Cloud Telephony & IVRS based

Daily Monitoring System:

A Revolutionary Approach
for Monitoring
Government Programmes

Presentation by
Sudhanshu Tripathi
Finance Controller
Mid Day Meal Authority, U.P.
stripathi_99@yahoo.com, Ph +91 94150 14378




1
Structure of Presentation
Issues in Monitoring of Government Programmes
Recent Technological Developments
Conventional Reporting & Monitoring System in MDMS
The New System: How it all began!
Implementation of the DMS: The IVRS Model
Major Challenges & Solutions
Innovative Features
Success & Impact: Quantitative/ Qualitative
Future Path & Scalability
Awards Received by the Project
Sample MIS Reports


2
Issues in Monitoring of Govt. Programs
Huge spread of govt. programs in recent years e.g.
MDM, MNREGA, SSA, NRHM, ICDS etc. through
PRIs
Bogus/ inflated/ advanced Reporting
Hierarchical information flow
Different information for higher ups and people
because of unavailability of reports in Public
domain
Delayed reporting
Data at source not available at all levels


3
Technological Developments in Last 5 years
Web-mobile interface technologies
Enhanced mobile penetration esp. in rural
areas
Vernacular text to speech technology
Cluster based Cloud Telephony & IVRS
Cloud Computing Platform with Web Based
PaaS / SaaS/ IaaS
Above developments provided opportunity before
MDM Scheme for initiating a real-time monitoring
system for effective and efficient monitoring
4
Uttar Pradesh: Fact Sheet

Total no. of schools: 1.69 lac
Total no. of schools serving MDM: 1.65 lac
Students enrolled as per AWP: 198 lac
PAB approval for availing nos.: 122 lac (62%)
Students enrolled (1
st
Qtr 2014-15): 197.85 lac
Availing no. (1
st
Qtr 2014-15): 97.21 lac (49%)
Plan approved: Rs. 1799.76 crore
5
MDMS in U.P.
An Autonomous MDM Authority with Director as
head constituted at State level
Governing Body headed by the Chief Secretary of
the State
Secretary Basic Education as State Nodal Officer
District Magistrate as District level Nodal Officer
with Basic Education Officer to assist
District MDM Cell with one Co-ordinator & one
Computer Operator
Scheme implemented by Panchayats, teacher only
maintains the records and informs higher ups in
case of no meals

6
Conventional Reporting structure
Monthly basis of reporting
MDM register at school/ block/ district level for
monthly physical & financial information:
The schools fill up the number of students availing mid
day meal on daily basis in the school level MDM register.
This number is taken from the attendance register;
The data provided by schools is supposed to be compiled
at the block level and further at the district level;
The district office submits the district-wise data so
compiled to the MDMA on monthly basis on
www.upmdm.org
QPR generated through the system
7
Problems in Conventional System of Info - Flow
Spatial problem: School-wise report not available at
the district/ state level
Temporal problem: The time lag in data flow leading
to
Scope for data manipulation
Chances of excess physical/financial reporting
Delay in remedial action
Efficacy of the system jeopardized
Defaulting schools info in next month only
Monitoring Problem: Physical inspection presently
based on random selection - not on exception basis




8
Peculiar nature of MDMS
Data to come directly from school
A system based on computer-mobile interface
A completely toll-free model
A model that could run on lowest end mobile
A turn-key solution

9
Prerequisites of Proposed DMS
DMS: How it all began!
Vision Document prepared in 2007 took into
cognizance the ground reality of expansion of
mobile telephony in rural area & suggested a
Daily Monitoring System based on toll-free sms
First JRM Report (Feb10) for U.P. recommends:
There is no proper mechanism to monitor the implementation of the
MDM scheme in terms of regularity, quality & quantity below district
level. It is suggested that for proper monitoring a web based MIS for
transporting data directly from school to state level should be
developed. It was found that an action plan for SMS based daily MIS
was prepared at the MDM authority level in July 2007, which may be
helpful in designing and development of monitoring system.

