Category: e-Government

The Digital Budgeting and Accounting System (dBrain) is Korea’s integrated financial management information system that governs the entire life cycle of the public sector’s financial system. dBrain performs all financial processes of the government online and integrates the financial systems of various government agencies and public entities to produce meaningful, integrated information.

Background and Problem

In 1997, a financial crisis hit South Korea, prompting its government to pull the reign on its finances and cut public spending to mitigate economic downturn and the subsequent corporate restructurings, and to address the overall fiscal burden which had been ballooning at the time due to a combination of lower tax revenue and increased welfare spendings. Such action subsequently led to the adoption of a series of fiscal management reforms, which significantly altered Korea’s fiscal management framework and gave birth to substantive innovations such as the creation of a national fiscal management plan, adoption of top-down budgeting, implementation of the performance management system, and adoption of accrual-based and double-entry accounting. The enactment of the National Accounting Act in 2007 fast-tracked efforts for implementation of the accrual-based national accounting system and its complementary IT system—the Korean Financial Management Information System (KFMIS) or the Digital Budget and Accounting System (dBrain).

Solution and Impact

The dBrain has several features that enable it to fully function as an integrated financial management information system. First, the system anchors on a performance-based strategic financial management framework that institutes all the financial reforms made previously (e.g. top-down budgeting and accrual-basis and double-entry bookkeeping). Secondly, it adopts easy monitoring of programs and projects through a project management system that displays real-time data and information on business processes. Third, it makes room for complete automation of business processes relating to revenue and expenditure through Electronic-Bill Presentment & Payment (EBPP) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), which aid revenue collection officials in the real-time monitoring of government receipts and promote punctuality and convenience of public service. Fourth, dBrain expands the scope of financial statistical information by integrating previous budget and accounting systems and adopting an interface system that enables it to view financial information of external systems. Finally, dBrain complies with the standards set by the IMF Government Financial Statistics Manual (GFSM) by adopting financial statistics production standards. With the integration of all financial systems, automation of all financial processes, and consolidation of the entire process of public finance, dBrain ensures efficient, convenient, and systematic management of all fiscal-related activities and processes of the public sector.

The automation of financial processes, in particular, has been advantageous for bringing more efficiency in the collection of public revenues and the monitoring of public expenditures. Likewise, the improvement of quality and accessibility of fiscal data and information is a welcome development that facilitates informed decision-making of government officials and policymakers when they develop, monitor, and improve public policies, programs, and projects. In the same way, the availability of detailed fiscal information to the public establishes leverage that promotes transparency in public finance and develops the accountability of government agencies and public officials in the management of public monies.

Milestones

The dBrain system started operating in full swing in 2007, the same year that the National Accounting Act was enacted. At the time, dBrain had already integrated together Korea’s budget information system called Fiscal Information Management System (FIMSys) and the treasury information system called National Finance Information System (NaFIS)—both of which were previously run by separate ministries.

Several developments also took place between 2011 and 2015: the first development came in 2011 when dBrain introduced performance management system (sub-module system); the second followed in 2012 when the integrated infrastructure monitoring system was adopted; and the the third came in 2015 when the system launched the open fiscal data. In 2016, the Korean government created the Korea Public Finance Information Service (KPFIS) under the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. KPFIS is a specialized institution that will be in charge of managing and operating the dBrain system. Systems development of dBrain have been continuing since then. Currently, the dBrain system is working under 21 subsystems.

The Computerized Mining Cadastre System (CMCS) of Mongolia is a web-based, GIS-enabled system for obtaining, managing, monitoring, and storing real-time information on mineral licensing activities in the country with the purpose of enhancing transparency and improving administrative procedures and services to clients in the mining sector.

Background and Problem

The commitment of the Mongolian government in promoting transparency and good governance can be traced as early as its ratification of the United Nations Convention against Corruption in 2005. Since then, the government exerted significant efforts to pass policies related to good governance, moving as far as committing to international treaties such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in 2006 and the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in 2013. The Mongolian government recognizes that transparency in operations related to the use of natural resources is not entirely exercised, therefore limiting the capacity and opportunities of the public to monitor and make such operations accountable. It also did not help that management of mining licenses only used “a handwritten-ledger license register” that functions on a first-come-first-served basis and was highly vulnerable to human discretion.

