| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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The eGujCop project, as a whole, is a huge one in terms of its spectrum as it covers 1,100+ site locations under different departments ranging from, backbone of Home Department like Police Station to other HODs like Forensic Science and Prison.
As envisaged, the project was rolled-out in a phased manner for hassle-free implementation and to make it acceptable.
As a stepping stone, Web Enabled Committee was formed under the chairmanship of Indian Police Services (IPS) officer of the rank Additional Director General of Police (ADGP). The committee was driven by small logically formed module-wise teams towards requirement understanding, application design and development activities. These small teams were driven by senior officers, who were chosen from various HODs, having relevant expertise and included various middle and field level officers. Software consultants from solution partners viz. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., KPMG Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd. and Gujarat Informatics Limited were also part of the team. The teams were responsible for liaising and coordinating with the objective of defining and enhancing the modules.
As part of the next phase of acceptance and enhancement of the application, Module-wise Steering Group Committee was formed which was responsible for scrutiny and acceptance of various modules in the application. Small groups, driven by Senior Officers, were formed under this steering committee for Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) & detailed scrutiny of each module. These groups included field officers of the corresponding offices.
Moving towards implementation, five teams for Infrastructure/Furniture, IT Hardware, Connectivity, Application and Digitization were formed and were liable to carry out specific activities across 1,100+ locations scattered across 196,000+ square kms, like:
1. Infrastructure Team was responsible for Site Preparation including Electrification and LAN Wiring of the offices and providing Furniture.
2. IT Hardware Team was responsible for understanding the hardware requirements based on study of 1,100+ offices. The team carried out procurement, delivery and installation of the hardware.
3. Connectivity Team was responsible for liaising with Gujarat State Wide Area Network (GSWAN) team and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) team. The team is accountable for ensuring consistent and uniform connectivity across the state and for resolving connectivity issues.
GSWAN --- is an IP-based wide area network which connects all 26 Districts, 225 Talukas and more than 3,200 Government offices in the state of Gujarat. GSWAN connectivity is being used as the primary connectivity for eGujCop project.
BSNL --- is a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) which provides telecommunication services and has the widest footprint in India. Virtual Private Network over Broadband (VPNoBB) services have been procured from BSNL as a secondary and redundant connectivity for continuous functioning of eGujCop.
4. Application Team was responsible for identifying flaws/bugs in the application, ironing out issues and correcting them to ensure smooth functioning & use of application. The team proactively tracks and analyses audit trails and logs to ensure data integrity.
5. Digitization Team was responsible for digitization of paper based legacy data (crime and criminal records) of last 10 years with verification and correction process.
All these teams and their efforts in unison, were at the helm of the process of revolutionizing the policing function through the means of eGujCop application with the objective of achieving responsiveness in policing and providing quality service delivery to the vulnerable strata of the society.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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eGujCop project had multiple stakeholders both from within the department and private institutions. The Department formulated the program with clear role and scope of work definitions for all the stakeholders to ensure a successful roll out.
1. Nodal Agency --- State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB), Gandhinagar
Appointed as the nodal agency for implementation and monitoring of eGujCop project by Home Department, SCRB worked for Conceptualization, Provide, Proliferation, Sustainability and Governance.
2. System Integrator --- Tata Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd. (TCS)
TCS was awarded contract for application design development in 2006 and also as System Integrator (SI) for eGujCop.
3. Sub Vendors (Sub Contracting) --- Tech World, MBS (Data Digitization), Brittman (Helpdesk & Hardware Distribution) and Jetking (Training).
4. Network Provider --- Gujarat State Wide Area Network (Primary) and BSNL (Secondary)
5. State Project Management Unit (SPMU) --- KPMG Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd. (KPMG) India
KPMG came on board as SPMU in November 2012 and has been assisting SCRB in monitoring the progress of project implementation in the areas of SI’s work/activities.
6. State Project Management Consultant (SPMC) --- Gujarat Informatics Limited (GIL)
GIL (as SPMC), in consultation with Home Department, prepared Detailed Project Report (DPR) by studying the existing processes (As-Is Process) and formulated Request for Proposal (RFP).
OTHER SUPPORTING AGENCIES
1. Nodal Ministry --- Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India --- Provides financial support.
2. Nodal Agency (Central) --- National Crime Records Bureau, Government of India --- Provides technical and operation guidelines for integration of eGujCop with CCTNS.
