Integrated Financial Management System

iFMS
An e - Governance Initiative of Government of West Bengal
Under Govt-to-Govt (G2G) and Govt-to-Citizen (G2C) category

Finance Department
Government of West Bengal

INTEGRATED FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

01

iFMS- An Overview
Successfully implemented in 67 Departments, Directorates,
Regional, District Offices and over 8000 Drawing & Disbursing
Officers (DDOs) across the State

Brief overview of the project

Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) is a web-based application implemented for better fiscal
management and efficient financial operations of the Government of West Bengal (GoWB). It integrates the
entire cycle of financial activities undertaken by all the Departments, Offices, Treasuries / Pay & Accounts
Offices (PAO), Local Bodies and Drawing & Disbursing Officers (DDOs) of the GoWB. There is a citizen centricity
aspect to this project through electronic payments which have enabled direct credit to respective bank accounts
of state Government employees / pensioners; suppliers / contractors / service providers and beneficiaries of
Government welfare schemes, thereby making it a pan-State coverage.

Inception and project brief

The project started from 14th January 2014 and went live from 1st April 2014. It has a dedicated website / portal,
available publicly at www.wbifms.gov.in. The Project Domain encompasses all Departments, Directorates,
Regional, District and Field Level Offices of State Government and covers all of their financial activities across the
state in a single web based platform. The system allows Single Sign On (SSO) for conducting multiple activities by
a user by providing appropriate security across levels. It is divided into 6 integrated modules having several submodules to ensure faster and accurate processing, better monitoring and control of financial activities as well as
generating and accessing various reports and queries through a robust MIS facility.

Project Objectives
To facilitate better fiscal and financial management of the State
To integrate financial activities of all Departments, Offices and Treasuries of the GoWB for better fund
management

To provide a real-time MIS facility and Reporting System for all the users, stakeholders and Offices,
thereby enabling them to monitor the process and performance in their offices and sub-ordinate offices
on 24x7 online basis with respect to fund allotment and utilization
To develop a comprehensive database comprising information on financial and human resources related
details, transactions and status
To enable various field level officers to monitor availability of fund and its utilisation

To ensure transparency in fund management and eliminate rent-seeking

To make it convenient for users, stakeholders and beneficiaries by reducing paper work and visits to
Treasuries/ Pay & Accounts Offices by DDOs and beneficiaries to offices of DDOs

e-Pradan: Online payment for direct

CTS: Web based CTS

Government Receipt Information

Portal System (GRIPS): for online &
offline receipt of all Government tax
& non-tax revenues

e-Bantan: Online fund allotment

platform from Departments to
DDOs
2

transfer to beneficiaries bank accounts

Modules
of iFMS

Human Resources Management

System (HRMS): Comprehensive
database to facilitate planning &
management of all employees

e-Billing: Online bill preparation

& submission by DDOs to
Treasuries/ PAOs

KEY BENEFICIARIES & STAKEHOLDERS

SNAPSHOT OF THE IMPROVED SYSTEM

Centralized Treasury System

02

CTS
Fully Integrated Web-based Treasury Functioning
Successfully implemented at 84 Treasuries & 4 Pay & Accounts Offices
across the state of West Bengal covering about 8000 DDOs

Sub-Modules/ functionalities of CTS

An advanced web-based application facilitating complete treasury operations and management.

Treasury functions like bill receiving, processing and passing, cheque printing & delivery and payment
mandate in favour of beneficiaries are done online, and dont involve any manual intervention.
A comprehensive Pension sub-module of CTS facilitates accurate and faster processing of first as well as
subsequent pension claims. Also, online payment of pensions is made into the bank account of
pensioners choice.
Stamp sub-module of CTS facilitates efficient and secured inventory, process and delivery management of
stamps.
Facility provided for operating and managing Local Fund (LF), Personal Ledger (PL) and Provident Fund
(PF) Accounts of various Statutory, Autonomous and Local Bodies / PRI Institutions.
Access Control to all users through system generated User ID & password.
Approval and Payments only through Digital Signature Certificates (DSCs). In case of exigencies there is
an arrangement for using One Time Password (OTP) for a temporary period.
The user activities in the system are secured and activity logs are made available.
Dual Payment Modes, through cheque and Electronic Clearing System (ECS), are made available.
Unique Reference Number (URN) enables query and tracking of each transaction in a hassle free manner.