Solution and Impact

Recommendations from successive reports of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) prompted a series of resource management reforms supported by the World Bank. Among these reforms was the Computerized Mining Cadastre System (CMCS) project lodged under the Governance Assistance Program (GAP), which allows the supervision, development, equipping, and implementation of a fully-computerized mining registry and cadastre system. The CMCS establishes a more transparent platform to grant, manage, and cancel permits. It delivers reliable mining information on the location of mining and exploration rights, protected areas and special-needs areas in the country, and restricts the authority of officials in distributing rights.

It retains the first-come-first-served policy embodied in the Minerals Law of 1997 and regulates the social, safety, and environmental obligations of license holders. In effect, the system is able to improve the transparency and regulatory capacity of the MRA, not to mention develop the quality and efficiency of processing licenses and prevent overlapping of these licenses with each other and those areas excluded for mining titling. To complement these advances, the Cadastre Division of the Mineral Resources Authority of Mongolia (MRAM), which manages the operation of the cadastre system, benefits from institutional strengthening interventions like training activities and legal advices on the enrichment of the overall framework that is guided by the new Minerals Law.

Milestones

The enactment of the Law on Common Minerals in 2014 led to the upgrade of the CMCS through the incorporation of a web-based and GIS-enabled information system that allowed provincial administrations (Aimag) to also manage mining applications and licenses. The upgraded CMCS permits real-time communication between MRAM and provincial administrations, thereby accelerating coordination between national and local government administrations for mining resource management and regulation. Furthermore, it gave birth to a web portal that disseminates real-time cadastre information available for public use and adopts a more client-friendly approach in service by allowing users to track the status of applications, identify areas free for applications, check overlaps, and retrieve information about tenders.

The Community Health Information Tracking System (CHITS) is a low-cost, open-source electronic medical record (EMR) system designed and developed for government health facilities. This system facilitates the responsiveness of public health decision-making and the improvement of effectiveness and efficiency of the delivery of healthcare services by local government units (LGUs).

Background and Problem

Since the 1990s, public health institutions have recognized the critical role of health information systems (HIS) in delivering prompt and effective health services, developing sound health policies and programs, and making informed decisions for setting public health agenda. Unfortunately, existing HIS at the time were mostly manual (paper-based) systems that required data aggregation at several levels of the health system, which made health data prone to delay, manipulation, and human error. Further aggravating these concerns in HIS was the fragmentation of the healthcare delivery system in the Philippines due to the devolution of healthcare from a monolithic health system into several independent health systems.

Solution and Impact

The Community Health Information Tracking System (CHITS), as the first homegrown EMR system in the Philippines, employs an open-source, user-friendly, modular, and extensible system that enables automation of core processes in health centers and thereby contributes to the effective and efficient delivery of services. As a digital health application, CHITS helps health centers and rural health units (RHUs) in improving the delivery of health services by facilitating efficient data entry and storage through secure access of records by healthcare workers, expediting patient record retrieval, and minimizing waiting time of patients in clinics and RHUs. It helps health program managers and local chief executives with resource allocation strategies and organizational development by helping project patient load and understanding the usage of resources. Likewise, it provides a more efficient system for appointment and follow-up scheduling and, on a broader scale, a more responsive means of monitoring the health of the community through the data it accrues daily. Additionally, because CHITS facilitates timely entry of data at the local level, it has become easier for municipal and city health offices (M/CHOs) to generate the necessary health reports they will integrate into the Field Health Service Information System (FHSIS), the official reporting and recording system of the Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines. The availability of updated, on-the-ground information from RHUs allows them to employ inter-health center integration within their jurisdiction in order to better track patients. This integration of community health data allows them to project logistical needs, which in turn enables them to efficiently and more effectively allocate supplies and human resources at the local level. Moreover, CHITS enhances their capability to regularly review the health of communities and detect possible outbreaks.

