Office and all Regional Offices. All the

District Offices from Regions III, IV-A,

VII, and NCR have put forth a major

effort during CY 2009 to complete

parallel testing of the e-NGAS. These

offices have been spending significant

time in the Central Office with assistance

and supplemental training from the e-

NGAS Team to complete this

challenging task. These efforts have been

very successful, as almost all of these

District Offices have completed parallel

testing and the system is fully operational

in their respective District Office, with

the reminder of these Districts finishing

in the next month. The District Offices

from Regions I, V, X, XIII, and CAR

who are implementing the system in CY

2009 are now beginning the complicated

parallel testing phase of system

implementation.

(Continued on page 4)

Region VII Districts during November

and December. By the end of the year, 66

Offices of the Department will be

utilizing e-Budget.

The roll-out requires that parallel

testing of the system be conducted.

Parallel testing is a challenging time for

the concerned offices as they must

maintain the existing manual system at

the same time as the computerized

system is being implemented. During this

time the manual and computerized

systems must reconcile exactly. The

parallel testing period is usually 6 to 12

months. Upon completion of parallel

testing the system is considered to be

operational and the manual system

discontinued.

Parallel Testing for the e-NGAS was

completed in earlier years for the Central

The DPWH continues to be the

leader among government agencies in the

the roll-out of the e-NGAS and e-Budget

systems. The Department has

implemented the system in more offices

than any other agency. The e-NGAS is

the Electronic New Government

Accounting System that was developed

by the Commission on Audit (COA) and

the e-Budget is the Budget Module to

this system. In CY 2009 the e-NGAS

system is being rolled-out to 50 more

District Engineering Offices and the e-

Budget system is being rolled-out to 49

Districts through the industrious efforts

of the e-NGAS and e-Budget Teams

from CFMS and the respective Regional

Offices, MIS Systems and Network

Administration, and the leadership of

CFMS Director Aristeo O. Reyes.

For the e-NGAS, the system was

already implemented in the Central

Office during CY 2005, all Regional

Offices during CY 2006, and all District

Offices in Regions III, IV-A, VII, and

NCR in CY 2008. During CY 2009, the

system has already been rolled-out to all

District Offices in Regions I, X, XIII and

training is scheduled for all Districts in

CAR and some District Offices in

Region V during October. By the end of

the year, 116 Offices of the Department

will be receiving the benefits of the

system.

For the e-Budget, implementation

was completed for the Central Office and

all Regional Offices early in CY 2009.

During CY 2009, the system has already

been rolled-out to all District Offices in

Region III and IV-A and training is

scheduled for all Districts in NCR and

Inside this issue

IT training - the story continues 2

GAD Corner 3

A look inside the IT Helpdesk 4

July-September 2009 Department of Public Works and Highways Volume X, Issue III

eeee----NGAS and eNGAS and eNGAS and eNGAS and e----Budget RollBudget RollBudget RollBudget Roll----Out Out Out Out Continues...Continues...Continues...Continues...

SAOB Reconciliation with Region IV-A at the CO Training Room

burden because - to their surprise - it

isn’t work but play, and a truly

worthwhile one, at that!

Nothing could be more inspiring

than seeing engineers tapping into their

reserves of creativity and passion. That’s

why nothing could be more tragic than to

see a participant accidentally delete an

almost complete PowerPoint

Presentation, just an hour before the

actual presentation. And that was what

exactly happened to one of the DE

participants in the 3rd batch. But to show

that he has indeed mastered the course,

he was actually able to come up with a

new presentation, in time for the

individual presentation. After everyone

is done the class looked backed at that

incident and just laughed about it,

reminding them of a very important

lesson: Always save your work.

In August 3–5, the time when the

nation was mourning the death of former

President Cory Aquino, an IT Training

for Middle Managers Part I (Introduction

For the third “stormy” quarter of this

year (2009) the MIS – ITTS has, to date,

conducted IT Training courses to 10

batches comprising of various groups of

DPWH employees: Executives

(Directors and Assistant Directors),

Middle Managers (District Engineers and

Assistant District Engineers), Rank and

File employees, all the way to Job Orders

(JOs).

