Special

DC*Suite of Applications
for E-collectorate

DC*Suite envisages an integrated suite of applications for collectorates in Kerala to deliver government-to-government, government-to-employee and government-to-citizen services. The programme is aimed at making government services more accessible. DC*Suite is based on an integrated solution architecture covering all functional areas and activities in the collectorate. Twenty-one functional areas have been identified including workflow-based file management system, public grievances monitoring system, and revenue recovery management, etc. In addition, there are add-on optional modules for knowledge management and district portals. Priority is given to areas where common people interact with the collectorate. The priority is access to public, transparent administration and service delivery. DC*Suite is a joint venture of the state IT, and revenue departments, the National Informatics Centre and NICSI. 

PROCESS->

The software is developed using web and portals technologies with a proven RDBMS. Open software technologies have been utilised wherever appropriate. E-services layer is the front-end layer of DC*Suite, which interacts with citizens. The services are offered over touch-screen kiosks, interactive voice response system, internet and front-end counters. The middle layer is the intranet services layer, which offers lot of collaboration services and tools. Email, messaging, chat, video conferencing and bulletin boards are some of the services being offered. The back office layer is the key functional area comprising of all 21 functional modules with which the government staff work and undertake operations. Agencies such as SWAN, FRIENDS, Akshaya Centres and Kudumbasree units will become the service delivery points undre the project.

Every employee of the collectorate is provided with a PC/Thin client to access the intranet. Each section is provided with a printer and scanner as a part of the network. Thin clients are provided with OS images to suit Unicode Malayalam (the local language) support and mapped to the rack server through Samba.

IMPACT->

DC*Suite was initially successfully implemented in the District Collectorate in Palakkad with 150 client computers. The project is now in the roll-out stage. As of now, six of the 14 districts of Kerala have been covered under DC*Suite.

SCALABILITY->

The concept of DC*Suite has been taken up by many states. The DC*Suite application has been demonstrated to IT officials in Orissa, Rajastahan and Uttarakhand for replication.