United Nations Development ProgramIndia

Coordination & Decision Support System Coordination & Decision Support System (CDSS)(CDSS)on External Assistance

Department of Economic AffairsMinistry of Finance

Government of India

In association with

India

Integrating CDSS with Government’s Finance Management System (AAAD)

byC Sunil Kumar

Introduction

External assistance has a significant role in the development process in India with approximately 10% of the total investment in the public sector with projects in infrastructure, production and social sectors.

Each of the multilateral and bilateral programmes has its own set of processes for monitoring the physical and financial progress of projects.

The Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) in the Ministry of Finance (MoF) is the nodal agency of the Government of India (GoI) for coordinating different aspects of economic management in the country.

The need:

A uniform approach in external aided projects available to all stakeholders that can foresee problems in implementation

What is CDSS?

CDSS (Coordination Decision Support System) is a web-based application to track the progress of individual external aided projects and programmes in Ministry of Finance (MoF), Government of India (GoI)

CDSS is based on a customized version of the Development Assistance Database (DAD)

DAD has been reengineered to meet the institutional needs in India after consultations with stakeholders, particularly with central ministries, state governments and donor agencies.

Enables comprehensive, multi-dimensional analysis and measurement of the impact of aid assistance on economic and social development and identification of gaps and priority areas for future investments

Allows the user to view project data organized into lists, reports, charts, and maps. CDSS is composed of a variety of components, which combine to provide a comprehensive solution for project management functional requirements

Providing stakeholders with the capability to produce analytical reports, charts and GIS

CDSS – Key capabilities

CDSS

CDSS database is centrally located in DEA, Ministry of Finace, Govt. of India

PIAs(Project Implementing Agency) across the country, donor agencies and credit divisions update data by accessing CDSS through internet

Public can access CDSS for viewing information

User support is to be provided along with technical support & maintenance

CDSS - deployment

User 1User 3

User 2

CDSS

AAAD

Exim

Users update the project data

Three categories of users – PIA, Credit division and Donor agency

CDSS is integrated with Government’s Financed management system for the updation of financial data (AAAD)

Financial data is updated by the automated process called Exim (Export-Import) from AAAD database

CDSS Data updation

Integrating CDSS with AAAD database

•AAAD (Aid Accounts & Audit Department) is the agency managing the external assistance database of Indian public finance management system

•AAAD is a separate entity within MoF

•AAAD maintains and updates a separate database for all financial information

•All financial information is updated on real time basis

All the financial data in AAAD is authenticated

It is the only agency which provide updated financial data on daily basis

Official project financial data is provided by AAAD

Why Exim ?

What is Exim ?Exim is the most salient feature of CDSS

Exim is the Export-Import software application tool in CDSS

Exim exports the financial data from AAAD database and updates the data in CDSS database

It is a fully automated package which triggers on predefined schedule

The application runs on two different databases physically located in two places

The application works on internet technologies

AAAD database CDSS database

Advantages of Exim

Financial data in CDSS is always in synchronization with AAAD data

No need of manual data updation of financial data

Data redundancy is avoided

New projects are automatically added to CDSS

How Exim works ?

There are two applications in Exim – one is Export application and other is Import application

The Export application is installed in AAAD server

This application works on scheduled time on daily basis

All financial data is received and store in AAAD server

The data is divided into packets and send to CDSS server through internet

The Import application receives this data and stores in CDSS server

This data is updated in CDSS database on scheduled time

Exim is the most critical application running in the system and needs regular monitoring and maintanace

Exim is deployed in both AAAD serer and CDSS server

CDSS has no control over AAAD server

AAAD server is physically located in a different location

Any updation/modification in structure of AAAD database will affect the Exim

Any change in IP address of servers will affect the Exim

CDSS – Exim Challenges

•An user interface application will be developed in Exim

•The user interface application – to some extent – help in customization of data fields from AAAD without making changes in the code.

•Depending upon the changes/modifications in AAAD database, the fields can also be changed using this application

•More control check points will be added so that log files will be easier to debug.

Exim - Looking to the Future

Thank You !!

Coordination Decision Support SystemRoom No: 276 G

Department of Economic AffairsMinistry of Finance

North BlockNew Delhi – 110 001

India

Tel: +91 11 23095207Email: cdssindia-dea@nic.in