ekud% iFkizn'kZd% Digital transformation of a legacy giant – In the twilight years of British rule in India, the country was faced with the gigantic task of Conformity assessment in BIS building up the industrial infrastructure. The Institution of Engineers (India), was charged with the preparation of the rst draft of the Constitution of an Institution that could take up the task of This case study focuses on the digital transformation of conformity assessment activities of formulation of “National Standards”. This led to the Department of Industries and Supplies Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the National Standards body of India. BIS was one of the few issuing a memorandum on September 3, 1946, formally announcing the setting up of an organizations that started Digitalization way back in 2004 by implementing Certication Marks organization called the “Indian Standards Institution” (ISI), which came into being on January Management System (CMMS) for its Conformity Assessment activity. Although CMMS was the 6, 1947. In June 1947 Dr Lal C. Verman took over as its rst Director General. Its mandate was most contemporary system at that time, it could not evolve with the technological to prepare and promote standards for adoption by Indian industry including quality advancements and remained conned to just an event capturing module. The case also certication of goods. explores the dilemmas faced by BIS after implementation of BIS Act 2016 in terms of Rapid release of new Quality Control Orders (QCOs), mandating compulsory BIS certication thus With the implementation of the BIS Act 1986, ISI was renamed as the Bureau of Indian mounting compliance Burden on BIS and pressure to reduce overall cost of compliance. The Standards (BIS) with clearly dened statutory powers. The Act was revised as BIS Act, 2016 journey towards digital transformation in BIS began under the leadership of previous Director establishes BIS as the ‘National Standards Body’. The BIS Act 2016, Rules and Regulations General Mr. Sunil Soni and later on creation of a Project Management Team (PMU) involving framed thereunder authorizes BIS to undertake conformity assessment of products, services, experts from PWC and BIS Ofcials. The prevailing circumstances compelled BIS to roll out systems and processes, thus broadening the scope of activities and mandate to the Manak online (e-BIS) in a hurried manner, loaded with many aws and inadequacies. The organization under the New Act. improper functioning of Manakonline had led Mr. Pramod Kumar Tiwari, present DG BIS to take up a radical approach to modify Manakonline. He had two options, one to revamp the Conformity assessment overview-Global footprint existing Manakonline module with the present developer (CDAC) or to develop a new portal engaging a different team altogether. The case also explores way forward for BIS for its The conformity assessment schemes laid down in BIS (Conformity Assessment) Regulations, preparedness to face market competition when other organizations initiate conformity 2018 can be accessed through the link https://bis.gov.in/index.php/the-bureau/bis-act-rules- assessment activities, whether BIS is moving in the right direction in the path of digital and-regulations/. transformation? Is there a better way to achieve it? Product Certication Scheme (Scheme-I): Under this Scheme, licence to use or apply BIS Mr. Pramod Kumar Tiwari, IAS, Director General of Bureau of Indian Standards was returning Standard Mark may be granted by the Bureau for goods or articles, manufactured in home after a hard day’s work. His driver enquired whether they need to stop for a coffee on the manufacturing premises and conforming to all the requirements of the relevant Indian way, but Mr Tiwari was lost in his own world. His mind was preoccupied with the thoughts Standard(s). The presence of a BIS Standard Mark, on a product, is an assurance of regarding the meeting that day. The meeting was attended by senior ofcials/management conformity to the specications. Through its surveillance operations, the Bureau maintains a team, IT Department and the leads of the software development team. The purpose of the close vigil on the quality of certied goods. See Exhibit 1 for Year-wise increase in no. of BIS meeting was to review the digitalization of BIS. Despite spending money and resources for a product certication licences (Domestic Manufacturer). long time, BIS was still not able to migrate to the digital platforms upto a satisfactory level. Prima-facie it was evident that there was no proper planning and coordination because of Exhibit 1: Year-wise increase in product certication licences (Domestic Manufacturer) which the team was not able to deliver the software modules in time, the Software Requirement Specications (SRS) and most of the modules were incomplete. On the other hand, demand 38,749 for BIS certication is also increasing due to Standards being used as non-tariff barriers to trade, the emergence of new areas such as service sectors, implementation of the new BIS Act 33,653 34,414 35,623 etc. Therefore, in addition to the simplication of the business processes, holistic migration towards digital transformation is of paramount importance. 