Let’s begin in July… The IT

Training for Executives Part I

(Introduction to Information Technology,

MS Windows, Basic Networking and

MS Outlook) was conducted to the first

batch on July 8–10. The group was

composed of Project Managers and

Assistant Regional Directors. It is quite

common for participants of this training

to feel anxious in the beginning. But it

doesn’t really take long for them to see

that with the skills of the IT Resource

Persons and the assistance of the training

staff, the course is not only easy but also

exciting. Undergoing an IT Training for

most participants revive the magic of

feeling young again, and seeing the

modern world with new eyes.

The IT Training for Middle

Managers Part II on MS Excel and

PowerPoint was likewise conducted on

July 13–17 (3rd batch) and on July 27–31

(4th batch). The most gratifying part for

the MIS and AMMS in these trainings

was to see the participants hooked to

their computer from 7:30 a.m. until

almost 6:00 p.m. This voluntary and

spontaneous show of diligence is, no

doubt, an indication that for the

participants, doing this training is not a

RIMSS TAMBULI July - September 2009 Page 2

IT training IT training IT training IT training –––– the story continues the story continues the story continues the story continues (Going strong despite the storms)

to Information Technology, MS

Windows, Basic Networking and MS

Outlook) was underway. Despite the

gloomy mood of those days, the training

participants continue to enjoy the eye-

opening experience of being in the world

of information technology. On the day

of President Cory’s funeral – although

declared a national holiday – the training

participants have to attend class. But it

turned out to be providential because the

office is very close to the Manila

Cathedral and in fact, the route of the

funeral cortége passed along the street of

the Central Office. Our participants

were able to go out for a close-up view

of the funeral procession when it passed

by the office. That was indeed a blessed

return for the sacrifice of going to work

that day.

Also this August, the MIS

conducted an IT Trainer’s Training for

potential MIS resource speakers on

(Continued on page 3)

Right: Assistant Secretary for

Planning, Maria Catalina E.

Cabral, discussing the DPWH

Mandate and Mission during

the IT Training for Planning

Service Personnel.

Below right: IT Trainer’s

Training Course for IT Re-

source Speaker, August 17-19,

2009

Below left: IT Training for

DEs/ADEs Part II, July 13-17,

2009

RIMSS TAMBULI July - September 2009 Page 3

G AG AG AG A DDDD GGGG e n d e re n d e re n d e re n d e r AAAA n dn dn dn d DDDD e v e l o p m e n te v e l o p m e n te v e l o p m e n te v e l o p m e n t Corner

or lunch to continue practicing their

newly acquired IT skill. Batches 6 and 7

are scheduled on the 3rd and 4th week of

September.

While the 3rd quarter of this year is

literally stormy with the many typhoons

visiting the country, causing landslides

and flooding in many areas, we continue

to count our blessings. As the rains pour

down from heaven, we also storm heaven

with our prayers that God will take care

of our beloved country and protect its

citizens. May we in the Department

continue to grow in our commitment to

service – with power of Information

Technology as our ally.

- Josephine P. Publico and

Anabelle S. de los Reyes (MIS)

Korean Economic Development Cooperation Fund (KEDCF-PMO) Assistant Project Director Nimfa E. Potante

administered the graduation of 48 GAD focal persons from 16 regions during the three (3) day seminar workshop on

Basic Gender and Development, June 29 to July 1, 2009. Also in photo are Committee on GAD (COGAD-TWG) team

leader and members who are the resource speakers of the event (from left to right) Development Planning Division

(DPD-PS) Chief Rebecca T. Garsuta; Flood Control and Sabo Engineering Center (FCSEC-PMO) Project Manager

Dolores M. Hipolito; Public Information Division OIC-Chief Elizabeth P. Pilorin; and Application Development

Division (ADD-MIS) Chief Ma. Nieva S. de la Paz.

DPWH Basic GAD Seminar

August 17 – 19, after several

postponements. This initiative was

aimed to expand the IT Trainers’ pool of

IT Resource Speakers by equipping them

with the necessary knowledge and skills.

Before the end of the training, the

participants did an actual teaching

demonstration before a panel that

critiqued their presentation according to

several criteria like voice, stage presence,

audience rapport, etc. The successful

conduct of the IT Trainers’ Training

gives an assurance that the IT training

activities of the Department will always

be in good and able hands.

The month of September opened

with the Basic Computer Seminar for the

Job Orders of Planning Service, thru the

initiative of Assistant Secretary Ma.

(Continued from page 2)

Catalina A. Cabral. In her lecture at the

closing of the training, she emphasized

the need “to educate and familiarize the

newly hired JOs about the essential

information on DPWH, as part of this

organization”. Asec. Cabral also added

that this seminar could be a powerful tool

to enable Job Order employees to gain a

competitive advantage in the job market,

when they apply to other offices after

their stint at DPWH - or if they want to

consider working in the government.

