eindia2011_iocl_indsoftcms

1 Nomination for eIndia 2011 Awards - I n d i a n O i l C o r p o r a t i o n L i m i t e d

Nomination for eIndia 2011 Awards

Nomination By

Indian Oil Corporation Limited Corporate Information Systems Department

Corporate Business Technology centre

Plot no 83, Sector 18, Institutional Area,

Gurgaon 122001, Haryana

Contact Details

S Ramasamy

Executive Director (IS)

[email protected]

Mobile: 9811590265

Landline: 0124-2451312

mailto:[email protected]


India Inspired.

As a leading public sector enterprise of India, IndianOil has successfully combined its corporate social responsibility agenda with its business offerings, meeting the energy needs of millions of people everyday across the length and breadth of the country, traversing a diversity of cultures, difficult terrains and harsh climatic conditions. The Corporation takes pride in its continuous investments in innovative technologies and solutions for sustainable energy flow and economic growth and in developing techno-economically viable and environment-friendly products and services for the benefit of its customers.


IndianOil’s IT Vision (Aligned with Corporate Vision)


eIndia 2011 Awards

Name of the Organization : Indian Oil Corporation Limited ( IOCL ) Name of the Department : Information Systems / LPG Name of the Project : IndSoft CMS – Central Management System

for LPG

IOCL markets LPG products under the brand name INDANE through more than 5000 Retail Distributor Network. These Distributors act as a bridge between IOCL and Indane customers.

Central Management System is the data reserve at which all the distributor data is uploaded on a daily basis. Based on the residing data, system provides vital information to the management. IndSoft CMS is a web-based application accessible over the Intranet and Internet. It consolidates all the data received from the distributors and displays various reports as required by the controlling department. Role based access has been provided to various users.


Salient Features Innovations, Process Improvement, Cost Savings, Operational excellence & efficiency

Wide geographical coverage across India Highly Available and Clustered Infrastructure Secured Communication Network Redundant internet gateway Use of Low Cost Open Source x86_64 hardware & LINUX software in Mission Critical

environment Project done totally by in-house expertise Huge savings : manpower efforts and costs

Objective of the Project : Central Management System is the data reserve at

which all the LPG distributor data is uploaded on a daily basis. Based on the residing

data, system provides vital information to the management.

Date of Launch of Project: April, 2008 First Go-live at pilot sites. All India roll outs were completed by March‟ 2009.

Beneficiary of the Project: Govt. of India, Oil Companies, every citizen of India, each

Shareholder, customer, stakeholders and employees of the Corporation


Project Cost:

Activity Amount

Total cost of Project Rs 3 CR (Approximately)

Cost of hardware Server Cost - ACER - 5.4 Lakhs - (3 Servers)

Server Configuration

CPU - 4 Core

RAM - 8GB per Core (32GB)

OS - Red Hat Linux (RHEL) Version 5.4

Storage - 2 TB in SAN

Total cost of software that

was used for this project

Sybase IQ Licences - Licence cost Rs.2.36 Crores

Sybase IQ version: Sybase IQ 15.2 ESD #2 64 Bit

(Sybase IQ/15.2.0.5615/101123/P/ESD 2/Enterprise

Linux64 - x86_64 - 2.6.9-67.0.4.

Sybase ASE version: ASE 15.0.3 ESD #4 64 Bit

(Adaptive Server Enterprise/15.0.3/EBF 17770

ESD#4/P/x86_64/Enterprise Linux/ase1503/2768/64-

bit/FBO/Thu Aug 26 09:54:27 2010)

OS Platform: Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 5.4 64

bit ( Linux 2.6.18-164.el5 #1 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64

GNU/Linux)

Total cost of consultancy

charges

Nil, Complete In-house implementation

Total cost of services and

manpower

Rs 5 Lacs

Recurring cost of project Nil

Size of the database: 1 TB (approximately)


SITUATION BEFORE THE INITIATIVE :

LPG marketing is a negative margin business for IOC as more than 93% of the

business is distributing domestic subsidized packed LPG (14.2 Kg/ 5 Kg). The corresponding under-

recoveries in this business amounts to several thousands of crores of rupees every year. LPG is also

available in different packages for non domestic purposes (19 Kg, 47.5 Kg and 5 Kg). As the physical

and chemical characteristics of these products are same, in the market, in spite of legislation and

action by law enforcement authorities, domestic product is being misused for non domestic purposes.

