Newgen Case Study on Automation of Correspondence and File Management.

1. Case Study
Automation of Correspondence and File
Management
For a key department of Government of India involved in
improving governmental structures and processes
Overview
In fulfilling the vision of the department, NEWGEN as a lead partner has successfully
implemented “eDisha”, an Enterprise Solution for Less Paper office. The eDisha project was
carried out by a set of partners, each one bringing their expertise to the solution based on their
core competency, be it development methodology (Rationale), front-end interfaces (Adobe®),
integration methodology (DSR) or citizen delivery capability & back end (NEWGEN- OmniDocs,
Document Management System).
eDisha helps government by improving turnaround time and meeting citizen charters, effective
management of resources, improved efficiencies and effectiveness, consistent government
responses and quality of administration, and reduction in delays and lead-time.
The Challenge
The department was saddled with the oft-faced problems relating to manual file creation,
movement, tracking and maintenance. In addition, there were no means to quickly obtain status
reports regarding the number of pending files, time taken to process files and efficiency of various
sections in the department. The following processes were needed to be improved:
• DAK Registration: The Department receives regular DAK (correspondence) from
outside. A Diarist assigns the correspondence number and manually updates the file
register.
• File Creation: The Section Officer (SO) makes necessary changes with his comments
on the correspondence and forwards the same to the Assistant SO for filing. The Asst.
SO places the DAK in a physical file binder and assigns a file number. The Asst. SO
Solutions for Business Process and Document Management Page 1 of 6

2. Case Study
returns the file back to the SO after incorporating his initial comments on the Green
Notes to take action on the same and updates the file movement register.
• File Movement: The SO, too, includes his comments on the Green Note and forwards
the same to the next officer in the hierarchy for further action. The File register is
simultaneously updated. The next officer sends the file to the Director/Deputy
Secretary/Additional Secretary for their comments on the file. The section tracks the file
and updates the file-movement register from time to time.
• MIS: The MIS department needs to frequently generate various reports. For this, it
needs quick access to information such as Current Owner of a file, route followed by the
file, department where the file got delayed during processing, number of files pending
with various departments, number of files processed by a particular departments in a
particular time period and so on. For obtaining this information, the MIS officer needs to
look into the File Movement register. This results in a significant amount of time being
taken to access the information. Even after accessing information, the information
needs to be collated manually and a separate report needs to be generated to find the
exact information.
Essentially, the solution needed to provide following capabilities:
• Electronic File Movement Tracking and Management encompassing file creation, noting,
referencing to correspondence papers, decision making, routing, closing, weeding etc
• Decision making in meetings, for issuance of notices, agenda papers, minutes, action-
taken follow-up, etc.
• Collaboration among concerned Officers/Staff for preparing briefs, status papers, action
taken reports and proposals
• Providing easy integration capabilities for integrating the Less Paper solution with other
software deployed at various government offices
The NEWGEN Solution
The solution proposed by NEWGEN was aimed at automating the entire process involving DAK
registration, file creation, file tracking and report generation. The following solution was
implemented to improve various sub-processes.
Solutions for Business Process and Document Management Page 2 of 6

3. Case Study
Architecture of the NEWGEN solution
• DAK Registration: The Diarist scans the receipt, uploads it to Less Paper Office
framework and sends the same to the corresponding section officer. The system
automatically generates DAK number and. also updates the DAK movement Register.
The automation of DAK registration meant that human effort involved was bare minimum
with correspondence number generation and register updation being automated. The
correspondence is automatically routed to the designated officer.
• File Creation: The SO makes changes and adds comments using the annotation toolbar
and forwards the file to the Asst. SO using the Less Paper Office Framework. The Asst.
SO creates a new file by clicking the Create File button and fills up the corresponding
fields of the file registration section. A unique file number gets generated for every new
file. The Asst. SO incorporates his own comments on the available Green Note section
Solutions for Business Process and Document Management Page 3 of 6