FEATURES

Integrated with other modules of IFMS like e-Bantan, e-Billing, e-Pradan etc.
Functionalities to process the bills of works department like PWD, Forest and other work Departments after
abolition of Letter of Credit (LOC) System.
DDOs can access real-time status of transactions made.
Accounts sub-module enables preparation, checking and reconciliation of Monthly Accounts and online
submission of those to Accountant General (AG), West Bengal.
Interface to AG, West Bengal for online access to monthly accounts of Treasuries and PAOs.
Real-time support of MIS and Dashboard.

All the treasuries are

integrated with e-Kuber
payment portal of RBI for
online payment to the
beneficiaries bank
accounts, which is a first
time initiative in India

IMPROVEMENT OVER THE EARLIER SYSTEM

The DDOs used to submit manual bills in the Treasuries and Pay & Accounts Offices,
which used to run in standalone non-uniform applications. After receiving bills from
DDOs, the Treasuries used to manually enter all the required fields for processing
purpose. Now, bills are generated and submitted online on e-Billing module of IFMS
and through its seamless integration with CTS, Treasuries are no longer required to
enter any details of those as the submitted bills are available online for processing. This
has led to substantial savings in man-hours.
In the earlier system, payments used to be made through Cheques only. Introduction of
the ECS mode of payment has eliminated cheque printing and delivery processes, which
again has resulted in huge saving of manpower and cost.
CTS allow online payment facility for LF/PL/PF Account operator. These authorities can
now issue online advice on Treasuries for payment to any beneficiary out of their
Account instead of Cheque. This is a major improvement which has saved at least 10
days in payment process.
Earlier, in standalone systems at each Treasury, any change in application needed to be
implemented in all 88 Treasuries separately which was a time consuming task and there
was a fair chance of running different versions at different sites. With IFMS being a
centralised system, all the changes made in the application and global master at central
server is readily available to the users of all the treasuries without any delay. This has
eliminated the chance of getting different format of reports/screens at different
locations.
Earlier, it was not possible for the authorities to know the exact amount under each
Head of expenditure at any point of time. Now, the system has enabled authorities to
generate real-time reports by applying different filters / parameters.
Online tracking of Bills, Challans, PPO, and Stamp Indent (request) is possible. There
was no facility for central monitoring of the status of pending bills at different
Treasuries, which now can be monitored from The Directorate of Treasuries and
Accounts (DTA) and other levels, and necessary corrective actions can be taken.
Monthly Accounts can be prepared and finalized and closed through System and
submitted to the AG, West Bengal online. Separate interface with unique Login ID and
password has been given to the office of AG using which they can download Treasury
Accounts.
MIS support and Dashboard provides real time Reports and Queries which has ensured
effective monitoring and planning of Treasury functions.

Parameters

Pre-iFMS

Post-iFMS

Technology
Platform

Non-uniform
standalone
platforms with different
versions in each Treasury

Running on uniform platform

with uniform version

Bill Receiving

Complete manual entry of

bill details at Treasury.
Time taken: 3-8 minute

No need of details entry,

capture by URN only.
Time taken: less than 1 minute

Mode of Payment

Manual cheque printing and

delivery which used to be
about 21 lakhs in numbers
per year

ECS mode of payment and

mandate
generation.
Instantaneous payment to bank
A/C
Man hours savings: Approx.
3.50 lakhs per year

Allotment Entry

Manual entry of Allotment

orders in the DDO register.
Average Time taken : 20
minutes

No need of any allotment entry

due to integration with eBantan.
Time taken: Nil

Parameters

Pre-iFMS

Post-iFMS

Scheduling
of
Payment & Pension

Scope of scheduling of
Payment and Pension
Limited,
Manual
and
dependent

Guaranteed Scheduling
Payment and Pension

Misplacement
cheques

of

Chances of expiry, loss and

theft of cheques

No such occurrence due to

ECS payment

Account Compilation

Manual entry of bank receipts

and paid cheques individually.
Time taken: More than 2 - 3
days

No need of manual entry due

to auto updating of scrolls on
same transaction date.
Time taken: Nil

Probability of Error

There were chances

misclassification
expenditure

Elimination
of
misclassification
expenditure

Quality
information

of

of
of

Not possible for the authorities

to know the exact expenditure

of

the
of

Authorities can know the

exact expenditure anytime
enabling
better
fund
management

Receipts through e-Treasury challans in FY'16 (in Rs. crores)

5724

3873
2601
1259
508

849

2957

2665

592

467

2786

417

e-Treasury Challan

2944

2799

3017

3214

3185

2339

314

356

363

502

350

All Treasury(except e-Treasury)

415

Pension related benefits

+ Simple, fast, accurate & transparent.

