The fax machine is now oh-so-old-fashioned! With electronic
communication, such as email, workflow systems and collaborative platforms becoming
commonplace, who would use the facsimile anymore? The answer is, government
offices. The fax machine is basically a super high speed Speedpost, which sends
a document in a few minutes against a day or two. Does it result in speedier
working? Why do we need the printed paper out of the fax machine anyway, if we
can print out an email and use it the same way? This has intrigued me for long.
In recent times I, as most of other Sarkari Babus, have been
receiving letters through four separate channels, viz. the WhatsApp, email, Fax
and Regular Post. The sender gets a letter typed out by his PA, takes a photo with his/her smartphone and sends
it pat to the recipients in an instant. Sometimes the PA does the photography too.
The sender expects a quick reply by “return WhatsApp”. But he is not sure if
the receiver is responsible enough. So, he sends an email, then a fax and then again,
the very same paper by surface mail. Then again, he calls up the recipient on phone and asks him if he has received WhatsApp, email and fax.
Why doesn’t a simple email work in the government office? The
reason is that a government file understands only paper. So, whether it is a
WhatsApp or an email attachment, it must be printed and “placed on file”. Fax is
a friendly device since it gives a paper, ready to file. The letter or the
document is placed on the “file side” or “letter side” then it is serially
numbered. The clerk “puts up” the file to the sahib with his “noting” on the “noting
side”. The clerk adds no value, except link some older correspondence placed
earlier in the file. But “put up” he must. Without a file “duly” put up, the
sahib is crippled. He can’t just pick up a letter and act on it. He must “pass
his order” on the noting side and noting side alone. The noting side is where
the government speaks.
In spite of multiple exhortations, we Babus have not taken
to modern ways of working. The main reason is not our fear of technology. It is
our inability to change the way a file is handled in a typical sarkari office.
The file has a letter side and a noting side, both linked by manual
referencing, “please see para A at F/119 and previous noting of 12-7-16 at
ns/12” and so on. This is not amenable to computerisation and workflow. A workflow
is efficient if it is linear, with as little branching-off enroute as possible.
We must therefore design a workflow, which does not mirror the archaic file
system. It must work efficiently from “desk to desk” or user to user. There
will probably be no act of "putting up" by a clerk. Referencing to earlier
documents should be automatic with hyperlinks and embedding. It requires that
all new files be created online, the existing ones being closed as they outlive
their purpose.
The fax machine must die. WhatsApp, as an official document
handling medium, must die too. Sending documents by WhatsApp may appear a tech
savvy act, but it is worse than a fax as there is very little you can do on
that small screen. Sending letters by email is passé too, it still has to be printed
and placed on the same archaic file.
A good workflow, therefore, requires that the documents be created
online, not scanned or photographed. Natively created documents are easy to search
and link. There will be no place for Office Superintendents and Section
Officers. The Bada Sahib will have to learn how to type and read documents on a screen. There
will be no opportunity for dictating a letter to the PA and asking the peon to
fax it to the Head Quarters.
We must have a good computerised workflow system for collaborative
working, nothing less.
Are we up to it? Not yet, I am afraid.
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