CIOIN

J. Satyanarayana

AP’s commissioner, Commercial Tax Department

Executive summary

When the then Andhra Pradesh Government decided to improve service delivery to citizens, they knew it will be no cake-walk. There was a task of achieving congruence of objectives, integrating cultures of private and public sectors, and striking a right balance between investment and control in e-Government. Read as how in four years e-Seva emerged as the benchmark for government shared services initiatives.

The concept of shared serviced was initiated in 1998 when the Andra Pradesh (AP) Government zeroed in on J Satyanarayana, then AP's commissioner, Commercial Tax Department to spearhead the effort of creating a 'single window' for citizens' jobs. Here people could access different government services provided by independent departments. Satyanarayana assembled a team to put the framework in place.

The aim was to identify a model that provides large volumes of routine services to people, identify departments that provided services to citizens and bring them together. The team studied every department since electricity, water, property tax, transport, telephone and land registration had unique billing process. They did brainstorming sessions for six months and then narrowed in on a framework. It allowed for multiple interfaces across the counters that offer large volumes of routine services to citizens.

e-Seva is based on a three-tier web-based architecture running on Oracle 9i application Server Enterprise Edition as the middleware platform. It includes web-application servers working on a load balancing mode. The front-end clients run IE and can range from 10-20 different locations. A combination of leased and ISD lines have been used to link the web servers at e-Seva data center. Andhra Pradesh decided to take application server route as the process was simpler because most government departments had automated their processes, especially databases, before the launch of e-Seva.

CMS computers provide technology support to 15 districts covering 120 e-Seva centers, while UTL and CGS Technologies support three districts each. A total of 1200 people are involved with the project either directly or otherwise.

The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project was build on a BOOT model over a period of five years from August 25,2001. The state government oversaw the project as the administrator and also was the front-end interface. CMS computers was the IT architecture and was responsible for software, hardware, networking solutions, staff salaries, infrastructure cost and setting up new centers. Meanwhile, RAM Informatics came up with application development, management and maintenance.

CMS Computers get Rs. 3.95 per transaction in Hyderabad and Rs. 5 in the districts, which is shared by both the partners. The Directorate of Electronic Delivery Services and e-Seva monitor the project daily. At present, citizens within the jurisdiction of all e-Seva centers in the districts are allowed to transact online.

As the principal investor CMS Computers has so far invested over Rs 25 crore in this project mainly setting and running the centers. It costs Rs 12 lakh to set up an e-Seva center. CMS kept on adding centers taking it from 18 to 45. RAM Informatics has also scored with the project contributing 25 percent of its revenue last fiscal. The e-Seva project has also impacted the administration, increasing productivity in service, boosting efficiency in revenue collection and brining greater transparency in their operations.

It is a successful initiative that has changed a decades-old typically bureaucratic system, says Subhash Bhatnagar. The departments wired into e-Seva are also happy. The project has improved our revenue collection, says Dr K.S. Jawahar Reddy, Managing Director, Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewage Board.

Andhra Pradesh is now taking the concept to villages under 'Rajiv Internet Village' scheme. Bharat Electronics Ltd and TIME, an NGO, has been given responsibility with the setting up of over 8,000 delivery centers by December 2005. e-Seva has also inspired and guided other Indian states. Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharastra are some of the states who have deployed shared-services projects.