Management Information Systems

City District Government Faisalabad, Pakistan

S.M. Khatib AlamNadir Ehsan

Kashif AbbasMarch 2008

12

Changing the dynamics of governance through ICTs

in Local Government

Revenue Management Information System (RMIS)

Geographic Information System (GIS)

Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)

This document is produced as part of the Strengthening Decentralised Local Government in Faisalabad (SDLGF) Project for the purpose of disseminating lessons learnt from the project. The views are not necessarily those of DFID or the City District Government Faisalabad

(c) SDLGF March 2008

Parts of this case study may be reproduced for educational use, provided that such material is not printed and sold. The authors expect that, any material which is used will be acknowledged accordingly.

Layout & Designed at:

FaizBakht Printers, The Mall, Jhang (Punjab) Pakistan.

VISION

“Pre-empting Poverty, Promoting Prosperity”

MISSION STATEMENT

“We will provide high quality services which compare with the best in the country. We will work with everyone who wants a better future for our District. We will establish an efficient, effective and accountable District Local Government, which is committed to respecting and upholding women, men and children’s basic human rights, responsive towards people’s needs, committed to poverty reduction and capable of meeting the challenges of the 21st Century. Our actions will be driven by the concerns of local people”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This case study is the culmination of efforts by a number of individuals from Government and

the technical assistance team. Firstly it is important to thank all those who have cooperated

with the team preparing this case study not only in the last few weeks but over the course of

the last four years. They have been critical to the work and demonstrated what is possible to

achieve in Government when the right set of conditions prevail.

We would also like to thank the communities and elected representatives of the district that

assisted the SPU team in implementing this project and its various components.

The authors wish to thank Rana Zahid Tauseef, City District Nazim; Maj (Retd.) Azam

Suleman Khan, District Coordination Officer; and Dr. Tariq Sardar, EDO Finance & Planning

for their valuable contribution in making this project a huge success.

We are thankful to: Ch. Zahid Nazir, ex-District Nazim Faisalabad; Mr. Tahir Hussain, ex-

DCO Faisalabad, Mr. Athar Hussain Khan Sial, ex-DCO Faisalabad and Mr. Asad Islam

Mahani, ex-EDO Finance & Planning Faisalabad for their valuable contribution to the

success of this project.

We are further thankful to all CDGF employees (past and present) and CDGF partner

departments but we would like to specifically mention by name the following: Mr. Ashiq

Hussain Dogar, EDO IT; Mr. Mumtaz Hussain Shah, EDO Education; Mr. Shabbir Ahmad

Ch., EDO Community Development; Mr. Rana Farman Ali Khan, EDO Agriculture and Dr. M.

Javed, EDO Health for their efforts in successfully implementing reforms in their

departments.

We are thankful to all DFID Project Advisers and Management that have assisted in this

project since its start and we would like to specifically thank Mr. Mosharraf Zaidi, Governance

Advisor, DFID Pakistan; Mr. Wajahat Anwar, Deputy Program Manager, Accountability and

Empowerment team, DFID Pakistan; Ms. Jackie Charlton, DFID; Mr. Alistar Moir, DFID

Pakistan and Ms. Nighat-un-Nisa, DFID Pakistan for their continuous support and

professional technical guidance since their involvement in 2004.

Our thanks are also to Dr. James Arthur, Dr. Richard Slater, Ms. Janet Gardener and Mr.

Shahid Sharif for their valuable inputs throughout the project.

We are thankful to Dr. Umar Saif (Lahore University of Management Sciences-LUMS) and his

team (Mansoor Pervaiz and Tajwar Awan) for their contribution in developing the technical

and user manuals of the Management Information Systems (MISs).

We are thankful to Mehreen Hosain for proof reading the document and to the SPU team

members for their dedication, hard work and the many late hours spent designing,

implementing and documenting the work of this project. These include: Mahmood Akhtar,

Imran Yousafzai, Muhammad Shahid Alvi, Muhammad Tariq, Ajaz Durrani, Farhan Yousaf,

Muntazir Mehdi, Gul Hafeez Khokhar, Mirza Muhammad Ramzan, Muhammad Sharif,

Sumara Khan, Humaira Khan, Saima Sharif, Mubarak Ali, Sohail Anjum, Faisal Najeeb,

Kashif Hameed, Danish Iqbal, Muhammad Zaman, Muhammad Saleem, Samiullah, Asim

Rashid, Qasim Rizwan, Noor Muhammad Khan, Nuzhat Hanif, Syed Sheraz Akhtar, all the

master trainers and training associates of the Institute of Learning, GIS team members, all

long and short-term international and national consultants.

FOREWORD

There is little doubt that in today's world technology is

changing the shape of societies. The internet and

globalization have eroded national boundaries enabling

people to communicate across religious, ethnic and cultural

divides. Here in Pakistan we are no different and are seeing

many of the benefits of technological innovation. Our global

competitiveness hinges on keeping up with technological

change and Government must be at the forefront of making

policies that enable us to harness the benefits that

information and communication technologies (ICTs) have to

offer. As the head of one of the largest district

administrations in Pakistan, I am particularly pleased to see

that we have been one of the first to embrace technology for

change.

We understood the implications of not working with

technology and welcomed the introduction of information

and digital technology in CDGF. We have taken important

steps towards e-government through developing innovative

management information systems for our various

departments and through the use of internet to interface with

our clients and citizens. As a result of deploying e-

government, we have changed the course of our business.

We are more informed to make decisions based on the

accurate information. We have brought significant

improvements in the service delivery and governance

through using ICTs. This case study is the twelfth in a series

of case studies produced by the SDLG in Faisalabad project

and describes our efforts to modernise CDGF through ICTs.

We will continue investing in building knowledge economies

and societies because we want to see Faisalabad emerging

as a leading city in this part of the world.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank our City District

Nazim for his valuable support to the reforms in our district. I

would also like to congratulate my city district team members

especially all the EDOs for working to achieve the successes

outlined in this case study. Finally, I would like to thank our

major partners in development, the Department for

International Development (DFID) UK and their

management consultants GHK International Ltd., for

assisting Faisalabad City District through the project

“Strengthening Decentralized Local Government in

Faisalabad”.

Maj. (Rtd.) Azam Suleman KhanDistrict Co-ordination Officer

City District Government Faisalabad

March 2008

The Clock Tower, symbol of Faisalabad

PREFACE

Introducing information and communication technologies (ICTs) was a carefully planned

process within the City District Government of Faisalabad. We realized very early that if we

want to modernize our Local Government then a concerted effort would have to be made to

understand how ICTs could help us in the process of organizational change and

transformation. Until then, while many in Government possessed computers, their use had

been somewhat limited. We wanted to use technology to help modernize our management

processes. We were informed that improving our departmental functions and processes

would require using management information systems and developing a broader strategic

approach that meant embracing the concept of e-government.

Four years ago we began the process of ICT enabled change. Management information

systems were developed for a number of departments that gradually have helped to

transform the way we do business. We are now a more efficient and effective service

provider. These computerized systems have helped us to improve many of our internal

functions, critically saving millions of rupees of public funds in the process. Widespread use of

the internet allows us to offer many services to clients remotely without the problems of

having face to face to contact. We have improved governance.

Technology has changed the way we engage with our service users and stakeholders. Our

state of the art complaints call centre is an example of how far this City District Government

has progressed in four years. We are now better equipped to listen to what our customers are

saying about our services and respond appropriately. We are by no means perfect and have

much to do; nonetheless we have set ourselves a course from which there is no turning back

now. Development of various information systems is initiation of e-government in our district.

We will continue developing new information systems and strengthening of the systems that

we have developed to attain the state of e-government in future.

We remain true to our long term vision of 'pre-empting poverty; promoting prosperity'

throughout this district and to that end we will continue with our commitment to change.