10
The IVRS model
IVR calls from 89606 11111
Teachers to reply to the IVR calls for informing number of
students availing MDM on that day by keying-in the nos.
In case one misses out replying to the IVR call, one needs to
give a missed call to the same no.
The System to call back on its own within 5 minutes of
missed call
Provisions made for system enabled registration of new ph
number/leave/transfer/retirement of the teacher & holidays
0 info means the meal not served
Helpline/ Toll free No. 1800 1800 666 for info & data pulling
Hardcopy of info provided daily by the schools through IVRS
to be verified monthly by the headmaster in monthly
meeting
MIS available on www.upmdm.in

11
Feature Description SMS Voice
Cost
Effectiveness
Price Per outgoing SMS from server can be 3-4p while that of voice
call is 50p 75p. However the cost of sending the SMS from
remote users is also high at about 50p.

Usability for
multiple
data points
Capturing Multiple Data Points, (more than 5) SMS is more suitable
because of the offline nature of it.

Flexibility Making changes to SMS based system is more difficult compared to
VOICE where new questions along with instructions can be added at
anytime.

Interactivity The VOICE based system can be interactive based on the input by the
user. It can detect the invalid input by a user and prompt for re-entry.
Secondary questions can be asked to the user if required.

SMS based system can tell if the message has been delivered till the
users phone but not if the message has been read by the user.
VOICE based system can tell the number of seconds for which the
user listened to the message thereby providing a read receipt.

*Study conducted by Stanford in Gujarat (India) indicated that people are more comfortable in handling IVRS compared to SMS.
http://hci.stanford.edu/publications/2010/avaajotalo/patel-chi10-avaajotalo.pdf (Page 3)
Comparison between VOICE and SMS based systems
for remotely collecting data over telephone
12
Comparison between VOICE and SMS based systems
for remotely collecting data over telephone.
Feature Description SMS Voice
Toll-Free In VOICE sender of info need not pay any cost while in SMS cost is
to be paid especially in case the SMS lands on a different
network.

Multilingual

VOICE based system can be in a language that the user is
comfortable in. For a culturally diverse country like India this is an
important feature.

Training
Efforts & User
Friendliness
Training of people on the system is a significant cost. Research by
Stanford in India* shows people are more comfortable with
VOICE than with SMS.


Control on
Initiative
VOICE based system for data collection is proactive with Server
having the ability to pull data. The SMS based system is passive
with Server waiting for data being pushed by remote side.

No
Dependence
on
Make / Model
of Phone
VOICE based system is agnostic of the make and model of the
phone on the remote side. While SMS can also be sent from any
make or mobile, typically the SMS based models have a Mobile
Phone Application which captures the data and sends through
SMS. This creates a lockdown to phone make (if not model).

13
DMS: A New Tool of Monitoring
Philosophy behind the concept
Making School as the basic unit for information flow &
monitoring rather than district
Real time data collection and MIS
Bridging gaps in monitoring
A complete System of Data collection, MIS & DSS
on Auto-Pilot mode
Gives grass-root data at apex level & facilitates in
Monitoring & pinpointed Intervention
Successfully implemented since Jun10.
At present covers about 1.65 lac schools
Tracks number of students actually fed daily
Tracks number of schools not serving meals



14
Flow Model: Conventional System
UP Govt.
GOI
Districts BSA/ DM.
Division Asst Director
MDM Authority
Budget
Monitoring based on QPR and random selection
QPR/ U.C
Block -ABSA
School
Availing numbers
Foodgrain consumed
Cooking cost spent
Through MPR
15
School
- Registration
- Daily Attendance
- Confirmation
MIS Application
& DSS
Mid Day Meal Functionaries at
Block/ District/ Division / State
levels/ GOI

MIS Reports / Exception Reports
etc of all schools are available here
for decision making at different
levels

