eOffice Deployment

Guidelines

Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances

Contents
Objective of this document

About eOffice

Deployment overview

Funding

Infrastructure procurement

Project Management

Change Management

Appendix 1: Frequently Asked Questions

Appendix 2: Digitization strategy

Objective of this document
This document is a handbook for Ministries/ Departments planning to deploy eOffice. It outlines a
set of guidelines for planning, procurement, and overall project management, which are indicative
only and may be suitably adopted or modified by the implementing departments for their use.

Background
“The Government of India, in recognition of the long-felt need for efficiency in government
processes and service delivery mechanisms, has included e-Office as a core Mission Mode Project
(MMP) under the National eGovernance Plan (NeGP).

The main objectives of this MMP are:

a) To improve efficiency, consistency and effectiveness of government responses;

(b) To reduce turnaround time and to meet the demands of the citizens charter;

(c) To provide for effective resource management to improve the quality of administration;

(d) To reduce processing delays; and

(e) To establish transparency and accountability

(f) Less paper office

(g) To provide cost effective e-storage facility

(h) Environment friendly, eco-friendly office

About eOffice
Introduction
This section presents an overview of eOffice. It describes its main modules and outlines its benefits.

Scope of eOffice
The functions or activities in any government office can broadly be categorized as follows:

1. Government to Government(G2G) transactions

2. Government to Citizen(G2C) transactions
3. Government to Business(G2B) transactions
4. Staff management activities
5. Internal financial, accounting, and administration aspects

Integral to all these activities is the process of decision-making in the files/meetings.

File movement
While decision-making is an important collaborative process involving multiple stakeholders, the file
movement process has been central to it for decades. It is this file movement process that eOffice
seeks to automate and streamline. Other modules like leave handling, tour and KMS are also
available.

Main features of eOffice

eFile:

eFile helps streamline the file movement process in the following ways:

 Scanning and diarization of inward letters: Incoming correspondence need no longer be tracked
through manual registers. eOffice facilitates scanning of receipts and their conversion into a
format suitable for further processing in eOffice

 Digital signatures: Once converted to electronic form, the system ensures that receipts are ‘sent’
and ‘delivered’ securely. Digital signatures are used to authenticate users.

 Route files to appropriate authorities: eOffice creates an electronic environment that replaces
the paper file system. It has features that allow selection of the next recipient in the workflow.

 Set due dates and reminders: The sender of a document can request the receiver to respond by
a certain date and also trigger reminders before and after the due date.

 Search and view files: Since files are maintained electronically in a central repository, eOffice
provides users the facility to search files based on recipient, subject, and other keywords.
 Identify pending files and receipts and their pendency

 Identify special files (e.g. VIP references, Parliament matters)

 Generate reports on file creation and movement

eLeave:

Employee applying for leave is a very routine activity in any organization. A leave system is required
that allows employees to apply for leave online at a convenient time and location. Approver who
approves leave also needs the same convenience. Further, reporting officer many times require
knowing as to how many of their staff is on leave at during certain period. Administration staff also
has many activities like addition of Earned leaves every six months, preparation of Leave notification
etc. All these activities are taken care by the Leave Management System. The employees also know
current leave balance at any given point of time.

Key Features
 Role based Access
 Leave management is per GOI
 Link Officer(for leave approval)
 Alerts at approval leave
 Online submission of Joining report
 Current Leave Balance
 Leave details of subordinates
 Admin Module

eTour:

Tour and Travel management requires a lot of paper work and approval. State of the art online Tour
Management System is required to improve efficiency and ongoing saving of money and time.

A solution which could keep HR & Admin departments focused on their core tasks by avoiding
redundant follow up of line managers and employees for documents, approvals, forms and
photocopies.

Key Features

On line mode for:

 Submission of tour
 Approval of tour
 Confirmation of tour

On line Tour claims:

 Settlement and Expense Claim

 Confirm Expense Claim
 Cancel Claim Request
 Approve Reject Claims
 Claim History
KMS:

Government is one of the largest entities that have to manage large volumes of documents (or,
mostly called as files), which either is of critical or routine nature. These documents can be Policies,
Forms, Acts and Regulations, Circulars, Guidelines and Standards and Manuals.

The immediate need in the Govt. scenario is to have a system where the authorized employee can
locate the document/File in the shortest possible time, update and share with other relevant users
and finally store it with proper versioning and tracking. Information in the Govt. set up can also be e-
mail messages and attachments and hence the KMS must ensure that the content whatever the type
it may be of must be treated in the same manner. Govt. documents have to go through several
updates and finally archived.