+ Better utilisation of manpower.
+ Eliminates the reconciliation needs at different levels.
+ Real-time MIS regarding allotment and utilisation of
funds and payments ensures better monitoring and
planning of treasury functions and efficient decision
making.
+ Huge reduction in paper based working, a giant leap
towards complete paperless environment.
+ Highly secured payment gateway.
+ System based validation with the Budget Allotment
before Bill Approval.
+ Efficient inventory management of stamps.
+ Vendors / individuals / Treasuries can place requisition
for stamps online.
+ Faster and hassle free Account closing.

+ Earlier there was no facility of direct crediting of

Pension to Pensioners Bank account, which used to
delay the process of crediting pensions. Now, about 6
lakhs pensioners receive their pension on the first day
of the month through online credit to their bank
accounts.
+ The 1st pension of a new pensioner is being credited to
the pensioners account on the 1st day of appearance in
Treasury. Previously, it used to take about 30-45 days
to get the first pension credited to the bank account.
+ Earlier pensioners were allowed to open a pension
account in few selected bank branches only. Now, a
pensioner can open a Pension Account in Branch of
most of the Banks nearest to his / her residence as per
his / her convenience.
+ In addition to Pension, all other retirement benefits like
Gratuity, Arrear Pension etc.is credited to pensioners
bank account on the day of clearance by Treasury.

Government Receipt Information Portal System

03

Option 1

GRIPS

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Online receipt of Government Tax & Non-tax Revenues
ut diam ultricies non, hendrerit quis, pellentesque a, eros.
non mauris
quis
massa varius
Successfully Aenean
implemented
and made
mandatory
acrosstempus.
the State of West
Bengal for all kinds of revenue collection

Credentials
approved by
system

GRIPS: An e-service provided by the GoWB to

citizens, traders, entrepreneurs, other revenue
payers & depositors of West Bengal, which
enables them to pay all tax & non-tax revenue
of different Departments/ Directorate/
Offices of GoWB through a user-friendly webbased portal. With every online payment
transaction, an e-Challan bearing a GRN
(Government Receipt Number) is generated
from GRIPS which helps in uniquely identifying
each payment made through the system.

Credentials entered in
GRIPS portal by Citizen

Online payment mode

Government
receives amount
paid by citizen

Payment challan
received by citizen
which can be printed

Head of Accounts selected by citizen

Amount details entered against
selected Head of Accounts
Selection of bank and payment mode
done
Offline payment mode

Citizen pays the amount to

bank by showing the
payment challan

Paid challan received

by citizen

This helps the State authorities through:

Real-time credit of revenue into the
Government exchequer
Generation of MIS facilities with real-time
monitoring of revenue collection

10

FEATURES

Payment of Government revenue from gateways of 23 agency banks through any of the following modesNet-Banking; Debit Card/Credit Card; Over the Counter [OTC] through GRIPS generated Challan;
Departmental Officer collecting the revenue from the taxpayers can also deposit the amount to any branch
of the 23 authorised Banks.
Using a single challan, payment under multiple Heads of Account can be made.
Instant generation of GRN, which is a unique identity, once e-Challan is filled.
Instantaneous acknowledgement of challan receipt after online/ offline payment is made into the system.
Information on revenue collection instantaneously available to the Revenue Collection Authority / Finance
Department.
Account settlement by RBI on the day succeeding the day of making payments.
Search Challan facility available to citizens for tracking processing status of deposited challans.
The portals of all Departments/ Directorates are integrated through GRIPS for making payments.
Revenue collection without integration of GRIPS with the Department Portal can also be done.

IMPROVEMENT OVER THE EARLIER SYSTEM

Earlier, the depositor was
required to fill in the Treasury
Form (TR) & get it countersigned
from the concerned government
office. S/he was then required to
visit a particular branch of a
particular bank, which was linked
with the Treasury to deposit the
Government revenue. It was a
time-consuming process as it
required making frequent visits
to multiple officials & thereby
resulted in inconvenience to
depositors. The delays also used
to encourage non- compliance.
After introduction of GRIPS, the
depositor can deposit the
revenue at any time through any
mode without physically visiting
the Government offices or banks.
Present system is more accurate,
transparent, secured & provides
easy access over the earlier
system. It has completely
eliminated
the
scope
of
misclassification / incomplete
classification of tax & non-tax
revenues.
The process of compilation of
reports on revenue collection
was a tedious & time consuming
task. The collected reports were
often outdated & unreliable.
Now
the
departments,
directorates / offices can
monitor the revenue collections,
trends, performance etc. online
through a well-developed MIS
facility.