Nationally, CHITS is electronically connected to the Department of Health (DOH) and Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) offices. This makes it easier for the DOH and related health institutions to receive and integrate reliable and up-to-date data from the local health facilities, which then helps improve the quality and timeliness of FHSIS reports and makes for better integration of data into various health programs. Through CHITS, the data from the communities is provided to DOH in a timely fashion and allows DOH to better monitor the implementation status of health programs and administrative performances of local offices. Aggregation of available health data according to required formats becomes uncomplicated. As for PHIC-related needs, CHITS was one of the earliest EMRs certified by PHIC and has been submitting claims to PHIC electronically as per directive since 2016.

Milestones

CHITS started as a research project on computer-based information systems at the University of the Philippines Manila (UP Manila) in 2004. At the time, it was only being implemented in two health centers in Pasay City. By the end of 2010, there were already 50 health centers across the country— from Batanes (Northern Philippines) all the way to the Zamboanga Peninsula (Southern Philippines)— that have begun using CHITS for their government health facilities. In 2011, CHITS expanded its features to include Real-Time Monitoring of Maternal, Child Health, and Governance Indicators (rCHITS), a tool that attempts to improve health information system management in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDA). In 2012, CHITS revised its base system by adopting the more internationally known Open Medical Records System (OpenMRS). It also started using a mobile reporting tool and an LGU dashboard to improve the collection, storage, and analysis of health data from communities. At the time, there were already 208 local health facilities using CHITS. In 2014, through the support of a non-government organization extending funding for Philippine government eHealth projects, rCHITS was able to integrate a mobile midwife platform that can capture aggregate patient data at the barangay level and send patient alerts through Synchronized Patient Alert via SMS. The RxBox, a telemedicine device used for diagnosing common medical problems and is one of the products by the UPM-NTHC, also uses CHITS in a store-and-forward capacity.

In 2015, other innovations such as the Mag-ina Telereferral System (MInTS) were conceptualized and incorporated. The MInTS facilitates access to healthcare facilities that provide life-saving services for pregnancy and delivery by tracking referral requests when parturient mothers need to be transferred from a BEMONC facility (lying-in clinic) to a CEMONC facility (tertiary hospital) for more specialized care. In 2016, the UPM-NTHC continued to expand the geographical coverage of CHITS through city-wide partnerships with Quezon City, Pasay City, and Navotas City. By then, it had expanded to 251 sites across the country. In the same year, the CHITS software program was enhanced and upgraded into a CHITS version 3 to cater to new health sector protocols and reportorial requirements of the DOH. Several new DOH modules such as the Mental Health, HIV/AIDS, Adolescents, and Senior Citizens programs were added to the core modules as a result. It was also in 2016 when CHITS became one of the first EMRs to receive the PHIC certification for electronic Primary Care Benefits (PCB) claims submission. In 2018, this feature was expanded to include the electronic claims (eClaims) submission protocol for other cases for PHIC reimbursement at the primary care level. To date, there are 171 active CHITS-using health facilities in the country. As the UPM-NTHC continues to design, develop, test, and implement innovations in health information systems for improving the delivery of healthcare services, CHITS has continued to adopt newer standards and innovations. At present, CHITS has become a framework for other novelties such as incorporating a newborn hearing screening module for the Healing for Life project in 2017 and as part of a multi-component health information exchange ecosystem for X-linked Dystonia Parkinsonism patients in 2018.

The Balik-Manggagawa Online Processing System is an online facility that allows vacationing Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) to apply and secure Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) or exit clearance at their own time and convenience, without needing to queue in at Philippine Overseas Employment Administration or Philippine Overseas Labor and Office (POLO) centers.

Background and Problem

The Overseas Employment Certificate or OEC is a document that declares the regularity of recruitment and documentation of an Overseas Filipino Worker. The OFW usually presents this certificate to the immigration officer at the airport when he or she exits the Philippines. Before, vacationing OFWs consider it a nuisance to secure OEC at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) because OEC application and processing demands lining up for hours or an entire day. This situation turns to worse during peak seasons, when OFWs return to the country to spend Christmas holidays or to attend graduation ceremonies of loved ones, as they are forced to endure incredibly long lines at POEA. According to the Department of Labor and Employment, around 7,000 OFWs flock to POEA and POLO centers every day during peak seasons applying for OEC.