30,836 32,559 Introduction 27,796 29,516 Conformity Assessment Mandate to BIS 25,330 26,357 24,145 D K Singla, Vibha Rani, Bhavana Sharma, Thechano C Ovung, Manikandan K prepared this case. This case study has been prepared as part fulfillment 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2021-22 of the training on Prepara on of Case Studies organized by NITS of BIS. Cases have been developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustra ons of effec ve or ineffec ve management. Source: www.bis.gov.in ©All Rights Reserved No part of this case study may be reproduced, photocopied, electronically processed and forwarded without the wri en consent of BIS. 96 CASE STUDIES CASE STUDIES 97
Compulsory Registration Scheme (CRS, Scheme II): Under this Scheme, licence to use or Management System Certication Scheme (MSCS): The Management Systems Certication apply a Standard Mark, through registration based on self-declaration of conformity, is and its operations are carried out as per Scheme- III of BIS (Conformity Assessment) granted by the Bureau for goods or articles. See Exhibit 2 for BIS Global Footprint under CRS, Regulations, 2018. The Management Systems Certication Department coordinates the Scheme II. Foreign Manufacturer Certication Scheme (FMCS): FMCS is a scheme under Systems Certication activities as per ISO/IEC 17021. See Exhibit 4 for Management Systems which a BIS licence is granted to a foreign manufacturer in accordance with Bureau of Indian Certications under certication. Standards (Conformity Assessment) Regulations, 2018. BIS as of June 2021 has set its global footprint in 53 countries for over 114 standards. See Exhibit 3 for BIS Global Footprint under Exhibit 4: Management Systems Certications under certication FMCS. 140 1400 Exhibit 2: BIS Global Footprint under CRS, Scheme II 120 1350 100 1300 1250 No. of licence granted in 80 1200 financial year 60 1150 40 1100 Total No of Opera ve 20 Licences 0 2020-2021 2019-2020 2018-2019 2017-2018 2016-2017 2015-2016 2014-2015 2013-2014 2012-2013 Source: www.bis.gov.in Source: www.bis.gov.in The context – digital transformation in BIS Exhibit 3: BIS Global Footprint under FMCS BIS, the National Standards Body of India has always been keeping itself abreast of technological innovations and developments not only by developing standards and Source: www.bis.gov.in conformity assessment schemes in those areas but also by incorporating the technological innovations in its very process ow. BIS has been providing traceability and tangibility benets 98 to the national economy in a number of ways – providing safe, reliable quality goods; minimizing health hazards to consumers; control over proliferation of varieties etc. through standardization, certication and testing. In order to make its systems and processes efcient & fast and expand the horizon of conformity Assessment schemes; adoption of digital technologies, development of new digital platforms and transition of work processes on digital platforms had become overdue. Computerization in BIS Adoption of computer systems and IT platforms in the functional areas of BIS started way back in 2000 by the then DG, BIS, Shri Nirmal Singh. By 2004, BIS was able to create some desktop- based applications/software for standard formulation work, and an independent application known as CMMS [Certication Marks Management System] for BIS Product Certication work. The CMMS was much more impressive software keeping in mind the technological advancements at that point in time. However, CMMS had limited capability, it was mainly used to capture important information about the applications received manually for grant of a licence, new licences and operation of existing licences. It was not designed to handle the workow of the BIS certication scheme online and also lacked interface and communication with external users i.e., BIS applicants and licensees. CASE STUDIES CASE STUDIES 99
Although BIS started using computer systems and software in its fundamental activities at an (ITSD) Mr P Rajesh, senior scientic cadre ofcers P K Batra, Mr AM David, Mr R K Kain led the early stage, however, due to lack of coordination and heterogeneous software modules department. without interoperability. The system could not progress towards the holistic migration towards digital platforms, despite serious initiatives, and efforts by some of the senior ofcials like Mr P In addition to BIS scientic cadre ofcers, ITSD also consisted of seven to eight developers K Batra (Sc-G, DDG (CRO)) A brief history of computerization in BIS is given in Annex-1. (php and java), two Testers, one UI designer, one Security expert, one System administrator, two Network administrators, seven to eight technical support engineers, Twelve AMC Digital transformation engineers (who look after computers maintenance in HQ), and CDAC Team (for development of the mana online portal). The Present Director General (DG) of BIS Mr. Pramod Kumar Tiwari and DGs in the recent past