Tax deposited by the citizens for various services used to be

delivered to the system after a long delay, as it was difficult &
time consuming to verify the authenticity of the deposits. Now,
the service delivery office can verify the authenticity of the
payment through GRN / Bank Reference Number (BRN) online &
deliver the services quickly.
Earlier, there was scope for making fraudulent claims of deposits
by providing forged challans, which has now become impossible.

+ Saving of significant time as there is no need to visit

any Office/Treasury/Bank.
+ Process is transparent as payment record is made
available 24X7 in dematerialised form.
+ System ensures accuracy because limited user
inputs are required.
+ User friendly and less time dependent system
encourages tax compliance.
+ The system comes with secured payment modes.
+ Integration and validation with bank portals
possible.
+ Robust reporting system, which supports efficient
decision making.
+ Easy access enables a depositor to pay taxes from
any place/ bank branch convenient to the
depositor.
+ Control over the revenue system ensures real time
monitoring.

11

Parameters

12

Pre-iFMS

Post- iFMS

Time
Consumption

Involved a lengthy process

for making payments which
include filling of TR Form,
getting it countersigned
from the concerned office,
making visits to a particular
branch of a particular bank

Elimination of the time

consuming and tedious
process as payment can
be done 24X7 online
through
payment
gateways of 23 agency
banks

Procedure for
authentication

Manual
verification
of
authenticity of deposits used
to lead to delays in
depositing amount paid by
payee

Service delivery office

can verify authenticity
of the payment through
GRN/ BRN online and
services
thus
are
delivered promptly

Probability
Error

of

There were chances of

misclassification/ incomplete
classification of tax and nontax revenues

Elimination of instances
of misclassification /
incomplete classification
of tax and non-tax
revenues due to built-in
system checks

Quality
of
information

Reports
on
revenue
collection often contained
outdated and unreliable
information due to nonintegration of systems

Authorities can know

the
exact
revenue
collected
anytime
enabling better fund
management

Online Fund Allotment - e-Bantan

04

Distribution of Budgeted Fund to all Administrative Departments up to

DDOs through Allotting & Sub-Allotting Officers
Successfully implemented in 67 Departments, Directorates, Regional,
District Offices and over 8000 DDOs across the State DDOs

FEATURES

Web-based Application Module of Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS).

Funds can be allotted from Finance Department to 67 Administrative Departments and
subsequently sub-allotted instantaneously to over 8000 Drawing & Disbursing Officers
(DDOs) through a pre-defined hierarchy of Directorates, Regional Offices, District and field
offices.
Allotment order can be generated online in Dematerialized Form.
Electronic Allotment Register of the specific treasury is updated online as soon as budget
is allotted to any DDO.
Budget Withdrawal: Facility available for partial or full withdrawal of previously allotted
fund from Budget Allotting/ Sub-allotting officer/ DDO level.
Budget Re-appropriation: Funds under one Head of account can be re-appropriated by
the administrative departments to another Head of Account within their delegated
powers and overall limit of Budget of the Department.
DDO Management: Facility of creation of New Departments / Directorates, Offices /
Establishments and DDOs.
SMS alert facility to Allotting and Receiving officers.
Real-time MIS facility on allotment and utilisation of funds and payments ensures better
monitoring and efficient decision making.

13

Annual Budget passed

by State Legislative
Assembly

Approved budget uploaded

on IFMS website by Finance
Department

Fund received seamlessly by

various Departments using Fund
Management Guidelines

Intimation to DDOs for

fund drawl & spending

Intimation to TOs/ PAOs

on fund allotment

Budget Allotting & Sub-Allotting Officers

allot fund to same or lower hierarchical
levels depending upon the level

Departments allot fund to Budget Allotting

& Sub-Allotting Officers and DDOs through
the pre-defined hierarchy

IMPROVEMENT OVER THE EARLIER SYSTEM

Government Orders (GOs) for allotment used to be sent in the paper form manually to the respective
Departments, Directorates, DDOs and Treasury Officers. In many instances, even though DDOs used to receive
GOs, they could not draw fund as copy of GO was not available to Treasury Officer (TO) or vice versa. This
often used to lead to non-utilization of fund and delay in execution of schemes/projects. Now this has become
instantaneous and real-time.