Solution and Impact

To decongest the POEA office from the influx of client OFWs and to better the quality and efficiency of its frontline services, the Department of Labor and Employment  and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration  collaborated to launch the Balik-Manggagawa (BM) Online System that will focus on expediting the application and processing of OECs by allowing its users to make relevant OEC transactions such as applying for and paying for the OEC fee, setting an OEC appointment, and requesting for OEC exemption via the BM website. The BM Online System is part of the e-Services offered by the POEA. It is open to OFWs on vacation, rehired, or returning to the same employer abroad with existing records in the POEA database. The cost of securing the certificate is PhP119.50. Those without POEA record, under POEA watchlist, have undocumented status, have a change in employer or job site, or who are returning to a restricted country are not qualified for straight online processing and will be redirected to the Appointment Page to choose a schedule and venue for regular processing.

This new system for securing OEC allows returning OFWs to maximize the time and fruits of their vacation in the Philippines without the hassle of having to line up or appear before a POEA or POLO officer to apply for their OEC. They will also experience less strain during their pre-departure at the airport since they will no longer have to go to the Labor Assistance Counter (LAC) to register their personal information. This means that they will no longer need to wait until they are cleared for departure or submit travel documents. Better still, they will be less likely to miss their flight because of overseas employment verification issues.

Milestones

The system had a soft launch in August 2014. By the end of that year, the system had already issued 78,000 OECs to OFWs and accommodated 11,000 more for straight online processing. In 2015, the number of people issued with OECs peaked at 153,152. In the same year, POEA announced that the processing of all OECs would be strictly based on an online appointment. The BM Online Processing System also started operating in 13 POEA regional offices and 4 POLO centers. Top implementers of the system were POEA-Ortigas, POEA Region 7, POEA field offices in Trinoma Mall, Duty Free, and SM Manila, POEA Region 1, POEA Region 3, POEA Region 4-A, POEA-Cordillera Administrative Region, and POEA Region 11. In 2015, the BM online system was adopted by POLO in Singapore, Dubai, Israel, and Macau.

Through POEA’s BM online team, site administrators and evaluators in overseas posts were able to undergo training on the BM online system to expedite the full implementation of the system at the POLO level. In 2016, DOLE declared qualifications for exempting OFWs from OEC requirement through the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration Governing Board Resolution Number 12 (POEA GB Resolution No, 12, Series of 2016). Under the resolution, OFWs returning to the same employer and job site with existing records at the POEA database as well as those hired through the Government Placement Branch can be exempted from being required to submit OEC, provided that the returning OFW will register first through the BM online facility before departure. OFWs not exempted from the requirement would still be directed to the BM online webpage to register again and set an appointment at their preferred processing center.

Summary

The Library Utilization Monitoring System is a Capstone Project of BSIT students who graduated in the year 2014 and it was implemented in the campus library of ISU San Mateo so that the manual writing of daily attendance in the logbooks upon entering and leaving the library will no longer be used by its clienteles. With this, tallying of attendance of library users will be easily done by inputting only the range dates, attendance of users by course and year will be done easily for the monthly, quarterly, semi-annually and annually report of the librarian.

Background and Problem

Library Utilization in ISU San Mateo is not automated. Students must sign in the logbook. With this, Librarian encountered problems on the manual operations such as: librarian needs to logbook every book that borrowed in the library; it is a burden for the librarian to count the number of books borrowed every month just to do monthly report; additional work for the librarian to monitor the students utilizing the library resources; and it consumes too much time in searching of books if it is loaned out or in the shelves of the library. Handling many students and faculty in the library is a problem, especially to monitor the attendance every time they utilize the library. However, the faculty and students have encountered challenges in the automation of library utilization such as lack of budgets, inadequate ICT facilities, low skills levels of clienteles, lack of commitment by institutional management, and reluctance among clienteles to use ICT.