4. Case Study
and forwards the file to the SO for his action. The system automatically updates the file
register and file movement register.
This resulted in no human effort required to move correspondence/file, generate file &
update file register and route the file to the appropriate officers. The look and feel of the
digital files is same as physical files, finding easy acceptability from the users and
seamlessly improving their efficiency.
• File Movement: The SO adds his comments on the Green Note by clicking Add Note
button. He then forwards the file to the next higher officer by selecting the officer from the
user list. The file is automatically routed to the corresponding officers so that they can
incorporate their comments on the Green Notes. The system automatically updates the
File Movement register.
Officers can now easily link the new notices with the earlier notices and can also provide
reference to the DAKs (Flagging), which may or may not be a part of that file. The search
facility in the system powers the users to quickly access the requisite file(s).
• MIS: The system provides information related to current owner of the file, route followed
by the file, file pending with a particular officer, efficiency-related data of various
departments and so on. The system provides users information through a Dashboard and
MIS. The department head can quickly access and retrieve all the relevant information
regarding any department and section without depending on any supporting officer.
MIS reports and digital dashboard enable the concerned officers to take prompt and
informed decision due to comprehensive information about the departments being easily
available to them.
The Benefits
The following benefits were derived:
• Substantial reduction in corruption, which afflicts most of the government organizations.
This was due to the complete transparency and clarity provided by the solution, which
made the officers currently owning the file completely accountable.
• Easy and speedier access to the files resulting in the improvement in the internal
efficiency of various government departments
Solutions for Business Process and Document Management Page 4 of 6

5. Case Study
• Reduction of the paperwork leading to cost cutting, no loss of data due to paper spoilage
• No need for a physical record room to maintain correspondences and files, leading to
major savings on physical storage space.
• Automation of process resulting in enhancement in service delivery levels,
responsiveness and pro-active customer/citizen-centric functioning
• Improvement in inter and intra departmental communication and collaboration
The automation of various subprocesses resulted in marked improvement in overall process. This
was clearly demonstrated by the following statistics:
• For the DAK registration process, approximately 60 minutes per DAK were saved.
• For the File Creation process, approximately 75 minutes per file were saved.
• For the File Movement process, approximately 100 minutes per file were saved.
• For MIS, on an average, the effort was reduced by 3 man-days.
About NEWGEN
Newgen Software Technologies Limited, a leader in the space of Business Process Management
(BPM), Document Management (DM), Workflow and Imaging, is amongst the top 10 Software
Product Companies in India.
NEWGEN bagged the prestigious “Distinguished Application Product Company” award at the
Product Summit 2005 hosted by National Association of Software and Service Companies
(NASSCOM) and Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB).
NEWGEN started in 1992 is headquartered in New Delhi. It has four software development
centers - three in New Delhi and one in Chennai, and five regional Sales and Support offices in
India. NEWGEN also has a wholly owned subsidiary Newgen Software Inc. in USA located in
McLean, Virginia.
NEWGEN has to its credit over 600 customer installations worldwide with representation in over
20 countries across the globe. NEWGEN enterprise software solutions allow customers to build
and sustain competitive advantage by managing content throughout their organization,
automating and streamlining their business processes, and simplifying their critical and everyday
decision-making.
Solutions for Business Process and Document Management Page 5 of 6

6. Case Study
The company caters to customers in India and overseas in diverse areas like Banking & Financial
Services, Insurance, Telecom, BPOs/Shared Service Centres, Manufacturing, Government and
Airlines.
NEWGEN employs more than 600 people. The company has more than 3,500 ‘man years’ of
experience, with over US $25-million investment in developing software products for Business
Process Management (BPM).
NEWGEN OMNI product suite comprising of OmniFlow, OmniDocs, OmniReports, OmniCapture,
and OmniExtract, is one of the most comprehensive, flexible and scalable product suites in the
area of BPM.
NEWGEN is an ISO 9001:2000 and CMM level 4 company.
Website: www.newgensoft.com
© Copyright 2005-2006 Newgen Software Technologies Limited. All rights reserved.
OmniFlow™, OmniDocs™, OmniExtract™, OmniCapture™ and OmniReports® are trademarks or registered trademarks of Newgen
Software Technologies Limited. All other company or product names are trademarks of their respective companies. The information
contained herein is liable to change without notice and the user is advised to consult NEWGEN for getting the latest information.
CORPORATE OFFICE: Newgen Software Technologies Ltd.A-6, Satsang Vihar Marg, Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi 110067, India.
Tel: +91-11-26963571, 26964733, 26561223 Fax: +91-11-26856936 For more information and contact details, please visit us at
www.newgensoft.com
Solutions for Business Process and Document Management Page 6 of 6