ‗Password‘.

After successful registration with the university, student will also get a 16 digit PRN

(Permanent Registration Number) that will be unique across all universities in India.

Services under e-Suvidha using personalize student login:

Digital University offers various facilitation services including Information services,

learning services, Administrative and Facilitation Services, Participative and

Collaboration Services.

These services are also available to the students at highly sophisticated ‗Student

Facilitation Centers‘ i.e. SFC established at University Campus, sub-campuses,

specific colleges at taluka and district level. To avail these enormous services, a

student has to login to the Digital University Portal of his/her own university with a

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‗Login Id‘ and ‗Password‘. After successful registration with the university, student

will also get a 16 digit PRN i.e. Permanent Registration Number that will be unique

across all universities in India.

These services will facilitate availability of general and personalized information to

all the students on the portal which is maintained by the University itself, hrough the

Digital University software framework.

Benefits of e-Suvidha:

MKCL has claimed following benefits of Digital University Framework with

which e-Suvidha is offered -

Benefits to University

Integrated eGovernance Solution for Administration of University, Colleges and

Student Life Cycle

Key Benefits

Increase in student enrolment count

Reduction of load on campus administration

On schedule, hassle free cycle from admission to results

Life-long electronic data for instant retrieval

Optimized and re-engineered processes

Salient Features

Generic, standardized yet configurable, world-class framework to suit needs of

every university

End-to-end integration of all major business processes of university

Real time dashboards for process control

Strong local and remote support mechanism

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Hosting on load balanced, secured private cloud servers with disaster recovery

mechanisms

Functional Modules offered:

Student Life Cycle Management System

Online Application Solutions and Integrated Services: „OASIS‟

Anytime, anywhere, single online application for all courses & colleges, admission

procedure, eligibility criteria, last year cut-offs etc.

Academic Program Management: „Program-Course Definition‟

Choice Based Credit System, Grading, Marking, Course-Subjects Structure,

Assessment Scheme Definition, Syllabus Definition with Content Design and

Integration Tool

Registration and Enrolment Management

Eligibility, Enrolment, Single Permanent Registration Number throughout life, Entire

Academic Profile

Learning Management System: „ERA‟

SCORM and QTI Standards Compliant, RLO Repository, Online Course Design and

Integration Tool, Personalized Self-Paced Learning, Multilingual, Continuous

Comprehensive Assessment, Group & Collaborative Learning, Sequential or Open

Choice Based Access to the Learning Objects

Examination Management

Schedule & Time-Table, Center & Venues, Prefilled Exam Form, Hall Ticket, Block

wise Junior Supervisor & Attendance Sheet with Thumbnail Photo & Sign, Question

Paper packet Distribution, Statistical & Analytical Reports

Secured & Distributable Assessment Data Entry, Coding-Decoding, Marks

Modification Control & Report, ICR Data Import, Live Data Progress Report

Program Definition based Result Processing, Ordinance and Grace Application,

Unfair-Means Cases Management, Annulment, BAR Coded Statement of Marks and

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Grades, Result Register/Ledger, Press Report for Result Publication, Controlled

Change, Change Approval, Log & Audit, Tool for Legacy System Data Migration

Online Examination System: „OES‟

Unicode Support, 11 Types of Adaptive Question Presentation, Dynamic Question

Mix from Question Bank, Automated Instant Evaluation, e-Certification and

Feedback, Evaluation Data Synch for Results, Electronic Remote Surveillance, QTI

Standards Compliant, Pseudo/Fully-Online Deployment Model

Affiliation Management System

Perspective Plan, Online Processing of Applications for New College and Affiliation

(First Affiliation, Extension, Permanent Affiliation, Addition of Subject, Division,

Faculty, Increase of Intake), Disaffiliation Process, Intake Capacity Administration,

Final Decision Letter and MIS

Library Automation System: „Libreria‟

OPAC, Book Reservation, Book Management, Accessioning, Membership

Management, Circulation, Catalogue, 50+ Reports, Interactive and Dynamic

Dashboard, Show Web Information for Books, Stock Taking, Book bank, Tool for

Legacy System Data Migration.

