Office Automation:

An Overview

Government of India
Ministry of Communication & Information Technology
Department of Information Technology
National Informatics Centre
Training Division, New Delhi

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 1

 Agenda
• Classification of Office Activities
• Trends in Technology
• Aim of using IT Tools in Offices
• Concept of Office Automation
• Present Scenario
• Need for re-engineering of processes
• Concept of Work flow
• Groupware Technology Tools: An Overview

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 2

Classification of Office Activities
• Documents preparation
• Data Management ( Structured /
Unstructured)
• Scheduling / Planning of activities
• Presentation
• Dissemination of Information
• Communication / Correspondence

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 3

 Trends in Technology
• Hardware
– Reduced Size, Less cost, More capabilities
• Software
– More capable, User friendly, More towards real
world environment
• Networking
– Faster Communication Media, Concept for
LAN/WAN/MAN / Web Technology
… cont.

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 4

 Trends in Technology
• Linking of conventional tools

Telephone, Fax, Photocopier can be

easily linked with Information Technology
tools
( Computers & Communication) to
automate office functions.

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 5

 Objective of using IT Tools in Office

• Improvement in quality of output

• Improved Productivity / efficiency
• Optimal Utilization of Resources
• Reduction in time taken in execution of activities
• Better Information sharing / Transparency
• Better way of delivery of information to user at a place
convenient to him / her
• Reduction in the dependency on human beings
• Look for simplification of procedures
• Better customer support etc…….

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 6

 Desktops

Mainframes
Cost

Investments

Increase in
Productivity

Time
National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 7
 Why is it so?
• Lack of understanding of concept of Office
Automation
• Lack of knowledge about Technology
• Lack of Coordination
• Resistance to Change
• Lack of willingness to adopt new tools

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 8

 How to deal with crisis?

We should understand that :

• Information management is a business process, as
today’s user expects quality product and satisfaction
• Organisations need to change way of working to take full
advantage of technology
• Work culture needs to change to shift focus on process
instead of a task

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 9

What is Office Automation
( Today’s concept)?

• Adoption of IT Tools for enhancing productivity and

reduction of manual labour
• It is associated with paperless office

Is it enough ?

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 10

 Technology Vs. Business
• Question arises
Should Technology change business or
Business needs should change technology?

• By providing IT tools at desk tops, should we

not redistribute responsibilities by providing
more powers of decision making down the
line?

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 11

 Need for re-engineering of processes

• To take full advantage of technology, there is a

need for re-engineering of processes
• Key to successful re-engineering process is
integration of people, processes, data, strategy,
and technology
• Objective of re-engineering should be to reach
Total Quality Management
• IT Tools are so powerful, that dream of TQM can
be definitely fulfilled, if timely actions are taken

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 12

 Re-engineering Process

• To take full advantage of Technology, processes need to

be re-engineered
• Key to successful re-engineering is integration of people,
processes, data, strategy and technology
• Objective of re-engineering should be to reach TQM
( Simplification of procedures, minimize process delays,
improve quality of output, minimize cost of operations)

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 13

Objective of Office Automation ( Redefined)

• To improve customer relation by bringing

transparency in systems
• To achieve better management control
• To simplify operations and minimise
computational errors
• To improve quality of output in terms of
presentation and reduction in processing
time

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 14

 Workgroup

• A workgroup is a group of people

working towards the same goal.

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 15

Concept of Workflow in Office Automation

Information management / Business

processes can be divided into sets of inter
related tasks, which need to be done in
prescribed order incorporating information
from various resources.

So one has to look for work flow

automation using IT tools

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 16

 Workgroup … contd.

• The members of the workgroup may

be locally placed, e.g., people working
in a section/ department or they
may be placed at different far off
locations.

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 17

WorkFlow
A Workflow is anything that makes knowledge or
information sharing / dissemination more efficiently
ansl it also helps in coordination of various activities to
achieve a predefined goal .

Intermediary
Information Output
Data Flow

Input from Data

Input from Bank
some other
source
National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 18
 The 3 C’s in a Work flow
Collaboration
• Sharing the information
–
Communication
• Exchange of ideas
–
Consultancy
–
Coordination
• Monitoring the workflow
–
Ensuring the Quality of Output
–

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 19

What’s the key to the solution?

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 20

Technology Drivers
• Hardware Devices
– Communication Devices
– Processors
• New Groupware S/W
• Web Technology

National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 21

 Thank
You….

For further information and suggestions please contact

Training Division
National Informatics Centre
A-block, CGO Complex
Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003
E-mail:trghq@alpha.nic.in
Website: http://training.nic.in
National Informatics Centre, DIT, Govt. of India 22