Implementation of e-Bantan module of IFMS has obviated this conventional method of preparing Allotment
letter and forwarding the same manually to Departments / Directorates. Funds can now be allotted from
Finance Department & Administrative Departments to the field units instantaneously in dematerialized form.
This online process of fund flow does not involve any manual intervention and has drastically cut down
process delay which used to take around 2-3 months.

Possibility of erroneous allotments due to multi-point entries of the amount at different levels has been
completely eliminated.

Due to integration in between e-Bantan & Centralised Treasury System, the fund allotment directly reflects at
the Treasuries, which has enabled hassle free and faster bill processing.

Reconciliation need at different levels is completely eliminated.

14

Parameters

Pre-iFMS

Post-iFMS

Format
of
Allotment Order

Paper based Allotment Orders

Allotment
order
dematerialized Form

in

Time consumption

Time consuming fund flow

process. DDOs used to receive
GO but often fund could not be
drawn as TOs copy was not
available and vice versa
Time taken: 2-3 months

Faster and instant fund flow

process.
Time taken: 0-3 days

Probability of error

Chances of human error

duplication rampant

Accurate and synchronous

process with least manual
intervention

Withdrawal within
allotted amount

Error prone manual fund

withdrawal process leaving every
scope to exceed budget or
duplicate withdrawal

Chance of error in budget

withdrawal
completely
eliminated

Validation

Excuses of non-receipt of orders

were prevalent

Time stamped trails are

available of all allotments

SMS / email facility

Earlier the Recipient Authorities

were unaware of any allotment
until they received the hard copy
of the allotment order

Now
the
recipient
authorities get SMS & email
the moment any allotment is
made in their favor.

15

+ All information regarding fund available 24x7 to all

stake holders.
+ Real-time availability of fund status at any
hierarchical level leading to informed decision
making.
+ Easier, faster and more accurate allotment of fund
to different levels through electronic medium is made
available on real time basis.
+ Online availability of Sanction Letters for all kinds of
allotments/ withdrawal/ sub-allotment.
+ Quicker allotment of fund, lesser time loss in
allotment and communication of Sanction Orders
improves utilization of fund for work of different
Government Projects. This has also reduced time and
cost overruns.
+ Optimal use of fund through easy and on time
budget re-appropriation.
+ Available MIS reports enable higher authorities to
monitor entire budget allotment and utilization up to
DDO level.
+ Being a web based application, updated version /
new features are instantly available to all the users.

16

Electronic Payment

05

e-Pradan
Direct Payment to the Bank Accounts of Employee / Non-employee/
beneficiaries of Government Offices by Treasuries / PAOs
Successfully implemented in all 84 Treasuries & 4 PAOs covering over
8000 DDOs all kinds of revenue collection

Credentials
approved by
system

West Bengal is the first

state in the country to
make online payment
through treasury level
integration with e-Kuber
Portal of RBI

Details of beneficiaries (Name, Bank

Account Number, IFSC Code, MICR Code,
PAN, Aadhar Number, Mobile Number)
collected by DDO

Amount credited in the account

of the Beneficiary online

DDO enters / uploads details and approves

using Digital Signature Certificates (DSCs) in
the system once only

PAO/ TO processes & passes received bills and

generate payment mandate online on RBI

DDO raises bill against claims of

Payee/ Beneficiaries to PAO/ TO

FEATURES

Through e-Pradan, claims of all types of payees or beneficiaries are directly credited to their bank accounts
electronically, once the payment is passed by Treasuries / PAOs. Payee and beneficiaries include all types of
employees of any Government / Non-Government agency, pensioners, suppliers, contractors, service
providers, beneficiaries of all Government schemes, recipients of stipends / scholarships etc.
Payment to beneficiary can be made by one time entry of payee / beneficiarys name, bank account details,
PAN, Aadhar Number, mobile number & other details into the system by DDOs.
One-time approval of beneficiary details is required to be made in the system for all future payments to the
payee for any number of times. However, entered details can also be modified, if required.
System generated SMS is sent to the payee/ beneficiary on release of payments by PAO / Treasury Office.
Rectification of the failed transaction, if any, is possible by DDO within very short span of time.
Deferred / pre-scheduled (on a specific date) payments can be made through e-Pradan.
Know Your e-Payment Status facility enables each beneficiary to get details of their claims & payments.
Payment is released to Bank Account of payee/ beneficiaries through Reserve Bank of Indias e-Kuber portal
within few hours or latest by succeeding working day from the day of processing. West Bengal is the first state
in the country to integrate e-Kuber with e-Pradan.
17

IMPROVEMENT OVER THE EARLIER SYSTEM

DDOs need not visit

Treasury/ PAOs to collect
cheques. The whole process
has been made online.