Solution and Impact

The BSIT 4th year students developed a Library Utilization Monitoring System to automate the time-in and time-out of the students in the library. However, to complete the automation in the Library, the IT faculty of the campus gathered information about the problems encountered in the manual operation of borrowing books and utilizing the library. The IT faculty came up with an idea to develop an Automated Library Utilization Services to fully automate all the transactions in the library of San Mateo campus. He developed the Automated System using Visual Basic 6.0 and MS Access 2003. After the development of the System, he pilot-tested the system for 6 months/1 semester if there are still problems to be developed. After a semester, it was fully implemented in the library in 2014. Additionally, with all the credits received by the Library of San Mateo Campus, it will now be extended to University of La Salette High School.

Milestones

Using the Enhanced Library Monitoring Utilization System and Resources Utilization System, International Standard Organization (ISO) and Commission on Higher Education Region (02) commended and gave positive aspect to the campus library, with this, key officials of the campus are planning to extend the system to the other campuses after it will be copyrighted.

Summary

The establishment of OneExpert as a unified platform for the delivery of scientific and technical services and as a dynamic database of experts and consultants is an initiative to support the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) mandate to provide leadership and coordination of the country’s scientific and technological efforts to benefit the people. This project, spearheaded by Engr. Rowen R. Gelonga, Regional Director of the DOST VI, started in November 2016 with the development of the online portal of S&T experts and consultants tapped by DOST, coming from its agencies, the academe, other government agencies, and the private sector.

Background and Problem

The delivery of S&T services is hindered by the following major constraints:

  • Lack of comprehensive information on available S&T experts in the country; and
  • Logistical and financial constraints in bringing experts to the countryside.

With these challenges, OneExpert aims to

  • Establish a nationwide pool of S&T experts;
  • Improve access to available DOST technology databases;
  • Develop a portal for accessing the pool of S&T experts and technology databases;
  • Encourage involvement of local scientists, researchers, and other technical people from the public and private sectors in addressing S&T problems of the country;
  • Encourage information and knowledge sharing among local scientists and researchers;
  • Enhance the use of ICT in the delivery of government programs, projects, and services; and,
  • Deploy personnel to the countryside to facilitate delivery of S&T services.

Solution and Impact

OneExpert’s central component is an online portal and associated mobile applications. The portal is an interactive web-based nationwide pool of S&T experts intended to provide technical advice and consultancy services to Filipinos anywhere they are in the Philippines. It is also designed to improve access to experts and technologies particularly by people living outside of the major urban centers where most research and technical institutions are located. In the same manner, OneExpert will likewise bring the services of any accredited expert located anywhere in the Philippines to clients that need S&T assistance. The website can be accessed through https://oneexpert.gov.ph using any desired browser. There are four types of users in the portal, namely:

  1. General public
  2. Registered users
  3. Consultants/Experts
  4. Administrators.

Administrators from the DOST Regional Offices enroll their accredited experts and consultants to the portal. The enrolled experts and consultants need to activate their account, upload their photo, and provide information regarding their specialization and expertise in profile in order to be visible and searchable in the pool of experts. Administrators are also the ones who manage consultancy engagements and provision of technical assistance in the portal. The general public that visits the portal can view basic information of all active experts, but only registered users can view the full profile of the experts, interact with them, and avail of DOST consultancy and technical services. Any visitor with a valid email address can register in the portal in order to access the full features of the portal.

Milestones

  • Establishment of a comprehensive and robust database of S&T Experts. To date, there are 710 experts enrolled in the portal.
  • Development of harmonized guidelines in the implementation of consultancy programs and technology training courses. Prior to OneExpert, the DOST Regional Offices have been implementing their consultancy programs differently in terms of scope, deliverables, procedures, etc.
  • Development of an internet portal, information systems, and mobile apps intended to improve accessibility and delivery of S&T services to MSMEs. OneExpert was able to develop, roll out, and maintain IT-based systems to significantly improve access by MSMEs and the general public to DOST services.