Key Features

• Online Access of documents

• Create and upload Documents

• Manage Documents

• Metadata compliant with standards

• Centralized Document Library with folder wise categorization

• Separate user area for users folders and documents

• Sharing of Documents and Folders with other users

• User Discussion on Documents

• Folder Subscriptions

• Personal Contact List for easy sharing

• Online Search

• Published Document Board for every user

• Different views for viewing the document

• Alerts on document change

• Versioning of Documents

• Working Copy Support

Collaboration and Messaging Services:

Under this Appointment, Instant Messaging, Discussion forum services and RSS feeds would be provided.
Deployment overview
Introduction
Implementation of eOffice in central government ministries/departments will be done in phases.
Each phase will include a set of government departments/ministries.

Main deployment activities

E-Office will be deployed in the department in three stages:

1. Planning (or eOffice Deployment Planning)

2. Execution (or eOffice Deployment Execution)
3. Adoption (or eOffice Adoption)

The project plan is given below, with the essential activities to be carried out by the implementing
department, are in bold.

S. No. Activity Responsible Start *End

1 Conduct awareness presentation DARPG/ NIC Jun 2011

2 Conduct brief day process study at DARPG Aug

department 2011
3 Provide deployment handbook DARPG/NIC Aug
2011

4 Set up department project team DARPG/User Aug – Sep

2011
department
5 Assess infrastructure requirements NIC/User Aug-Sep
2011
department
Planning

6 Allocate funds User department Sep

2011
1 Procure and install required hardware and User department Oct 2011
software
2 Scan historical records and prepare other User department Parallel
Activity
data
3 Set-up users NIC Oct 2011

4 Provide handholding support to address NIC Oct 2011

Execution

deployment issues
5 Product training NIC Oct 2011
6 Declare deployment complete DARPG Mar 2012
Adopt

1 Begin post-deployment support NIC

ion

2 Conduct detailed change management DARPG/User Continuous

 department
3 Gather product feedback and manage DARPG /NIC Continuous
change requests
* It will vary department to department.

Awareness presentation

DARPG/ NIC will make an initial presentation to the department highlighting the main facets of the
application and outlining the deployment plan.

Deployment handbook
DARPG will also provide a set of guidelines to the department for assistance during deployment,
which it can use or customize. This document is the deployment handbook.

Department project team

Every department will appoint a nodal officer along with other officers to form a project team that
will drive implementation in the department.

Preliminary study
DARPG will in some cases conduct a brief study of the department to understand its structure,
functions, processes, and any special features, with a view to assessing the readiness and any
potential roadblocks.

Allocate funds
Departments need to allocate funds primarily for covering any gap in their IT Infrastructure. DARPG,
as the nodal department for this MMP, will provide the software, training and hand-holding support
for initial period.

Assess infrastructure requirements

NIC will carry out an infrastructure gap assessment study to identify the infrastructure to be
procured.

Procure and install required hardware and software

Once the infrastructure required has been frozen, the process of ordering and delivery must be
initiated. See the section ‘Infrastructure Procurement’ for more details.

Digitize active records

Since most decision-making will now be processed through the system, the department will have to
convert its physical files to electronic format. Any new files will also have to be opened in electronic
format and receipts scanned and uploaded into the system. This process is called digitization.

It involves two basic steps:

1. Scanning of paper documents (e.g. letters, books)

2. Tagging them with certain meta data prescribed in the system (based on certain guidelines)
Scanning
Since scanning could involve handling a large volume of documents, the department can decide to
digitize them in one lot or stagger the scanning in phases. See Appendix: Digitization strategy.

Tagging and loading into the system

Scanned documents need to be loaded into the system. eOffice provides a user interface for this
purpose. The tagging methodology will be covered in the user training.

User setup
This is the process of identifying the users, loading all relevant master data for eOffice, setting up
security privileges, and carrying out any other basic configuration required to get the product
operational.

Provide handholding support to address deployment issues

A team deputed from NIC will handhold users during deployment to make the transition to an
electronic environment as seamless as possible.

Assess product feedback and manage change requests

Once the department starts using eOffice, users will have suggestions to improve the product. Their
feedback would be routed through DARPG to NIC. This feedback will be evaluated both on technical
feasibility as well as on process conformity and the decision communicated back to the user.

Manage user training

NIC will provide training to users on the product.