Payee/ Beneficiaries need

not visit DDO offices to
know the status of his
payment claim or for
collection of cheques. This
ensures transparency at all
levels.

Convenient
and
user
friendly for DDOs, Treasury /
PAOs
and
Payee
/
Beneficiaries.

Printing of huge numbers of

cheques is not required.
Earlier, about 21 lakhs
cheques in a year used to be
printed. e-Pradan has also
eliminated the need for
collection of cheques by
DDOs,
distribution
to
beneficiaries and further
deposit to banks and saving
in transport costs.

No cheques are delivered to

Payee / Beneficiaries, so no

risk of expiry & loss of

cheques.

18

+ Fast disposal of Payee / Beneficiaries

claim by DDO/ Pay & Accounts Office/
Treasury Office.
+ Saving of time and money since no
repeated visits by the beneficiary is
required.
+ Hassle free receipt of payment by
Payees/ Beneficiaries as it is directly
credited in their Bank accounts.
+ Rectification of failed transaction
within very short time and subsequent
successful payment.
+ Annual saving of 45,000 man-days
approximately at treasuries only due to
elimination of cheque printing and
delivery.

Parameters

Pre-iFMS

Post-iFMS

Time
Consumption

Payment cycle from bill receiving to

actual encashment of cheques in
beneficiary account used to take 17
days on an average.
Time taken : 10 60 days

Payment cycle from bill

receiving to actual credit to
beneficiary account takes 4
days on an average.
Time taken : 0 - 4 days

Mode
Payment

Payment used to be through cheques

thereby involving tasks of cheques
printing and deliver. Average number of
cheques printed and delivered in a year
was 21 lakhs

ECS mode of payment has

eliminated the cheque printing
and delivery tasks, resulting in
huge saving of manpower and
cost

Audit trail was possible up to DDO level

only

Drill down audit trail available

up to the beneficiary level

of

Audit Trail

(in numbers)
19

Online preparation & submission of Bill

e-Billing

06

An important Step Towards Paperless Office and Record Keeping

FEATURES

20

Bill Forms available in digitised form.

System based validation with the Budget

Allotment & other details before Bill
Submission.

Integration with e-Bantan, CTS, e-Pradan

& HRMS has eliminated instances of
data inadequacies & inconsistencies.

Cross checking with other external

systems like Information Management
and Promotion of Administration in
Commercial Taxes (IMPACT), Online
Salary Management System (OSMS),
Integration with West Bengal Health
Scheme
portal
(www.wbhealthscheme.gov.in), etc.

Preparation
of
Bill
Register,
Appropriation Register & TDS Statement
through system. Manual preparation
completely done away with.

Online withdrawal of bill by DDO at any

time through system before payment
mandate given by Pay & Accounts
Offices/Treasuries ensures flexibility.

Online Bill tracking through use of a

Unique Reference number.

Use of Bar Code/QR Code on the bill for

easy receiving at Treasury.

System generated schedules showing

deductions & transfer details from bills.

DDO staff:
Selects Bill category
Selects Bill-specific T.R.
Form & fills it online
Fills details in the Common
Bill Entry Form

Unique Reference Number is generated

Allotment details are automatically
validated
Name(s) of the beneficiary & amount is
added from e-Pradan module

Credentials
approved by
system

PAO/ TO passes the

transferred from DDOs

bills

Acknowledgement, Bill Extract, Top Sheet & relevant

TR Form with schedule is generated & printed by DDO
DDO submits the bill electronically using Digital
Signature Certificate (DSC)

A time
saving,
error-free &
secured
utility!

IMPROVEMENT OVER THE EARLIER SYSTEM

Pre-iFMS

Post-iFMS

Manual preparation of all

bills & schedules involving
huge data entry

Fast, simple & minimal data

entry in digitized bill forms

Volume of bills

There were about 70 Bill

Forms & Schedules

Rationalization has resulted in

reduction in the no. of Bill
Forms & Schedules which now
stands at 30

User friendliness

Separate preparation of Bill

was required for each &
every personal claim in
most of the cases
A new Bill was required to
be done afresh every time

Similar types of claims of large

number of beneficiaries can
now be clubbed in a single bill
Details of old bill can be used
for submission of a new bill
after modification

Probability of error

Instances of misclassification,
miscalculation and selection
of wrong bill forms prevalent

Elimination of such instances

due to in-built system controls

Time
Consumption

Extremely time consuming

and tedious process of bill
receiving

Easy and faster receiving of bills

using Bar Code and QR code

Bill preservation
facility

No scope of bill preservation

at Treasury available for
future reference. AG also
used to destroy the hard
copies after stipulated time
period

Virtual copy of the bills are

always
available
in
dematerialized form

Parameters
Mode
of
preparation

bill

No entries are required to be made at Treasury/PAO end.

