Introduction of Workflow Chain and Approval of eService Book in HRMS

Government of West Bengal
Finance Department
e-Governance Group

No. 1303-F(e-Gov) Date: 21.03.2023

NOTIFICATION

Sub: Introduction of “Workflow Chain” and “Approval of eService Book” in HRMS

In order to relieve the State Government employees from the hardship being faced during their service life and after retirement due to maintenance of Service Book in physical form at various offices of posting or office(s) of the cadre controlling authority, the online system of Management of Service Book (mentioned as e-Service Book hereinafter) has already been introduced in terms of Memo. No. 6000-F(Y) dated 5.11.2019.

All legacy data pertaining to service matters of an employee, as already recorded in the “Physical Service book”, has been entered into eService Book (digital format) either by the operator of the Custodian of Service Books or by the employee himself/ herself through eSE facility of iFMS.

Now all the entries so made are to be submitted online to the Custodian of eService Book through predefined Workflow System for approval.

“Workflow System” has also been introduced in HRMS vide order no. 6716-F(Y) dated 10.12.2019. By following this order the workflow chain in an office or establishment shall have to be defined by the Head of Office himself or by the Workflow Nodal Officer of that office based on a written order issued by the Head of Office. The order so issued should clearly define the flow of Service Book in HRMS for extensive scrutiny by the concerned staff member at the lowest level of workflow chain, thereafter, recommendation by the middle level officer(s) on verification of such scrutinized eService Book and finally, approval by the Head of office himself or by a Delegated Approver on being fully satisfied with the entered records in eService Book. The work flow chain has been successfully implemented in pay fixation sub-module recently.

Now the Governor is pleased to extend the Workflow Chain functionality for approval of eService Books in HRMS in the manner as specified below.

1. In order to initiate the process, all Appointing Authorities shall have to declare (one time activity) in HRMS whether the Service book shall be maintained in Centralised or Decentralised manner. The Office, wherein the Service Books are maintained, will act as the custodian in respect of such service books. Without such declaration, no further processing can be done. (The concept of maintenance of Service Book in Centralized or Decentralized manner has been explained in “Annexure A” appended hereto).
2. In case of Decentralised manner of maintenance of Service Book, it is mandatory for the Head of Office to declare in HRMS. whether the service books of the employees posted in his office are at the custody of his own office or are at the custody of any other office.
3. The Head of Office or Workflow Nodal Officer, if created, shall have to construct the workflow chain or chains depending upon certain parameters like cadre, service type, etc. for proper distribution of the workload relating to digitization of service book among officers and staff members of the concerned office. Once the necessary entries in eService book of an employee are completed as per Order No. 6000-F(Y) dated 5.11.2019, it has to be “Forwarded” through his/her eSE login in HRMS. However, in case of Group D employees, if they are unable to enter legacy Service Book data through their eSE login, the office of the custodian will arrange for entry of the records in the eService Book from the Physical Service Book on behalf of them.

4. Custodian of eService Book shall ensure that all information entered in the eService Book are complete, up-to-date & error free, in comparison to the entries in the physical service book.

The detailed modalities are explained in Annexure – A which is also available in downloadable format in “Guidelines” section of WBIFMS portal.

After introduction of this order, various service matters like availing Leaves, Loan, Promotion, Increment, Pay Fixation, etc. shall have to be mandatory dealt with through HRMS for their automatic reflection in eService Book.

For its successful implementation, all the activities as specified in this order for approval of eService book should be strictly adhered to. Hence, all the departments are requested to make necessary arrangements) to implement this process on priority basis by monitoring the progress of implementation at different stages.

Sd/- Manoj Pant
Additional Chief Secretary to the
Government of West Bengal

Specifying the Custodian of Service Book in HRMS

Role of Appointing Authorities

1) All Appointing Authorities have to specify in HRMS the mode in which the service books are maintained:-

a) Centralised- In this mode all the service books are either kept in the custody of the Appointing Authority or centrally in the custody of any other office as decided by the Appointing Authority.