Enterprise Application Services:

Integrated Portal CMS for RTI Compliance

Multilingual Content Management System, Menu Management, Meeting

Management, Organizational Messaging System, Complaint & Grievance

Management, FAQs, Sitemap, Visual Tour, Photo Gallery, Calendar,

Organization Structure Definition & Management, Role & User Management,

Teachers‘ Profile

IT Infrastructure Services

Organizational Messenger, Remote IT Asset Inventory and Management, GIS, Virtual

Classroom, Webcasting, IT Infrastructure Consultation

Quality Management Services: „Accreditation Framework‟

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Reports for Accrediting Bodies, Statistical Data for Self-Assessment Report (SAR),

Real-Time KPI Dashboard

Benefits to Colleges:

Integrated eGovernance Solution for Administration of University, Colleges and

Student Life Cycle

Key Benefits

Helpful for re-accreditation (NAAC/NBA)

Student data capture at source

Integrated electronic data exchange with University

Automation of campus administration

Savings in hidden operation costs

Instant statistical reports generation

Salient Features

Secured login for each college,

Integrated College systems with university systems

End-to-end integration of all major business processes of college

Graphical MIS dashboard for Principals

Minimal computing infrastructure requirement

Functional Modules offered:

Integrated Portal CMS for RTI Compliance

Multilingual Content Management System, Menu Management, Meeting

Management, Organizational Messaging System, Complaint & Grievance

Management, FAQs, Sitemap, Visual Tour, Photo Gallery, Calendar, Organization

Structure Definition & Management, Role & User Management, Teachers‘ Profile

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Admissions

Online Applications Reports, Prefilled Eligibility Forms, Enrolment Reports,

Admission Transfer & Cancellation

Fee Management

Fee Collection & Receipts, Course wise, Category wise, Head wise Fee Reports,

Invoices from University for Fee Deposition

Affiliation

Parent-Body Registration, Online Application for New College and Affiliation (First

Affiliation, Extension, Permanent Affiliation, Addition of Subject, Division, Faculty,

Increase of Intake)

College Administration

Class Time-Table, Division & Roll №, Attendance Sheets, Teachers‘ Work Load,

Notice Board Management, 125+ Statistical & Graphical Reports, ID Card , Bona-

Fide Certificate Statistical reports for UGC, Govt. Directorates, University, and

Accrediting Bodies

Benefits to Students:

Integrated eGovernance Solution for Administration of University, Colleges and

Student Life Cycle

Key Benefits

Personalised login for each student

Substantial savings in Time, Cost and Efforts

Information and Transaction services

Online fee payment facilities

Job opportunities and career advancement options

Social connectivity for collaboration

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Functional Modules:

Information Services

Accurate & Real-time Information about: University, Course: Structure & Assessment

Scheme, Departments, Colleges, Institutes, Accreditation Ratings, Intake Capacity,

Syllabi, Old Question Papers

Administrative & Facilitation Services

Personal Login, Complete Track Record, Profile Change Request & Status, Online

Payment

Personalized: Eligibility & Enrolment Form, Examination Form, Hall Ticket, Exam

Schedule Time-Table, Results

Application for: Subject Change, Photocopy of Answer-Books, Re-evaluation, Re-

verification, Transcripts, Ordnance & Grace Cancellation, Exemption Cancellation

Resume for Campus Placements, SMS & Email Alerts

Learning Services

Personalised Access to Content in LMS, Collaboration Tools, e-Portfolio,

Edutainment Activities, e-Gifts, Personalised Assessment and Feedback, Tip-of-the-

Day

Employment Assistance Services to Youth: „EASY‟

Career Path, Search jobs, Earn and Learn, Government Jobs & Schemes, Self-

Employment Guidance, Education and Job Fair, Educational Loan, Competitive

Examination, Scholarships & Fellowships (State, National and international),

Certificates, Awards, Advanced Studies in India and Abroad, EASY Blog.

Collaboration Services

Online Collaboration using Chats, Discussion Forums, Social Media Connectors,

Links to Wiki, Blogs, & Open Course Ware (OCW).