Declare deployment complete

Once a site begins using eOffice for all but a select few transactions it will be declared as an eOffice
site. The following conditions will need to be met for a department to be declared an eOffice site:

1. The department has passed an internal order that all new receipts (except some excluded by
special clearly defined criteria) must be processed in eOffice after a certain cut-off date.
2. All new receipts in a continuous period of one month, after the order, are converted to
electronic form and processed through eOffice.

Begin post-deployment support

The handholding team positioned by NIC will provide support to a department until it goes live.
During the deployment, NIC will set up a cell to provide online and call-based support to users.

Conduct detailed change management

Working in an electronic environment is a major change to users at all levels. The DARPG/
department shall initiate suitable awareness and counselling sessions as well as suitable
communication mechanisms in order to streamline the process of change and encourage users to
adopt the new system enthusiastically.
Funding
Introduction
This section prescribes guidelines for estimating the funds required for deploying eOffice.

Expenditure heads
The potential heads of expenditure for any Ministry/ Department are:

1. Hardware procurement
2. Network bandwidth augmentation and periodic network costs

Funding mechanism
Departments/ Ministries have to allocate 2- 3 % of their Plan budget for e-Governance *. Such funds
can be used for procuring the IT Gap Infrastructure, if any. Else Departments/ Ministries will have to
budget for the same at the RE (Revised Estimate) stage. Funding for application development and
enhancement, user training and hand-holding support will be provided by DARPG.

* Group of Ministers (GoM) decision on para 6.3.9 of the 11th report of the ARC refers that an
independent budget head of account should be created to utilize 2 to 3 % of plan funds for e-
Governance projects.

Approximate funds requirement

The funds estimate will flow from the infrastructure gap assessment report described in the section
‘Infrastructure procurement’. Use the following table for estimating the funds requirement once the
gap assessment has been carried out.

Item Indicative unit No. of units required Total cost (Rs.)

(1) cost (Rs.) (per infrastructure gap (2 x 3)
(2) assessment report)
(3)
Computers: No. of computers required x per unit
cost
Scanners: No. of scanners x per unit cost

Power Backup No. of UPS required x per unit cost

Uninterruptible
Power Supply
(UPS)
Digital No. of DSC required x per unit cost
Signature
Certificate
(DSC)
*Network (a)Initial Setup
Item Indicative unit No. of units required Total cost (Rs.)
(1) cost (Rs.) (per infrastructure gap (2 x 3)
(2) assessment report)
(3)
bandwidth Cost
(Lease Lines, (b)Recurring
Router) Monthly Cost
Scanning Number of pages to be (If outsourced)
scanned
Total
Infrastructure procurement
Introduction
This section prescribes the categories of infrastructure that are pre-requisites for effective eOffice
operation, and recommends guidelines for assessing the gaps.

Infrastructure categories
The following broad categories of infrastructure are required.

1. Computers (PCs)
2. Scanners
3. UPS
4. Digital Signature Certificate(DSC)
5. Internal network connectivity
6. External network connectivity

Computers (PCs)
Every e-Office user requires a separate PC. Shared PCs are not recommended. The minimum PC
specifications, which were used in the eOffice Pilot projects, are:

Hardware (Minimum Recommended)

Processor speed: 2.0 GHz

RAM: 1.0 GB

USB 2.0 controller (for Digital Signature Certificate)

Software (Minimum Recommended)

Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Linux

Internet Explorer (6.0 and above) or other browsers

Adobe Reader 9 (downloadable free of cost)

Any Antivirus

Note:

1. These specifications are optimal for the use of eOffice alone (or co-located with basic PC-based
office software). If the department is using or planning to use other special purpose applications
(e.g. project management systems) that could consume sizable computer resources, then the
specifications might need to be re-defined bearing the consolidated PC workload in mind.

2. NIC will provide the final specifications as part of the gap analysis they will do for each ministry/
department.
Scanners
Scanners will be required for digitising the following:

1. Currently active files (including their contents)

2. Files that could become active (including any relevant content)
3. Paper receipts from outside the department, books or other documents that need to form
part of the eOffice knowledge base

The number of scanners should be based on the following considerations:

1. Estimated documentation load (in pages per day)

2. Organizational units (Divisions or sections) that need to maintain confidentiality
3. Officers who have special confidentiality needs
4. Geographical spread of the department

The general recommendation is the following:

1. One heavy duty scanner in the CRU

2. One medium-duty scanner for every section provided that there is at least one per floor
3. One light-duty scanner per official including and above the rank of DS.
4. However one medium-duty scanner per floor

These are only guidelines, and departments can feel free to adjust the number of scanners or seek
the help of DARPG or NIC to help assess the number and configuration of scanners.