Exhibit 1 : Data on Under Recoveries for LPG(D) Cylinders Source : Interim Task Force Report on Direct Transfer of Subsidy – June 2011

http://finmin.nic.in/reports/Interim_report_Task_Force_DTS.pdf

Technology to adapt LPG for various applications is on the rise and the per capita consumption of

LPG increases world over. This is also true because world is experimenting on LPG as a transition

fuel between liquid fuels and futuristic non conventional fuels. The tendency to use LPG in various

applications thrives in India due to the arbitrage of LPG availability at domestic rates to replace



the current fuel in use, as any new technology requires huge infrastructure and correspondingly high

initial investment.

When avenues are available in the society for diverting the product, the distribution network and the

customers get enticed to grab financial benefits. However the blame falls on the Oil Companies for not

exercising control. Customer satisfaction from the domestic LPG business line is not upto the mark

since it is unaffordable to render better services at the price at which domestic LPG is presently being

marketed.

A major challenge, being faced by oil companies in LPG business is the diversion of Domestic LPG

for non-domestic use. The reason for such diversion can solely be attributable to dual pricing.

However the magnitude of this menace becomes much more grave considering the difficulties in

detecting such diversion, identifying the source of diversion and initiating action if diversion is detected

and sources identified.

The process of preventing, detecting and eliminating diversion is a costly responsibility bestowed on

the Corporation. It amounts to perennially policing on one‟s business partners and customers based

on suspicion, complaints, investigations and hearsays. At the same time such efforts blow over at

times as a painful process for genuine customers in accessing subsidized LPG.


STATEGY ADOPTED :

For any subsidized product marketing, the frame work do not fully follow conventional marketing principles. As such products tend to assume characteristics of commodity marketed by monopolistic traders, in domestic LPG good indicators of customer satisfaction hence are no backlog (Customers receive product without delay), no diversion (product is delivered to only genuine customers) and no complaints.

The answer to curbing diversion, as it appears to be, is in adapting the right technology to identify the source and then putting in place right laws and prompt enforcement. Visibility of product movement near to real time will also trigger corrective measures by the stakeholder‟s In order to deploy the right technology, for conducting business and for transparency IOC felt the need for a standardized software for conducting LPG distributorship operations. Corporation had also realized the power of networking data and had initiated projects in this direction. Building further on these networks, connecting to many such networks already envisaged in the business, IOC has been able to transcend and realize the unlimited potential of them. Such initiatives have already pave way for Government to deploy measures which were not tried out earlier for want of effective subsidy administration like segmented subsidy etc.

1. Implementation of IndSoft in All Distributorship

IOC has a total of 5500+ distributorships spread all over the country.. Success of

implementation depended on converting every distributor from the prevailing system of

multiple software or manual operations to IndSoft followed by capturing the data centrally

.. In a setup marred by resistance to change from the distributors, achieving this required

constant follow up, guidance and counselling.

The licenses for Interbase database had to be taken by the distributors. Trouble shooting

and rectification had to be made with a prompt support from IOCL. A dedicated team was

created in IOCL for the purpose. Dos and Don‟ts were identified and trouble shooting

manual was developed and circulated. As the legacy data has not been systematically

entered in the earlier software, too many exceptions were getting generated while

converting the data. The roll out team in consultation with field offices addressed all such

exceptions, and corrected them.