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Digital University is implemented in following universities for educational e-

Governance:

Maharashtra

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad, Maharashtra

University of Mumbai, Mumbai, Maharashtra

North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon, Maharashtra

Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Nagpur, Maharashtra

Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University, Amravati, Maharashtra

Solapur University, Solapur, Maharashtra

SNDT Womens University, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Shivaji University , Kolhapur, Maharashtra

Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University , Nasik, Maharashtra

Gondwana University, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra

Gujarat

Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Verma Kachchh University, Kachchh,Gujarat

The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat

Rajasthan

Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur,

Rajasthan

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1.6 Student e-Services Management with e-Suvidha in North

Maharashtra University:

The North Maharashtra University has made available many e-services to students

through e-Suvidha Scheme. The University is creating awareness among students by

distributing display poster on e-Suvidha to affiliated colleges. The affiliated colleges

display poster at important locations in the college.

1.6.1 Student e-Services offered

Table 6: The services offered to students of North Maharashtra University under

e-Suvidha

Sr.

No.

Services to Students using e-Suvidha

1 Updating personal information on eSuvidha account.

2 Downloading syllabus

3 Downloading old question papers

4 Checking eligibility status

5 Get information about university examination dates

6 Planning for subjects & personalized examination time table.

7 System generated pre-filled examination forms.

8 Get Examination Hall Ticket.

9 Get Revaluation or re-examination form.

10 EASY – (Employment Assistance Services to Youth) Scholarship Scheme

11 EASY – Professional and Academic courses and certificate examination information

12 EASY – Earn and Learn

13 EASY – Job Search

14 EASY – Calendar

15 EASY – Competitive Examinations

16 Website links for Opening account in bank, applying for driving license , applying

for passport etc.

17 Blogs for students

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1.62 Pre and Post e-Suvidha student services scenario in North Maharashtra

University:

Before e-Suvidha, activities were carried out manually. Service delivery was time

consuming and costly affair. There was limited accessibility and all most no

personalization of services. When new student get admitted to college, student has to

fill admission form, then eligibility form. He could not know his eligibility status

easily. If any correction in name or so he has to apply to principal and then principal

will forward case to university and in due course of time, corrections were made.

Before the examination, he has to fill examination form manually and same for all his

semesters. Simply he has to repeatedly fill same basic data manually. For old

question papers, syllabus student was dependent on library. Also examination time

table, revised time table he could only know from notice board of college.

Examination hall tickets were delivered manually, student has to paste his photograph

and get it signed from authority. Employment support from university was almost

zero.

After implementation of e-Suvidha student is at ease along with other stakeholders

including university, college, government, parent etc. Now a new student is only

required to fill admission form manually and rest of the forms including eligibility ,

examination are generated through software , simply he requires to sign it. It has also

made college and universities at ease because of forms are now less prone to errors.

Syllabus, old question papers & examination time table are available on e-Suvidha

portal. Every student is provided with unique id and password to access his account.

He can know his eligibility status, can submit request for correction in name and

know its status. It is also possible for student to get personalized time table. He can

get assistance for job, guidance for competitive examinations, access e-books, blogs

etc. He gets alerts about eligibility, examination etc. from university on his mobile.

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Table 7: The pre and post e-Suvidha scenario in North Maharashtra University.

Sr.

No.

activity/process/service Pre e-Suvidha Post e-Suvidha

1 Eligibility forms Hand filling forms System generated pre-

filled eligibility forms

2 Examination forms Hand filling forms System generated pre-

filled examination

forms

3 Correction in Name Need to fill physical

form. Also need to

follow up with

college and

university

Can send request

using e-Suvidha

account. Also know

its stats.

4 SMS alerts from university for

Eligibility, Exam Time Table,

results etc.

Not available Available.

5 Update your mobile number

and personal information.

Rarely practiced.

Mostly at college

level.

Available through e-

Suvidha account.

6 Download syllabus Not available Available

7 Download old question papers Not available Available

8 Know University examination

dates and time table

Only through college

notice boards.

Know from university

portal.

9 Personalized Examination

Time Table

Not Available Available through e-

Suvidha account.

10 Exam Hall Ticket Manual/Computer

printed. Photo

pasting required.

Download from

portal. Available in

electronic form with

photograph etc.