Summary

The Citizen Participatory Audit (CPA) is:

  1. A strategy for reform founded on the premise that public accountability can prosper only with a vigilant and involved citizenry;
  2. A technique in conducting audits with citizens as members of the COA Audit Teams;
  3. A mechanism for strategic partnership and sharing of aspirations, goals, and objectives between the COA and civil society;
  4. A technique for citizen and civil society involvement in other areas of the COA’s work, as partners.

It is an innovation on the first experience to involve citizens in the public audit processes as members of the audit team. The first experience was in the year 2000, but it did not prosper. The new CPA which was launched in November 2012 as a pilot project is now institutionalized through the issuance of a COA Resolution, the provision of a regular annual budget made part of the COA’s budget included in the GAA, and the creation of the Project Management Office (under the Office of the COA Chairperson) that manages the CPA. The CPA was initiated by former COA Chairperson Maria Gracia Pulido-Tan and Commissioner Heidi L. Mendoza.

Background and Problem

While the CPA is meant to respond to the following challenges:

  • Lack of manpower resources to conduct more meaningful audits -citizen-partners are force multipliers,
  • Slower pace of acquisition of technology skills by auditors than the development of new technology – knowledge and skill sharing among auditors and civil society will facilitate capacity building,
  • Inadequate skills in the design and use of evidence gathering tools that are otherwise available with civil society organizations — knowledge and skill sharing among auditors and civil society will facilitate capacity building,
  • General mindset among citizens that their role in governance is that of a mere “spectator” and not of an active participant — participation in the public audit process and in other areas of partnership with the COA (e.g. capacity building, simplification of audit reports) makes citizen-partners more involved in governance,
  • Difficulty in compelling auditees to implement audit recommendations – civil society organizations have advocacy skills and the presence of citizen-partners in the audit teams have facilitated the implementation of audit recommendations;

It is also a means to avail of the following opportunities:

  • By including citizens as part of the public audit process, COA systems and processes are made transparent to citizen-partners leading to increased trust in the COA, and
  • The presence of citizens as members of COA audit teams opens to the public abuses of public officials in audited institutions; thus, improving accountability.

Solution and Impact

Goals/Impact:

  1. Enhanced accountability in Government
  2. Enhanced transparency of the public audit process
  3. More involved and active citizenry

Objectives/Immediate Results:

  1. More meaningful audits.
  2. Capacitated auditors and citizen-partners.
  3. Improved batting average in audit recommendations implemented.

Steps:

  1. Obtaining citizen feedback on what they want the COA to audit, what the audit objective should be, and in what areas they can help with the audit; and, bringing these as inputs to the Strategic Audit Planning activities of the COA. This is done through the CPA Dialogues.
  2. Designing the audit based on citizen feedback.
  3. Obtaining commitments from civil society organizations (CSOs) and individual citizens on their involvement in the audit, either in capacity building activities like design and development of audit data/evidence gathering tools and facilitating the conduct of training courses or being a member of the audit team.
  4. Conducting training courses to capacitate the organic COA audit teams and citizen-partners to conduct specific audits. This includes obtaining inputs from citizen-partners in firming up the audit plan, audit program, and audit tools.
  5. Partnering with CSOs and individual citizens through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA); and deputizing / authorizing nominated CSO members or individual citizens as members of the COA audit team.
  6. Planning the audit. This involves the Audit Team composed of organic COA auditors and citizen-partners (citizen-auditors).
  7. Conducting audit field work which begins with an audit entrance conference. This involves the Audit Team composed of organic COA auditors and citizen-partners (citizen-auditors).
  8. Analyzing data and developing audit findings, conclusions, and recommendations. This involves the Audit Team composed of organic COA auditors and citizen-partners (citizen-auditors).
  9. Writing and transmitting the audit report, which begins with the audit exit conference. This involves the Audit Team composed of organic COA auditors and citizen-partners (citizen-auditors).
  10. Validating the implementation of audit recommendations. This involves the Audit Team composed of organic COA auditors and citizen-partners (citizen-auditors).