At this stage the versions of the application software (revisions) were periodically

published to accommodate suggestions and also for fixing the software bugs. Hence the


version upgrade process was constantly monitored to ensure all distributors adapted the

latest Version.

Time Frame for Implementation

a. Regular Distributors 100% August 2008

b. Project Distributors 90% October 2008

c. Project Distributors Remaining 10% December 2008

New Versions Releases Based on Suggestions from Users

Involvement of distributors in owning and operating came through by, welcoming the

suggestions and taking them up after careful deliberations on their conformity with the

business policies and practicability for implementation. A proper system of generation of

suggestions, systematic recording, deliberations, analysis, evaluation of their utility -based

on the need, convenience in operation, improvement in efficiency of operation- adapting

them in the software, testing and developing as next version was put in place. A dedicated

team worked on this for next six months. While system department took up this

upgradation process, LPG department coordinated for the generation, deliberation,

analysis and deciding the utility of suggestions. Next version was released in September

2008. Subsequent version on account of enhancement was released in September 2009.

2. CMS- The Data Repository

a. Connectivity to CMS

It was envisaged to have a broadband connectivity to the distributors. The distributors

connect to CMS and upload the data in CMS at the time of date change operation. They

are also free to connect and upload/download the information anytime. The connectivity

speed and data transfer was very poor for dial up connections, availed by the distributors

at that time. It was estimated that a total of 1500 distributors had broad band connectivity,

1100 had dial up connectivity and remaining were not connected to net.

For improving the quality of connectivity a scheme was worked out with BSNL to provide

broadband for all the distributors in the BSNL serviced areas for Rs 200 per month.


Constant follow up by LPG Area Offices immediately after implementation and getting

acquainted with the software by the distributors for getting the Internet connectivity,

ensured uploading of data in CMS.

80% distributors started uploading data by October 2008. Distributors at remote/sensitive

areas have facility to transfer the data in CDs, detachable drives and upload from the

nearest point of net accessibility at a prefixed frequency. These features were provided by

July 2008. All distributors started uploading the data by March 2009.

b. Exception Reporting for Monitoring Upload

A report in CMS revealed the status of connected distributors. This report acted as an

approximate indicator of number of roll outs. Though the thrust was on roll out initially,

distributors were also asked to upload their data during the day end operation. An

exception report was made available for the area office to view the status of upload for

monitoring and directing the distributors. This was put in place by June 2008.

Exhibit 2 : Data Upload Status from IndSoft CMS

c. Simultaneous Data Upload and Down Load facility in CMS

Initially, distributors were facilitated with uploading the data any time during the day or for

an automatic transfer during date change. Simultaneous downloading of waiting data


(instructions, authorizations, control functions etc.) for the distributors was also envisaged.

The facility was made available by August 08.

d. Development of CMS Formats for Hierarchy based Reporting

The reporting formats developed were broad enough for a reverse pyramidal structure by

incorporating all reports needed by area offices, state offices and head office. All Reports

were developed by July 2008.

e. Developing Controls

The connectivity also aimed at controlling the distributor operation through the CMS. In

other words all operating business processes were to be controlled selectively by the area

office. This includes, new connection release, DBC release etc. Area offices were provided

the authority and facility to block operating any or all the operating routines.

f. Developing Authorisations

Similar to controls above, for some functions, authorizations (area office to clear the

requests from customers and/or distributors) needed to be accorded by the area office.