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11 Availability of various forms

for download like convocation

form etc.

Not available Available

12 Online employment assistance Not available Available

13 Online assistance for

scholarships

Not available Available

14 Online assistance for

competitive exams

Not available Available

15 Online support for earn and

learn , bank loans etc.

Not available Available

16 Website links for Opening

account in bank, applying for

driving license , applying for

passport etc.

Not available Available

17 Blogs Not available Available

18 Access to video lectures, e-

books etc.

Not available Available

19 Online application to university

events like Avishkar etc.

Not available Available

20 Online authentication of degree Not available Available

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1.63 Assessment Framework for educational eGovernance system -

„e-Suvidha‟

It is highly desirable to develop comprehensive framework for assessing the educational e-

Governance system e-Suvidha for student services management.

Fig 3 : E-Suvidha Assessment Framework

The assessment framework of educational e-Governance initiative e-Suvidha for

managing student services consist of –

Assessment based on eGovernance objectives

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Cost Efficiency Assessment & Time Efficiency Assessment

Assessment of efforts reduction of college administration

Utility Assessment of e-Suvidha in student services management

Assessment for student service quality parameters

e-Readinesses Assessment & student preparedness assessment

Human Computer Interaction and Usability Assessment

E-Suvidha Benefit Analysis and Problem Assessment

Student service assessment for e-Suvidha based services

e-Suvidha usage frequency analysis

Assessment for user convenience attributes

Assessment of e-Suvidha for technical parameters, sustainability &

replicability

Assessment based on eGovernance objectives:

The objectives are to make government administration more transparent, speedy and

accountable, while addressing the society‘s needs and expectations through efficient

public services and effective interaction between the people, businesses and

government.

These objectives are assessed from users of the system.

Efficiency Assessment

The efficiency assessment of e-Suvidha includes assessing its usefulness in time

saving, cost saving and saving efforts of administration and users.

The costs include logistics cost, travel cost, inventory cost, printing cost and labor

cost. Also considerable time saving is desirable.

Also considerable saving in efforts is expected with reduced re-doing of work.

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Quality Assessment

There are number of parameters for assessing quality of student e-services using

educational e-Governance initiative e-Suvidha. It includes simplicity, speed,

convenience and personalized services etc.

E-Readinesses Assessment

It is very important to assess the present level of preparedness of the university to

participate in the digital world. E- Readiness is the degree to which a community is

prepared and has the potential, to participate in networked world. The results of e-

readiness assessment of universities in Maharashtra will help in effective educational

e-Governance. It is important to design suitable framework for this assessment

process. The identified e-readiness indicators are infrastructural availability,

manpower availability, top management support, electronic literacy, training,

regulatory framework, and ICT deployment in the university affiliated colleges were

assessed. The framework suggested is useful for universities in Maharashtra for

knowing the preparedness of colleges for effectively and efficiently participating in

the educational eGovernance initiative for offering eSuvidha to students and better

manage student e-services management. It will also help in understanding digital

divide among affiliated colleges offering eSuvidha to students.

Evaluating Human Computer Interaction parameters

Human–computer interaction (HCI) involves the study, planning, and design of the

interaction between people i.e. users and computers. It is often regarded as the

intersection of computer science, behavioral sciences, design and several other fields

of study. HCI is also sometimes referred to as man–machine interaction (MMI) or

computer–human interaction (CHI).

The important HCI evaluation parameters are -

User friendliness of eSuvidha portal

System functionality

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

Design consistency

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Menu System

Help facility

Navigation between pages

Problem Assessment

The users of the system face may face problems and it is necessary to know the

problem if any and its seriousness.

The e-Suvidha user students may be facing problems while accessing the services.

The students can be questioned about problems encountered to them, including –

Non availability of constant electric supply for using internet

Non availability of internet

Not trained in using eSuvidha

Forget Password

Non updated information on eSuvidha portal

Non availability of online help

Some services under eSuvidha are not functioning

The significance of the problems can be known with this assessment.

The above mentioned e-Suvidha assessment framework is used for designing

questionnaires for primary data collection from respondents namely college

administrators, e-Suvidha coordinators, e-Suvidha user students and experts.