A Response of Professionals in Information Kerala Mission to the points raised in the study commissioned by the Free Software Foundation - Page 10
 
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VI.  Annexure

1. A few other spurious points to ponder in the study

Point 1
Vellanad: We were also told about the numerous bugs in other software tools as well. IKM, it seems, is still in the process of fixing these bugs.
[report, page 7]

Reality

 IKM had deployed applications in the field after thorough in-house testing. IKM is not at all shy to acknowledge any bugs that might have appeared in the application. This is also expected, since the pilots are also the beta-testing sites for IKM applications, and these sites are precisely for locating any bugs. However the statement made by the team about bugs is not at all factual and no effort has been made to describe any bug that they have come across during the 'reported handling of the applications' in their presence.

Point 2
Usability of the software: The applications we have seen in the panchayath are in pathetic situation in terms of usability. Let us site a few examples (from Sevana package).
a. There are no tool tips – tool tips are common in any good software these days. They tell the users what each of the button, and other component of the software does.
b. Lack of description/ online help - there is no help provided as part of the software in terms of descriptions in the screens, or separate help buttons. They are highly essential for programs of this scale.
[report, page 10-11]

Reality

 The criticisms have been raised without considering the context of IKM applications. The applications developed by IKM are not general purpose applications like AUTOCAD or MS-WORD. They cater to specific functions and processes linked to such functions. Since the applications are having interfaces very similar to the formats normally used or the formats improvised keeping in view improved business processes, users are in general very familiar with the terms used in the application interface and there is hardly any need for tool tips. 

Further, extensive training manuals and help documentation have been prepared for each of the applications. These have been integrated with the Sanchita application which acts as a hub consolidating reference material on Acts, Rules, orders, judgements, etc. linked to the various application suites. The new version of Sanchita has integration with other applications in the form of context sensitive help.

Point 3
 c. Error messages – Error messages are not at all informative. This makes the use of the software very difficult. For example, if you want to search for a certificate in a particular date, in the software there is no mention of how the date is entered, 01/01/2004 or 1/1/2004. If you enter it in the wrong format, the software neither accept it nor tell how it is to be entered correctly.
[report, page 11]

Reality

 The application is again looked at divorced from the context. The LSGI staff that use the IKM applications have absolutely no confusions regarding entering date formats. They invariably use only one date format namely dd-mm-yyyy.

Point 4
 d. Selection of search criterion – there is a provision for searching for some data, based on certain conditions given. The interface has been designed in such a way that you will often make mistakes. To test we gave few conditions like certificate issued before a date, in between dates etc. We found results highly in-consistent. Further checking revealed that it was a problem with the interface.
[report, page 11]

Reality

 This comment also is made without knowing the functionality required. The search feature in the Sevana application is being used to search lakhs of records, everyday at least ten to twenty times, in the four Corporations in Kerala. There has not been a single issue regarding problems with this feature. The actual users have been very much impressed with this feature and have found this to be very helpful for their tasks. Further it goes without saying that when different parameters are given for search, the results would indeed be different.

Point 5
 e. In consistent (sic) interface – The software interfaces differ between applications. E.g. in case of Sevana you just have to type a number to get into the software. And it uses browser as interface. Other applications need Username and Password to access. In case of Sevana, first application shows a screen which asks User Id and Password. But Password field is not working. You can actually access the software by giving user Id alone. This is a serious security issue, which should never happen while handling government data.
[report, page 11]

Reality

There are two types of applications developed by IKM. One is the application for capturing the legacy data. The other is the online application that is deployed in LSGIs for handling the day to day operations. These two applications have entirely different functionalities based on their requirements. The interfaces are therefore different. The online applications, developed using ASP (browser interface), are deployed with usernames and passwords for each users. The past data entry (PDE) applications developed in VB are designed for bulk data entry. In the PDE applications security is not of very high importance since the applications are managed by IKM personnel themselves and further data has to be regularly checked and validated before it is ported to the actual application for online operation. All the applications developed by IKM have four different levels of users. Different users can be assigned to any of these different levels depending on the functionality/ designation of the users. The rights assigned to each level of users and the functions that they can do depend on the user-type to which they are assigned. The normal users in the Panchayat know about only the features and aspects of the software for which they have been trained, and which they use regularly. The study team seems to have attempted to extract information regarding the administrative functions and other aspects of the software from them.

Many of the user names have been given in the form of alphanumeric characters. However usernames can be given in full alphabet and full numeric form. New users can be created and disabled only by the user with administrative rights.[i] 

Point 6
Usability of the software (contd.)
There were numerous other interface problems. A revamp of the interface would be better. Feed back from the current users may be taken. As the package is going to be used by people who are not very tech-savvy, interface needs to be designed more carefully.
[report, page 11-12]

Reality

The study team has made a sweeping statement here to malign IKM application development. IKM has adopted a software development methodology with extensive user participation. Participation of the users has been ensured right from the stage of requirement finalisation through review of prototypes to use-case based testing of the application before deployment.

Making a statement that the applications are being used by people who are not tech-savvy, read with the earlier comments which clearly exposes the review team’s lack of understanding of the domain, shows that the team has looked at the applications from a simple technical view rather than a domain and context related view.

The attempt made by the study team to look at the application without doing the necessary homework to arrive at even a rudimentary knowledge of the features and functions of the applications, and the perspective of the actual users of the software, and making "knowledgeable" comments on the software is most deplorable, to say the least.

Point 7
Map Digitisation
Data collection and map digitisation in part has been done. But no GIS solution is provided to Panchayath. Only a computer printed map is with them. It seems that IKM is facing prob in linking data from various sources to make a single map with all data in different layers.
[report, page 17]

Reality

The GIS based application Sachitra is available at Vellanad Panchayat. The Sachitra application has provision for thematic and synoptic views. 

IKM has not intended GIS tools to be used for analysis at the LSGI level. GIS will be integrated with the new version of Sanchaya and Sakarma applications which will help in decision making at the LSGI level.

 Point 8

Reality

A Plan Monitoring application was developed in C-DIT, which was the precursor for constituting the IKM mission team. The Sulekha application was developed based on this and it was demonstrated in 2000 itself. The consolidation of Plan Monitoring details in the 84 Grama Panchayats and 12 Block Panchayats in Thiruvananthapuram District was carried out using this.

All the data consolidated by the State Planning Board since then have been with the help Sulekha application, including those in the Economic Review 2002 and 2003. The consolidation has been carried out by IKM by collecting the filled up forms from the Panchayat and conducting the data-entry through district level and state level operations.

Establishing the network involves the deployment of hardware, the procurement of which is a policy decision to be finalised by the Government. The Sulekha application is ready for deployment with the hardware.

 

...Next Page2. Other errors and mistakes in the report

 

[i]       While offering these remarks let us not forget that it is not wise to think that security implementation would be readily possible with restricting the application login/ access alone. It would depend on the whole process of security including physical access.