POWERGRID as a public utility, is committed to the principle of good governance and has adopted a multidimensional approach in accomplishment of the mandate of e-Governance. The vision of e-Governance in POWERGRID is ‘Transformation of POWERGRID into KNOWLEDGEGRID’. The mantra for e-Governance is “IT is Of the user, For the user, By the user”.
The objective of e-Governance initiatitive in POWERGRID is empowering all users of its IT enabled services and facilities covering all its functional areas for the benefit of all stakeholders such as the organisation, employees, government, State Electricity Boards and peer organisations, business partners/vendor communities and the citizens and society at large.
MILESTONES OF e-GOVERNANCE
The continuously growing and increasingly demanding business environment as well as transparency in business function calls for e-Governance in all business processes. POWERGRID has taken a holistic approach towards e-Governance initiatives.
ENTERPRISE WIDE AREA NETWORK
A futuristic Enterprise Wide Area Network (EWAN) was envisaged in 2002 to establish state-of-the-art infrastructure as a platform for e-Governance initiatives. EWAN consists of 24×7 data centres with high uptime and high speed connectivity (2/10 Mbps) among the various critical locations of the organisation. EWAN is capable of carrying data, voice and video traffic across the connected locations.
Two dedicated Internet leased links (8 Mbps and 3 Mbps) have been provided at corporate centre, Gurgaon as a single gateway to Internet for all connected locations. e-Governance initiative is overlain on the top of converged EWAN infrastructure. The e-Governance initiatives comprise of IT enabled services for internal and external stakeholders bundled under the key elements viz. DATANET, VIDEONET, VOICENET.
DATANET
DATANET comprises of data services which are provided through converged network. The following services are provided through DATANET:
Integrated Grid Management System: Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System/Energy Management has been deployed with state-of-the art technology for management of grid operation of extra high voltage intra and inter regional network of power system.
“The e-Governance initiatives of Powergrid comprises of IT enabled services for internal and external stakeholders”
Centralised Finance and Accounting System (FAS): FAS is an in-house system which captures all financial transaction across the organisation and provides online status of the same.
The POWERGRID website, www. powergridindia.com, has multifaceted features to act both as information portal as well as single platform for web service delivery. The web Servises are Inspection Management System(IMS), Online Recruitment System, Online Complaint Management System, Online Tender System, Online Bill Tracking System and Sub-Vendor Status System.
VIDEONET
VIDEONET provides video conferencing facility to the top/middle management level personnel at Corporate Centre and Regional Head Quarters. At corporate centre, Gurgaon a high end MCU based video conferencing unit has been installed which is capable of carrying out video conferencing with three locations simultaneously at 512 Kbps.
The VIDEONET system is being used on a regular basis for project monitoring, budget monitoring and e-Training. The use of video conferencing system has resulted in huge cost saving and time saving by avoiding journey of the top/ middle personnel.
VOICENET
Implementation of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system known as VOICENET is one of the biggest implementations of VOIP system so far in INDIA. The coverage of this System is in the corporate centre and the thirteen regional offices of POWERGRID. The VOICENET includes around 1,300 telephone sets distributed across the connected locations. The VoIP system has helped in improving the cost effective communication among the employees.
CONCLUSION
Considering POWERGRID pioneering initiative in e-Governance Ministry of Power has entrusted POWERGRID with the project of establishment of National Power Monitoring Centre (NPMC). The centre has been established with a control room in the Ministry of Power as an apex monitoring setup for a country wide power scenario of central and state power projects as well as online grid operational status. The futuristic planning and effective execution of e-Governance projects has resulted into huge tangible and intangible benefit to the company and society. However, POWERGRID foresees this not as a destination but as a journey, an endless journey of improvement.
Samir Chaudhury, DGM(IT)
Sunil Kumar, Manager(IT)
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