Milestones

The COA has been able to conduct performance audits on a nationwide scale, which otherwise could not have been done without the assistance of CSOs in the design and conduct of capacity building activities and with citizen-auditors. Awards:

  1. First recipient of the Bright Spots Prize for Open Government Partnership given by the Global Open Government Partnership in 2013 in London.
  2. Recipient of the 2017 Special Mention Award from the Jury from the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT)

Next steps

Expansion of the coverage of the CPA: For 2020, the plan is to collaborate with the PhilGEPS and with selected state universities in the training courses of auditors and student-interns who will assist in compliance audits of open contracting in procurement.

Summary

The Commission on Filipinos Overseas’ Administrative Request Information System (ARIS) is a web-based application that provides CFO with a computerized request system on various administrative and finance services. It eliminates the use of paper during requisitions; however, the users may opt to print copies of their request forms. The ARIS is an innovation that was initiated in 2013 and is a joint project by the Administrative and Finance Division (AFD) through the technical assistance of the Management Information Systems Division (MISD).

Background and Problem

The Project was initiated in order to automate employees’ request system on various administrative and finance services. It also eliminates the use of paper during requisitions. No more printing of forms and manual submissions. As it is a web-based application, employees and their supervisors can file and approve requests anytime and anywhere.

Solution and Impact

From the traditional and longtime practice of filling up manually different forms by employees to request every administrative request, a web based/online platform was developed to automate the administrative requests of employees. The project came about when it was initiated by the Administrative and Finance Division (AFD) Director Maria Angela Galias in cooperation with the Management Information Systems Division (MISD) Director Engr. Romeo Rosas II. It was created in 2013 under the term of Secretary Imelda M. Nicolas and Undersecretary Mary Grace A. Tirona. The system was authored by the MISD team of programmers – Mr. Jordan Domanais, Mr. Gerlan Jaula, Ms. Annaliza Nebres, and Mr. Rustico Perez, Jr. under the supervision of Mr. Allen Dennis Pu Ima. The ARIS automated the CFO’s requisition processes i.e. for requisition issuance, general services, administrative and finance records, purchases of supplies, service vehicles, borrowing of equipment, emergency supply request, messengerial service, and document reproduction. It also eliminated the use of paper.

Milestones

Establishment of an online/web-based application that is available 24/7. Internally developed by CFO and was not subcontracted outside.

Summary

The Financial Supervision Sector Bank Dashboard (FSS Bank DB) is an automated, ready reference material of key financial and non-financial information about individual banks. It is a dynamic platform that contains information source from regular reports submitted to the Department of Supervisory Analytics as well as qualitative inputs source from regular reports submitted to the Department of Supervisory analytics as well as qualitative inputs.

Background and Problem

The FSS Bank dashboard was created to meet the following objectives:

  • To enhance the existing process of how an institution is being evaluated in the preparation of an Institutional Overview (10) which is crucial in planning out the examination approach for banks.
  • To provide the management a snapshot of individual bank performances highlighting its condition, business model and brewing trends.

Prior to the introduction of the bank dashboard, examiners were compelled to produce voluminous write ups regarding the condition of banks subject for examination. With the dashboard, this process was standardized and automated highlighting essential financial and non-financial information.

Solution and Impact

The steps done to start and implement the FSS Dashboard were identification and selection of key financial and non-financial information that will form part of the dashboard, creation of a dynamic excel base template with various visual aids where these selected data will be represented, and creation of a program that will transfer and filter extracted data from submitted banks reports to create individual bank dashboard. Financial statistics sourced from various bank reports including other non-financial information undergoes a data mining process through SAS EG. The process filters all needed information from these reports into a master file. Containing all needed information about banks, an in-house developed program extracts data from the master file, joins it with the qualitative inputs from Financial Supervision Departments and transfers this combined information to a specialized template. The template, an excel file containing formulated cells and groupings, organizes bank information to a one-page summary known as the FSS Bank DB. The benefits of this project include the following:

  • The FSS Dashboard enhanced the process by which IOs of banks are being prepared through graphical representations of the bank’s financial data and qualitative inputs (i.e. risk profile and supervisory approach, supervisory rating and qualitative assessment).
  • The FSS Dashboard also improves the accuracy of processed information through its automated nature
  • The FSS Dashboard reduces the time and effort exerted in manually creating individual graph presentations that could have been used by bank examiners in data analytics.

