IT-savvy govt departments slow in using ‘ambitious’ IWDMS project

The state government recently won five national awards for effective implementation of five different Information Technology (IT) projects, but it has failed to implement the ambitious Integrated Workflow and Document Management System (IWDMS) which is one of the over-arching projects like GSWAN, SICN, farm, PCs and peripherals, capacity building etc, being implemented across the Secretariat and more than 50 departments in Ahmedabad/ Gandhinagar by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
The project has moved to maintenance phase since April 1, 2007. Recently, chief secretary (CS) D Rajagopalan expressed concern over the lower use of IWDMS by the government departments.

A highly-placed official source said, “At present, very few departments like GAD, Urban development, CMO, finance department, DST have started using it; most other departments have not started using it. The chief secretary has ordered to use IWDMS across the secretariat and utilise it 100 per cent for all files, correspondence etc from May 1, 2009. With this objective, all departments will be given 12-week training in use of IWDMS by TCS and Gujarat Informatics Ltd (GIL).’’

IWDMS is a bilingual solution for automating functions at all levels of the administrative hierarchy of any government department/office. It provides document management, workflow management, collaborative environment and knowledge management in an integral fashion and delivers an electronic workplace. IWDMS has enabled efficient monitoring and control, building a knowledge base and move towards ‘less paper’ office.

The State Science and Technology Department has requested all department heads to ask their staff to complete 12-week training before May 1, 2009. Some departments started training of their staff from last week.