For example in case of a VIP customer needing a out of turn refill delivery- not as per the

preset guidelines- then the same had to be authorized through CMS. Even priority

connections were also to be authorized by Area Offices. Reactivation of deactivated

Customers was another area of authorization which needed to be introduced. Other

authorizations required, as indicated by LPG department were also incorporated by

October 2008.

g. Automated Customer Transfers

The customer transfer based on refill ceiling limit is an exercise conducted by the area

offices on a regular basis as a part of restructuring of distributors based on the refill

supplies of the distributors the rationalization of connections can now be projected by

CMS through a report and facility for transferring the customers based on the area code

automatically can be incorporated. Such a facility of transferring customers in a block was

made available in IndSoft by December 2008.

h. Enhancing Distributor Subsidy Scheme

As many initiatives above would be perceived as a requirement for Corporate Visibility of

the Distributorship operations which the distributors may resist, these can be implemented


only through a workable subsidy scheme. There was an existing subsidy scheme for

Computer Hardware and Software for the LPG Distributors, hence, no separate subsidy

was provided for IndSoft. However, the licence cost of Interbase for one server and client

(Rs 3600/-+ Taxes for a server and Rs 2700/-+ Taxes for additional client) per distributor

was included as an item within the existing subsidy amount.

4. Integrating with ERP

a. Integrating with SAP

Interfacing the distributorship operation with the ERP software - SAP® helped the

interlinking of data of the business carried out by the distributors with the supply sources.

As of now SAP and CMS with IndSoft are two independent networks with data from plant

and from distributors residing independently. Through interaction between these networks

the data can be reconciled. The CMS has the facility to generate the reports and upload

the same in SAP®.

Exhibit 3 : Data download for IndSoft CMS from ERP – SAP®

b. AC 99 and ERV integration

AC 99 or delivery challan is a SAP® generated document for supplying filled cylinders and

ERV is a manually generated document to return the empty cylinders. IndSoft has

provision to generate ERV with a serial control.


RESULT ACHIVED : As India's largest company by sales, the highest ranked Indian company in the Fortune "Global

500" listing and the 18th largest petroleum company in the world, IndianOil deals with a lot of

information on an ongoing basis through its network of over 5,000 distributors of liquified

petroleum gas (LPG), its more than 2,000 gas stations or transactions from its 70 million customers

in India. With so much valuable information about individual transactions at its many touchpoints

with customers, IndianOil wasn't able to get a clear picture of what was actually going on because

the data was in different formats, and distributors had different databases and systems. The

company's data warehousing project was a bold initiative to consolidate and centralize data from

disparate sources all over India.

- http://www.sybase.com/files/Success_Stories/IndianOil_SS_WEB.pdf Data Mining - Data Analysis of CMS

Distributors uploaded data resides in data repository- CMS, which can be effectively used for

monitoring backlog, waitlist .Sales etc. Besides, customer data & inventory data also are

available. CMS data analysis would provide valuable insights into the customer behavior and

focus areas for controlling the checkpoints referred above namely, diversion, backlog and

complaints. Besides, this will become a pointer for future business options and possibilities.

Exhibit 4 : IndSoft CMS data flow

http://www.sybase.com/files/Success_Stories/IndianOil_SS_WEB.pdf


a. Multiple Connection detection

For Multiple connection detection, a programme has been developed for comparing one

of the ways in which customer exploit the arbitrage in the dual pricing is through multiple

connection. The name and address of the customers. The duplicate connection can thus

be identified and listed. Earlier based on this, manual instructions are given to block the

same to distributors. This requires a follow up detection process-data mining- to recheck

the action by distributors. The programme is now integrated in CMS and the detected

connections can be blocked by disabling the refill booking process for such customers in

future. If the distributors operations are online or a phase difference between new

enrolment registration and release can be incorporated, such connections can be weeded

out at the enrolment stage itself. The facility has been incorporated since March 2009.

b. Comparing Government Censes data wherever possible

Bogus/Ghost connection can also be detected by comparing the data consolidated by

Government agencies with the CMS data. Many states have already been seeking

assistance to compare the data enmassed by them with the customer data and detect the

bogus/ghost connections. The advantages of this if showcased would attract other states

also to follow similar process. A pilot in this line was started in Andra Pradesh.

c. Deactivated Customer analysis

The current practice is to block refill supplies to connections which are not active for more

than six months. For re-activating such customers authorizations need to be given by area

office. In the system envisaged, such connections can be automatically blocked and the

reactivation to be done through CMS. Facility was in place by October 2008.