Dr. Tariq Sardar Additional Project Director

Strengthening Decentralised Local Government in Faisalabad

March 2008

Office of the District Co-ordination Officer, Faisalabad

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

FOREWORD PREFACE

ACRONYMS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

BACKGROUND

THE CASE

THE DESIGN

THE IMPACTS ON GOVERNANCE

FAISALABAD'S CRITICAL SUCCESS

COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF ICT INNOVATIONS

LESSONS AND REFLECTIONS

1

2

Key Concepts and the Context 3

Why Faisalabad Needed Information Systems 4

What Faisalabad Hoped to Achieve 6

7

8

Key Information Systems of CDGF 8

Key Processes in Developing Management Information Systems in CDGF 11

16

E-Administration 16

E-Services and E-Citizens 18

21

External Pressure 21

Internal Political Desire 21

Overall Vision and Strategy 21

Effective Project Management 21

Effective Change Management 21

Effective Design 22

Requisite Competencies 22

Adequate Telecommunications and Appropriate Technology 22

23

Cost of Development 23

Cost Comparison with Off the Shelf Solutions 23

25

Match Technology with Indigenous Skills 25

Use Local and Build Local Capacity and Expertise 25

Social, Political, Cultural and People Dimensions of E-government 25

Stakeholder Involvement 25

Table of Contents

CONCLUSIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

FIGURES

TABLE

ANNEX

26

33

Figure 1: Human Resource Management Information System 8

Figure 2: Financial Management Information System 9

Figure 3: Revenue Management Information System 9

Figure 4: Citizen Community Boards Management Information System 10

Figure 5: Road Management Information System 10

Figure 6: Geographic Information System 11

Figure 7: The soft approach to information systems development 13

Figure 8: System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) for FMIS 14

Figure 9: CDGF’s website (www.faisalabad.gov.pk) 18

Table 1: Summary of IT trainings for male and female employees of CDGF 15

Annex 1: Examples of Technical and User Manuals 28

Annex 2: Use of Information Systems for Identifying Areas of Poor Investment 30

Annex 3: Impact of HRMIS on the Critical Path of Access to Staff Strength

in the Education Department 31

Table of Contents

ACRONYMS

AEO Assistant Education Officer

CCB Citizen Community Board

CDGF City District Government Faisalabad

DCO District Coordination Officer

DDO Deputy District Officer

DDO Drawing and Disbursing Officer

DEO District Education Officer

DFID Department For International Development

DO District Officer

EDO Executive District Officer

FMIS Financial Management Information System

GIS Geographic Information System

HRM Human Resource Management

HRMIS Human Resource Management Information System

ICT Information and Communicating Technologies

IT Information Technology

LGO Local Government Ordinance

MDG Millennium Development Goals

MIS Management Information System

NGO Non-Government Organization

NRSP National Rural Support Programme

Rs. Rupees

SDLC Systems Development Life Cycle

SDLGF Strengthening Decentralised Local Government in Faisalabad

SPU Strategic Policy Unit

UAF University of Agriculture Faisalabad

Acronyms

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In the 21st century, Local Governments and public sector organizations are faced with the

challenges of globalisation. As drivers of social, economic and political development,

Governments have a considerable responsibility for providing key services to citizens and

managing society in general. To fulfil their mandate, a stark reality is that the Local

Governments need to change all over the world and in particular in the developing countries

like Pakistan. City District Government Faisalabad (CDGF) embraced the need to change

with the aid of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) based information

systems. In complex Local Governments like in Faisalabad, achieving integration is critical to

meet the objectives of effective service provision.

CDGF realised that ICTs can make a significant contribution to effective and efficient service

provision by saving time and improving work practices through improving organisational

functions and processes along with the achievement of good governance in the district as

part of its broader reforms programme. By realising these benefits, CDGF embarked on e-

government programme, based on the development of a number of management information

systems for its various departments and the internet.

This case study outlines how Faisalabad's e-government programme, has helped alter the

dynamics of governance in the District and charts out how the programme was developed,

the conceptual basis for its inception, its key processes, what was the impact and whether

there are lessons for other Local Governments which can be drawn from the experience. In

particular, it considers how other districts or public sector organisations might wish to proceed

before investing in ICTs and automation for effective service provision. This study illustrates

that how Faisalabad has started the process of e-government by developing information

systems and why Faisalabad's interventions succeeded when so many others may have

failed.

1

Executive Summary

BACKGROUND

The Strategic Policy Unit (SPU) was set up by the Faisalabad District Government in 2002, as

a policy think-tank. Its key aim was to act as a conduit in the district from which all reform

programmes could be initiated. In 2004, the United Kingdom's Department for International

Development (DFID) agreed to provide technical assistance to the District using the SPU as

the platform from which change would be driven.

The SPU over a four year period has acted as a key resource fostering social capital within the

City District Government and often being the focal point for local and international technical

assistance and programme development. With a cohort of key technical resources and

change management agenda, it plays a key role in facilitating public sector reforms and is

replicable. It has been instrumental in assisting Faisalabad become a modern administration.

The view is now commonplace that old patterns of industrial society are receding within much

of the world and being replaced by a new form of organisation associated with rapid

technological change. The industrial age is being replaced by an 'information age' in which

'knowledge workers' and 'information labour' are emerging. Information and Communication

Technologies (ICTs) are at the centre of this paradigm shift, diluting dysfunctional

bureaucratic forms of organisation and bringing a new flexibility to decision making. The

world has entered the era of the 'information society'. Government is at the centre of this

transformation.

Information and Government are inextricably linked and in today's Pakistan ICTs offer the

tiers of Government the opportunity to make improvements in their services and

responsiveness to citizens. The use of IT and ICTs in the public sector is referred to as e-

government. The term e-government is broad and refers to more than just the use of web and

internet based applications in Government. It encompasses all use of digital information

technology, though primarily computers and networks in the public sector.

In Faisalabad, Pakistan, the City District Government harnessed the potential of ICTs and

embarked on a programme of e-government, radically altering the way it functions.

Management Information Systems (MISs) are locally designed, maintained and managed

and are helping to transform relationships inside and outside Government.

Through developing a range of MISs and other measures related to interfacing with citizens in

innovative ways, the City District Government of Faisalabad (CDGF) has taken the first

important step towards e-government. The City District Government recognized the need to

develop information systems that handled data and delivered information to support

decisions and transactions. Finance, human resource management, community

development, roads and revenue were identified as the important strategic areas in need of

management information systems, and the integration of these stand alone systems through

a Geographic Information System (GIS) was also deemed necessary.

These systems help to bridge poor coordination and cooperation within departments as well

as empower those at the lower end of the hierarchical chain, and bring about greater levels of

transparency and accountability. They have brought about significant efficiency and

economy gains for the City District Government enabling it to align its resources to key

development priorities more effectively.

2

Background

Key Concepts and the Context

E-Government Systems

Management Information Systems (MISs)

There are numerous definitions of e-government. In its simplest form, e-government is

defined as the “use of IT by public sector organisations” (Heeks, 2006). E-government is

therefore not just about the internet; it also encompasses office automation and internal

management information systems as well as client facing web sites. This definition fits the

work carried out by the CDGF during its reforms programme.

A more comprehensive definition of e-government views it as comprising three key stages

(Heeks 2001):

� Automation: replacing human executed processes with computers e.g.

computerizing personnel information or payroll;

� Informatisation: supporting human executed information processes e.g. decision

support tools such as financial management systems;

� Transformation: creating new ICT executed information processes or supporting

new human executed processes e.g. creating new methods of service delivery or

increasing democratic participation through electronic voting.

Faisalabad exhibits aspects of first two elements; automation and transformation highlighting

how it has managed to begin saving the costs associated with carrying out functions such as

finance and is moving towards third stage i.e. transformation. As a result of its work in

deploying e-government systems, Faisalabad is better connected, saves more money and

time in delivering services, and is more conscientious of its external environment and

stakeholders.

Using this criterion and definition, Faisalabad is now automated and informatised. In years to

come, it will be in a position to offer more transformative online services.

The foundation of the change brought about by Faisalabad was the development of sound

information systems to enable management decisions. There is no universally accepted

definition of an MIS. However the primary purpose of an MIS is to inform people. One of the

problems with trying to characterize an MIS is that two distinct views exist of what an MIS is

supposed to do. A typical definition of MIS is given below:

“The combination of human and computer based resources that results in the collection,

storage, retrieval, communication and use of data for the purpose of efficient management of

operations and for business planning”

This is the 'production oriented' view i.e. it concentrates upon the means of producing the

information. However the view taken by the Faisalabad Government in the course of the last

four years is 'management oriented'. Whereby, the means of production is secondary to

ensuring that the correct problems are addressed and the right information is available to the

managers and support staff that want it.

This change in emphasis from information 'systems' to information 'management' requires a

different, more subtle, definition of a MIS. It further requires a focus on the interaction of

3

Background

systems specialists with department managers and officers as a feature of successful MIS

development. The definition which is of most use here and of relevance to the Faisalabad

context is:

“A system to convert data from internal and external sources into information and

communicate that information, in an important form, to managers at all levels in all functions to

enable them to make timely and effective decisions for planning, directing and controlling the

activities for which they are responsible”

This leads us to ask the question what does IT do then for public sector organisations like

Faisalabad? It handles data to produce information. The next step to understand is that e-

government systems are information systems. At their heart lie data and information. These

are handled by digital and sometimes non-digital information technologies. But this does not

make a 'system', a system is a collection of elements that works and has a purpose. To

understand e-government as an information system, we must add in some notion of activity

and purpose. This is achieved when we bring in people into the equation.

