ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Information Technology on Friday launched its efficient, fast and cost-effective E-office system.

“The E-office suite is the automation of core businesses of the government to ensure effectiveness and transparency in public services,” said State Minister for IT Anusha Rehman at a press conference held to announce the introduction of the system.

The project was initiated in 2005 to promote a paperless environment in offices. However, the project was never completed because the ministry did not have a minister for a long time besides other reasons.

State minister says by the end of this year, 13 ministries will shift to the new system and the remaining will start using it after procuring computers

With the launch of the system on Friday, Pakistan became the first Saarc country to shift from manual to automated documentation of office records.

The minister said the E-office was an integrated file and record management system that allowed employees to manage content and search for data internally.

The file system also enables the electronic movement and tracking of files and the archival and retrieval of data. The system is planned to be secure and confidential, automating routine tasks.

According to Joint Secretary Ministry of IT Syed Khalid Gardezi, the documents and files on computers were 100 safe.

“Government offices will be connected through a local area network and not through the internet where there is the risk of data being compromised,” said Mr Gardezi as he demonstrated for the media how the system worked.

He explained how there were little options to edit and modify once documents passed from one official to the next to ensure transparency. The data would be saved on two back-up servers.

“The system eliminates the slower decision making process and the duplication of work,” said Mr Gardezi.

Introduced at a cost of Rs38 million, E-office will eliminate the time-consuming exercises of physically moving documentation from one office to another and no longer will officials sit over files for days, said Anusha Rehman.

She said the automated system was first introduced in the ministry and tested before asking other government offices to equip themselves with it.

By July 27, more than 6,000 files had been scanned and put on the servers.

“Some 4,400 officials in government departments have been trained to use the E-office. By the end of this year, 13 ministries will shift to the new system. The remaining will also start using the E-office as soon as they start procuring computers and other necessary hardware,” said Ms Rehman.

The ministry of IT has assisted the ministries of commerce, railways, interior and the Cabinet Division in converting their documentations on paper into scanned computer files.

“The ministry has transferred more than 90 per cent of all documentation to computers in the Prime Minister’s House which was its first project,” said Ms Rehman.

As many as 2,850 files have been converted into the E-office system. About 300 of the 500 files have been transferred to the computers in the Established Division and out of 168, 162 files have been shifted to the new system in the Economic Affairs Division.

To connect government offices with each other, new fibre optic cables have also been laid.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2015

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