OBDD
Acknowledgement

Information
through IVR
tthrough IVR
Internet
Virtual
Number /
Server

OBD (Out Bound Dialling)
Monitoring by Exception

The Re-engineered Process
16
Challenges faced in Implementation
Operational Challenges
An unknown territory
Mode of operation
Teachers database


How to orient teachers


How to motivate teachers

Sustainability
Intervention for schools
not serving MDM
How to ensure
compliance by Teachers

DPR developed
Project assigned on Turn-key basis
Mobile no. of about 4.5 lac head-
masters, Asst. Teachers, Shiksha Mitras
collected
Design, Publish & Distribute
Operational Manual to teachers
Online demo/ training in about 900
blocks & town area
Teachers association taken into
confidence
Thru local/ administrative support
Logins to Commissioners/ DMs/
CDOs/BSAs/ BEOs & Alerts/Auto-emails
G.O. Issued by the State Govt. making it
mandatory for Teachers to give info.
17
Solution
Challenges faced in Implementation
System Design Challenges
Data push vs data pull

How to pull data from
teachers
Huge no. of schools
How to cover so many
schools by evening
How to ensure that for
providing data through
teachers own mobile, no
expenses are involved!

Solution
Data pull methodology for
data collection
Outbound Dialing thru Cloud
Telephony & IVRS
Codify 1.52 lac (2010) schools
PRI lines

Toll-free model, system of
missed call/ call rotation/ call
escalation

18
Technical Details and Configuration

Project Solution Components used are
Telephony Cloud and IVRS
Hindi text to Speech technologies
SMS Alerts and SMS Gateway
Cloud Computing Platform with Web Based PaaS / SaaS/ IaaS
Call Center (both inbound and outbound)
Toll Free Helpline (18001800666)
Data-center (Tier III)
DR (Disaster Recovery Site)

Nowhere else in India or the world these
technologies have been deployed for data
collection and MIS



19
Innovative Features
A Paradigm shift in Reporting System
IVRS technology used for the first time in the world at such a
large scale for data collection and MIS instead of information
dissemination
Hallmark of the New Tool: Process Innovation
Removes time-lag in data-flow
Monitoring based on Exception reports rather than Random
selection
Quick & Pointed Remedial action
Data manipulation done away with
Data pull vis--vis data push
Teacher not to spend a single paisa/ No mobile phones
required to be given to teachers




20
Innovative Features.. contd.
Completely outsourced
Complete risk passed on to vendor
Pay per data instead of pay per call
No investment for hardware, software, training etc.
Training, mobile no. collection, updation, call center,
publicity also responsibility of vendor
Faster to implement (2 months)
System of repeat calls/ reminder SMS/ calling
other teachers of the school/ call escalation
Auto sms on daily basis to BEOs, BSA, CDOs,
DMs, Commissioners & MDMA for defaulting
schools not serving meals; auto mails to DMs
21
Innovative Features.. contd.
User of Info controlling the information flow
instead of sender
Direct & instant info mechanism from grass-
root to the State without intermediate levels
Transparency & neatness of data resulting into
truthful information
From Info-paucity to Info-wealth
Objective inputs for Policy Making
Dynamic/ Simple/ Feasible/ Scalable/
Replicable