For e-government to be seen as a working information system it must be seen as much more

than just the technical elements of IT. Instead, it must be seen to consist of technology plus

information plus people who give the system purpose and meaning, plus work processes that

are undertaken. These dimensions shaped the information systems developed by the City

District Government in Faisalabad.

There are organisational reasons why Faisalabad was failing to deliver effective services

before the onset of its 4 year reforms programme. In 2004, with the aid of technical assistance

from the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID), the City

District Government conducted an internal review and assessment of its management

systems and processes. It highlighted a number of areas that needed to be addressed

urgently where information and communication technologies (ICTs) could be used to bring

about significant improvements in the way the City District Government did business.

It was noted that in almost all departments, information was lacking, and if available, it was

scattered and was not regularly updated. Critical decisions were thus being made on the

basis of little or inaccurate information. Even when data was digitized, it remained in disparate

formats lacking a consolidated view to plan and analyze the resource utilization of the CDGF.

The challenge was to bring Faisalabad into the 21st century with the aid of technology based

management systems. Some specific issues that were identified are highlighted here:

Faisalabad is both large and complex where vertical and horizontal differentiation

undermines organisational cohesiveness. Achieving 'integration' was going to be critical to its

desire to meet its wider objectives of effective service provision. This would require improving

access to information and a changing culture where information was openly shared for

mutual benefit. The deployment of management information systems would facilitate the

breakdown of boundaries. 'Joined up' Government could be achieved as a result of MIS.

E-Government Systems as Information Systems

Why Faisalabad Needed Information Systems

Scale of City District Government

4

Background

Orientation session on e-governmentfor the students of University of

Agriculture Faisalabad

Automating Human Executed Processes

Poor Financial Management Processes

Poor Human Resource Management Systems

Poor Connections between Government and Civil Society

Poor Connection between Government and Citizens / Businesses

The use of computers in Faisalabad had been limited. Though departments possessed

computers these were simply used as word processors to prepare memos or departmental

budgets in simple excel formats. Their potential strategic use had not been realized and there

was much intransigence among lower tier officers to accept the organisational benefits of

computerized systems. Traditional ways of performing routine tasks and functions were

preferred. Management information systems would offer the opportunity to modernize to

deliver more outputs with a minimum of effort. Quicker and cheaper governance would be

achieved.

Several important functions linked to financial management were performed badly in the

absence of an automated system. Financial information lacked accuracy, was not reliable,

was not shared with key personnel and there was no accountability of how public funds were

being spent in key social services. Records of expenditure often failed to match budget

allocations, consequently affecting the way money was released to departments from finance

managers. The overall impact of poor financial management was that in 2004 the City District

Government had a deficit in excess of millions of rupees. A management information system

dedicated to predicting and managing the districts public finances would bring better

transparency and accountability.

All personnel records for 32,000 employees were kept manually and dispersed. No system

existed that enabled senior managers in the City District Government to keep track of its vast

employees, identify those that were to retire, or indeed carry out any performance related

evaluations. All data pertaining to City District Government employees was processed

manually. This was time consuming, expensive, with staff requirements frequently

misinterpreted and prone to human error. An automated human resource management

system would enable the department to provide better services and information, particularly

for strategic decision-making.

There was limited provision for communicating with civil society, citizens and society at large.

The City District Government had inadequate mechanisms for liaising with its customers,

consumers and service beneficiaries. Little or no information was provided to the outside

world on successes or failures in service provision. Direct one to one contact at the front office

level or service delivery level was the only way service provider and service user connected.

Often the relationship was strained with service users dissatisfied with the quality of services.

Areas of potential cooperation between Government and civil society tend to be limited in the

absence of adequate communication tool.

Similarly, information asymmetry characterized the relationship between the City District

Government and its wider citizenry. A lack of customer orientation, communication and

service connectedness contribute to undermining governance in the district. The City District

Government was not very good at providing information to citizens to enable better decisions

5

Background

or scrutiny. Similarly public input into Government decisions was limited to the district

assembly where local councillors represented public interests. Virtually no services were

provided online except details outlining the CDGF’s organisational structure.

It was clear that the development of different MISs could help to save time and improve work

practices within CDGF's departments. In terms of public sector organisations such as

Faisalabad, there were many positive elements which could be achieved through the

development of information systems. These can be summarized as follows:

� The speed of service delivery: Much more data can be processed and retrieved

faster. Waiting time for clients is reduced and time taken to handle information is also

reduced. Overall, less time taken handling 'normal' transactions allows more time to

deal with specific 'abnormal' activities;

� Increased access to service agencies: Internet access and information kiosks,

etc. make it possible to broaden the availability of information to the public. People

who want particular information can visit the agency web site when they require it;

� Remote control and transactions: Network technology not only increases

participation but it also opens up the possibility of electronic payments which may be

significantly more efficient than the existing system;

� Increased transparency of clients: The coupling and management of databases

provides more information on clients, etc. enabling better targeting and services;

� Linkages across organisations: Network technology allows for the blurring of

organisational boundaries and information sharing. This significantly lessens

duplication and improves services in terms of seeing clients as a 'whole person';

� Increased awareness of interdependence: Reducing the separatist attitudes of

departments and agencies and increasing awareness of interdependency of

Government agencies.

Critically, MIS can be effective and efficient but also appear to be hostile to users.

Organisations, in particular traditional Local Governments like Faisalabad, are complex, and

information systems encroach on most areas. They therefore need to be sensitive to the

needs of users and service managers. This lack of sensitivity has led to many problems in

implementing MIS.

The CDGF was acutely aware of the potential barriers to the introduction of new systems and

ways of doing business, including:

� Lack of management involvement with the design of the MIS, sometimes

translates into hostility and blocking off staff development and information;

� Narrow or inappropriate focus of the computer system, can result from solutions

being driven technically rather than managerially;

� Over-concentration on low level data processing, can result from ignoring higher

level applications;

� Lack of managerial knowledge regarding computers impedes the process;

� Poor appreciation of management by MIS professionals; and � Lack of top management support.

With these potential challenges in mind, Faisalabad embarked on the task of transforming its

management information systems.

What Faisalabad Hoped to Achieve

6

Background

THE CASE

During the initial phase of the reforms programme within CDGF, a detailed situation analysis

of systems and processes of the departments was conducted to develop a strategic

framework with clearly articulated objectives for these departments. It was noted that in

various departments, information was lacking, and if was available, it was scattered and was

not regularly updated. The decisions were made in an un-informed manner in the absence of

accurate information. The CDGF concluded that development of different MISs could help to

save time and improve work practices within its departments. Moreover, information systems

is a key aspect and one of the dimensions of good governance and is mentioned in CDGF's

corporate plan.

As a result, development and use of MISs has been a key tool in improving departmental

systems and processes through the reforms programme in CDGF. Information systems have

been developed for various departments like Finance, HR, Community development,

Revenue and Municipal Services etc. An integrated Geographic Information System (GIS)

has also been developed which is the subject of another separate case study. The

development of every MIS has its own use, organisational process, history and development

cycle. This in itself is a great learning experience for CDGF i.e. moving from hard core data

files to desktop MIS application and ultimately moving towards web-based solutions. The

development history of MISs will have lessons for future users, amenders and replicators.

This case study illustrates the key steps taken to actually design MISs (starting from

inception), key processes in implementing and their impacts on the service delivery

mechanisms and governance in CDGF.

7

The Case

Traditional Manual System

8

THE DESIGN

Key Information Systems of CDGF

Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)

Financial Management Information System (FMIS)

A number of information systems were developed for various departments of CDGF, keeping

in view their differing needs and requirements and are described in this section. Some were

developed during the early stages of the reforms programme, while others were introduced at

a later point.

An HRMIS has been developed for the district's HR department (Figure 1), which has one of

the largest workforces amongst districts with more than 32,000 employees. The HRMIS was

considered critical, as basic data and information about the most important capital of CDGF,

human capital, was almost non-existent. The HR department could not properly assess staff

gaps, filled and vacant positions, the number of staff in offices and sub-offices, information

about leave and retirement of the staff.

Figure 1: Human Resource Management Information System

The HRMIS has automated the key tasks of the HR department. The district departments are

now in a better position to plan their human resources and can make decisions based on

updated employee and establishment details. The required information can now be

generated very easily which used to take several weeks.