Internal network connectivity

All computers with eOffice should be connected together in a modern LAN configuration with the
standard configuration of cables, switches, and other networking equipment.

External network connectivity

The Department/Ministry will be connected to the eOffice servers located in NIC data centres over
the Web. This requires primary and a standby lease lines.

Gap assessment guidelines

Using similar guidelines as above, NIC will provide an infrastructure gap assessment report to each
Department/Ministry. The results can be consolidated for the purposes of funding as follows:

Item Current Requirement Basis for Gap (No. of Comments

availability (No. <No. of units> requirement units)
of units) <date>
PC
UPS
DSC
Heavy duty
scanner
Medium –duty
scanner
Light –duty
Item Current Requirement Basis for Gap (No. of Comments
availability (No. <No. of units> requirement units)
of units) <date>
scanner
Internal
network
equipment
(LAN cabling,
switches etc.)
External
network
connectivity
(Lease
line/Broadband
router/VSAT)

Procurement process
The procurement of any gap infrastructure by the Department may be done as per existing
government rules and procedures.
Project management
Introduction
This section describes the organizational setup for managing the deployment of eOffice and
prescribes the framework for monitoring it.

Project management team

The Departmental Nodal Officer should be appointed from among the senior-most officers of the
department, preferably JS and above, who will be responsible for policy decisions and for resolving
escalated issues. The department will also appoint a project management team headed by a Project
Manager (Director-level or above) to coordinate the deployment effort and serve as the single
window for interacting with DARPG and NIC.

DARPG has set up a Programme Management Unit (PMU) which has been entrusted with the task of
managing the implementation programme across all departments.

NIC
E-Office
DARPG (e-Gov cell
division)

PMU

P.M.
User
dept./ministry

Roles and responsibilities

User department
The departmental Project Manager will have the following responsibilities:

1. Get the project completed within agreed timelines

2. Maintain a project plan with timelines
3. Track activities according to the plan
4. Escalate delays or other issues in a timely fashion
5. Communicate product change requests or other feedback via the established mechanism
6. Coordinate with DARPG and NIC on all project management issues

DARPG
DARPG and its PMU will have the following responsibilities:

1. Manage the overall eOffice implementation programme

 2. Provide guidance to the department/ministry in managing the deployment
3. Monitor and track progress
4. Analyze user feedback
5. Screen change requests
6. Initiate any process changes that might emanate from the user feedback

NIC
NIC, being the technical partner/ system integrator, is responsible for:

1. Doing the infrastructure gap analysis and providing financial estimate to the department for
procurement

2. Implementation and rollout of the eOffice application

3. Provide implementation and post- implementation technical support

NIC will also provide manpower for each department that will hand-hold the department staff
during implementation. The handholding team will provide the following inputs:

1. Resolve bugs or defects speedily

2. Analyze user feedback and change requests
3. Implement change requests
4. Conduct product training
5. Guide the team in setting up and configuring users

Monitoring framework
Regular monitoring of the status is key to the success of the project.

Progress metrics
The following metrics should be regularly tracked and reported.

1. Existence of an updated project plan with timelines

2. Progress against the plan
3. Issues faced

Issue tracker
The nodal officer will maintain an issue tracker listing the issues arising during deployment. The
issue tracker should be updated regularly and shared with DARPG.

Reporting mechanism
The nodal officer will send a fortnightly report to DARPG on the status of implementation.

Project - time estimate

Departments/ministries have to complete the project in the timelines defined by the
department/ministry at the start of the project. Depending on various parameters like the size/
locations of the department, number of staff, computer knowledge of staff, etc. the project
deployment/ implementation period could range from 3 to 9 months.
Change management
Introduction
Working in an electronic environment is a major change to users at all levels. The user
department/ministry, with support from DARPG if required, shall initiate suitable awareness
sessions and develop suitable communication mechanisms in order to streamline the process of
change and encourage users to adopt the new system enthusiastically. Given below are a few steps
that the department could use as a guideline for carrying out the change management:

 Internal awareness program

 Stakeholder assessment
 Staff incentives
 Regular training
 Workload transition planning
 Risk assessment

Internal awareness/ communication

The earlier staff members at all levels are made aware of the impending changes and the quicker
they understand the implications of such change on working styles, the smoother will be the process
of change. Communication is key to facilitating awareness. The communication must not only be
transparent and unambiguous but should also make use of as many channels as possible. It could be
through written circulars, face-to-face sessions in small groups by section or divisional heads,
general Q&A sessions chaired by Secretary or Additional Secretary, notice board pin-ups, and email.