22
Success & Impact: Quantitative
No. of Schools data
received from
No. of schools meal
was not served
Percentage
Jun 2010
33,067 11, 771 35 %
Jul-Sep, 2010 1,00,519 28,284 28%
Apr-Jun, 2011 1,36,519 18,180 13%
Apr-Jun, 2012
1,46,234 10,863
7%
Sep-Oct, 2012 1,45,260 9,577 6.5%
Apr-Jun 2013 1,39,722 7,118 5%
Aug-Sep, 2013 1,47,416 5,370 3.6%
Sep 1 to Sep 20,
2014
1,49,719 5,479 3.65%
23
Status before the implementation
of the initiative
Status after the implementation
of the initiative
Key Result Areas
Information about schools not
serving MDM
No authentic information available Exact information available daily
Structure of Information Compiled information available
month wise
School wise information available
on daily basis
Immediacy of intervention Not possible Possible, based on objective criteria
Key Performance Indicators
Periodicity of information Monthly/quarterly Daily
Level from which information made
available
District School i.e. the actual level of
implementation
System of alerts Not available Alerts available to higher ups for
remedial action
Quality of data Compiled monthly Real time data
Transparency Information often based on
percentage basis
Transparent, actual information
available
Socio-economic Impact
Parameters
Knowledge of status of
implementation to public
Not available Possible to be made available in
public domain
Social Audit Not possible Possible
Level of community ownership Low High
Beneficiaries' feedback Available, if at all, through
hierarchical system
Directly available to decision
makers
Success & Impact: Qualitative
24
Impact on Stakeholders
25
Stakeholder 1:
(School Children)
Number of defaulting schools came down from 36.6 % in
Nov10 to % 5.1 % in Nov11 and 4% in Jul14.
Stakeholder 2:
(Monitoring agency
i.e. Govt. MDMA,
Division & Districts))

Identification of problem area on real time basis means
Immediate corrective measures
Monitoring based on exception reports
Objective input for policy intervention
Objectivity in mode of conversation
Transparency and accountability of data ensured
Checking of leakages and saving of scarce resources
GOI considered AWP 2011-12 to 2014-15 on DMS data
Stakeholder 3:
(Society)

Assimilation of teachers in the decision-making process
Involvement of School Management Committee (SMC) in the
DMS would ensure concurrent social audit
Community ownership of the MDM Scheme
Substantial Reduction in schools where Mid
Day Meals were not getting served
Made possible by immediate data availability to
officials at various levels who are then able to
follow-up with relevant authorities timely.
Psychological deterrent of real time monitoring
has put immense pressure on schools to prepare
and serve Mid Day Meals
It means meals to otherwise deprived children
26
Success & Impact: Qualitative
Reduction in leakages
Made possible by the comprehensive training and
sensitization of personnel conducted for the DMS
whereby it was shown that the data given by any
teacher /shiksha-mitra is immediately available on
Internet for senior officials and hence any surprise
inspection can take place in less than an hour
based on the data provided.
The knowledge of this process provides for a
psychological barrier to give wrong data and has
been responsible for eliciting correct information
from school personnel.

27
Success & Impact: Qualitative
Substantial Data for planning is now
available
Extended to Funds and Food-grains
Distribution
Information delivery to school authorities on
disbursement of funds and foodgrains from
districts is being done through DMS.
This has enabled the school authorities to
proactively follow up if funds and foodgrain do not
reach them as they now know when the release
happened from district level.

28
Success & Impact: Qualitative
Provides a solid platform for delivering
important information to school authorities
in least amount of time and it can be known
whether they understood the information
Important Information can be relayed to school
authorities in a single day in the whole of Uttar
Pradesh.
Feedback can be immediately be taken on
whether the particular school authority
(teacher / shiksha-mitra) understood the
information relayed.

29
Success & Impact: Qualitative
UNICEF wanted to spread the message /
recommendation of Handwashing with soap
before meal taking by the students to all school
authorities. It could be accomplished with DMS
easily and the message reached to all school
authorities in Uttar Pradesh.
UNICEF also took feedback on the number of
children who did wash their hands with soap after
the message was relayed to school authorities 4
days later.