Given the large size of the CDGF including schools, roads, health centres, buildings,

hospitals etc., it was natural that data about financial spending, fiscal requirements and

planning was scattered in numerous paper-based files.

There were delays in the budget preparation process, reconciliation of accounts and release

of funds. Access to data was limited, funds were routinely underutilized, and projections for

future allocation of funds were often not aligned with requirements on the ground. Therefore,

an automated system was needed to consolidate the financial data of the CDFG and enhance

financial responsibility, fiscal transparency and flexibility, allocative efficiency and

expenditure management.

The Design

Before making any posting / transfer case, we can log into the HRMIS and see whether this person has spent three years, the allocated posting time, in that position. It was not easy to determine this from paper records previously.

Clerk in the office of DistrictOfficer male elementary

education

9

The FMIS was developed to help overcome these problems and it supports many of the key

functions and processes of the Finance and Planning (F&P) department (Figure 2). It is

helpful in analysing the financial position of the district and plays an important role in targeting

pro-poor investments in the district.

Figure 2: Financial Management Information System

The City District Government was facing innumerable problems in keeping a record of local

receipts being collected from different local revenue sources. Previously there was no record

available of the total potential of revenue and about actual collection, leading to unrealistic

budgeting. The Revenue MIS is helping the department in keeping track of receipts against

their set targets, identifying leakages, and preparing realistic budgets based on actual

revenue potential (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Revenue Management Information System

CCBs are an institutional mechanism introduced by the devolution programme, and form a

new area of work for the Government. These are voluntary organisation which are formed by

25 people resident of a Union Council (smallest unit in Pakistan) to carry out development

Revenue MIS

Citizen Community Boards Management Information System (CCBMIS)

The Design

We do not need to come all the way to Faisalabad city now for preparing budgets. The CDGF has made our life easy by developing an information system that helps us in preparing budgets while we stay in our own town. The system has allowed us to complete the budget in one week, a process that previously took one month to do.

A clerk from Tandlianwala, a far off town of the District

We did not know how many Hoarding Boards and Shop Boards we had in the city. Similarly, we did not know how many commercial properties there are in the city. These are our major sources of revenue and the Revenue MIS now provides us with information of all the assets that we have.

EDO Municipal Services

10

The Design

We were facing difficulties in the CCBs registration process. As per the CCB Rules, we cannot duplicate the name of a CCB. It was very difficult for us to trace the duplicated names from hard copy files. Dual membership of the same persons in different CCBs was another major issue for us. The CCBMIS has made our life easy; we no longer need to look into a large number of files for registration of CCBs

A clerk from the community development department

work in the Union Council. All CCBs are registered with the Community Development

department and are required to have unique names within the District. Moreover, a

community board may only have members who are not members of any other CCB. While

simple, abiding by these requirements without a digitized central management information

system, the process was time-consuming and difficult for the department.

Prior to the CCBMIS (Figure 4), the records for over 1600 CCBs in the district were

maintained in paper-based files. Therefore, when an applicant submitted an application,

typically the only procedure that was followed was to check for the uniqueness of the newly

proposed name. Cross-checking members of the board against previously registered CCBs,

was often not possible due to the tedium of the task. The CCBMIS maintains the records and

details of all CCBs and their developmental projects.

Figure 4: Citizen Community Boards Management Information System

Roads are an important asset of the City District Government. However, the district had major

problems in identifying which road network needed maintenance and which has had major

repairs more than one time. Being unable to prioritise the maintenance needs of the roads,

this important asset was being wasted. The Road MIS (Figure 5) has helped the City District

Government in identifying roads and in prioritising their development needs.

Figure 5: Road Management Information System

Road Management Information System

Geographic Information System (GIS)

Key Processes in Developing Management Information Systems in CDGF

Institutional Leadership

After the successful development of other stand alone information systems, the CDGF also

embarked on developing a Geographic Information System (GIS) (Figure 6). It was realised

by the District Government that the unavailability of physical mapping of infrastructure and

services was resulting in inappropriate projects. The GIS was introduced to improve the

targeting of poor areas and enhance the planning process for future investments.

Figure 6: Geographic Information System

Importantly, all existing information systems have been linked with the GIS. Through one time

clicking, information about various services can be retrieved. For example, in a village

complete information about a school e.g. physical condition of the school, staff of the school

and financial allocations to the school can be retrieved, which has enabled a more integrated

planning process across the district.

GIS is the subject of another separate case study.

While a number of information systems have been developed, the development of the

Financial Management Information System (FMIS) and Human Resource Management

Information System (HRMIS) are illustrative of the approach used by the CDGF and these

processes are described in some detail in this section.

It was decided from the outset that the Information Technology Department would lead the

systems development work in the City District Government. Technical and analytical support

was provided by the project team of Strengthening Decentralised Local Government in

Faisalabad (SDLGF) project, but responsibility for leading the day to day project

management lay with the Executive District Officer (EDO) of the relevant department, with the

IT department overlooking the process.

11

The Design

Meeting of the EDOs with IT departmenton developing MISs

The advantage of keeping the IT department in loop was threefold; to ensure that the project

was owned by the IT department, even though it lacked key staff; secondly, it sent out an

important message across the organisation that despite a lack of capacity, the department

was still responsible for key IT functions and was ready for business and thirdly all IT related

issues needed to be routed through the IT department rather than being handled

independently. This was an opportunity to give the department a more meaningful role and

profile within the CDGF as envisaged within the local government ordinance.

The City District Government resisted the temptation to use commercial off the shelf

sophisticated systems. The IT department and other senior departmental managers opted to

use the Microsoft Windows platform. For the Financial Management Information System

(FMIS) initially VB6 was used before graduating to ASP.net for two reasons:

� ASP.net afforded rapid prototyping, with a good development framework such as the

Microsoft Visual Studios;

� The initial VB 6 version was designed solely as a desktop application, without support

for remote access. ASP.net affords remote network access, enabling a model where

a single installation of a system can serve several sites.

For storage purposes all the systems use Microsoft SQL Server 2000 database. The existing

choice of development tools was dictated by the skill set of available programmers but more

importantly the concerns of sustainable use and extension of the developed software. The

team responsible for developing and implementing various information systems was hired

locally in Faisalabad.

Alternative open system and commercial off the shelf solutions could have been adopted to

develop these systems. However they presented considerable cost and technological

challenges for the CDGF. Oracle and SAP were both sophisticated, but there was consensus

amongst city managers that it would be extremely difficult to find expertise in these systems

locally in Faisalabad and after the development, the running and maintenance cost of these

systems would have been very difficult for the Government to bear.

The CDGF team led by the IT department held several key consultation meetings and

discussions with stakeholder departments on their user and system problems and

requirements. Counterparts from relevant departments were identified and assigned to

develop information systems. The approach's key strategy was to have departments as part

of the process at all stages and ensuring that skills were being transferred. Though time-

consuming, it enabled managers and officials to see the time taken to develop such systems.

Departments discussed and identified their own problems and discussed how they could be

overcome with the IT department. This resulted in a far more robust systems development

process than might have been the case had commercial off the shelf systems been used. The

key strategy was to involve Government at all stages and incorporate the input of users into

design.

Faisalabad adopted a 'soft systems' approach to develop its management information

systems. This differs from hard methods, in that they document the bounded areas of data

Use Local, Low Cost Indigenous Resources and Technology

Consult and Build Capacity along the Way

Adopt Soft Systems Approaches

12

The Design

Discussion on development of HRMISwith partner organisations

flow or systems. The former looks at soft methodologies in which the boundaries of systems

may move as stakeholders in the system are identified and intangible elements are sketched

out. The City District Government realized that an approach which detailed how data flowed

would be insufficient and there was a need to understand the social, political and cultural

context within which data flowed across boundaries.

The CDGF team sat down with departmental staff initially and mapped some of the soft

intangible issues, deriving purposeful systems which were then expressed as a conceptual

model before any discussions took place about technology. This process is outlined in Figure 7.

Figure 7: The soft approach to information systems development

Source: Adapted from Avison and Wood- Harper (1990)

The CDGF team, relevant EDOs, departmental staff and IT department then moved onto

analyzing and designing their respective systems and requirements. Here the systems

development life cycle (SDLC) was used as a key methodology with inputs from department

managers and users. This approach presented a number of advantages for the IT and client

departments. Early applications and systems were driven by technical rather than

organisational criteria. This system, though dated, attempts to introduce better information

systems in an integrated environment. The City District Government adopted it because it

enabled its managers and officers, with limited capacity and experience to see the benefits of

viewing information systems within a human and organisational context. All of Faisalabad's

information systems were subsequently developed using its six main stages (Figure 8);

finance is used for illustration purpose. The same SDLC approach was used for HR as well as

for other information systems.

