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Networking the Gods
With 80,000 daily transactions, four Delhi gurdwaras are banking on ERP for managing over Rs 100 cr a year in donations.
Jaspreet Singh likes to begin his day early. At 5.30 am each day, he takes a dip in the holy sarovar at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib in central Delhi before moving to the prasad counter. Singh hands over some money and hums the gurbani, while the sewadar at the counter passes him the prasad, some flowers and an IBM desktop-generated receipt for Rs 21.
On his way out, Singh makes a cash donation at the gate. He is promptly handed another receipt for this, and both transactions are fed into the gurdwara's brand-new ERP system.
Does it seem far-fetched to picture computers whirring away in places of worship, in perfect sync with sabads, kirtans and gurbani? Especially in the Indian context, where large sections of business are yet to be touched by information technology? Perhaps yes, but that is exactly what the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has done. In a bid to centralize the workings of gurdwaras under its purview, the committee has implemented an ambitious project to integrate Delhi's four major gurdwaras-Bangla Sahib, Rakab Ganj, Sis Ganj and Nanak Piao.
The project was initiated by a team of consultants from Delhi-based Multiple Zones India and Webuzz Software Pvt. Ltd, which devised and implemented a solution for the automation of all processes at the four gurdwaras. "With IT influencing every sphere of life, I had this dream-a computer network that would streamline all our functions and bring in transparency," says DSGMC president, Avtar Singh Hit.
Thanks to the very progressive and religious Sikh community, the DSGMC collects an annual Rs 100-120 crore in donations, its primary source of cash inflow. The more devout and prosperous make cash donations running into a few lakhs, or in kind-property, gold and silver. These funds are used for management, maintenance and expansion of the gurdwara, including the cost of running the regular langars that gurdwaras are so renowned for. A part of the funds are utilized to run the committee's educational institutions and hospitals. According to Hit, "The idea was to make the system vitreous and accessible at the click of a button, right from collection to the last penny spent."
It was this endeavor to integrate all functions in the major gurdwaras in Delhi, that saw Multiple Zones and Webuzz Software Pvt. Ltd entering the picture. Webuzz Software Pvt. Ltd, a Delhi-based startup, which provided computer education at Guru Harkishan Public School in New Delhi, was approached by the DSGMC. The numbers thrown at them-an average day, about 20,000 transactions take place in each of the gurdwaras. On weekends and festival days, the number rockets to 1.5 to 2 lakhs.
"The authorities were not clear on what could be done to streamline their system," says Kewal Kahlon, director of Webuzz Software Pvt. Ltd, herself a Sikh. "We conducted extensive studies, consulted with management firms and devised an ERP package-the Integrated Gurdwara Management System (IGMS)-with 14 modules." The package integrates all transactions including prasad parchi system, langar donation, accounting, payroll and inventory management."
Under the IGMS, two high-capacity central servers have been installed at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj, where the DSGMC has its head office. The servers are linked on a wide area network to local servers in the other three gurdwaras. At present, installation has been completed at Bangla Sahib and by mid-June, the entire network should be up and running.
The network has been designed for expandability and reliability. "We were conscious of the fact that this may be required to be upgraded at a later stage, considering the likely increase in number of devotees over the years," says 39-year-old Atul Asthana, head of IT services at Multiple Zones, which executed the systems integration and networking. "We also tested the network in the lab for implementation feasibility, bandwidth and data communication requirements." About 60 IBM desktops and six IBM servers have been used to wire up the gurdwaras. Another 28 servers in the schools and colleges run by the DSGMC, connect them to the network.
Apart from developing and implementing the ERP package, Webuzz Software Pvt. Ltd and Multiple Zones also took up the task of training the DSGMC employees, the entire process taking up around six months. And how much did DSGMC have to cough up to go tech-savvy? "Under Rs 1.5 crore," says 35-year old Atul Kapoor, V-P (sales and operations) at Multiple Zones. This was thanks to the discounts that IBM and Microsoft gave us for the hardware, for developing the modules and the networking did not cost too much,"
"The DSGMC is a progressive body," says Kapoor. "They were particular that their own employees be trained to adapt to the system. And the training issue was a tough one, as most of the employees had no prior knowledge of computers." The training took about two months and there are still some loopholes to be plugged, but the literacy level is rising fast. "Some of the employees had not even used a mouse before this and it took them three days to get used to just that. But everyone's put in a lot of effort and learning very quickly. Perhaps God empowers them," adds Kahlon wistfully. Currently, representatives from Webuzz Software Pvt. Ltd and Multiple Zone are maintaining the network, but the DSGMC is in the process of hiring its own team of computer professionals.
But even though the basic level of computer literacy has been cultivated, there still remains the need to create awareness about the system and what exactly the DSGMC is targeting to achieve with it. Some of the people working on the system are unclear on the relevance of putting this vast network in place and have never heard of ERPbefore. "Working on a computer has not affected my work-style. Where I used to make daily entries in the register, I now use the computer," says Jaswinder Kaur, the librarian at Bangla Sahib. Point her view out to Hit, and he just smiles. "Let the entire system get into place and working, the benefits will be there for all to see." If this projects is successful, nothing could stop other religious institutes from adopting such a structure.
So where does DSGMC go from here? Next on the Committee's agenda are plans to webcast the festive gurdwara ceremonies. Is this a case of too much too soon? "No," says Kapoor, "This is not ahead of time; it is the right idea at the right time."
Is someone at Tirupathi and Vaishno Devi listening?
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