Role change assessment

The department must assess how the new environment will realign roles and make a list of affected
people. Every such person will need to have a modified job description. This will need to be
communicated to him or her. The format used in appendix could serve as a guideline for the
assessment.

Staff incentives
Departments need to be creative in designing a reward system for employees who are new to the
use of ICT to motivate them. Any positive behaviour that is in consonance with the requirements of
the new job must be re‐enforced. Any outstanding efforts, suggestions and innovations can be
rewarded/ recognized to boost morale of employees.

User training
Training will be extensively used as a tool for skill building and creating an interest around the
project. Training is a crucial component of the eOffice project, especially since processes have
 changed and new skills are required. Some of the mediums of training to be used are e‐learning,
videos, classroom training, on the job training, interactive fora and expert speak.

Workload transition planning

There are a few issues that the department must take care of as it transitions its workload to an
online system:

1. Which kinds of files should go electronic first? See the section “Digitization strategy”
2. Is it necessary to transition all documents in a file for the file to be considered electronic?
3. Should all divisions/ sections be transitioned at one go, or should it be done in phases?
4. How should inter-departmental communication be handled?
5. How should files moving to divisions or wings outside Delhi be handled?

A table in the following format could be maintained to track the transition of files to electronic
format:

File File Section Divn. Usage File File Scanning Date of Comments
no. name category requires requires priority conversion
Minister’s Interdepar
approval? tmental
(Y/N) approval?
(Y/N)

Risk assessment
The department should prepare a set of probable risks that could stall or even derail the
deployment process. Here is a tentative list of risk categories and some indicative approaches to
mitigating them:

1. Schedule overrun
2. Cost overrun
3. User resistance

Risk category Risk Mitigation

 Set up a formal project management
No clear milestones process and a project team
 Create and track a detailed project
Schedule overrun plan.
Procurement delays  Make sure that the plan is regularly
monitored by top management
Risk category Risk Mitigation
 Allow adequate time for
Digitization bottlenecks procurement.
 Seek assistance from DARPG (if
required) in setting up the project
Integration with other plan
applications (NIC)  Start digitization early or in phases
 Allow sufficient time for the
procurement process
Top management oversight  Escalate issues early

Cost overrun Infrastructure costs

Technical issues (NIC) 1. Set up an effective user
feedback mechanism
2. Establish a solid change
management process with
Change in working style
adequate training and
counseling
User objections
3. Top management must set an
example by using eOffice
Network bandwidth issues
4. Raise with NIC handholding
team. Escalate to DARPG if not
resolved.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What part of the work (which activities) will be taken care of by the application?
Answer: See the section “About eOffice”

Apart from the eOffice do we need any other software?

As the application is browser/ web-based, as such no other software is required to run the
application. But some Java updates and digital signature software needs to be installed on the client
machines which will be taken care by NIC during implementation.

Can eOffice integrate with other applications?

The mechanism for integrating will have to be evolved on a case-to-case basis. Generally, after
eOffice is deployed, NIC applications like FTS (File Tracking System) and OPA (Office Procedure
Automation) would not be required.

How much funds do we need and under which heads?

See the section “Funding”.

What about funding for the software, servers and training?

These are being taken care by DARPG and NIC.

What kind of issues do you envisage during deployment?

See “Risk Assessment” in “Change Management”.

Which departments have started using eOffice or have signed up for its
implementation?
The project has been successfully implemented in 3 Pilot sites –DARPG, eGovernance division of DIT
and Training division of DoPT. Additionally, eOffice is also running in the Cabinet Secretariat, LBSNAA
Mussorie and few other Departments.

Being a Mission Mode Project, all Central Government Ministries’ and Departments have to
implement eOffice. DARPG has prepared a phase-wise plan of getting the deployment completed in
all Departments.

What is the process for procuring the hardware?

See the section “Infrastructure Procurement”.

How will file tracking happen during the transition phase, i.e. when some files are
on eOffice and others are not?
Each file will follow its own independent workflow. To keep track, it would be advisable to follow
the existing procedure for files which are in physical format even after introduction of eOffice.

