India Post & Rural ICT and the GDS Employees

India Post 2012-A Visionery document Published by the Postal Directorate

India Post 2012, A document Published by the Project Management Unit of the Postal Directorate is reproduced here for the information of the members and also the CHQ leaders. Please look in to the matter.I invite the comments of the members on the subject.

 

India Post - 2012

Vision

India Post 2012 aims at transforming Department of Posts into a "Technology Enabled, Self Reliant Market Leader". This translates into 5 initiatives covering increased market share and revenues, new products and services, improved service delivery, motivated workforce and rural development

Project Over View

In August 2010 Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the 'INDIA POST 2012' IT Modernization project with a total outlay of 1877.2 crores.As part of 11th five year plan, this IT modernization project has been undertaken in two phases. In Phase-I, post offices up to double handed levels were supplied with IT hardware and in Phase-II, the program has been built on 3 cornerstones as follows

Infrastructure – The project aims to establish Data Centre / disaster recovery centres to house all transactions and data, nationwide networking of all post offices including rural post offices, supply of computer hardware to noncomputerized post offices, mail offices and rural post offices with a vision to create a fully managed, secure and centrally governed IT

Project Implementation Structure

The IT Modernization project has been designed to be implemented in 8 contracts

Rural ICT – Hardware: This vendor will supply and install Rural ICT Hardware devices and provide for network connectivity to approximately 1.30 lakh GDS Post Offices which will enable post offices to perform all transactions electronically.

 Rural ICT – System Integrator: This vendor will develop the platform for all applications that will reside in the Rural Hand held devices.

 Data Centre Facility: This vendor will provide centralized Data Centre Facility for hosting all applications and Disaster Recovery Center.

 Core System Integrator: This vendor will be the core integrator for all the applications that will run in the post and mail offices. The vendor will deploy mail applications such as track & trace and point of sale and develop applications for all accounting modules and personnel management. The CSI will also create and manage India post website, a customer service call center and introduce eCommerce solution for Department of Posts.

 Financial Services System Integrator: This specialized vendor will cater to deployment of Postal Banking & Insurance solutions; enabling the department to perform anytime anywhere banking. The vendor will also install 1000 ATMs and create mobile and web based access for all the users.

 Network Integrator: This vendor will ensure networking of DoP's departmental offices across India and design DoP networks including network security.

 Mail Operations Hardware: This vendor will be responsible for procurement of hardware for Postal

and Mail Processing offices such as desktop computers, printers, scanning devices/hardware and around 15,000 departmental postmen device hardware.

 Change Management Vendor: This vendor will be responsible to manage change and prepare the

staff for this massive IT modernization project of Department of Posts by conducting surveys and

understanding concerns of postal employees.

Project Over View

Software Solutions – Creation of integrated, modular software solution covering Postal operations, Banking,

Insurance, logistics, help desk and call centre. The IT project also envisages accrual based accounting and centralized payroll processing. The project will also bring in ecommerce solution enabling India Post to make all web and mobile based transactions

Change/Project Management – The IT Project mandated changes in operational procedures and processes. The Department has done a detailed business process reengineering exercise and prepared the 'To-Be' document for future applications. Therefore, during the implementation of the project, there would be an immense requirement of employee participation and change management activities to ensure readiness of employees to adopt the solution. The IT Project will carry out this important activity by conducting workshops, training, re-skilling for enabling change and addressing concerns and issues of employees. It will also cater to communication and awareness at regular intervals to drive change.

Solution Development Approach: The vendor once onboard will design/develop the solution across all India Post locations as per the implementation plan and will follow the approach outlined

Design Integration &

Benefits of the Project

Benefits for Customers

 Better financial inclusion for the common man in the rural and semi-urban locations at par with the urban locations, through mobile remittances, mobile banking, mobile insurance etc.

 Effective and transparent delivery of social security and employment guarantee schemes

 Increased consistency and reliability in mail, parcels and logistics delivery system in line with global standards

 Multiple channels of access to customers through post office counters, kiosks, internet, mobiles, ATMs etc.

 Better visibility of various articles in the mail stream and transparency in financial services such as banking, insurance etc. Improved customer satisfaction due to faster and more reliable services in postal, logistics, banking, insurance and retail operations

Benefits for DoP

 Significant enhancement in revenue & market shares as multitude of products will be improved and new products/ services will be launched (e.g. eGovernance, Rural ICT)

 Better decision making and operational planning due to availability of management information in a timely manner

 Potential reduction in the transaction cost and availability of manpower for redeployment in marketing and other revenue generating capabilities

 Increased productivity and accountability

Benefits for Employees Employees will have an opportunity to learn,build and enhance new skills and expertise
 Reduction in manual work which will result in enhanced productivity levels
 Opportunity to deliver enhanced IT enabled services to their customers leading to a significant reduction in customer complaints
 Improvement in employee engagement and empowerment
 Provide an opportunity to work in an innovation based culture
 Opportunity to be part of a growing and vibrant organization

Rural ICT and the GDS Employees

The Rural ICT solution aims to significantly improve the day to day operations performed at the Branch Post offices in the following ways:

1. All the Postal, Savings Bank, and RPLI functions would be performed through the devices; thus manual record keeping would be reduced

2. The BO Daily Accounts and BO Summary would be automatically generated and electronically sent to the accounts office/ central server

3. Specimen Signature book would be replaced by an advanced biometric method of authentication

4. All new RPLI application forms will be processed through the devices thus resulting in faster issue of policies

5. Improved disbursement of money orders at the branch post offices as a result of enhanced cash management systems

6. Utility bills like telephone, electricity, water etc. can be accepted online through the device in the future and electronic receipts can be given to the consumers

7. MGNREGS payments shall be done using the Rural ICT devices allowing the GDS Post office to validate the identity of an individual through biometric data, thus reducing verification time and avoiding unauthorized users