Fast Reliable Instant Efficient Network for Disbursement of Services (FRIENDS Janasevana Kendram)

Transcription

1 188 Compendium of e-governance Initiatives CHAPTER in 16 India Fast Reliable Instant Efficient Network for Disbursement of Services (FRIENDS Janasevana Kendram) Krishnan B. Nair Manager, Business Development Kerala State IT Mission, Kerala ABSTRACT Fast Reliable Instant Efficient Network for Disbursement of Services (FRIENDS) is a Single Window Mechanism where citizens have the opportunity to pay all taxes and other financial dues to the Government. FRIENDS seeks to extend the benefits of full fledged computerization of individual departments to the citizens, even before the whole backend computerization is completed. The salient feature of the project is the effective integration of IT and logistics for citizen services. The project was launched in Thiruvananthapuram in June 2000 and was replicated in other district headquarters during The centres work from 9.00 AM to 7.00 PM on all days including Sundays, except national holidays. The counters are equipped to handle around 1000 types of bills (in various combinations) originating out of various departments. FRIENDS renders services to millions of customers by way of collection of rents, fees, charges, and taxes due to various government departments and agencies. FRIENDS Janasevana Kendram, Thiruvananthapuram, has bagged the ISO 9001: 2000 certification awarded by DNV (UKAS), which signifies the presence of a quality system that is managed and maintained with a quality policy and quality objectives, and is always aiming at continual improvements in customer services. At present FRIENDS Janasevana Kendrams are located at all District headquarters of the state. 1. Project Vision and Objectives To provide an integrated electronic interface, where citizens can access Government services, pay bills and taxes, and obtain information from the Government, To implement any centre any payment' concept, To provide collection centres for the Government at every two to three kilometers without any additional infrastructure cost, To treat the citizen as a valuable customer and to maintain and upgrade services,

2 Fast Reliable Instant Efficient Network for 189 To induct a philosophy of better service delivery in Government departments. 2. Stakeholders Government departments like Revenue, Motor Vehicles and Civil Supplies, Government agencies like Local Self Government Institutions (LSGIs), Electrical inspectorate, Universities, Kerala Water Authority, Kerala State Electricity Board and BSNL (land line and mobile bills), Railway ticket booking (piloted and continuing at FRIENDS, Wayanad) 3. Necessity/Needs Stakeholder need assessments are largely based on the citizen feedback and their expectations about the services. Similarly, the participant departments propose introduction of new services through FRIENDS centres, based on the feedback received from their respective target groups. 4. Project Plan Requirements of process re-engineering The need for process re-engineering of FRIENDS, to cope up with the times, has been felt and we are in the process of implementing the same with the technical support of NIC-Kerala. Web-based applications will be created and ny centre any payment facility will be introduced in all the FRIENDS centres in the near future. 5. Milestones Achieved Increased citizen acceptance over the years, as can be evinced from the increase in the number of transactions over the years, Introduction of new services (for example, Electrical Inspectorate) at all FRIENDS centres, Periodic refresher training programme to Service Officers, Reduced transaction time and cost after implementation of ISO 9001 : 2000.

3 190 Compendium of e-governance Initiatives in India 6. Project Management Structure, Project Management Team The FRIENDS project is headed by the Director, Kerala State IT Mission, and his team includes a Manager, Business Development and a Project Assistant. At the district level, all the FRIENDS centres have two Project Managers and staff who are designated as Service Officers. The physical distribution of scrolls and other information to concerned participating departments are done with the help of Women s Self Help Groups (Kudumbashree). A detailed flow-diagram indicating the FRIENDS project management structure is given towards the end of this brief note. 7. Implementation The project was piloted at Thiruvananthapuram in 2000; subsequently it was rolled-out in the remaining 13 districts during 2001/2002. Presently FRIENDS centres are located at all the district headquarters of the state, totaling Capacity Building: Training All the 14 FRIENDS centres taken together have 284 Government employees working on a full-time basis as Service Officers. Refresher training for the staff is being conducted periodically at all the FRIENDS centres. Evaluation and measurement Regular evaluation of the project is conducted as part of the ISO implementation 9. Issues and their Solutions FRIENDS is a successful model of achieving front-end computerized service delivery to citizens without waiting for the completion of back-end computerization which would involve complex process re-engineering in the participating Government Departments. Replication in other states This is a simple front-end delivery model. It could be easily replicated in any geographical location. It is recommended that this model of citizen service delivery using ICT may be tried out and implemented in the states which have prioritized on establishing innovative service delivery modules.

4 Fast Reliable Instant Efficient Network for 191 Road ahead With the implementation of the FREES (FRIENDS Re-engineered and Enterprises Enabled Software) with the technical support of NIC, any centre any payment mode will be enabled. FRIENDS is further geared up to add to its repertoire more popular and sought after G2C services in the coming years with back-end integration in the participating departments. Also with the integration of Akshaya centres located in rural areas, FRIENDS is bound to cater to the entire citizens of the state. 10. Status and Results Present status Table 1 Year No. of transa- 1,23,709 10,26,919 20,23,811 26,68,071 34,00,182 38,70,391 40,28,287 ctions Fig Specific Achievements during the Year Re-engineering of FRIENDS software has been initiated and is progressing in a time-bound manner

5 192 Compendium of e-governance Initiatives in India Integration of e-pay facility from village level Akshaya centres spread out in 7 districts of the state, namely,, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Kannur, Kasaragod with the respective FRIENDS centers Also, steps have been initiated to implement the collection of LIC payments, Passport applications and others through FRIENDS 12. Future Plans for Readers Seeking more Information on Project To enhance the security aspects of the FRIENDS centres, the Government has decided to implement Information Security Management System (ISMS) and get the centres certified as per ISO The process of implementation of ISMS is in progress.