SANJOG HELPLINE

DOCUMENTATION OF BEST PRACTICE

September 2012

Researched and Documented by:

OneWorld Foundation India

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary........................................................................................................................ 3

Methodology ................................................................................................................................... 5

Background ..................................................................................................................................... 5

Objective .......................................................................................................................................... 6

Programme Design ......................................................................................................................... 6

Key Stakeholders......................................................................................................................... 6

Process Flow ................................................................................................................................ 7

Assessing Technology .................................................................................................................. 12

Sustainability ................................................................................................................................ 13

Scalability ...................................................................................................................................... 13

Impact ............................................................................................................................................ 14

Challenges in Implementation .................................................................................................... 16

Recommendations ........................................................................................................................ 16

Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 17

Appendix A – Interview Questionnaire ..................................................................................... 17

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The distance between policymakers and beneficiaries can often be large in terms of accessing

information and utilizing services; especially the disadvantaged segments of the population.

For those beneficiaries living in remote locations, it requires long hours of travel;

transportation costs and meeting policy makers face to face can at times be harassing as well.

In order to tackle these major setbacks, Sanjog Helpline was designed as a platform that

uniquely leverages technology to address complaints to a wide audience on real time basis.

Sanjog Helpline was an initiative of Panchayati Raj department of Odisha Government to

facilitate web-based grievance and redressal system to ensure fast-track solutions for the

people of Odisha in 2008. As the name suggests, citizens can directly and easily voice any of

their concerns regarding government schemes via telephone, email, fax or simply by

submitting their complaint online and feel confident that their grievance will be disposed of

in a timely manner. They can access the status of their grievances through a ticket number

provided to them and the system has an inbuilt intimation and escalation process which

allows registered grievances to reach the concerned department.

According to the Manthan award committee, its success lies in the fact that it’s India’s first

web-based initiative to register and redress grievances that can register grievances through

toll free number 155332, fax, e-mail through Sanjog Helpline portal from their villages. There

is also an option to send letters to submit grievances1.

Here one can share/submit scheme wise grievance or demography wise grievance and check

its status of grievance posted online. It provides detail report of the grievances on the basis

of district, block and gram panchayat. The ICT tool of Sanjog Helpline ensures that the

grievance of complainant is sent to the right office to the right officer in real time. It is

developed on a web enabled multi-lingual platform which will receive complaints through

its 9AM to 5PM Call Centre. At present Sanjog Helpline caters to schemes, namely Food

Supplies and Consumer Welfare (FSCW), National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme

(NREGS), Rural Water Sanitation Scheme (RWSS), specific to Tube well), Pradhan Mantri

Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Orissa Flood 2008 (Panchayati Raj) and Students Academic

Management System (SAMS), Women & Child Development (WCD) Department and

Health Department., Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC). Targeted Rural Initiatives

for Poverty Terminations & Infrastructure (TRIPTI), Labour (Labour and Employees’ State

Insurance Department), Steel and Mines, Department of Water Resources (DOWR),

Cooperation and Department of Health & Family Welfare, Information & Public Relation

(I&PR).

1 Source: http://manthanaward.org/section_full_story.asp?id=837s

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Using technology to address common citizens’, in particular for the disadvantaged section of

the society concerns at the door step through a forum linking the government are the main

factors that behind its impact. It achieved the Manthan Award-South Asia and Asia Pacific

in 2012.

FIGURE 1 OFFICIAL WEB INTERFACE HTTP://WWW.SANJOGHELPLINE.IN/WEBSITE/HOME.HTML

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METHODOLOGY

Being the recipient of Manthan award-South Asia and Asia Pacific 2012, there is a reason to

believe that Sanjog Helpline is positively impacting citizens to obtain information related to

public schemes.