The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Approach

13

The Design

New situation, new problem/opportunity

6. Deciding in terms of systems options

Systems Thinking

1. Information, problem or opportunity identified by brainstorming between the CDGF team and relevant government departmental staff

8. Act to implement new change

2. Problem perceived and discussed with EDOs, DOs and DDOs

3. Explore Tasks and issues

Define client, actors, owner, constraints and transformation

7. Meet all stakeholders and discuss options

5. Construct a conceptual model and activity task

Comparing the picture

4. Produce a statement of transformation and change management plan

Training of District Government officialson basic IT skills

Figure 8: Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) for FMIS

A detailed assessment of existing financial and human resource systems was jointly

undertaken with IT department and the concerned department. Detailed process mapping

was undertaken for key transactions, work and task flows. A detailed picture was built of the

way in which data was generated, stored, managed and converted into information for key

stakeholders. For example, the budgeting process was mapped completely from the point at

which the budget call letter is issued to when costs and expenditure are recorded within

departments, and who were the key internal and external actors in the process. It was critical

to understand finance and HR processes within the Government before proceeding with their

re-engineering.

Here the CDGF identified the resources, capacity and direction that individual projects would

take to implement the systems. The teams familiarized themselves with the boundaries that

existed in financial and HR information flows and the kind of data that needed to be

processed. Analysis was carried out that would link the information systems with the aims and

structures of the organisations. In the case of finance, how the Finance and Planning

department would link with the non-devolved District Accounts Office and its personnel? In

the case of HR, how each department would make the records of personnel available to the

District Officers HRM and Finance and Planning. User views and requirements would need to

be incorporated into the analysis so that system reports reflected the information they needed

and would be practically useful.

Situation Analysis and Feasibility

Systems Investigation and Analysis

14

Brainstorming session on CCBMIS

The Design

Gap analysis of F&P

F&P user requirements

Current finance processes

Finance processes re-engineered System specifications made Interface and

back office support provided

Training plans prepared

Conduct on job training

Evaluate performance

3. Systems Analysis

4. Systems Design

5. Implementation

6. Review and maintain

1. Situation Analysis and feasibility assessment

2. Systems Investigation

15

Computerization of records

The Design

Brainstorming session on IT needs of the district departments

Systems Design, Implementation and Evaluation

Maintaining the Information Systems

On the basis of the analysis, new tasks and workflows for each of the departmental systems

were designed. For example, Finance and Planning department was keen to streamline its

financial releases process. This used to be a cumbersome process which involved too many

decision makers / layers and led to impeding service efficiency. It was calculated that it would

take eight stages to undertake the task. Options were discussed with the Finance & Planning

and other departments, and it was agreed to re-engineer the process down to six key steps.

Similarly in HRM, almost 500 personnel would be involved in making data available to

corporate management. An automated system was needed that would provide access to

accurate and timely personnel information to corporate management. FMIS and HRMIS were

developed and are constantly reviewed and strengthened to meet Faisalabad's needs.

Once developed the information systems were not handled in isolation by the systems

development team. They were handed over to the departments through an incremental

process and the capacity of departmental staff was built throughout the process. The IT

department through its Computer Training Centre has been imparting trainings to male and

female employees of CDGF on basic computer skills, e-mail and Internet. Trainings on

information systems for the staff including EDOs, District Officers (DOs), Deputy DOs,

Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) and clerks of the relevant departments have also

been conducted. Table 1 presents the summary of trainings for employees of CDGF:

Table 1: Summary of IT trainings for male and female employees of CDGF

All management information systems are currently fully institutionalised and are being used

and updated by the departments. The GIS is the sole exception, and is being maintained as a

separate unit, with a view to integrating all the departments. Video and technical

documentation and user manuals for all MISs have been prepared to aid users, amenders

and replicators in future. Annex 1 describe examples of technical and user manual.

1 Basic Computing Course

483 109 592

2 HRMIS Application Training

110 57 167

3 FMIS Application Training

70 30 100

4 CCBMIS Application Training 3 1 4

Participant DetailsSr.

No.Training Title

Male Female Total

THE IMPACTS ON GOVERNANCE

E-Administration

Saving Costs, Improving Productivity, Achieving Value for Money

Academics and practitioners argue that ICTs can make governance more effective and

efficient, while bringing other benefits. Some take the argument further and suggest that e-

government has the potential to benefit the poor too. Similarly some not only view e-

government as changing relationships in governance but helping traditional bureaucracies

make the gradual transition to modern administrations. Faisalabad is a case in point. The use

of e-government systems such as those deployed by Faisalabad (MIS, internet and intranet)

can be divided into three main domains against which it is possible to measure progress in

governance. These are e-administration, e-services and e-citizens.

This refers to use of technologies to improve internal organisational functions and processes.

Typically these will be Government to Government services (G2G) and reflects Faisalabad's

commitment to two of its core dimensions of good governance namely organisational

improvement and information systems. In this case, Faisalabad used information systems to

achieve substantial gains organizationally with wide ranging benefits. Investments in

management information systems have led to a reduction in the costs associated with

carrying out a number of functional tasks and internal services. Secondly the management of

key processes of the City District Government such as budgeting, reconciliation and work

force planning has become easier for officers. Thirdly, the automated systems have helped

departments become better connected, improving their coordination and communications

which in the past were disjointed. So how do we do this?

There have been significant achievements, with demonstrated impact on efficiency and

effectiveness: the budget cycle has been reduced from 9000 man-days to 3000 man days

and from 45 days to 9 days; the HRMIS has saved almost 1500 man hours and can generate

relevant management information in minutes; the Revenue MIS has reduced the processing

time for bills from 6 man days to 2 man days; and the CCBMIS has reduced the registration

time for CCBs from four to six weeks to one week.

Importantly, all MISs are now linked through the GIS, allowing spatial representation and a

tool for evidence-based planning. Annex 2 provides an example of usage of information

systems and depicts how information is being mapped and used to target areas of need,

enabling a more poverty-focused approach.

Internal service costs were significantly reduced by replacing functions that were carried out

manually with computers and automated information systems. Two examples highlight the

transformation from manual to simple e-administrative processes. They demonstrate the

potential and power of information systems and technology in making Government efficient

and economical.

Firstly, the City District Government's Finance department computerized data on the amount

of financial releases made to individual departments. This was part of the overall process of

strengthening the way in which accounts were reconciled. In the pre-MIS era, finance officers

in departments such as Education and Health did not have access to information about when

16

The Impacts on Governance

Budget Cell

FMIS has revolutionized the City District Government’s financial systems, made our jobs easier and saved a lot of time.

Comments from one seniorFinance officer

A finance clerk said that while the FMIS had made life easier beyond what they had imagined, there were concerns that now senior management would be less dependent on clerical staff for information. There was a power shift.

their funds would be released and how much (i.e. the expenditure booked at District Accounts

Officer (DAO) against his/her DDO code). This information could only be accessed by visiting

the department in the city. This was costly in terms of money and time, taking officers away

from their field based jobs for the best of a day at a time. The FMIS contained information on

scheduled and actual monies to be released to departments. Resource centres were set up in

remote Government facilities with access to the internet, allowing finance officers access to

financial information including fund releases and expenditures. Visits to head offices were not

required anymore thus enhancing output productivity.

Secondly, in the Community Development department, an information system for local

Citizen Community Boards helped speed up service time and save stationary costs. In

Faisalabad over 1600 CCBs were registered and their details contained in paper files. At

times when information was needed by another department, preparing a technical approval

or project site visit, it could take officers hours and in some instances days to respond. In

addition, it was commonplace for files to be misplaced or lost altogether. The City District

Government helped the department set up a simple information system where the details of

all the district's local CCBs were stored and accessible. The Community Development

department was now able to respond to queries from other departments quickly, with

minimum effort and cost. This led to greater departmental productivity.

Automated systems offer opportunities for the better planning of resources, by avoiding

duplication and using better quality information. Faisalabad's Human Resource Management

Information System is example of how manual planning processes can be streamlined to

bring efficiency and productivity. The computerization of personnel records for over 32,000

employees marks a watershed for Faisalabad. The data is centralized in a unitary repository,

which eases its management. Significant time costs are reduced when generating

establishment, retirement and seniority reports for district and provincial departments.

HR information is updated through three resource centres located within the Health,

Education and Municipal Services departments. Departmental staff have been given

responsibility to update information on postings, transfers, retirements and new hires.