d. Customer Segmentation

So far in domestic LPG, segmentation has not been tried out, as subsidy is available to all

customers across the board. Idea of segmentation has not been well appreciated partially

because of the fact that implementing segment based subsidy administration without a

proper IT based support will not yield the required results in the current scenario. When

IndSoft is implemented the customer data could well be available in the CMS data

repository. This data shall be corrected/cleaned by seeking additional information from

customers and eliminating junk data if any. Once this is done, segmentation based on

area, income, family size, BPL criteria etc can be done.


e. Customer Buying Behavior

The refill requirement and delivery to the customers are captured in IndSoft. The

customers can be segmented in line with the buying behavior. The restriction if any based

on the frequency of refill delivery can be effectively implemented with the help of the

software. Hence the minimum refill delivery period now being considered as a measure

inviting criticism for its misuse, has be impartially implemented in IndSoft/CMS.

f. Automated Customer Responses

Customer feedback is an integral part of the assessment of distributor operation in a

market. Currently the feedback is taken by the sales officers by physically contacting

them. In case the customer e-mail is also captured as a part of exercise, the same can be

used for sending automated e-mail to some of the customers and can expect some of

them responding. The response based on multiple choice options can be tabulated with

pre-programmed marks and the result can be calculated without any manual intervention.

This can be compared with benchmark and the distributors can be graded. Periodical

Customer survey to test any hypothesis or the customer preferences is also incorporated

in the system.

g. Inventory Optimization

The optimum inventory at a distributorship depends on multiple factors; the analysis and

fixing the same manually is difficult. Since the inventory data for the distributors over a

period is available vis-a vis the deliveries made per day and the supplies, the inventory of

all the distributors can be optimized there by making better utilization of the

cylinders/regulators. This facility was made availableby March 2009.

Business Advantage achieved

Achieving Operational Excellence

Low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Deployed more economical option of open source of software

Completed entire project on time and budget.

Revenue Improvement

Elimination of data-entry errors during the manual keying-in of data resulting in data-accuracy by 99%

Streamlined supply chain performance thereby benefitting all the parties involved.


Due to Implementation of CMSLPG – IOCL ready for implementation of : 1) Core Subsidy Management System recommended by Interim Task Force Report on

Direct Transfer of Subsidy – June 2011 2) Conditional Subsidy for LPG – only 4 / 6 subsided cylinders in a year.

Exhibit 5 :Core Subsidy Management System recommended by - Interim Task Force Report on Direct Transfer of

Subsidy – June 2011 - http://finmin.nic.in/reports/Interim_report_Task_Force_DTS.pdf



OBJECTIVE FULFILLED

Benefits of the LPG Central Management System:

1. The End of the day data generated by IndSoft forms the basis of the LPG Central Management System.

2. The data received from all distributors is consolidated at Head Office and used for

displaying the various MIS reports through the LPG Central Management System – a web based application developed at Head Office - to authorized LPG officials at the Field / Area Offices / Bottling Plants / State Office / Head office. The IndSoft CMS is accessible both through the Intranet and the Internet.

3. The stock received at the distributors end can be matched with the loads dispatched

from the Bottling Plants (from SAP) and reconciliation reports can be generated.

4. The central server at Head Office can send policy updates (eg., changes in the deposit rates, etc) to the distributor directly and the same can be seamlessly updated in the distributor software.

5. The IndSoft CMS facilitates data downloads by the authorized personnel for further

analysis.

6. All Monthly MIS reports can be generated in the CMS itself, thus avoiding repetitive collection and consolidation of data at each controlling office. The reports that can be generated include:

Listing of Subscription / termination / transfers & replacement vouchers for the month.

Distributor wise Deposits – Amount wise summary.

Comparative Statement of Report 1 vs. EMR for a distributor

Distributor wise: Weekly cylinder / regulator summary as per Report 1

Distributor wise: Summary of EMR for the month.