The Governance Knowledge Research team selected to document Sanjog Helpline on the

basis of its simplicity, cost effectiveness and user-friendly model. The helpline is a tool to

empower citizens to claim information from public authorities in a convenient manner

without having to disclose their identity. For documentation, the team relied on telephonic

conversations with call centre executive member, and two technical consultants for an

understanding on project details, objective and achievements. To understand the context

and background, researchers referred to online sources such as its official website for

literature and graphs purposes. However, one of the limitations was that there was a lack of

substantive documentation of the programme online and two, the citizens’ perspective on

the helpline has not been mentioned because travel to the destination to examine ground

realities did not happen due to time constraints.

BACKGROUND

Prior to the implementation of Sanjog Helpline, there were several drawbacks with respect

to addressing complaints and accessing information on government schemes. First, there

was no existence of direct contact mechanism between the administrators and citizens. All

the departments fixed Saturdays to redress grievances for which citizens had to physically

travel long distances to the offices and meet the authorities to lodge a complaint; in addition

to this problem, citizens were not aware of how to demand information from the

government. Second, Higher authorities were ignorant about complaints because lower

officials were handling the grievances at the block level. Third, there was no responsibility

applied to the action taking authorities as their work was not being monitored. Last, there

was no timeline set for the authorities to redress the complaints.

To overcome these challenges, the rural development department initiated Sanjog Helpline

in 2008 with Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak

Yojana (PMGSY) schemes and soon other departments added themselves as per its own will.

Seeing the addition in the number of departments, the government decided to make it a

state level grievance redressal system.

It was launched in 2008 and the services are offered through a call centre based out of

Bhubaneswar. The project falls under the ownership of Odisha Computer Application

Centre and 11 departments are integrated to provide their services to citizens. Cybertech

Software and Multimedia technologies is the official technical consultant that performed the

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software’s coding, design and development.

The software platform operates on

Microsoft.net and SQL server on front end and

back end respectively.

The government schemes are designed to give

maximum benefit to its citizens and from this

perspective, it is important for citizens to

assess and provide constructive feedback on

them. Due to limited or no interaction existing

between the government officials and citizens,

the government of Odisha commissioned the

OCAC and CSM technologies to build an

integrated multilingual automated and web-

based grievance redressal system to enable seamless registration of feedback of citizens on

ongoing implementation impact of the welfare schemes. This was the genesis of the web

based grievance redressal interface known as Sanjog Helpline.

A viewer has access to information online in the form of a) sub scheme wise grievance report

b) demography wise grievance report and c) escalation wise grievance report.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the helpline is to streamline submission of complaints and enable citizens to

seek assistance from the government related to schemes to further strengthen public service

delivery.

PROGRAMME DESIGN

KEY STAKEHOLDERS

The Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC) functions as the Directorate for

Information Technology in the State. It has evolved, co-ordinated and participated in the

computerisation of Sanjog Helpline. It also provided the technical support, infrastructure,

bandwidth and connectivity for the helpline. In addition to these functions, it organised,

outsourced and co-ordinated training to new users of computer hardware and software and

upgrade the skill level of existing users in the government departments.

Based on technical knowledge, OCAC outsourced the responsibility of building the interface

to CSM technologies in terms of designing, coding and programming the helpline. Being the

technical consultant of this IT/ICT initiative, CSM is responsible to provide adequately

proficient man power to be deployed as the help-desk counselors. Also CSM ensures that

Salient features

Sanjog Helpline is India’s first

grievance registration and redressal

system with following features:

Works on a toll free telephone

network (155335/18003456770)

and a web interface

Escalation Matrix

Multilingual

SMS and fax modem enabled

GIS based performance analysis

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enhancement as well change request are updated timely as & when required. Being the

technical manager of the Sanjog centre the prime duty of CSM is to keep the department as

well the OCAC updated on every development with regards to service of Sanjog.

The Panchayati raj department frames policies and programmes to ensure all round

economic development and social justice amongst the citizens at the village, block and

district levels of the state.

The citizens of Odisha have hugely benefited from this helpline, with specific to 11

departments. Based on the official reports, the citizens of Khorda district have used the

helpline maximum for two consecutive years 2012, 2011.