Updates are undertaken monthly and the City District Government plans to make it daily a

process once other processes are streamlined. The system contains up to date and accurate

information which is available to the HR department, DCO and Provincial Government at

anytime. Personnel information is accessible to all EDOs, DOs, Deputy DOs and twenty

AEOs through the Government's web site www.faisalabad.gov.pk and is password

protected. Annex 3 provides critical path of access to staff strength in the Education

Department, before and after the development of HRMIS.

The creation of these information systems has had profound power implications for a

hierarchical City District Government. In particular, information that was only previously

accessible to senior managers is now available to decision makers further down the

hierarchy. HRMIS is accessible through the web to EDOs, District Officers (DOs), Deputy

District Officers (DDOs) and even Assistant Executive Officers (AEOs). FMIS access has

been provided to Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) in the field.

Effective Process Management

Creating Empowerment

17

The Impacts on Governance

Department using CCBMIS

The HRMIS is generating information by a single mouse click, information that used to take us several days to collate previously

DO HRM

One Drawing and Disbursing Officer felt that the training programme conducted by the City District Government on aspects of the new accounting model had enhanced their professional capabilities by years.

Access to personnel information at key points within the City District Government has not only

helped speed up key processes but empowered employees. By giving access to important

information the City District Government has transferred power and authority for an important

process from one locus to another. In the case of HR this is to lower and, more localized levels

of the administration and is an example of decentralization in practice. Similarly DDOs in

departments now can access financial information through the FMIS, allowing them to

monitor when releases ought to be made to them by the Finance department and

circumventing an already cumbersome process. Subsequently new information flows have

been created.

These areas deal with relationships between Government to citizens and Government to

business interactions. E-services allow citizens to access information electronically, and to

submit information online. E-citizenship is about two way communication, influencing public

policy and practice. The internet has changed the face of communication and it presents a

number of ways in which links with consumers can be strengthened.

Faisalabad wanted to provide its customers and stakeholders with details of its public sector

activities. In line with its corporate vision, it wanted to improve accountability and bring about

greater transparency in the way it did business. It decided to begin talking to its citizens more

openly by providing new information flows on which accountability depends. The rationale

was to increase pressure on staff to perform well and improve public understanding of

government. This was done in two ways.

The official website www.faisalabad.gov.pk made information available about the City District

Government, its key departments, contacts and reforms in both English and Urdu (Figure 9).

Financial information, birth and death certificates, changes in policy and links to other

partners are all available online. This is particularly representative of the government's aim to

become more citizen focused and publishing i.e. delivering data to citizens is a move in the

right direction to improve governance.

Figure 9: CDGF’s website (www.faisalabad.gov.pk)

E-Services and E-Citizens

Talking to Citizens

18

The Impacts on Governance

By having online access to facts and figures published by the Finance department meant that everyone was in the know about how much money was being released and being spent by departments. This transparency would help improve expenditure and services. Officers felt more empowered and responsible.

Views of front line officers

Listening to Citizens

Improving Public Services

It was cognizant of the need to increase the input of citizens into the way it designed policies,

implemented programmes and delivered services. Better participation would provide

improved information flows from citizens to the City District Government. The rationale is to

make public decisions more responsive to citizen's views and needs. In June 2007, the City

District Government established its first automated complaints call centres.

The centre registers public complaints about services and was part of the City District

Government's commitment to listen to what the public had to say about its services and

improve service provision. It provides a focal point for collating public views on services.

Departments are pressurized to respond in a timely fashion and make improvements

accordingly. It is a cheap and effective way for the public to try and influence service provision

and public policy more broadly.

The internet provided an opportunity for the City District Government to deliver services in a

different and unique manner. Quality services could be delivered conveniently, quickly and

19

The Impacts on Governance

Box 1: Thoughts from external users

The chairman of a CCB was impressed with the speed with which the Community Development department was

able to deal with enquires.

An officer from a local NGO said that by having key information had improved coordination with the department. In

the past they would rarely trouble the department for information and now they use their database regularly for

support.

Another NGO representative said that the department should build on this and begin offering more services online,

this would save more time, money and improve quality.

CDGF’s Call Centre

The Impacts on Governance

cheaply at limited cost to the customer. This uses the potential of ICTs to deliver informational

public services digitally. For example, NGO and Citizen Community Board registration forms

are available online for members of the public and organisations to access. This releases

citizen time and money that would otherwise be captured by inefficient service delivery. It also

undermines corrupt practices taking away the need for direct service provider and user

contact where the potential for rent seeking is raised.

Other information includes social, economic and political profiles of union councils for the

district which can be easily downloaded by local councillors, interested organisations and

communities. These enable local planners and decision-makers to use this information to

budget and plan local projects more effectively than ever before. Again this can be done

without the need to make many visits to departments requesting information that may or may

not be held by local officials. Critically, it breaks down barriers between Government and

external stakeholders but allows the diffusion of information flows from Government to

citizens and other stakeholders.

20

Box 2: Reactions from community development department

The EDO for community development said that as a result of the management information system for CCBs and

local NGOs, his officers and department was now better placed to provide quicker and more reliable information to

everyone.

District Officers in the department lauded the system saying that now there made little sense in retaining paper files

and that every bit of information should be stored and managed in computers. When asked why, they all agreed

that it made access and retrieval easy. They also felt it was more difficult to lose a computer than a file containing

important contacts or information.

The FMIS is helping us in allocating financial resources more efficiently and effectively, and in accordance with the needs of our citizens

DO Planning

Use of information systems by DO Planning for allocating financial resources

FAISALABAD'S CRITICAL SUCCESS

External Pressure

Internal Political Desire

Overall Vision and Strategy

Effective Project Management

Effective Change Management

In Faisalabad a set of enablers and drivers led to the success of its information systems and

e-government programme. The process is by no means complete and there is much that

remains to be done by the City District Government before it can say its programme has

completely changed the dynamics of governance. However, more often than not e-

government programmes fail. In Faisalabad this is not the case. Several factors have

contributed to the success:

Faisalabad's programme was given impetus through the technical assistance and support

received from the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID). The

team worked closely with CDGF to provide the intellectual drive and capital that led to the

information systems design and programme implementation.

City District Government officials were key drivers for reforms and the achievement of their

corporate policy, vision and mission goals. E-government and in particular information

systems were central in the view of many in Government to changing the way business was

done. The DCO, EDO Finance and Planning and the IT department provided an important

lobby and advocacy with the City District Nazim and District Council for ICT led systemic

reforms.

An overall corporate plan, vision and mission and dimensions and principles of good

governance and e-government set the organizational agenda. These frameworks gave a

clear idea of 'where the government was going' and integration with broader reforms, seeing

ICTs as a means and not an end. All e-government related work was placed within a larger

change framework and part of the vision of helping Faisalabad become a modern, efficient

and citizen focused institution.

Clear responsibilities, good planning, realistic expectations, good resource management and

relationships with partners underpinned the programme and its implementation. The City

District Nazim and its DCO took responsibility for setting overall direction, in conjunction with

CDGF team. Overall team leadership responsibility was given to the EDO Information

Technology and key personnel were allocated to the programme from other departments.

Though initial teething problems existed, eventually the City District Government was

convinced of the potential of ICT enabled reforms. Extensive consultations were held with

departments when designing their information systems and an SDLC approach was adopted

which crystallized for Government the roadmap for e-government systems development.

ICT led systemic reform was part of a broader change management focus by the City District

Government. The City District Government identified a set of important 'champions' that

would lead the work. Incentives were used to create ownership and commitment for the

Opening ceremony of CDGF’s Computer Training Centre

21

Faisalabad's Critical Success

programme. Extensive stakeholder involvement was a key character of the programme and

its management. At all times the team emphasized the need to include people, systems and

culture as part of technology based solutions.

An incremental approach was adopted in engaging stakeholders when designing the

programme and information systems, particularly the users themselves. Scaleable outcomes

were set for City District Government departments emphasizing the need to be iterative

rather than radical. This enabled the team to be sensitive to manual clerical systems. Through

the SDLC approach i.e. participation and involvement was key at every stage of the systems

design and execution. Each of the client departments such as Agriculture, Municipal

Services, Revenue, Finance and Planning and Works and Services were at the forefront of

the design process with technical support coming from the SDLGF project.

Most critically, locally based expertise was used by the City District Government. While

initially the level of management and IT skills was scant, in parallel the IT department ran IT

training programmes for officers in Government. This led to raising awareness of ICTs among

officers and also improved their computer literacy skills. Local programmers and software

specialists were hired to support the development of its many information systems. The use

of indigenous resources saved costs, was crucial in building local capacity and providing

important opportunities to a local workforce. Over a four year period significant Government

capacity has been built in ICTs.