How will the system work for departmental offices that are not located in Delhi?
For the present, ministries/departments that are located in Delhi are being covered.
How will exchange of files happen with department that are not on eOffice?
Departments that are not yet live on eOffice will require printed or scanned copies of electronic files.
If a file is to be sent to such an office, the originating department must take a printout of the file and
its contents, and either send the printouts or email their scanned copies to the destination
departments by using official e-Mail ID. Responses received from such offices will have to be
scanned and uploaded back into eOffice for further processing.

Can the scanning be outsourced?

The department can take a call to get the scanning done in-house or through an outsourced agency
based on considerations like data confidentiality, secrecy, cost, accuracy and staff workload. In an
outsourced scenario, on-going hand-on supervision is required.

How about support for Hindi language?

Currently, the software supports phonetic typing (typing in English but it gets displayed and stored in
Hindi).

How will security of our data be taken care of?

eOffice is hosted on servers which are kept at secure NIC Data Centers. Also, the connectivity from
the Department to the server will be through NICNET, which is a secure network for government
only, maintained by NIC. IT security certification of the application code is also planned. Moreover,
NIC will take regular backups of the departmental data hosted on their eOffice servers.
Appendix: Digitization guidelines
Introduction
This document entails the procedure to be followed by the assistant/ officer responsible for
scanning and metadata entry. This document has been prepared after discussion with
officers from DARPG, DoPT and DIT. A brief on the files to be scanned and the process to be
followed for scanning of different files has been suggested.

The document will also address the following logical issues that are involved in the scanning
exercise:

a. How to select files to be scanned?

b. How to select pages in the file for scanning?

Resources required
The department can take a call to get the scanning done inhouse or through an outsourced agency
based on considerations like data confidentiality, cost, accuracy and staff workload. In an outsourced
scenario, ongoing hand-ons supervision is required. Scanner specifications are provided in the
Section on Procurement above.

Digitization approach
The following process is recommended:

1. Make a list of all files in the department categorized by originating section and division
2. Categorize the files by level of activity as suggested below:

Expected file usage frequency Usage

category
Files referenced on a weekly basis A5
Files referenced on a monthly basis A4
Files referenced on a quarterly basis A3
Files referenced on a semi-annual basis A2
Files referenced once a year or less A1
Files closed A0
Files to be sent to National Archives NA

3. Further classify the files according to whether they would need Ministerial approval or not.

S. File File Section Division Usage Ministerial Inter- Scanning

No. number name category approval departmental priority
approval (1, 2)
 4. Prioritize the scanning according to the following:
a. Priority 1: Files in categories A5 to A3 that do not need Ministerial or inter-
department approval
b. Priority 2: Files in categories A2 to A1 that do not need Ministerial or inter-
departmental approval

How to select files to be scanned?

This section outlines the guidelines to be followed by the assistant who will be responsible
for scanning the files that are in processing and for files that are closed.

a. Current files – Current files are those which are currently in circulation/ in use. They deal
with cases that are open and decisions on the issues being considered in them are yet to
be finalized.. An active file may contain many documents or a few documents depending
on its use.

All current files which are likely to remain active will be scanned and converted to efile.

b. Closed/Recorded files – Files are marked as closed/recorded once all actions are
complete on the file and the Section Officer gives his approval for closing the file. Closed
files have no outstanding fair communications to be issued and no further action due.

Closed/Recorded files may be scanned more selectively with only relevant

correspondences and notes being captured. As these files require no further action,
versioning and change tracking is not a significant requirement and hence linking/
referencing can be minimized to the documents which directly feed into the actions
taken.

Closed files/Recorded files will be scanned as and when they are referenced.

How to select pages in the file for scanning?

All pages in the file will be scanned except the following:

a. Extra Copies of G.O.s/ D.O. letters issued in the file

b. Copies of other, older G.O.s referred to in the file. Digitization of knowledge (GOs, acts
etc.) is a separate activity. The knowledge bank will be populated after digitization, that
digitization of acts, rules, etc is not related to the file scanning activity.

c. Copies of vouchers, tickets etc which have been billed already

d. O.C.s, rough drafts etc of letters/G.O.s/ Project Reports – fair copies of which have been
scanned earlier

e. Any correspondence/ noting/ issue etc. for which soft copy is already available

Digitization process
The precise steps to be taken while scanning a document are part of the eOffice User Manual which
will be circulated by NIC.