PROCESS FLOW

Sanjog Helpline can be used by any citizen who requires quick redressal of his/her

complaint regarding a particular government scheme via computer system. The built in

system ensures that the grievance is disposed by the use of ICT which automatically tracks

and pursues the status of grievance with the action taking authority. The helpline is

managed by ten qualified call centre executives supervised by a call centre in charge. The

citizen can call on a toll free number 155332 from a landline or a mobile, send an email, fax

FIGURE 2 SANJOG HELPLINE FLOWCHART-GENERIC FLOW OF INFORMATION IN THE DEPARTMENT

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or post a letter to the given address on the website to register complaint and is given a ticket

application number between 9am to 5pm.

The helpline process is divided into four steps:

1. The first step is mode of grievance: The complainant, say a citizen from a remote

region calls the helpline and the call centre executive (CCE) addresses his grievance.

2. The second step is registration: The CCE identifies the citizen’s grievance as

employment guarantee scheme and selects the option ‘NREGS’ online. In addition

demography is also tagged in the registration screen such as name, district, block,

habitation, mode, job card number etc. Incase the grievance is vague; the software

has the ability to filter it into a specific grievance. A unique grievance ticket number

is generated and mentioned to the complainant for further reference/query.

3. The third step is notification in which the complainant’s jurisdiction is identified and

grievance details are communicated to the Action Taking Authority (ATA) of

FIGURE 3 REGISTRATION SCREEN/SANJOG HELPLINE PPT

FIGURE 4 INTIMATION SCREEN/SANJOG HELPLINE PPT

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NREGS. Undersigned government letters by the commissioner/director are

despatched in real time basis by the software and posted on the internet as a

reminder to take urgent action. Simultaneously an SMS alert is also sent to his mobile

phone.

4. The fourth step is escalation process. Incase the ATA is unable to redress the

grievance; the software automatically escalates the grievance letter along with the

ticket number to the next authority. In worst case scenario, if the grievance is still not

addressed then the state quality monitor is notified to make a field visit. The

escalation process differs in all departments. The diagram below showcases the

escalation process of grievances for NREGS. The software has the ability to show

reports based on scheme, demography and block/district wise.

FIGURE 5 LETTER INTIMATON OF GRIEVANCES IN NREGS/SANJOG HELPLINE PPT

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Escalation and intimation process within the department:

In case the ATA cannot solve the grievance within the stipulated period of time, the

complaint is escalated in the form of SMS to the 1st escalation authority. The average time

given to all ATAs is seven days. For example, in the rural water and sanitation scheme

(RWSS), the complaint is forwarded to the Assistance Engineer and within the next seven

days, if still the grievance is not solved then it is escalated to the Executive Engineer. A

similar mode of escalation takes place if the grievance is not solved and further forwarded to

the Superintendent Engineer and Chief Engineer. Therefore, there is no human intervention

required as the automatic system sends faxed letters and SMSes to higher officials in the

hierarchy of the scheme if the ATA is not able to resolve the issue within the stipulated

period of time. Maximum numbers of calls are solved at the first level itself.

After registration, the ICT configuration tool operating in the back end of Sanjog Helpline

sends automatic intimations to the tagged ATA or the concerned government official in the

form of SMS to his cell phone. The ATA can also update the status of grievance tagged to

him or can use the option of calling the Call Centre Executive (CCE) to provide basic

information and accordingly the CCE can inform the complainant.

The web portal maintains a database of all registered citizens with their identification

details, nature of complaint and concerned authority of redressal.

After finding the answer to the complaint, the ATA uses his login/password to enter the

response along with documents as evidence on the screen and this information is accessible

to the department and citizens can track it by anytime. The answer is also automatically sent

as an email/SMS based on the citizen’s preference.

The response entered by the ATA is monitored by officials as per in the escalation matrix of

the concerned department to avoid any sort of inaccurate information.

The higher level authority (for example the secretary of RWSS) can view the complaints by

login in with the designation in the username tab and password. The authority’s login

screen is displayed below:

FIGURE 6 DISPLAY SCREEN OF OFFICER'S LOGIN AND

PASSWORD/WWW.SANJOGHELPLINE.IN

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The Secretary can access the grievance status of a particular citizen on the screen. On the

left, the profile and complaint status of the secretary is mentioned on the left and on the

right; the complaint with status can be updated.