Introducing provision for new technology was considered one of the most significant

challenges for the City District Government. While many departments possessed computers

their use was limited, and they were not being effectively used for providing information or

communication solutions. Moreover, when designing many of the information systems it was

important to use technology which matched local capacity and could be easily maintained.

Microsoft Windows based platforms were used for all the information systems and local

officials were trained to use them. The IT department will now be responsible for providing

troubleshooting and maintenance support.

Effective Design

Requisite Competencies

Adequate Telecommunications and Appropriate Technology

22

Faisalabad's Critical Success

IT training of female staff of CDGF

Monthly meeting of district’sadministration

COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF ICT INNOVATIONS

Cost of Development

Cost Comparison with Off the Shelf Solutions

Alternative Tools

An assessment of the costs and benefits of developing many of the information systems led

systems reveals economy gains for the City District Government. Customized systems which

were cheaper and simpler have saved the City District Government considerable costs, than

if they had opted for more expensive off the shelf options. Therefore these systems are

affordable and can be replicated in other districts at lower costs than is anticipated.

Within finance the FMIS and documentation management system cost the City District

Government an estimated Rs 7 Million (CDGF Performance Report-6, 2007). This included

both hardware and software in its development over a four year period. At the same time,

these systems are now helping the Government to save annually more than Rs. 10 Million in

time and costs associated with the district's financial management processes.

Similarly, in human resource management the HRMIS cost the Government approximately

Rs. 5.5 Million (CDGF Performance Report-6, 2008). This is a small cost when compared to

the number of person days, expenses and other costs which were being incurred by the City

District Government as a result of manual, labour intensive systems.

In the Community Development department its CCB Management Information System set

back the administration in the region of Rs. 4 Million (CDGF Performance Report-6, 2007).

However this system has helped to reduce the time taken to register CCBs and their

respective project applications from several weeks to one week. Similarly, it has led to the

department now releasing funds for approved projects within a 45 day period instead of after

several months. With over 1600 CCBs in the District, these are significant inroads into the

benefits of automated systems bringing widespread modernization and efficiency for the City

District Government.

The cost of developing the Revenue MIS and Road MIS is Rs. 5 Million and Rs. 3.10 Million

respectively. The Revenue MIS will help the department in saving Rs. 1 Million per annum

through greater efficiencies.

The District's GIS has been developed in-house, using local resources and within Rs. 70

Million. This is considered to be cost-effective for a system of its kind.

All the Information Systems were developed on the Microsoft Windows™ platform, using

standard off-the-shelf development tools, languages and frameworks. For the storage (DAL)

layer, all the systems use the Microsoft SQL Server 2000™ database engine. The reporting

facilities in the systems were implemented using the Crystal Reporting™ software.

There were two sets of alternative tools and technologies considered for the development of

the systems:

23

Cost Benefit Analysis of ICT Innovations

Commercial Off-the-Shelf Solutions

Commercial strength off-the-shelf financial solutions, such as Oracle™ and SAP ™, offer

sophisticated modules for the development of such systems. Oracle Financials ™ and SAP

™ are designed to scale to millions of users, with high-availability (typically 4 to 5 nines).

The CDGF decided to develop their own customized systems using simpler and cheaper

tools such as SQL Server, VB.net and ASP.net. There was almost a unanimous opinion

among the city managers that expertise required for technologies such as SAP ™ were

exceedingly difficult to find in Faisalabad. Programmers for VB.net and ASP.net are typically

readily available, while the licensing cost of SQL Server and Crystal Report is substantially

less than alternatives such as Oracle™ financial solutions.

Open-source Solutions

The Information Systems could also have been implemented using Open-source tools and

technologies. For instance, development could have been done using Linux (Fedora or

Ubuntu) using Emacs, Vi or the Eclipse IDE. Likewise, MySql or Postgress could have been

used for Data storage (DAL) layer.

Open source solutions have two obvious advantages:

� Open source tools and technologies are typically free of cost, eliminating the

recurring cost of licensing and upgrades;

� Open source tools are typically platform independent, permitting greater flexibility in

the operational and deployment environment of the solution.

However, Open Source technologies have two subtle disadvantages:

� Open Source technologies often mandate a viral license such as the GNU Public

License (GPL). GPL mandates that any solution that employs a GPL'ed technology

should also be released as an GPL (Open Source) technology;

� Open Source tools often lack proper technical support, documentation or user

manuals, implicitly limiting the use of the tools to experienced developers who could

understand the system by looking at its implementation.

These systems are expensive to maintain in Faisalabad and they would have been expensive

to upgrade with time. Moreover, the systems were custom-designed for the specific

requirements of the City District Government - releasing the system internationally, as a GPL

open source technology was not within the scope of the implementation of the Information

Systems.

Notwithstanding this the systems failed to match the skills sets found within the City District

Government. Therefore, the CDGF decided to use common Microsoft Windows®-based

development tools and technologies. Simple, less sophisticated technology was

Faisalabad's requirement.

24

Cost Benefit Analysis of ICT Innovations

LESSONS AND REFLECTIONS

Match Technology with Indigenous Skills

Use Local and Build Local Capacity and Expertise

Social, Political, Cultural and People Dimensions of E-government

Stakeholder Involvement

This section of the case study highlights a number of important lessons which are relevant to

Local Governments and organisations in general when designing e-government systems.

It is critical to assess early on before programme design is initiated that what level of skills

exist in the client organisation. In the case of Faisalabad, it became very apparent that

pockets of technological capacity were present and that the prevailing culture was one of

scepticism. The full potential of ICTs had not been realized. Hence there was a need to

develop customized technological solutions rather than implant expensive off the shelf

systems.

The CDGF encouraged the use of locals within Government and outside to develop and

implement the programme and its systems. Using experts outside of Faisalabad would not

only have been expensive but an unsustainable solution. By working with programmers and

departments from within the City District Government, the significant understanding and

awareness of the role of ICTs in development now rests within the City District Government.

Developing ICT programmes and systems with simply technology in mind is a mistake and a

recipe for e-government failure. ICTs and e-government programmes do not operate in a

vacuum and to assume so when designing information systems or other e-government

initiatives is naive. It is therefore critical to address the organizational dimensions often found

in large complex Local Governments like Faisalabad. Understanding the people, the social

interactions and cultural norms and sub-systems is a pre-requisite for successful information

systems development and implementation. These systems break organizational boundaries

and improve information flows.

The design and execution of e-government programmes is not the sole responsibility of the IT

department. Furthermore, Faisalabad demonstrates that the IT department has the potential

to make significant intellectual contributions to the development of e-government systems

such as management information systems. Incremental approaches to systems

development are important where stakeholders are carried as equal partners, rather than

technocratic styles of management, and should be adopted where possible.

25

Lessons and Reflections

Sharing HRMIS with Education Department by DO secondary education

26

Conclusions

CONCLUSIONS

In Faisalabad the City District Government has demonstrated how new information and

communication technologies can make a significant contribution to the achievement of good

governance goals. Through its broad governance reforms programme the City District

Government deployed automated management information systems, invested in a new

website and at the same time modernized its internal communication processes. These

investments in ICTs have made important differences to the way the administration is

governed and manages its external relationships.

However, there is much to be done and the process of complete ICT enabled transformation

is as yet incomplete.

Information systems have been at the heart of the City District Government’s shift to

electronically enabled local government. The systems and their deployment have been

viewed as a means to an end and not an end in themselves. The crux of Faisalabad's desire to

change is linked to providing better services, to that end it has been keen to explore how

technology can support service provision. Inter-linked to that is to examine the way

relationships, particularly external ones are configured. So, how Faisalabad can engage with

citizens and society more openly and effectively therefore enable it to understand their needs.

Faisalabad now possesses management information systems for finance, human resources,

CCB, revenue, roads and an integrated GIS. These were developed by the City District

Government through a process of detailed consultation and incremental phased

implementation over a four year period. Carefully designed with users in mind, the IT

department led the process using soft systems approaches where consideration was given to

'human systems' in which such technologies exist. Furthermore, the City District Government

adopted the simple SDLC approach to many of the systems developed above. Concurrently

individual and departmental capacity was built in the process so that the systems are

managed and run successfully beyond the life of the reforms programme.

