Water & Sewerage Connections Implementation Guide

Section 1: Executive Summary

Overview of the Product

Access to clean and safe water is one of the basic needs of citizens. Each Urban local body has been mandated with catering to the water and sanitation needs of its citizens. The computerized and automatic Water and Sewerage system offered by eGov enables citizens who seek to apply and pay for water and sewerage connections within any Urban Local Body with a transparent, speedy, hassle-free and user-friendly procedure. The ULB officials can now sanction connections, generate bills and collect payments for water and sewerage connections more efficiently. (For details on product features refer to Section 2)

Implementation Methodology for W&S

For the offered product, the implementation process can be divided into six major distinctive stages. Each stage has predefined entry and exit criteria, roles & responsibilities to assure objective monitoring and decision-making for the overall success of the engagement. The whole implementation lifecycle is typical of 23-27 weeks for the State/UT keeping in mind the entry, and exit criteria defined at the beginning and end of each stage are met on time recommended.

Stage Zero-program setup and onboarding is a pre-requisite for the initiative to kick off and requires setup of the governance model, implementation team and decision regarding other significant elements of the initiative like funding and procurement process. Stage One of the initiative requires scoping the initiative and deciding on the priorities for implementation by the State/UT Implementation Team. In Stage Two, the W&S team is appointed and its processes are standardized. In Stage Three, the State/UT Team will work on identifying and finding solutions to the significant gaps in the product offered w.r.t. to the need of the State/UT. Configuration and customization of the product is the primary objective of Stage Four. This involves working on various aspects of UT-specific needs and incorporating them into the product suite offered. In Stage Four and Five, post doing UAT and including all the necessary feedback on the product, the roll-out of the product is done at the State/UT level(Go Live) from a couple of ULBs to pan State/UT coverage. In Stage Six of sustenance and ongoing improvement, key activities are adoption and governance tracking with the planning of ongoing sustenance. (For details on the implementation plan refer to Section 3).

Critical Success Factors For Implementation

Implementation of Water and Sewerage (W&S) requires meticulous planning and close coordination between various stakeholders at the centre and State/UT levels. The success of the initiative is dependent upon many factors like strong Program governance, availability of trained resources, financial planning, targeted implementation Team onboarding, focus on last-mile capacity building and ensuring necessary support to the urban centre. Achievement of all these factors will provide the most effective and efficient roll-out and adoption of the Water and Sewerage Implementation System in the UT.

Section 2: Water and Sewerage (W&S) Product - Overview

The Water and Sewerage (W&S) module provides a digital interface to apply for water and sewerage connections and pay the water and sewerage charges for connection/s. The citizens can use it, Urban Local Body (ULB) counter employees and field employees, and ULB Administrators to accomplish their specific tasks. It is available as a mobile and web-based application. The W&S product features can be broadly classified as the following modules:

1. Registration, Login and Creation of User Profile

2. Application for new Water/Sewerage connection

3. Searching for a Connection

4. Modifications to a Connection

5. Entering meter readings of metered connections

6. Generate Demand

7. Payments collection and Receipts

8. Dashboards and Reports

Module 1: Registration, Login and Creation of User Profile

This module provides enables the following capabilities:

• OTP-based login for citizens via Web/Mobile App

• OTP-based login for employees via Web/Mobile App

• Provision for language selection during first-time registration for both employees and

  citizens

• Provision of creating a personalized profile for citizens and employees on the Web App

• Login credentials for the various hierarchy of employees

• Role-based access for performing different actions relating to the W&S module

Module 2: Application for new Water & Sewerage connection

The system allows the Citizen / ULB user (with an appropriate role in the system) to apply for a New Water/Sewerage connection. The application goes through an approval workflow before it is available for various transactions in the system. The workflow to be followed for a new water/sewerage connection is configurable. In the workflow, the ULB official will generate the estimation notice. Once the payment is made, a work order will be generated.

Every time there is a change in the status of an application, the citizen will be intimated through in-app notifications, SMS and email. The citizen and employee can view the history of the various states that an application has been in and the comments added by the employee in each state of the application.

Module 3: Searching for a Connection

Only employees from the W&S department will be able to access the feature, to search for water and sewerage connections. They can search for any connection based on parameters such as:

• Consumer number

• Application number

• Owner mobile number

• Application status

• From date

• To date

The search result contains the Application number, Consumer number, Owner name, Status, Due amount and the Pay now option. The Employee can make payment for a connection on the citizen’s behalf using the ‘Pay Now’ option.

Citizens can also search for their connections in the portal. They can search using the Owners mobile number, Property ID, Consumer number etc. The search result yields, the Owner’s Name, Address, Due amount and Pay options.

Module 4: Modifications to a Connection

The system facilitates the title transfer of the water tap connection from one person to the other person. Title transfer of water tap connection directly depends upon Property tax. If title transfer is done in the property tax module then at the time of final approval, the changes will reflect in the W&S module automatically. After the title transfer has been completed successfully, subsequent bills will be generated with the details of the new owner/s.

Water tap change in usage happens when the property type is changed from residential to Non-residential or from Non-residential to residential. Change in usage directly depends on the property tax module. If the property type is changed in the Property tax system then it will automatically reflect in the W&S system. When there is a change in the usage type, the subsequent bills will reflect the rates as per the updated usage category. When there is a change in the usage category in the middle of the billing cycle, pro-rata charges will be applied in the next billing period.

The change in connection category from non-metered to metered and vice-versa is also possible in the W&S system with the appropriate workflow configured to intimate all stakeholders of the change and collect any charges (if applicable) from the citizen.