To view details on call registration, complaint, escalation process and intimations, the

secretary can click on the hyperlink in the ticket number and a ticket history page will open

up, similar to the figure displayed below:

FIGURE 7 GRIEVANCE STATUS SCREEN/WWW.SANJOG HELPLINE.IN

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On clicking ‘update status’, the secretary can enter description or remark regarding the

respective complaint and upload related documents. Before entering the submit button, he

should select the date from the calendar control on which action against the complaint was

taken. In case the secretary does not take any action on the received complaints, it is

automatically escalated to the higher action taking authority. However in case of action

taken, the status of the complaint can be viewed in the active complaint screen as shown

below:

ASSESSING TECHNOLOGY

The web-based platform was developed by CSM technologies, is managed by the call centre

and linked to all offices in 11 departments. In the front end Microsoft. Net was used because

it is more secured and prevents information from being hacked. At the back end, SQL

Microsoft product was used. Developers mentioned that Microsoft products are user

friendly and they have expertise in using these platforms.

FIGURE 8 TICKET HISTORY SCREEN/WWW.SANJOG HELPLINE.IN

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SUSTAINABILITY

Economic sustainability is achieved by Sanjog helpline by the reutilization and replacing of

equipments. To achieve and maintain this, several departments of the Orissa government

came forward for the first time to integrate their resources to make Sanjog helpline

functional. A 12/6 call centre was set up by the Department of Rural Development (RD) in its

Secretariat office premises. The hardware resources for smooth functioning were provided

by the Panchayati Raj department. To make the system online the server was connected by a

2 MBPS dedicated internet link by RD Department. Under this set-up, Sanjog helpline was

used for multiple schemes of both the departments. This results in both financial and

physical capital asset building. Therefore, any new scheme that adds to Sanjog helpline can

utilize the existing resources and invest only in the manpower requirement to run the call

center. Also the ICT application used is web enabled and common to all. Therefore,

rebuilding application is not required.

SCALABILITY

Sanjog helpline is designed and architected on a scalable platform with the intention to add

as many schemes as possible, keeping the basic engine and its operation in place. For this, it

was required to scale the hardware, software, application, process and architecture of the

system.

To achieve hardware scalability, it was required to keep the highly replicated parts as simple

as possible to get the job done. For Sanjog helpline, the infrastructure used for multiple

departments was kept the same, with various departments contributing infrastructural

requirements. This pooled-in effort resulted in duplicate machinery and equipments. The

set-up designed for Sanjog, can thus add schemes and projects to any extent without any

hassle.

Software scalability of the project was established by making the codes installed at the

vendor’s location for maintenance and upgradation. Each scheme was given privileges

according to the requirement. Therefore uniformity and systematic upheaval of codes and

programs were maintained. Also web browser was the only visual interface which resulted

in more and more number of users coming into the system.

Process Scalability was maintained by assessing the prevalent process of each particular

scheme and its process of mitigation. The less was the extent of re-engineering of the

government process, the more and faster was the acceptance. After the initial acceptance,

processes were reinvented to suit the requirement of the citizen. Web scalability being a part

of the Process, each scheme is determined on the number of concurrent users and the

average amount of time they would require on the system. Accordingly the system was

designed to accommodate all. Similarly for the toll free number, number of users vis-à-vis,

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their time to be spent on a single call was determined by simulation and number of

manpower or CCE to run the Call center was determined.

Last but not the least, Architecture scalability was guaranteed by configuring multiple

application servers which not only helps in load balancing but also helps reduce contention

between the application and the database server.

IMPACT

Since its inception, the helpline has impacted the beneficiaries across the state by solving

their grievances and providing relevant information on time. The average number of calls

received varies on daily basis and depends on the scheme. Mentioned below are the factors

that have contributed in minimising public’s problems:

1. Eliminated citizen’s physical labour of visiting officials: With the advent of the

helpline, they no longer have to queue in front of public or administrative

representatives as they can directly complain at the helpline and wait patiently as

they are assured that if their grievance is not resolved within a fixed period of time, it

will be automatically escalated to a higher authority of the department.