On the JOs last day of training, the

IT Training for DEs/ADEs on MS Excel

and MS PowerPoint (5th batch) started

their own. As in the four previous

batches who have taken this training, the

participants’ eagerness and active

participation were very evident. They

would hurriedly return to their respective

workstations after taking a quick snack

– 5pm. The problem is

we receive so many calls

and emails, the staff

sometimes can’t keep up.

To be fair to all who are

n need of our service, our

policy is to answer

queries in the order they

are received. Also, keep in mind that

it takes a while starting and

completing a single call, plus there

are still follow-up calls that need to

be completed. Occasionally, you get

to speak to someone right away. But

it is more often the case that there is

a wait. We realize this can be

frustrating, especially if you have

been looking long and hard for this

kind of support. The people we have

helped tell us that sometimes it is

worth the wait.

Q: How many call tickets do the IT

Helpdesk receives in a month?

A: On an average, they log about 450.

There are times when there is a spike

in calls and emails. It usually

happens after holidays when

everyone’s back to work and they

see there is something wrong in their

Q: Who am I talking to when I call the

IT Helpdesk?

A: Often the first person you speak to is

our IT Helpdesk Officer, namely

Tanya Magno, Lilibeth Colendra,

Amor Ofalla or Sally Labao. They

are staff members of the IT Helpdesk

Section, who will help you if they

could, else they would take the

necessary steps to ensure that your

issue or concern is properly assigned

to a support group within the MIS.

To better assist you, our Helpdesk

Officers would be requesting basic

information such as:

1. Brand/model of your equipment

(e.g. AcerPower S290, Dell

Optiplex GX 520, HP Deskjet

1120C)

2. Serial number (usually found at

the sticker on the CPU)

3. Short description of the problem

Q: Why can’t I talk to someone right

away when I call? And why does it

take a while to get a call back?

A: That is a great question and people

often ask it. Right now we have 4

staff who work the rounds from 8am

workstations or when there is a

technical problem with our service

provider such as the recent fiber

optic break in China and Taiwan

causing slow and intermittent

connection, internet browsing and

email.

Q: I can’t call during the day… Is there

another way of reaching the IT

Helpdesk?

A: You can leave a call log on the

intranet web access. Just visit our

Intranet website at http://dpwhweb/

and click the IT Helpdesk Online.

Please use your network account and

password to log-in your issue. Or

you can always reach us by email at

ithelpdesk@dpwh.gov.ph. If there

are times when you are available to

be called back, please say so in your

email or call log.

RIMSS TAMBULI July - September 2009 Page 4

RIMSS TAMBULI is a quarterly publication of

DPWH’s Road Information and Management

Support System Project with editorial business

address at:

DPWH Head Office

IT Equipment Maintenance Section - MIS

G/F ICC Bui lding

Bonifacio Drive, Port Area, Manila

Phone: 3043202 / 3043558 Fax: 3043185

http://www.dpwh.gov.ph

Parallel Testing for e-Budget

has also been progressing well. The

Central Office and all Regional Offices

have completed parallel testing earlier in

CY 2009 through their tireless efforts

with assistance from the e-Budget Team.

The District Offices from Regions III, IV

-A, VII and NCR who are implementing

the system in CY 2009 are now

beginning the parallel testing phase of

system implementation.

The Department under the

direction of Director Aristeo O. Reyes

has made it a priority to improve upon

its financial management practices with

(Continued from page 1)

the e-NGAS and e-Budget being the

cornerstone of the financial management

improvements of the Department. The e-

NGAS and e-Budget provides the

Department the ability to improve upon

its financial information and reporting.

While the implementation of the system

is on-going, the Department is already

obtaining many of the benefits of the

system. Financial reports are prepared

more-timely using the system. Financial

information is available at the fingertips

of all users, and the list goes on and on.

Completion of the e-NGAS roll

-out to all Department Offices is planned

for completion within the next two years

and e-Budget within the next three years.

Once the systems are operational in all

Department Offices the full benefits of

the system will realized. The e-NGAS

and e-Budget provides the tools needed

by the Department to better manage its

finances. — D. Michael Cleary

A look inside the IT Helpdesk

Special Feature:Special Feature:Special Feature:Special Feature: