According to official sources, the Bangladesh e-Government ERP Project of Bangladesh Computer Council under ICT Division involving Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) of BUET and a consortium of local software companies have designed and developed 4 out of 9 modules of this GRP.
“When all the 9 modules are completed, it will serve as a great tool to manage government resources economically and more efficiently in a whole-of-government approach,” said ICT secretary N M Zeaul Alam.
He said the government is not only making the office smart through automation of various processes, but also ensuring transparency and accountability of the employees.
Zeaul Alam said different ministries, departments and directorates don’t need to spend hundreds of crores of taka from the public exchequer to automate their works once the 9 modules function successfully.
The modules so far developed are: event and meeting management, inventory, procurement management and asset management and the remaining 5 modules—human resource management, budgeting, accounts, audit, project monitoring and management will be developed within this fiscal year, according to a source.
Executive Director of BCC Parthapratim Deb said the 9 modules are being developed as a pilot project for ICT Division and Planning Division and after successful application of the modules in these two divisions it would be replicated in other ministries, divisions and directorates.
The local software industry will have the unique opportunity to learn to develop from the existing robust Open Source ERP solutions and do deep customizations for the specific needs of various government offices, he said.
Tarique M Barkatullah, who is looking after the e-Governance project at ICT Division said the implementation of the GRP solution will be a big leap in the journey towards Digital Bangladesh.
He too emphasised the advantages of the ‘whole-of-government’ approach over the current silo approach.
Project Director Dr Ashok Kumar Roy said the IT and IT-Enabling Services firms will also have the opportunity to work in various segments of the whole-of-government ERP solutions value chain.