2. Reduced financial constraints: It has reduced the economical burden of citizens as

they no longer have to pay the transport fare to reach the grievance redressal centre

physically nor pay telephonic charges if she/he wanted to make a call. Accessibility

to helpline has saved citizens from paying bribes to middlemen for right contact and

faster disposal.

3. Improved overall efficiency amongst government officials: The inbuilt automated

web system also acts as a monitoring system ensuring senior officers to measure and

track the efficiency of their junior officers by monitoring the effective resolution of

the registered grievances. There has been an improvement in the operational

efficiency through a continuous business performance management cycle and has

increased the level of participation amongst the government employees.

4. Automated system keeps all government officials in loop: By solving grievances

related to government schemes and offering information, the helpline has bridged

the gap between administrators and citizens thereby strengthening trust between

them. In addition to this, the helpline has also improved the communication channel

between various levels of department officers through the escalation matrix. It

encompasses a performance assessment module in the form of an escalation

procedure because the automatic system sends faxed letters to higher officials in the

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hierarchy of the scheme if the ATA is not able to resolve the issue within the framed

time period.

5. ICT architecture of the helpline: Every department in every state has some semblance

of a grievance monitoring system, which caters to a part of the entire cycle of

grievance redressal. The bottom-line of Sanjog helpline is not only able to register,

track or monitor pendency of grievances, but also to resolve them, that too within a

specified time period without human having to do anything in between.

6. Improved decision making: Sanjog helpline encompasses a performance assessment

module in the shape of an escalation procedure. This automatic system fires faxed

letters and SMSs to higher officials in the hierarchy of the scheme, if the ATA is not

able to resolve the issue within the framed time period. Here, there is no

requirement of human intervention in sending these escalation letters. This

interactivity is provided by the embedded ICT application in Sanjog helpline. Once a

grievance is closed or sorted, the web portal automatically updates its status.

Therefore right from registering a grievance, a citizen, an ATA and any other officer

in the hierarchy, can have the complete picture of the complaint and the entire mode

of operations involved, along with the delays incurred while resolving the grievance.

Apart from this, Sanjog Helpline has a built-in MIS for administrators to identify the

performance of their offices and officers therein for taking preventive actions against

non-timely performance. Provision is also there to display reports based on fields,

schemes, location, nature of complaints, modes and product so that it is helpful for

government officials to take strategic decisions for the beneficiaries.

The following tables illustrate the a) popular medium used by citizen to register grievance b)

maximum number of calls from district.

Year Calls/Email/Online Total registered Total solved

2012 10418+2+6 10,426 5921

2011 2143+0+1 2144 1867

2010 4399+0+0 4399 3615

2009 2748+0+164 2912 2221

2008 2819+0+0 2819 2279

YEAR DISTRICT FROM WHICH MAXIMUM COMPLAINT RECEIVED

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2012 Khorda

2011 Khorda

2010 Ganjam

2009 Boudh

2008 Nayagah

CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTATION

The project implementers faced several challenges during initial stages of development and

it can be divided under technical and non-technical segments. Under technical challenges,

different departments had different workflows and demographic structures. For example,

the demography for Food Supplies department is district, block, gram panchayat, village

and it differs from Rural Work Sanitation Scheme which is circle, division, sub-division and

section. Sanjog Helpline is a generic application and initially there was difficulty in

universalizing authorities to redressing the complaint. Second, there was lack of awareness

amongst of government officials in utilising the helpline. To increase awareness level, OCAC

had conducted several training workshops and knowledge sharing sessions to the

departments.

Under non- technical challenges, the action taking authorities had to undergo trainings to

increase their level of confidence to provide necessary information within the stipulated

time framework.

