DSS To Quick Pace Operational Decisions For Maharashtra Government

Maharashtra is the third largest state in India by area and the second largest by population. The state is also the richest in India as far as Per Capita Income is concerned. The state’s administrative machinery runs many infrastructure projects – both social and industrial. The respective government departments are responsible for the execution of these projects. There is a lot of planning involved in running this entire government machinery and handling the massive amounts of data collected on a regular basis.

The Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES) falls under the Department of Planning of the Government of Maharashtra. It undertakes various surveys and census polls for collecting data at various levels. The analysis is published in a book in the form of an annual overview of the state.

At the district level, relevant data for the analysis is collected by surveys like National Sample Survey (NSS), agricultural surveys, educational surveys, population surveys etc., which is collated at the state level (at the Mantralaya) using various statistical models. The final data is initially submitted to the Departmemnt of Planning. This data is also available to the marketing departments of various organisations to decide on product marketing strategies focussed on particular areas in the state. Citizens can also access this data under the RTI Act.

Long Cycle Time for Data Entry and Report Generation

Earlier, the data was collected either through e-mail or in paper format, excel sheets etc. About 40 staff members worked as data entry operators and did further analysis using COBOL programmes. However, the system lacked in terms of appropriate data consolidation for optimum use. The different kinds of statistical analysis involved needed a separate COBOL programme, thus, increasing the cycle time of the process. The information distribution was also manual in nature. The data was not Web-enabled and was processed on the legacy OSCAR 1000 servers.

The entire nature of the data entry exercise was highly time consuming with lack of intelligent data storage capabilities. The data retrieval time was also high due to the obsoleteness of the software platform (Cobol). Moreover, for every new report that had to be generated or for any change that had to be made in an existing report, a new COBOL programme was necessary with no scope for code reusability.

Web-enabled Information Collection

The DSS (Decision Support System) implemented at the Mantralaya by Blue Star Infotech (BSI) now provides the government with an automated platform for data consolidation. “The district collectorates feed in their data on the Web-based platform, which is consolidated and further divided into data marts and data warehouses for conducting analysis. This automates the entire process and saves time and human resources,” says Satish Gaonkar, VP – Consulting Services, Blue Star Infotech (BSI).

The DSS is a turnkey solution with hardware consisting of a couple of servers i.e. a database and an application server (additional hardware includes 90 PCs and 10 printers) with a Web-based platform to collect data at the district level. There is an analytical tool that sits on the top for performing different types of data analysis preventing the need to write information-driven COBOL programmes. All the analysis can now be done within day’s time when month end approaches. The DSS also includes Data Warehouse and BI applications. The database was provided by Oracle and the Data Warehouse and BI applications were bought from SAS while HP supplied the hardware components. The front end of the DSS runs on Java J2EE open source.

Implementation Process

“We started with the hardware procurement and setting up of the network followed by the requirement-gathering phase for the data entry application development,” says Gaonkar.

For planning the data entry application, some eight hundred statistical reports already in use were pulled out from the COBOL systems and the new reports they desired from the system were also listed.

By the fourth month, the servers were installed at the data centre and the required hardware was also deployed at the district level. Subsequently, the analysis report requirements were gathered, following which, nearly 120 District Statistical Officers were trained to use the system. The Electronic Data Processing (EDP) team was also trained to handle the system independently.

Reduction in RTI Query Response Time

Various government department employees believe that the DSS will prove immensely useful especially for handling RTI queries that keep flowing in consistently. They are routed to the DES for response. Currently, there are piles of RTI requests pending.

The in-house team has now been trained to customise reports in response to various kinds of RTI queries directed at various departments. The Blue Star team will only be contacted for big projects like conducting a census survey etc in the future.

Going further, the state government hopes that the DSS will provide valuable inputs by giving a true picture of those areas that actually require funds for development. For example, the education department will be able to corner districts having lesser number of schools, thus, the necessary funds will be disbursed from the final budget for the setting up of newer educational institutes in those areas.

Operational efficiency will be gained in various forms like improved data quality after validation at various points. “The DSS will significantly improve the process of planning the annual budget of the state,” says Gaonkar.

In fact the results of the NSS (National Sample Survey) this year will be published after processing the data in the DSS (This process includes field work, data capture, analysis and publishing). Usually, the NSS takes about six to eight months for completion. This year the processing time will be reduced by almost 70 to 80 percent.

Kshatrapati Shivaji, IT secretary, Government of Maharashtra, concludes, “Under the current system of functioning, policy decisions are taken in a certain number of days; however, operational decisions take years to be finalised. The DSS will cut short this time lag involved in decision making and execution”.