SAP India, a subsidiary of SAP AG as part of its CSR activities, announced an initiative to improve citizen services and village administration in the Shillong region by deploying a Cloud based e-governance solution. This is an extension of a similar model that SAP pioneered with the SODA village in Rajasthan. In order to ensure transformation at the grassroots, SAP has collaborated with the Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management-Shillong (RGIIM-S) for this project.
“Contributing to the development of rural India is a major focus of SAP’s CSR initiatives” said, Peter Gartenberg, Managing Director, SAP India. “By collaborating with RGIIM-S, We are striving to make village administration more effective, transparent and accountable in delivering citizen services. We intend to effectively use our expertise in the North East region and create a scalable model to go to the 600,000 similar villages across India”
As a part of the project, SAP will automate several operational areas including, tracking & control of funds; budget and expense management, accounting; management of local assets; project & scheme implementation and citizen services. SAP will also facilitate trained resources to operate the solution, and provide its expertise during the course of the project. RGIIM-S will provide SAP with the necessary advisory support to gain understanding of the local environment, help identify project sites and liaison with local administration bodies where required.
Configured on SAP Business ByDesign, a fully integrated business management solution delivered on demand, this project will result in improved transparency, control and governance. It will be initiated at the semi-urban localities of Mawlai Nonglum and Mawdatbaki, and will subsequently be rolled out to a village Dorbar jointly identified by SAP and RGIIM-S.
“SAP’s project for the Mawlai area will provide the local headman and citizens reliable access to records and services, better insight into budgeting and spending, and support quicker decision making, without a complex and cumbersome IT infrastructure”, said, Prof Keya Sengupta, Director, RGIIM-S. “We are pleased to collaborate with SAP on this initiative, and will support this by way of advising SAP on the local aspects through RGIIM-S Centre for Development for the North East Region (CEDNER),” she added.
“Initiatives like these echoes SAP’s global interest in helping Governments run better,” said Adaire Fox-Martin, Senior Vice President Industry Business Solutions, SAP Asia Pacific Japan “SAP’s strategy for an inclusive, effective and transparent government includes good governance, user empowerment, community engagement and improving services for rural and urban resilience. We intend to replicate this unique paradigm in many more villages and hence improve lives.”
RGIIM-S is an autonomous management school set up by the Government of India, with a vision of expansion and mobilization of facilities for offering good quality management education, research and dissemination of information in the North Eastern region of India. Till date the Institute has by means of its expertise and innovative approaches stood committed to the idea of being socially relevant in the area of its operations.