The key to success of this program is the strong governance mechanism put in place by Home Department, Government of Gujarat, to ensure that the agencies and various stakeholders work in unison and create a best-in-class platform for developing a strong Criminal Justice System.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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FINANCIAL DETAILS
Source of Funds:
1. Central Funding by NCRB --- Total of INR 40.35 Crores have been provided by NCRB since 2009 till date as grant for various components namely, Capacity Building, Project Management Consultancy, System Integrator, Networking and Site Preparation.
2. State Funding by Home Department, Government of Gujarat --- For some state specific activities, funds have been provided by the Home Department. These encompass Hardware Procurement, GSWAN Connectivity, Digitization of Records, Capacity Building, System Integrator and Site Preparation. This is because the Central Government has funded for all facilities only at the Police Stations & its superior offices, whereas the State Government has funded the Police Stations & its superior offices as well as Anti-Corruption Bureau, CID Crime, Intelligence Bureau, Sainik Welfare, Home Guards, State Crime Record Bureau and Directorate of Forensic Science. Moreover, the Central Government is only paying for BSNL network of 256 Kbps bandwidth of VPNoBB for Police Stations whereas the State Government has opted for BSNL network up to 2 Mbps bandwidth of VPNoBB instead & is paying the difference.
Utilization of Funds:
From the grant provided by NCRB, approximately INR 24.83 Crores have been utilized till date for various activities mentioned ahead. Head-wise breakup of funds utilization is as follows:
1. Capacity Building --- INR 3.89 Crores
2. Project Management --- INR 2.65 Crores
3. System Integrator --- INR 7.20 Crores
4. Network --- INR 6.32 Crores
5. Site Preparation --- INR 4.76 Crores
Application of Funds:
1. Hardware/ Furniture --- Computers, Peripherals and Networking Components have been installed at State Data Center (Gandhinagar, Gujarat), Disaster Recovery Site (Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh) and 1,100+ client locations. Furniture, which includes approx. 5 Computers Tables, 2 Printer Tables and 5 Chairs, have been provided to each location.
2. Connectivity --- 546 locations have been connected through 2 Mbps VPN over Broadband BSNL connectivity which acts as redundant connectivity. 2 Mbps MPLS-VPN connectivity has been provided to 57 Higher Offices.
3. Capacity Building/ Training --- Basic IT Training have been imparted to 17,000 police personnel. 1,592 personnel have been provided training for ToT (Training of Trainers). 13,351 personnel have been given Role-based training.
4. Sensitization --- 40 sensitization sessions through KU Band (Satellite Communication) have been conducted with different levels of Police Personnel. Also, sensitization sessions for the new joiners have been imparted on regular basis. Various sensitization materials including booklet, leaflets, posters, calendars and diaries have been developed and circulated.
5. Digitization --- Digitization of legacy data for the period 2004 -2012 has been completed.
6. Helpdesk --- 24x7 Helpdesk with 30 technical resources to resolve queries/issues related to Application, Hardware and Connectivity. On-site support for hardware and connectivity related issues’ resolution by technical resources have been provided.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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1. Training
Basic IT Training of more than 17,000 police personnel has been completed at 29 District Training Centres. 1,592 personnel have been provided training for ToT (Training of Trainers). Role-based Training has been imparted to 13,351 personnel.
2. Application Usage
More than 550 Police Stations in the state are using eGujCop Application and more than 333,000 FIRs (First Information Reports) have been registered in the system. Overall more than 500,000 entries have been made in eGujCop application since the launch on 19 September 2013. Currently approx. 10,000+ users are logging in the system daily.
The social impact goes much beyond these statistics. As a simple example, previously the complainant was not always entertained with the copy of FIR because of the manual effort involved in making a copy of it. However, now printout of the FIR is taken and given to the complainant on the spot.
3. Digitization/Verification
Data digitization is a highly critical and sensitive activity keeping in the view the liberty of the citizens in a democratic country and esteem of an individual in the society, & in tune with the Indian Constitution Statement which says “Let Hundred Guilty Be Acquitted But One Innocent Should Not Be Convicted”.
Digitization of 1.35+ Crore crime and criminal records for period ranging from 2004 to 2012, has been completed which has resulted in a large repository of historical crime and criminal data. Thorough verification of these digitized records is also being conducted simultaneously to ensure minimum deviation from the exact.