Over the years of operation, there has not been network connectivity or accessibility failures

faced the call centre, as reported by technical consultant.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Sanjog Helpline is comprised of one call centre and a web based platform that together

service the entire state of Odisha. Although the model has been adjusted to maximise

potential, the services are limited to only 11 out of 32 departments. One way of increasing

the level of responses to complaints is to integrate the other 21 departments.

Second, the majority of Odisha population is based in rural areas and not versed in English

language. At present, the website display is only English. To overcome language barriers, a

bilingual input and display can motivate citizens to use the platform to lodge complaints

and enquire information in Odiya language.

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CONCLUSION

A helpline has the potential to voice citizens’ concerns to the public authorities by enabling

them to report complaints and seek information. Complaints related to any government

scheme helps public authorities to monitor and evaluate its functioning and further improve

its public service delivery. It bridges the communication gap between officials and citizens.

In Odisha, Sanjog Helpline has managed to have a positive impact on the citizens as their

faith in grass root governance has been reinforced through active feedback by the

involvement of the government officials. The inbuilt escalation and intimation top-to-bottom

process at the back end has been successful in involving public authorities from the block to

the state to solve grievances without delays. Therefore, not only is a grievance seriously

looked but a performance assessment of officials also takes place.

Odisha’s Sanjog helpline has transformed the grievance timeline from occasional to daily

because the citizens can call from anywhere, anyplace and anytime. This major shift in

governance practice has enhanced accountability as it leaves little opportunity for slacking

in public service delivery. We hope through this documentation other governments are

encouraged to replicate the system and benefit the citizens.

Research was carried out by the OneWorld Foundation India (OWFI), Governance Knowledge Centre (GKC) team.

Documentation was created by Attrika Hazarika

For further information, please contact Rajiv Tikoo, Director, OWFI.

REFERENCES

1. Sanjog Helpline website www.Sanjoghelpline.in

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APPENDIX A – INTERVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE

Background- Stakeholders and roles

1. We understand that Sanjog Helpline aims to solve citizens’ problems in relation to

government schemes via a web based platform. What was the motivation behind the

implementation of the project?

i. How was grievance redressal being done in the hitherto existing system?

ii. When did the actual implementation begin?

iii. What are its objectives?

iv. What are its advantages?

v. Where there any challenges? If yes, then how were they overcome?

vi. What is the coverage plan in future?

2. Was a pilot conducted for the project? If yes, could you provide the following details

about the pilot – location, duration, personnel involved, financial investment, impact in

terms of the challans issued, challenges faced, lessons learned for improvement in the

model?

3. What is the current outreach of the initiative?

4. According to our research, the major stakeholders in this project are (i) Department of

Panchayati Raj, Government of Odisha, (ii) CSM Private Limited, (iii) Odisha Computer

Application Centre (OCAC), and (iv) residents of Odisha. What are their specific roles

and responsibilities in the project?

i. Are there any other stakeholders? If yes, who are they? What are their roles and

responsibilities?

Workflow

5. According to our research, Sanjog Helpline is operated by a call centre to redress

citizens’ grievances on an individual basis. What is the process flow of the project?

a) Phone calls/emails/fax/letters

i. Which authority (call centre executive/department level officer) addresses

citizens phone calls/emails/fax?

ii. How many grievances can a citizen submit? Is there a limit to it?

iii. What is the process when a grievance is not solved at the call centre level?

iv. What is the stipulated period of time taken to solve a grievance?

v. What happens when the grievance is not solved within the stipulated period of

time?

Outreach, Training and Support

Impact and Sustainability

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6. How has this project benefited the following in social and economic terms:

i. Citizens

ii. Call centre executives

iii. Department officials

7. How many executives and authorities have been integrated in this project? Has there

been an increase in the number since the initiative started?

8. Who is responsible for training them?

9. How has the initiative sustained itself financially?

a. Is there a revenue generating mechanism? If not, then who is funding the

project?

Monitoring

10. Is the project being monitored? If yes, how is it being done?

Measuring success

11. Are there any enhancements to this project? If yes, what are they?

12. What are the innovative features of the project?