e-Office

The e-Office application is developed by the NIC and is based on the Government’s Central Secretariat Manual of e-Office Procedure, 2012 as formulated by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG). The application helps in achieving the objective of Governance with Accountability, Transparency and Innovation (GATI). The e-Office application's main module i.e. eFile is a system that comprises of different sub modules that are linked to manage the official work flow of the entire life cycle of a Document/Dak from the movement it is received by the organization till the time it is disposed of with the proper set of actions.

It involves all states of working in a file, including the scanning, diarization of inward receipts, creation of files, movement of Receipts/Files and finally, the closing of Files/Receipts. It dispenses with the need to carry files physically from one person to another. Also, no dak or file once on e-Office can be altered or destroyed or backdated.The use of the e-Office application in our day to day work benefits us in many ways including speedier decision making, transparency, accountability, and positive impact on the environment by cutting down the use of paper and printing.

e-Office project under eKranti which is the 5th pillar of “Digital India Programme”, was launched on 15.06.2020 as an ambitious reform in CBIC with an objective to bring in efficiency and standardization of the processes and also to minimize physical contact and movement of files. All the formations under CBIC have been directed to make optimal use of e-Office and carry out their entire office work. It also provides additional advantages like real time tracking and pendency of files and effective monitoring of performance of employees.

Following are the key points related to e-Office:-

• The Infrastructure for hosting the application has been obtained in terms of the prescribed guidelines of the NIC and is hosted at the National Data Centre Bhubaneshwar of NIC. It is secured as per the latest Cyber security guidelines of the Government of India, MeiTY.
• The users have been divided and mapped on Two servers (02) (called instances) CBIC-1 and CBIC-2. The total number of users working in e-Office in instance-I and instance II is 20656 and 18235 respectively from the rank of Principal Chief Commissioner to MTS.
• The files can be sent by the user of one instance to the user of another instance/MOF. e-Office can also be accessed through the AIOs provided/maintained by the DG System.
• NIC Roll out team in DGPM provides immediate resolution for the issues faced by the users in e-Office. 4 WhatsApp groups, 2 for Group-A Nodal Officers and 2 for EMD managers, have been created where users can escalate the issues through Nodal Officers/EMD managers. A dedicated e-mail e-office.cbic@gov.in has also been provided.
• e-Office was upgraded to the latest version 7.2.5 on 29 July, 2022.

As on date, all the offices under CBIC, a total of 430 distinct organizations viz. CGST formations-237, Customs formations - 69 and Directorates -124 have been made Live and most of the work of the CBIC has been shifted on e-Office realizing the dream of “Digital India”. It is evident that almost all Zones/Directorates have completely adapted to working electronically on the application, which is encouraging. Instructions have been given to all the CBIC officers to mandatorily open new files on e-Office and gradually migrate old and current physical files on e-Office which DGPM regularly monitors.