4. Integrity of Data
Integrity of data is another critical aspect to be kept in mind while especially in case of Homeland Security. Given that there is no manual intervention involved because of the integrated end-to-end IT solution, the integrity of the data is intact. Further, audit trails are being maintained in the application to ensure that there is no tampering or fiddling with data.
5. Integration with other systems
To leverage the best out of eGujCop for the betterment of the society, integration with other existing settled application has been undertaken. For instance, eGujCop application has been integrated with Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) of Directorate of Forensic Science, Eklavya - a Regional Transport Office (RTO) application and Program to Identify and Arrest Criminal (PINAC) of Crime Branch. Ultimately, integration of eGujCop with other applications being used independently would undoubtedly amplify its reach and serviceability.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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SCRB is the agency responsible for executing, managing and monitoring of eGujCop project. It is responsible for improving the application usage and promoting acceptability. Regular monitoring and review of various activities viz. Training, Application Performance, Connectivity Issues and Resolution is also done here. Moreover, Home Department (being the driving entity of the project) also conducts frequent review meetings to ensure that project is on the track and that the activities are performed in a timely manner to achieve the ultimate objective.
With the motive of further strengthening Monitoring Team to carry-out related activities, KPMG Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd (KPMG) was awarded the contract to setup the State Project Management Unit (SPMU). In November 2012, KPMG deployed the SPMU team at SCRB with key resources.
The following activities are being done by SCRB:
1. Monitoring, tracking, verifying and validating hardware delivered at 1,100+ client locations (which includes Police Station and higher offices), State Data Center (SDC) and Disaster Recovery (DR) Site. This activity has been completed as the hardware has been delivered at all locations, and SDC and DR site have been live since September 2013 and June 2014 respectively.
2. Continuous monitoring and reviewing of the Helpdesk functioning and providing recommendation for its smooth functioning. This is an ongoing activity.
3. Conducting site visits and providing recommendation based on study of issues and challenges faced by various field-level officials in using eGujCop application. This is an ongoing activity. More than 200 locations have been covered till date (jointly with SI, Application Team and Network Team) and detailed report covering status of Site Preparation, LAN Wiring, Connectivity, Hardware and Furniture, has been prepared.
4. Monitoring the progress of data digitization and capacity building which covers trainings at various levels. SPMU ensured that training at each level is performed as per guidelines issued by NCRB.
5. SPMU has developed a dashboard which provides summary of progress being made in the state in the form of Charts and Graphs. The dashboard is available to the closed user group of senior department officials who can see the daily updates on their internet connected Smartphone/ Tablet/Laptop/PC.
24x7 Helpdesk is in place to support users in case of challenges and issues as well as carry out proactive monitoring of application usage and connectivity.
SI (in consultation with SPMU) has established reporting mechanism to pull-out application statistics and usage progress at desired intervals.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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Transformation from an era to the next has never been without challenges. The same applies to this project as well, which brings in Information Technology to move from an era of manual functioning to digital era for the purpose of making policing function more effective and efficient.
Delving deeper, one can classify the challenges encountered, in broadly three categories as elaborated ahead.
MANPOWER CHALLENGES
The major challenges and the strategy incorporated to overcome them are as under:
1. Low Computer Awareness - This was overcome through rigorous training and extensive capacity building exercise to sensitize the police personnel, to spread awareness about the project and to equip the police personnel, across the state, with the requisite skill set.
2. Hesitance in learning IT skills due to higher average age among police personnel - This was also addressed through the training, capacity building but more importantly handholding support which was given to the field-level officers which aided them in using the application with ease.
3. Overburdening of human resources involved in IT activities - Plan is to provide handholding support to field locations in the form of an IT resource who would assist in the area of application as well as connectivity, reducing the burden on Computer Operators.
PROCESS CHALLENGES
1. Resistance to accept transformation due to manual working in a stereotypical fashion for a long span of time - This was overcome through personal meetings and personal location visits to sensitize and make the police personnel aware of the benefits of an IT system.
INFRASTRUCTURAL CHALLENGES
1. Mammoth challenge of setting-up infrastructure in widespread geography - Approx. 1,100+ site locations spread across more than 196,000 square kms having varied terrain. This was overcome through careful planning and good execution.
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