In turn, these systems have brought about efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery for

the various departments of City District Government. There is now cheaper and quicker

governance that gives more than ever before. In Faisalabad's important strategic areas,

finance and human resource management, departments are now producing the same

outputs at a lower cost and in shorter time thus significantly improving the service delivery

mechanisms. In some instances such as community development services, more outputs are

being delivered at the same total cost. The Government now has an evidence-base for

planning, building on the MISs.

Moreover, governance is working better now. The internet provides opportunities for

Government and external users alike. A higher quality of service is provided through the

internet. No longer do individuals need to travel to Government offices where inefficient

services are so often offered. Therefore innovative Government has emerged providing new

outputs and opportunities. However challenges remain.

Over time the City District Government will need to address the digital divide and how

accessibility of information to the poor can be improved. Though internet access is good, and

there is evidence from Faisalabad that what it publishes is accessed, the Government has

27

much to do in building a knowledge-based economy and society. Though significant strides

have been taken by the Government through information systems, there is some way to go in

achieving the gains associated with e-society. The e-government programme needs

commitment from the City District Government to continue. The Government needs to

develop information systems for the remaining departments like Health and Agriculture etc.

There is also needs to establish a monitoring mechanism, perhaps by constituting a

committee to oversee and monitor the process of updating the information systems. Critically,

Faisalabad highlights what can be done through technological innovation. These efforts can

be replicated at smaller costs.

Finally it is important to remember that ICTs are not a magic wand changing the problems

associated with poor governance. The role of e-government needs to be viewed within

broader organizational development goals and commitment to providing quality public

services. However technology must now take centre stage if Local Governments in Pakistan

are to modernize.

Conclusions

28

Annex 1: Examples of Technical and User Manuals

A1-1: An example of technical manual

Annex 1

Primary Actor User

Stakeholders and Interests All Government Departments

Pre -conditions Logged in to the system

Zoomed in to a Town Union Council

Post -conditions

Basic Flow 1. Select Patwar Boundary Layer

2. Select Info tool

3. Click on Patwar Boundary

View Patwar Boudaries Details

Use case

Sequence diagram

Data flow diagram

School Teaching

User GIS

Select Patwar Boundary Layer

Select Info Tool

Click on Patwar Boundary

Patwar Boundary Detail

School_

teaching

Emp_personal_info (DB: HRMIS)

workaddress (DB: HRMIS)

Emp_job_detail (DB:

HRMIS)

Vu_teaching_emiswise (DB: GIS)

Gv_schoolteaching_selectedIndex (DB: HRMIS)

department (DB: HRMIS)

29

Annex 1

A1-2: An example of user manual

Add New Road Profile

In the Data entry menu under Road you have a Sub menu which shows you the option

of Add New Road Profile.

On clicking on “Add New Road Profile you get the form to add the information of the

new road;

To add a new road you have to:

Enter all the details required in the form. Once you have filled all the information for the

road. Press Insert to update the information into the system or you may press cancel when

ever you wish to return to the main page without entering the information to the system.

30

Annex 2: Use of Information Systems for Identifying Areas of Poor Investment

Figure A2-1: Development Expenditure of the Health Department from July 2004 to

November 2007

Annex 2

LayallpurTown

Chak JhumraTown

JaranwalaTown

TandlianwalaTown

SammundariTown

Iqbal Town

Jinnah Town

MadinaTown

31

Annex 3

Annex 3: Impact of HRMIS on the Critical Path of Access to Staff Strengthin the Education Department

Collection of establishment strength information

Before the HRMIS, the delivery of information regarding staff strength to top management

took involvement of about 500 people. Delay at each stage was obvious because they

needed to process information manually at each stage. Accuracy of information collected

was also not authenticated, most of the time it contained errors and did not match to

overall strength. Figure A3-1 illustrates the process of preparing establishment strength

information of the education department before HRMIS:

Figure A3-1: Process of preparing establishment strength information before HRMIS

DCO requires updated establishment report

for planning

DO HR receives order from DCO and passes to

EDO Education

EDO Education receives orders from DO HR

and passes orders to DEOs

EDO compiled data received from DEOs

DO HR submitsestablishment report

to DCO

Data submitted to Deputy DEOs

from AEOs

DEOs compiledata received from

Deputy DEOs

z

AEOs collect andverify data from 1167

female schools

6Deputy DEOs compile data received from 1167 female and

1304 male schools

Data submitted to DEOs from Deputy DEOs

DEOs pass orders to Deputy DOs and Drawing

and Disbursing Officer

Deputy DEOs passorders to AEOs

AEOs collect andverify data from 1304

male schools

1

2

3

4

5

6

78

9

10

11

12

13

After the development of HRMIS, the critical path of the access to staff strength

information has been streamlined into two-stage procedure. It also reduces the process to

maintain the record. Now EDO, DOs and Deputy DOs have access to HRMIS. They not

only use the information of recruitment, appointment, posting and transfer but also

maintain and update the records in case of changes. The Establishment Strength report of

HRMIS provides a unified repository of information that is updated in real-time to quickly

disseminate information directly to all decision making hierarchy. Accessibility to different

reports is administrated through user name and password security. Figure A3-2 illustrates

the simplified critical path of the access to staff strength in the Education department in

HRMIS:

Figure A3-2: Simplified critical path of the access of staff strength in HRMIS

32

HRMIS

PromotionRetirementLeave

EDO

DO

DDO

AEO

Reports

Posting/Transfer

Job record

Lave record

Promotion

Establishmentrecord

Training detail

Retirement

Performancedetail

Employee personalrecord

RecruitmentAppointmentPostingTransfer

(Deputy Distt. Officer)

DDO(Drawing & Disbursing

Officer)

Annex 3

33

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Papers

Reports

Heeks R (2006) Implementing and Managing E-Government: An International Text, Sage

Publications

Hughes O (2003) Public Management and Administration Palgrave Macmillan

Escoffier and Hargreaves (2001) Making e-Governance work for Poor People: Using

Information and Communication Technologies to Improve Governance in Developing and

Transition Countries; Governance Department, Department for International Development

(DFID)

Ferguson M (2000) E-Government Strategies The Developing International Scene: Paper

presented to the conference “Internet, Democracy and Public Goods” Universidade Federal

de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Heeks R (2001) Understanding e-Governance for Development; Institute for Development

Policy and Management, University of Manchester I-Government working paper series

City District Government Faisalabad (2008) Performance Report No: 6, Strategic Policy Unit,

Pakistan

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Brigid Smith

OUR OTHER PUBLICATIONS

All case studies including other reports can be downloaded from the web site: http://www.faisalabad.gov.pk

S.M. Khatib Alam - Project Manager and Overall Team Leader

Khatib Alam is an international management consultant with considerable experience of

leading large and diverse teams on multi-disciplinary, complex and challenging projects

around the world. He has a particular expertise in strategic management, organisational

change management, institutional strengthening, urban development and corporate

social investment. Since 2004, he has been the Overall International Team Leader on

the innovative DFID funded SDLGF project.

Nadir Ehsan - Public and Private Sector Management Specialist

Nadir Ehsan has a multi-disciplinary background having worked and consulted for the

public, private and international NGO sectors extensively. Over the last decade he has

worked in international public policy analysis, local government reform, social

development and corporate social responsibility (CSR). He was the Deputy Team

Leader of DFID's Strengthening Decentralized Local Government in Faisalabad Project

for three years and is now based in Manila with the multi-donor Cities Development

Initiatives for Asia Programme. His interests remain in local urban governance, new

public management and sustainable development.

Kashif Abbas - Information Technology Specialist

Kashif Abbas has been working as an IT manager on the SDLGF project since 2004.

During this time, he has been responsible for leading a team to design, test and

implement all the information systems at CDGF. He has also established a computer

network for the SPU as well as oversee the design of the SPU and Faisalabad web sites.

His responsibility has extended to recruiting local and national IT graduates and

developing their capacity to undertake information systems related work.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Management ConsultantsGHK International Ltd.526 Fulham Road, London, SW6 5NRUnited KingdomTel: +44 (0) 20 74718000Fax: +44 (0) 20 7736 0784E-mail: email@ghkint.comInternet: http://www.ghkint.comInternet: http://www.ghkpak.com

Strategic Policy Unit2nd Floor, DCO OfficeNear Iqbal Stadium, FaisalabadPakistanTel: +92 (0) 41 9201256Fax: +92 (0) 41 9201257E-mail: email@spu.com.pkInternet: http://www.spu.com.pk

City District Government FaisalabadDCO Office, Near Iqbal Stadium

Faisalabad, Pakistan

Tel: +92 (0) 41 9200205Fax: +92 (0) 41 9200206

E-mail: email@faisalabad.gov.pkInternet: http://www.faisalabad.gov.pk