Monthly MPR for the Distributor

Backlog Report

Customer Enrolment report

Stock Report

Report for Deactivated Customers

Complaint report

CAV Report


Benefits to Area Office:

Facilitate timely supply of loads to distributor by monitoring inventory at Distributor end and placement of Indents by Area Offices.

The IndSoft CMS also facilitates remote monitoring of the inventory and Planning of supplies to the distributor at the Area Offices.

It would also facilitate monitoring of stationery stocks and release of new connections.

The CMS also facilitate quicker customer complaint redressal.

The system will also be interfaced with SAP for reconciliation of SV/TV and other requirements.

Area Office can provide monthly remittance reconciliation report.

Possibility of having centralized SV against TV confirmation.

For field officers, following benefits available:

i. MIS available for virtual inspections. ii. Accuracy of MIS very high. iii. Reduction in telephone expenses on follow-ups. iv. Increased vigilance monitoring of distributor activities. v. Quicker consumer complaint redressal. vi. No time wasted in sending MIS reports to higher offices.

Benefits for Bottling Plants:

Mobilize supplies based on Inventory levels at distributor end.

Reduced interaction on telephones with distributor for fund position, loads

Benefits to Distributor:

Preparation of SV / TSV on incoming TV / TTV validated immediately.

Validation of AC4 from Plant based on SAP document number.

Automatic Indent booking to Plant for load based on Stock and backlog.

Facility to view last Ten-load status.

Facility to view SAP balance with IOCL.

Facility to view Account Statement (PAD) for any period and provision to Accept or Reject the Statement, to record reason for rejection and immediate escalation to IOCL officials.

Benefits to Finance:

Reconciliation of equipment possible.

Inter company transfer details also available.

Exercises like Master inventory can be done.

Data on depreciation of cylinders / PRs can be done precisely


Feasibility of direct ECS transfer of SV / DBC deposits to IOC account.

Easy calculation of incentives for 19 kg sales and direct transfer through ECS.

Credit facility consideration based on system based financial standing.

Benefits to the Distributor:

The distributor can plan his dispatches for the next day through the software.

The Plants can service the distributor faster on his stock requirements.

All documents are generated through the system and no manual documentation is required.

The software would also have a complaint redressal system, which would help distributors to resolve customer complaints in a more efficient manner.

Seamless integration of IndSoft with the 1260 – IVRS system will also help the distributor to accept more bookings.

Seamless integration of IndSoft with SMS Bookings.

User-friendly software and possibility of making mistakes almost nil.

Very fast compared to the legacy Blaze system.

Manipulation of data at distributor end is not possible.

Preparation and printing of voucher and Cash memo is very fast. Benefits to the Consumer:

Customer can inform safe custody of connection and block misuse of his connection if going out of the country for long durations.

Customer can interact with the Field officer on email.

Customer can get reminders through the system for replacement of Suraksha Hose when due.

Customer can seek services of the distributor for maintenance of the hotplate.

The software also envisages sending statements to the consumer for his cylinder consumption. We also plan to send SMS to the consumer on delivery of cylinder, which would help track, unauthorized transactions.


Beneficiaries of the project - STATEWISE LPG CUSTOMERS AS ON 01.07.2011

INDIAN OIL CORPORATION LTD.