Milestones

With the FSS Dashboard, the 10 was standardized. The preparation time bank examiner allocates for the crafting of write ups and graphs was substantially reduced giving them more time to focus on the analyzation process. The FSS Dashboard was awarded the 2018 BSP PRAISE Award. The BSP Praise award is given to recognize projects/initiatives that resulted in process improvement or enhancement and was done on top of their BAU. Moving forward, the FSS Dashboard is being envisioned to be incorporated with more advance technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (i.e. Application Programming Interface) and Big Data Analysis.

Summary

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has strengthened its feedback mechanism to better serve the general public and other external stakeholders. As part of the initiatives under the Engaged Stakeholders Theme of the BSP Strategy Map 2012-2017, the BSP Feedback Management (BSP FMS) was launched in September 2015. The FMS offers user-friendly tools that range from conventional paper-based forms to electronic tablets and kiosks, and online forms. The use of innovative feedback channels aims to enhance transparency, accountability and efficiency in BSP’s service delivery and underscores the importance of external stakeholders’ perception in enhancing the quality of BSP services.

Background and Problem

Prior to BSP FMS deployment, the following were the challenges: 1) lack of feedback mechanism and tools of most departments; 2) multiple objectives in gathering feedback; and 3) feedback tools limited to survey form with different attributes, rating scales and frequency of feedback gathering was either on a per engagement basis or other period. BSP-FMS endeavors to leverage on technology in developing a uniform and simplified feedback process flow and thus streaming processes to improve customer satisfaction and create customer-oriented culture, establish various innovative feedback tools that enable and encourage the public to provide information on their perception of the quality of specific services on their engagements, transactions, or dealings with BSP, link the feedback gathered to the continual process improvement plans of BSP departments/offices, and provide statistics and analytical reports on feedback responses that will serve as basis for top management’s planning and decision-making.

Solution and Impact

With BSP FMS, external clients may provide feedback either through paper-based or electronic methods. The available channels are as follows:

  1. A system-generated one-pager structured form to be manually filled out; this form can be automated through scanning and uploading in the system;
  2. An emoticon tablet (happy, neutral, sad) with provision for unstructured comments;
  3. A touchscreen kiosk that has front-end features: feedback can be through emoticon or structured form; and provides-a directory of floor locations of BSP departments/offices; and
  4. An online application at the Feedback Corner of the BSP Website.

It has a back-end facility for the following:

  • Dashboard for all Servicing Departments/Offices (SDOs)-With flags and real time alerts on sad emoticon/negative feedback (structured forms with rating of 1 and 2);
  • Data-entry facility to update action/s taken by the SDOs on the sad emoticon responses/negative feedback -with audit trail/logs; and
  • Statistical and analytical report generation both for SDOs and FMU

The Feedback Management Unit (FMU), as the system administrator, consolidates all feedback results from different F.MS channels and provides comprehensive and timely reports to BSP Management and SDOs. With real-time alert notifications, sad emoticon responses/negative scores are immediately acted upon by SDOs or action plans are devised to efficiently address the complaints from external clients. Facilities-related concerns such as air-conditioning units, lack of chairs at the reception areas or availability of restrooms are given timely actions by the BSP’s Facilities and Management Engineering Department. Also, verbatim comments provided by external clients triggered SDOs to reassess their existing procedures and policies to address issues and concerns.

Milestones

While the BSP FMS has yet to receive an award, the valuable inputs gathered from comments of returning clients after improvements were done, serves as a reward itself. Positive responses have been received due to timely and efficient actions taken by departments/offices stemming from negative feedback received earlier. Clients would often give words of gratitude for their comments being taken on a positive note and giving much priority to their concerns. The BSP FMS shall continue to innovate and enhance as business processes evolve.