Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, digitally “cutting the ribbon” to officially launch the Personnel Administration Division’s new Correspondence Management System today. (C.Pitt/BGIS)

Government’s Correspondence Management System (CMS), which will move the Personnel Administration Division (PAD) from a paper intensive to a digital-based environment, will be fully implemented by January 1, 2018.

Word of this came today from Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, as he addressed the launch of the Personnel Administration Division’s CMS at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

He disclosed that the Transition Plan for the implementation of the CMS included a user testing component to assess its ability to manage the volume of correspondence submitted to the Division.

“The system will now be piloted from the beginning of next week and this phase will run to the end of December this year. During the pilot, correspondence will be accepted from client groups using a modular approach. This means that different correspondence processes will be tested incrementally until all are brought online,” he explained.

Underscoring the importance of the CMS, Mr. Stuart identified shorter processing times; the retrieval of correspondence in real time; the ability to track and monitor progress of that correspondence as it moves through the approval process; and the operation of a paperless environment as some of the benefits to be derived from the introduction of the system.

“The introduction of the Correspondence Management System, therefore, is evidence that the Personnel Administration Division recognises that digital and communication technology has been changing life experiences not only in the home, but also in the workplace.  No longer will clients accept that the only way to secure access to government services is by way of direct contact with agencies.  Clients want to have more control over when, and how they access these services,” he stated.

The Prime Minister pointed out that while the CMS was owned by PAD, the servers which host the application and the technical support for the system were located within the data centre of the Data Processing Department in Warrens.

According to him, the cost savings accrued from this arrangement could now be redirected to the development of other aspects of the project to improve service delivery to clients.

Members of the audience at today’s CMS launch. (C.Pitt/BGIS)

He expressed the view that once successfully implemented, the CMS could be utilised by other agencies to address their records and information management issues, which are currently affecting productivity and the speed of decision-making.

“The adoption of the Correspondence Management System throughout the Public Service will not only save on costs, but will also foster greater collaboration among government agencies, in relation to the sharing of the Information, Communication and Technological infrastructure already deployed and already proven,” he surmised.

The Correspondence Management System was funded by the European Union under the Human Resource Development Strategy 2011-2016. It has been designed to allow PAD to receive, process, track and disseminate correspondence electronically from external government entities and the public.

It will provide a content/process management component to maintain the Division’s documents in electronic format, and a framework to allow easy access and retrieval of content and documents based on authorised access privileges.

sharon.austingill-moore@barbados.gov.bb

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