STATE/UT

14.2 KG 5 KG TOTAL

URBAN (including non dom- exempt)

RURAL URBAN RURAL DOMESTIC

(A) (B) (C ) (D)

CHANDIGARH 244185 0 0 0 244185

DELHI 3075718 0 775 0 3076493

HARYANA 1534097 376178 1314 324 1911913

HIMACHAL PRADESH 482786 681225 3498 5246 1172755

JAMMU & KASHMIR 279741 129832 1545 2870 413988

PUNJAB 2365864 823310 4163 3470 3196807

RAJASTHAN 1521361 1088030 3740 4463 2617594

UTTAR PRADESH 5492016 2494872 10773 6587 8004248

UTTRANCHAL 922840 538221 1373 807 1463241

SUB TOTAL NORTH 15918608 6131668 27181 23767 22101224

ANDAMAN & NICOBAR 41504 19238 0 0 60742

ARUNACHAL PRADESH 67307 100330 48 157 167842

ASSAM 1234022 929377 1717 693 2165809

BIHAR 1826071 356686 1225 3840 2187822

JHARKHAND 813146 75666 59138 15578 963528

MANIPUR 207194 52867 150 79 260290

MEGHALAYA 55365 84481 50 132 140028

MIZORAM 155428 74499 1 0 229928

NAGALAND 108914 59973 402 0 169289

ORISSA 490701 220801 2214 983 714699

SIKKIM 101320 48546 583 111 150560

TRIPURA 206141 93759 51 30 299981

WEST BENGAL 3736960 449899 4733 2358 4193950

SUB TOTAL EAST 9044073 2566122 70312 23961 11704468

CHATTISGARH 516038 136524 3158 21144 676864

DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI

0 0 0 0 0


DAMAN & DIU 0 0 0 0 0

GOA 1312 9488 0 0 10800

GUJARAT 2803952 746100 2344 837 3553233

MADHYA PRADESH 1834628 773670 4491 6583 2619372

MAHARASHTRA 1186075 786575 1391 3246 1977287

SUB TOTAL WEST 6342005 2452357 11384 31810 8837556

ANDHRA PRADESH 4096888 1358399 657 4511 5460455

KARNATAKA 2906935 366739 4384 712 3278770

KERALA 2555409 1090779 0 1241 3647429

LAKSHADWEEP 3495 0 0 0 3495

PONDICHERRY 99235 8710 8609 0 116554

TAMILNADU 6503212 1443086 0 0 7946298

SUB TOTAL SOUTH 16165174 4267713 13650 6464 20453001

ALL INDIA 47469860 15417860 122527 86002 63096249


DISTINCTIVE FEATURES

Emerging Technologies used and rationale behind selecting those technologies

a. Standardization on x86_64 platform as Hardware Platform of Choice

With the standardization of x86_64 / Linux platform, which can be offered by any vendor,

we have been able to achieve „Vendor Independence‟ for Mission Critical application thus

unseating proprietary hardware vendors from their monopolistic positions. Thus with the

introduction of competition amongst vendors we are able to achieve the obvious benefits

like truly competitive pricing for IT hardware. We can thus say that we have achieved true

„openness‟ with respect to hardware selection.

b. Using Linux as Operating System of Choice for Mission Critical deployment on

Open Source Platform in India

As a policy we embraced Open Source Software such as Linux Operating system and

Hardware platform x86_64 as a platform of choice for “Mission Critical” business

applications. This decision has benefited Indian Oil Corporation in more ways than one.

Linux deployment has provided IOCL a scalable, open and reliable operating system /

platform for its Mission Critical applications.

Availability of skilled manpower is always an issue in the IT domain and having proprietary

software only aggravates the problem. With standardization of Linux OS we have ensured

that skilled resources will readily be available and we will not be locked in for support to a

particular service provider.

References :

i) Interim Task Force Report on Direct Transfer of Subsidy – June 2011 -


Summary of Exhibits: Exhibit 1 : Data on Under Recoveries for LPG(D) Cylinders Exhibit2 : Data Upload Status from IndSoft CMS Exhibit3 : Data download for IndSoft CMS from ERP – SAP® Exhibit 4 : IndSoft CMS data flow Exhibit 5 : Core Subsidy Management System recommended by - Interim Task Force Report on Direct Transfer of Subsidy – June 2011


eindia2011_iocl_indsoftcms

Documents

multiple connection

central management

data upload

total cost

oil companies

direct transfer

residing data

data repository