30
Success & Impact: Qualitative
Providing a platform for Voice to the school
personnel and Creation of an eco-system of
support to them
The call center and the related software systems
have facilitated feedback collection and issue
solving.
Successful Demo of a Unique and Novel method
of Monitoring Scheme implementations in far
and geographically spread areas involving large
number of personnel which can be replicated
across schemes and sectors e.g. ICDS Scheme

31
Success & Impact: Qualitative
Success & Impact: Qualitative
Objectivity in mode of conversation
An Objective tool of policy planning available
Teacher communicating directly with the
district/ state level administrator brings in
inclusiveness
Social Audit: Decision taken to call SMCs
Enhanced community ownership of MDM
Scheme
GOI considered Work Plan 2011-12 to 2014-15
on DMS data



32
Monitoring and Collection of Very Important
information from schools in addition to the
Mid Day Meal Scheme
Dress Distribution Monitoring
Textbooks Distribution Monitoring
Medium of cooking (Cooking Gas or Wood)
Number of Gas Cylinders used in the schools
where Cooking Gas is used
Number of working Hand pumps and Faucets (in
selected districts) for WASH Program of UNICEF

33
Success & Impact: Qualitative
Success & Impact: Qualitative
Inspections - now Exception Report based and pin
pointed to problem areas
Direct information from Teachers to State Level
has led to very high acceptability of system
amongst Teachers
Role of intermediate level in information flow
from field to apex level done away with
Divisional offices no more work as post office of
information flow from field to apex level rather
take the exceptional reports from the MIS and
proactively monitor the scheme with remedial
interventions in problem areas


34
Scalability..
Scalable in terms of size since solution based on Cloud
computing technology and SIP model (SaaS, IaaS and
PaaS) of service delivery
So updation & standardisation of technology ensured
Also scalable in terms of performance:
Each schools complete database for Food-grain/CC
lifted/allocated/ utilized can be built into the System
All MPRs/ QPRs can directly be accessed by the State Govt. &
GOI from the website
Uploading Inspection reports/ photos etc
Grievance redressal
Third Party feedback by calling up SMCs
Monitoring on auto-pilot mode
Enough time for remedial intervention/ policy


35

Areas/ Programmes where the New Tool can be
used
Development schemes with one to three parameters eg
MNREGA, ICDS
Replicated in U.P. in ICDS
For info of daily collection of revenue viz. for Excise,
Commercial/Entertainment Tax, Mandis etc
For daily no. of F.I.Rs, no. of Challans by traffic police,
OPD/IPD, Data from ANMs for Health Programmes etc
Surprise checks based on exception reports
Private sector can also use this tool for direct reports from
rural retail outlets



Replicability..
36
Evaluation of the System
By UNICEF
Evaluation study by IIM Lucknow
By eminent jury in different awards & recognitions
received by the System
GOI produced a documentary on DMS for being
shown in academies, Training institutions &
Community
GOI got a case study written for being used for
probationers in National & State Academies
Inspections under Chief Secretarys instructions

37

Awards and Recognitions
National Gold Award for e-Governance in 2011-
12 for Innovative Technology
NASSCOM Social Innovation Honours 2013 &
UNICEF Recognition for Innovation for Children
ASSOCHAM Award for Excellence in Education
2013
Manthan Award South Asia & Asia Pacific 2012
India Digital Awards 2012 by IAMAI
mBillionth South Asia Awards 2011
Special Recognition in Vodafone Mobiles for
Good Awards 2011
Shortlisted by UN Public Service & Public Affairs
Asia Awards


38
Future Path
MDMS Essentials: Regularity, Quality, Quantity
Regularity Ensured thru DMS
Quality and Quantity monitoring can be done
Monitoring Attendance of Teachers in schools
Posting of Teachers on basis of availing nos.
Monitor Reasons of default so as to arrive at
systemic nature of problem
Monitor Payment of Honorarium to Cooks
Engagement of Cook on basis of availing nos.
39
Future Path
Focus on Regional status of problems and
need of intervention
DMS: from a tool of monitoring to an
objective tool of planning
Activity Monitoring being introduced
Usage pattern and statistics on the use of each of
the Analytics in the platform by the concerned
officials at district and block level.
This would help the Contact Center of the project
to get in touch with officials on very specific
actions to be taken by them for use of the system



40
Sample Exception Reports

Presented in next few slides
41
Teacher detail who has given Data
System Generated Daily SMS Formats



Thanks

www.upmdm.in


55