The National Information Technology Board (NITB) Has So Far Provided E-Office Portals To Just 12 Divisions And Ministries Of…
the 4o that it had previously promised, sources told Pakistan Today.
The NITB briefed the Cabinet Committee on Institutional reform (CCIR) on the implementation of the e-offices in the ministries and divisions.
There is no standardisation to the rollout process of these portals so far. Out of 40 ministries and divisions, 28 are at stage 2, which means that requisite hardware has not been provided. On the other hand, 12 are at level 4, wherein e-offices are fully functional.
The NITB officials further said that under the proposed transformation process, every file that leaves a division will be updated on its respective e-office by the particular ministry’s secretary.
Furthermore, the NITB said that it would send regular monitoring reports to the CCIR. It was proposed by NITB that the CCIR may recommend to the cabinet to direct that all inter-departmental correspondence, including summaries and letters, be strictly through e-office.
During the discussion, the secretary of the Establishment Division said that secrecy of sensitive official communication should not be compromised, therefore, this proposal should be given due consideration while fully adopting e-office technologies. The forum also highlighted that automation of e-office portals may also require appropriate amendments in rules of business. NITB said that the security features of the new version of e-office are being improved.
The CCIR noted the progress made by the NITB regarding the “use of E-Office for all Inter-Departmental Communication” and directed that, after a review, a new version of e-office software should be prepared.
It is pertinent to mention here that the federal cabinet recently approved the Ministry of IT’s summary with regard to issuing an executive order for running the affairs of NITB. In addition to this, the cabinet also approved the grant of an additional budget of Rs689 million for 19 new positions and other expenses of the department.
This news was originally published at pakistantoday.com.pk