Tri Lingual Cabinet Paper Processing System (CPPS)

Abstract

The main objective of this project is to develop an information system to automate the workflow of Memorandum Branch of the Office of the Cabinet of Ministers in Sri Lanka. Pre-Processing, queuing and preparation of Cabinet Memorandums for upcoming cabinet meetings have become a challenge to the staff. Similarly, there is a formal process that must be met before a Cabinet Paper is placed on agenda of the Cabinet meeting and that process must assure the accuracy, efficiency and punctuality. In case of the memorandums are related to Establishment or Tender board matters, those should be discussed at the sub-committee meetings prior to the main meeting and the decisions and recommendations of the sub-committee meetings are must be forwarded to the main meeting. This process takes more time and situation becomes more exacerbated when a large number of Cabinet memorandums are received in a day. The bulk of this work is done in the Memorandum Branch. Currently, some of the tasks are performed by using computer software, Microsoft Word and Excel and the rest is carried out as a manual process. Those applications have very limited and primary features. Because of the poor and time consuming partially-automated existing system, the officers who involve in this job, face many difficulties in performing those interconnected tasks on time. By introducing the new Cabinet Paper Processing System (CPPS), it is intended to improve the overall accuracy, speed, productivity and quality of work carried out by the Office of the Cabinet of Ministers. The New System will address the said limitations and drawbacks of the existing semi-automated system. Further, the new system will offer new features such as generating supportive letters, one touch information access facility, progress monitoring and rich reporting facility in accurate and timely manner. The Cabinet Paper Processing System (CPPS) is a LAN based automation system that can be accessed through the existing Local Area Network of the office. The system has adapted Layard (n-tier) architecture and OOP techniques. UML is used for the analysis and design. Visual Basic.Net language with .NET framework 4.5 and visual studio 2019 is used to develop the system and Microsoft Reports Viewer is used for reporting purposes. MySQL Server 5.00 is used to handle database, queries, stored procedures etc. System operates on existing LAN which already has servers, switches, routers and other network devices. Server is running on Windows Server 2013 R2 and clients operate on Windows 7, 8 or Windows 10. User evaluation and feedback shows that the new CPPS information system is effectively developed and implemented. The CPPS Information System meets the requirements of the Cabinet Office.