8/7/2019 050331 Note on IDPS to CAO

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March, 2005

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

Integrated Data Processing System1

As on date (March, 2005), many of the administrative/academic departments/sections/centers

have got their customized data processing applications up and running. All these application

have evolved over past few decades. Some of them have evolved from legacy systems. Many of

them were developed to take care of ad-hoc user requirements as and when need arose. Loosepatches that do not talk to each other, do not integrate well. Almost all of them run on PCs in

DOS/Windows environments.

It is high time that development of an institute-wide Integrated Data Processing System

(henceforth referred to as IDPS) is initiated, taking in coherent view of total (as far as possible)

data processing requirements of the institute, 10 years from now. Some of the desirable

characteristics and advantages that may accrue on development of IDPS are listed below.

1. It would be a single entity accessible from all student/faculty/staff PCs and coveringwhole gamut of academic and administrative activities performed by IIMA community.

2. Each user of IDPS would be permitted by the system to access/update databasedepending on his/her profile.

3. Some of the modules may update institute website (e.g. admissions, PGP, FPM, MDP,personal weblinks)

4. There would be a common data repository of for each activity/student/faculty/staff5. If digital transfer of funds could be permitted from project and employee personal

accounts, lot many paper transactions could be avoided while settling accounts for

telephone/fax, car/train/air booking, mess/canteen, library fine/xerox, stores item

requisition, etc. Each community member may view/update fund transfers to/from

his/her personal/project account.

6. Administrative notes and their responses would be paperless-ly delivered over computernetwork, and will directly update database depending on user profile. E.g. For each

statements (telephone, carbooking, stores, etc) of material/service charges, user will

indicate bifurcation of these into different amounts to be debited/credited to different

personal/project accounts.

7. Easier processing of year-end financial reports, due to seamless integration of allactivities.

8. Since data will enter the system at its source, it would be more accurate and reliable.9. Since data would flow from its source to all related modules, duplicate (sometimes

erroneous) data entry would be avoided.

10.Batter management control on all administrative matters. E.g. Director/Dean/CAO wouldbe able to view financial status of various projects, library and case unit activities, estate

and personnel department activities, inventory status of various items, pending orders,

etc, from within their chambers.

11.Undertaking such a project would prompt community members to look for newdirections and find batter, innovative ways to accomplish their tasks. This will also force

people to re-evaluate various administrative procedures thereby removing person

(service provider) dependent rendering of services.

1Prepared by Ketan Bhatt, Computer Center, on demand from Mr. SRV Anand, CAO.It is intended to give very brief overview of desirable features, benefits and

resource requirements for developing IDPS. NO systematic study was undertaken while

writing this document. ALL figures, numbers, etc are guesstimates of author.

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March, 2005

12.If handled properly, the exercise may lead to bridge deep divisions within some sectionsof community to unite them as cohesive team. E.g. Community sections/individuals

feeling left-out may get their chance to become stack holders by contributing suggestions

for changes in the way various activities need to be performed. At the same time,

careless handling may further increase divisions.

13.Last but not the least, pride factor will also lift moral and enthuse community when bestmanagement school is also perceived to be best managed within.

IDPS may integrate following academic and administrative activities.

Academic Activities : Admissions, Registration, PGP, PGP ABM, FPM, FDP, MDP, SAC,

Placement, Alumni, Audio visual, CMA

Administrative Activities : Reception, Public relations, House keeping, Library, Accounts,

Central Stores, Maint Stores, Personnel, Computer Center, Staff/Student Mess, MDC, Transport,

Telecommunication, Security, Dispensary, Community welfare, Staff recreation club, Co-

operative credit society, dispatch, Publications

All above activities will have multiple cross links/dependencies with many other activities. For

example say admissions activity must integrate smoothly with Student Registration, Accounting,Stores, and many more.

Resources Required :

This could very easily be a few hundred man years of effort, spread over 2-3 years. During

design/development phase, community members will need to spare lots of time to guide efforts

of system/software professionals. Demands on time from middle and senior management would

be enormous during design and development phase, which may at times go up to more that half

of monthly work hours. Institute may also need to have an in-house dedicated team of software

professionals to maintain the system through its life cycle.

BIG team of systems/software professionals may need to be hired for design and development

phase, along with state of the art workstations and tools.

As for hardware resources, not much expenses are projected. Already, faculty and students PCs

get upgraded periodically. Most administrative departments already have mid range PCs, which

may suffice with little more addition in number of PCs. We already have good networking

infrastructure. New application server HW may be required.

What next : Detailed feasibility study for such a system needs to be undertaken by top

management (Dean and/or CAO), taking in to consideration resources that institute is willing tocommit and cost-benefit analysis of lot many sub modules that get integrated to make IDPS.