Pay order are not required to be written in Treasury/PAO.

21

+Allotment Register of DDOs is

instantaneously updated.
+DDOs can track the status of bills any
point of time.
+Error relating to TR Form Number
and/or Head of Account is
completely eliminated.
+All Schedules showing deductions
and transfer details from bills are
system generated.
+Details of old bill can be used for
submission of a new bill after
making minimal modification.
+Virtual copy of the bills always
available in dematerialized form

22

Human Resources Management System -

07

HRMS
A web based solution for complete management of human resources
from recruitment to retirement

Sub-Modules of HRMS
FEATURES

Service records & details of all

employees available in a centralised
database.

Human Resources Planning

Recruitment Management

Training Management

Confirmation Management

Availability of past records / legacy data.

Comprehensive database.

Leave Management

Preparation
Government
employees.

Payroll Process

Pay Fixation

of
salary
bills of
/ Non- Government

Integration with e-Billing, CTS & ePradan.

Travel Allowance & Dearness Allowance Management

e-Service Book

Leave Travel Concession Management

e-Payslip

Medical Entitlements

General Provident
Maintenance.

Transfer, Posting and Joining

System
based
submission.

Deputation and Lien

Management Information System

Loan Management

Promotion Management

Performance Appraisal

Departmental Proceedings Management

Exit Management

Fund

Account

personal

claims

23

IMPROVEMENT OVER THE EARLIER SYSTEM

Earlier, service records & other

attributes of Human Resources were
maintained local office-wise or
Department-wise depending on the
category of the Government
employee. The quality of record
maintenance
was
unorganised
which made it difficult to retrieve
information easily. Also, the
information was incomplete and / or
unreliable. Damage or loss of data
used to make it impossible to
restore the information accurately.
Due to non-availability of reliable
comprehensive data, it was difficult
to make plans about recruitment,
transfer, promotion and retirement
etc. HRMS enables the Government
to have a comprehensive central
database for effective and efficient
decision making for better utilisation
of the human resources.

Manual maintenance of Service

Books has been substituted by eService Books.

Pay parameters can be centrally

controlled instead of office based
efforts.

System based preparation of pay &

other bills is made possible after
due validation.

24

Unique ID for
each employee

+ Advance and targeted human

resource planning.
+ Effective, efficient and optimum
utilization of human resources.
+ All service records of employees
will be available in soft form.
+ The system enables accurate and
real-time Human Resources Data
Management.
+ Online availability of employee
details to individuals and offices.

Parameters
Quality
of
information

Maintenance
of
Service
books

Control of pay
parameters

Generation of
pay & other
bills

Pre-iFMS

Incomplete, unreliable & highly

disorganized information on
human resource was available
due to various factors like
maintenance of records in
multiple locations in varied
formats which often led to
difficulty
in
retrieving
information

Post-iFMS

All information will be stored

comprehensively in the Central
Database which will ensure
effective and efficient decision
making process for better
utilisation of the human
resources

Service Books of employees

used to be maintained manually

Manual
maintenance
of
service books has been
replaced with e-Service books

Pay parameters like salaries,

arears etc. were controlled
manually
from
respective
Offices/ Departments

Pay parameters of employees

are now centrally controlled
thereby eliminating scope of
inadequacies & inconsistencies
in records

Pay bills & other bills of

employees used to be prepared
manually

Pay bills & other bills of

employees will now be
generated online after due
validation

25

Implementation of IFMS

08

CHALLENGES FACED IN IMPLEMENTATION OF IFMS

Data migration from old standalone systems running on different platforms into a common
integrated platform.

Shifting to web-based Centralised Treasury System with zero down time.

Providing a reliable primary & redundant connectivity to 88 Treasuries & PAOs across the State in
different remote locations.

Capacity building of > 50,000 stakeholders.

Ensuring availability of DSCs to +9000 users across the State.

Inertia to change from old traditional paper-based bill preparation by DDOs & checking process
and accounting system by Treasuries.