Module 5: Entering meter reading of metered connections

On the W&S billing screen, there is a card called ‘Meter reading’. An employee can click on Meter reading which redirects the employee to the meter reading landing screen. The employee can search based on the following criteria:

• ULB

• Boundary Type

• Boundary Value

• Billing Year

• Billing Period

• Billing Period Value

• Consumer No.

This feature facilitates the employee to search for all results based on desired criteria. The search result yields the following values: consumer number, owner name, meter status, last reading, current reading, date and consumption.

The employee can edit meter status, current reading, date and consumption under certain conditions. Based on this information the employee can generate the bills for connections.

Module 6: Generate Demand

In the system, there is a feature to generate demand under the billing section. Generate demand has a search feature in which the connections can be searched for which demand has been already generated. An employee can view, also edit those demands based on certain conditions.

The system has the capability to configure the demand generation as an automatic or a manual process. In the automatic process, the demand generation for non-metered connections is automatically done periodically. For metered connection as soon as the employee enters the meter reading and clicks on ‘SAVE’, the demand is generated.

Any success/ failure to generate demand triggers an automatic notification to the concerned ULB officials via email. Also, the demand generation cycle, demand generation date and officials who should receive the notifications can be configured.

Module 7: Payments collection and Receipts

The citizen can pay for dues by searching his/her connection. In search results, the citizen can click on pay, which redirects to the summary page of the dues. After this, the citizen can pay for dues online. An employee can also collect the payment on the citizen’s behalf. After searching for the desired connection, clicking on pay will redirect the employee to the common payment page. The employee can print the receipt after the payment is successfully collected. The citizen is also notified and gets a download receipt link in the notification.

Module 8: Closure of Water Connection

If the Water tap owner has got his own water source then the water tap owner can initiate for Water tap connection closure permanently. So, that tap will be closed permanently and demand would not be generated for the connection. Application for the closing of the water tap connection is accepted only with the latest water charges receipt and clearing of old dues.

Module 9: Dashboards and Reports

The state-level administrator can keep track of relevant metrics by using dashboards. Dashboards for W&S can be accessed by a state-level user under login.

The dashboard has these components:

• Financial Indicators

  • W&S Total collections YTD

  • Water Collection

  • Sewerage Collection

  • Water - Demand vs Collection (Monthly trend)

  • Sewerage - Demand vs Collection (Monthly trend)

• Municipal Adoption

  • W & S: No. Of ULBs Live

  • W & S: Total Number of ULBs

  • Water Consumers by Connection Type

  • W & S Consumers by Usage Type

  • Total Collections by Source

  • Total Collections by Mode

  • W & S Adoption: ULB Wise

• Today’s Collections

  • W&S Total collections: Today

  • Water Charges - Total collections: Today

  • Sewerage Charges - Total collections: Today

  • W&S - Total No. of Receipts: Today

  • Water - Total No. of Receipts: Today

  • Sewerage - Total No. of Receipts: Today

  • Mode-wise W&S collections: Today

  • W&S ULB wise collections: Today

Section 3 Water and Sewerage (W&S) Implementation Methodology

This section provides an overview of the methodology for the State-wide implementation of W&S. The Implementation of W&S is distributed across seven distinct stages. Each stage has predefined entry & exit criteria and roles & responsibilities. This is to ensure objective monitoring and decision-making for the overall success of the program. Details of each stage are defined in this section.

W&S implementation program is expected to be completed approximately between 38- 42 weeks with the resource deployment by the State and System Integrator (SI) Team (as defined below). However, it is critical that activities and exit criteria set for each stage are achieved to adhere to this timeline.

Seven Stages of Implementation

Stage 0 - Program Setup/Onboarding

There is a set of initial critical activities that are undertaken upon receiving a letter of enrollment from the State/Union Territory. Successful completion of these activities assures that the program is started with crucial personnel, System Integrator(SI) teams and funds.

Vision

• Define the value proposition of the programme for the state

• Define the time frame within which the state needs to:

  • Go live

  • Scale pan-state

• Define Year-on-Year(YoY) Financial Targets

System Integrator(SI) Sign-up:

• System Integrator and state will agree on program scope, program timelines, and budgeting & resourcing.

Stage 1 - Program Kick-Off

This stage envisages the in-person interaction of crucial State/UT officials and implementation System Integrator(SI) Teams to kick-start the program. This stage may require multiple interactions/meetings with different stakeholders. The principal objective of these interactions is to identify scope, plan strategies for phasing/rollout (in pilot ULBs/Pan State) and create an active collaboration & Governance approach and agree on a high-level timeline for the engagement.

Stage 2 - Solution Design

During the Solution design stage, key State/UT officials and members, who are subject matter experts, are expected to share State/UT acts and policies and help interpret the same for the System Integrator (SI) Team. This stage baselines the State/UT-specific product features in the Product Configuration report.

Stage 3 - Configuration & Customization

This stage consists of a series of developments in accordance with the detailed project plan to ensure the smooth functioning of the customised product. Preparation for the testing and data collection of the product UAT is complete. Further monitoring and maintenance strategies are put in place.

Stage 4 - UAT & Go Live

During this stage, a demonstration of the product followed by a hand on session is conducted for the ULB officials. Necessary training of ULB officials and resources required for UAT is conducted and identified respectively. The establishment of the State/UT support Team and required processes are initiated in this stage.

Stage 5 – Rollout

On successful Go-Live in the Pilot ULBs, after further configurations to stabilize the product, the solution will be rolled out to the rest of the ULBs in multiple phases. Guidance and support from the State/UT Team will be required to create the rollout plans and assure the necessary infrastructure for training and deployment is available at each ULB.

Stage 6 – Sustenance and Ongoing Improvement

The final stage consists of strategies to ensure the sustenance of the product in the State/UT. Systems are put in place to ensure the continuous tracking of data and provisions are made to improve the product if new data suggest.