For example: In case of WBCS(Exe), WBA&AS cadres the service books are kept centrally in the office of the Appointing Authority. Whereas, in case of West Bengal Labour Service, the service books are centrally kept in the Directorate.

b) Decentralised- In this mode service books are kept in decentralised manner i.e. the service books are either kept in the custody of the office where the employee is posted or in custody of another office but not in centralised mode.

For example: The service books of LDAs and UDAs for whom District Magistrate is the Appointing Authority are kept in the office where they are posted. However, the Service Books of the Heads of Office himself, in decentralised mode, are generally kept in the Office of his controlling officer.

The Office wherein the Service Books are kept will act as the custodian in respect of such service books.

Until this step is finished, subsequent process cannot be initiated

Role of the Head of Office

If the Appointing Authority selects decentralised mode of maintaining service book, the Head of Office shall have to specify in HRMS, whether the service books of the employees posted in his office shall remain in custody of his own office or at the custody of any other office. If in any other office, the same has to be identified in the system.

In case of centralised mode, the Head of Office has got no further role to play.

Role of Workflow Nodal Officer

1) Workflow Nodal Officer for HRMS: The Workflow Nodal Officer shall create one or more workflow chains for eService Books, depending upon the number of eService Books to be dealt with, based on certain parameters like cadre, service type, date of joining in service, initials of name of the employee, etc. for proper distribution of the work of approval of service book among officers and staff of the Office concerned.

2) Users in HRMS for eService Book Management: Users may be created as “Operator”, “Recommending Authority”, “Delegated Approver”, “Approving Authority” for the purpose of checking and approval of eService Books.

There may be multiple approvers in an office in different Workflow Chains and multiple recommending authorities in a workflow chain. And there may be none below the Head of Office depending upon the number of eService Books to be dealt with.

A) Role of employees

1) An employee after making necessary entries in eService book as per order no. 6000-F(Y) dated 5.11.2019 shall “Forward” the same through his/her eSE login in HRMS.

2) Whenever an employee “forwards” the eService Book, it automatically reaches the designated operator or user at the lowest level of the workflow chain in the office of the custodian depending upon:

[Note:

a. the declaration by the Appointing Authority as to centralized or decentralized mode of service book maintenance

b. declaration of custodian of service book by Head of Office and

c. workflow chain as defined by the Nodal Officer.]

B) Activities in the office of Custodian

1) Role of Operator:

The Operator (Dealing Assistant) in the Office of the Custodian, in spite of being at the lowest level of the workflow chain, shall have to perform the most important task of checking whether the data entered in eService Book matches with those of the physical copy/ scanned copy of the service book, as the case may be and forward it to his next superior authority (generally recommending authority) in the work flow chain. Therefore, he shall exercise adequate due diligence to ensure that all information entered in the e-Service Book are complete& up-to-date, as per the entries in the physical service book and are error free.

The Operator has to mandatorily upload scanned copy of physical service book before forwarding it to next level in the workflow chain, in case the scanned copy has not been previously uploaded in the eService Book.

2) Role of Recommending Authority:

The recommending authority shall exercise due diligence while checking the entries in the eService Book forwarded by the user in the lower level of the workflow chain to ensure that the entries made in the eService Book is correct. The recommending authority may check the entries in eService Book with the physical service Book if he feels it necessary.

3) Role of Approver:

The approving authority must ensure proper care while approving the Service Book so that all entries made in eService Book are correct, up-to-date and error free. The Approving Authority may check the entries in e-Service Book with the physical service Book if he feels it necessary.

4) Movement of eService Book in the HRMS:

Once a user in a workflow chain forwards the eService Book, it moves from one authority to another automatically following the workflow chain until it reaches the Approver/ Delegated Approver who is entrusted with the task of approval of the eService Book in the HRMS module. However, there will be facilities in the system to send back the eService Book to an authority located lower in the hierarchy for correction or re-check. There shall be box for comments of the authority sending the service book back.

No. 1303-F dated 21.03.2023, Source