Significant number of old Government rules, orders, procedures & recording systems requiring
Business Process Re-engineering with respect to bill format, preparation & submission, Treasury
accounting and payment modalities.

Abolishing the age-old Letter of Credit System prevalent in Works Departments out of Treasury
functions.

Creating interface with external agencies like RBI, Accountant General, Digital Signature
Certificates (DSC) authorities & Intra Governmental agencies.

For a transformative
initiative of this type,
a gradual, wellsequenced & flexible
strategy is the key!

26

CAPACITY BUILDING MEASURES

All the stakeholders were

trained at different level
locations.
Modes of capacity building
adopted were:
o Master
Training
to
Resource persons
o Class Room Training to
Users
o Hands on Training on
dedicated Training Server
o Web Training
o CBT
(Computer
Based
Tutorials)
o User Manual and FAQs
o Classroom trainings to the
Master trainers/ selected
Users have been imparted
for about 155 training days,
who in turn, have imparted
multiple rounds of training
to
their
respective
subordinates and other
users

+ A dedicated IFMS Cell under the Finance

Department created to provide domain support to
Technical team & train the master trainers.
+ Regular web based interactive sessions to train &
receive feedback from TOs/ DDOs.
+ Temporary help desks set-up & made operational
at all 88 Treasuries to resolve queries of DDOs/
other Users to facilitate roll-out of every module.
+ Facility to send bulk SMSs to DDOs/ TOs on urgent
& key updates/instructions.
+ Dedicated official email IDs for officers & staff of
Treasuries/ DDOs created for communicating
instructions, guidelines & GOs.
+ All the guidelines, manuals, GOs & presentations on
IFMS portal are made publicly available.

Grievance Management System

Call Center for IFMS - Online call logging (24 x 7)

by all users has been made. Unique Call Incident
Number (CIN) is given to the call logger, which
helps in knowing the status of logged calls at
any point of time. MIS for monitoring call
resolution by higher levels exists.

Help Desk telephone - Live interaction through

5 lines is provided to all users.

Call Center for leased Line (MPLS) telephone

and email based services are available to users.

In addition to above, email/mobile/ in person

communication is also used for special issues.

27

INTERFACE WITH OTHER SYSTEMS & SERVICE PROVIDERS

A
e-Kuber
system of the
Reserve Bank
of India (RBI)

First State in the

country to do so
for electronic
payment
integration

Information
Management
& Promotion
of

Online Salary
Management
System
(OSMS) of the
School
Education /
Panchayat
Department

Integration
with West
Bengal Health
Scheme portal

Administration

in Commercial
Taxes
(IMPACT)

For VAT
integration,
reconciliation
& validation

(www.wbhealth
scheme.gov.in)

For salary database For reimbursement

for payment to
of medical
staff of Schools,
expenses to
Colleges & PRI
Government
Institution
employees

Centre for
Development
of Advanced
Computing
(C-DAC)

Digital
Signature
Certificates
Authorities

For SMS

The only state

in the country
to have given
DSCs to all the
DDOs

INFRASTRUCTURAL ASPECTS

IFMS as an e-Governance project initiative has facilitated in creation of state-of-the-art infrastructure:

28

Central Servers at State Data Centre (SDC) and National Data Centre (NDC).

Disaster Recovery Setup with Business Continuity Plan.

Dedicated MPLS and WBSWAN (Redundant) connectivity for SDC and Treasuries throughout the
state.

Internet connectivity at all Government offices.

Provision of Desktop Computers to all users in the Treasuries and DDOs.

COST EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PROJECT

Cost of paper due to availability of Allotment

Orders in dematerialized format and nonprinting of about 21 lakh cheques.

02

01

Postal charges which used to be

annually incurred for dispatching
allotment letters to around 5 lakhs
recipients.

Cost of logistics due to discontinuation of

multiple visits at treasuries by the DDOs.

03

This is a Go-Green initiative.

04

Commission which used to be paid

earlier to banks for disbursement
of salary/ pension.

Interest due to scheduling of pension payment

exactly on the scheduled date. Earlier there was a 57 days lead time between receipts of cheque by
banks & subsequent credit to pensioners accounts.

06

Manpower due to elimination of certain

manual processes involved earlier in the
office of Treasuries & DDOs.

Manpower & logistics due to discontinuation of

distribution of pension cheques to nearly 3000
different bank branches.

08

05

07

Cost due to non-maintenance of

standalone servers / heavy duty
printers at each treasury.

29

30

Notes

Notes

Finance Department
Government of West Bengal
www.wbfin.nic.in