Mr. Sunil Soni, Ms Surina Rajan took a lot of interest in transforming BIS into a digitally enabled A Snapshot of past IT infrastructure in BIS is placed as Annex-5. organization. A lot of proactive steps were taken for its upgradation towards this digital transformation and to revamp the existing systems awed with system inadequacies. The challenges faced by BIS As a result, most of the fundamental activities of BIS have started gradually migrating to digital Organizational change - BIS Act 2016 establishes BIS as National Standards Body platforms. A single platform e-BIS portal (www.manakonline.in) is now in place which caters to all the activities, work processes, internal communication and stakeholder interface not With the implementation of the new BIS Act 2016, although BIS is designated as the National conned to manufacturers, licensees, or applicants, but common consumers as well. Standards Body of the country, at the same time the new provisions in the Act paves way for other certication bodies to operate Conformity Assessment Schemes based on Indian In the present scenario, where the entire world is stricken by the ongoing pandemic (Covid- Standards. Besides this, the other challenges entrusting huge responsibility on BIS like 19), digital transformation is of paramount importance. Since last year the widespread Covid- standardization of services & systems, multiple conformity assessment schemes, hallmarking 19 pandemic has forced organizations to a new culture i.e., “work from home”, the culture that of precious metals, provide recall and liability of certied products etc. helped every organization in achieving business continuity. With the new QCOs being rolled out at a faster pace than ever before, the compliance burden If we compare the pre and post digitalization scenario in the organization, we must reiterate is also mounting on the organization with pressure to reduce the time & overall cost of that BIS was one of the few organizations after the banking sector in the country that had compliance. Apart from the simplication of systems and processes, digital transformation is started their gradual transformation towards digitalization and the rst step was the successful one of the most effective tools which if successfully deployed can mitigate the challenges implementation of CMMS system in 2004. The system could not be upgraded on time and in ahead and enhance the capacity to deliver quality services at a competitive cost. the pursuit to catch up with the time lost, some hasty decisions were taken. These resulted in many systems and processes operating in silos that could not function as expected and also Because of the aforementioned situations, there was a lot of demand for BIS certication. The the user could not keep pace with the rolling timelines. set-up that existed in BIS could not have catered to all these increasing demands. This mounting pressure as well as the long vision of the leadership in BIS pushed BIS to transform The organization set up and leadership prole itself by adopting the most efcient means to achieve its goals. The Bureau is a Body Corporate consisting of 25 members representing both Central and The existing CMMS module catering to the conformity assessment activities in BIS had its own State governments, Members of Parliament, industry, scientic and research institutions, limitations and was not equipped to handle the aforementioned challenges posed to BIS after consumer organizations and professional bodies; with the Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, the implementation of the new BIS Act. The major limitations of the CMMS system were: Food and Public Distribution as its President and with Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution as its Vice-President. Director General, BIS is the head of the 1. It does not support workow in processing applications or in operating the licence. Hence organization. The structure of BIS is given in Annex-2 and the organization chart of BIS is given maintaining and processing physical les was also necessary. in Annex-3. 2. It was not integrated with the other modules such as standardization, or testing modules. Introduction of past DGs and other key positions Cultural interventions Before the incumbent director general Shri Pramod Kumar Tiwari, who joined in 2019, the names of the previous director generals are shown in Annex-4. The present DG Shri Pramod Nevertheless, the employees of BIS were content with it as the features in CMMS could Kumar Tiwari is an IAS ofcer of the 1991 batch of Assam-Meghalaya Cadre. He is guiding BIS, provide all sorts of reports to the ofcers and management. the National Standards Body of India, to achieve its vision to be the leader in matters concerning Standardization, Certication and Quality. CASE STUDIES 101 IT Services Department of BIS The Information Technology Services Department (ITSD) was established in 1990 and entrusted the responsibility to manage the IT infrastructure of the BIS. Before the present Head 100 CASE STUDIES
Digital transformation of conformity assessment – planning, bottlenecks and the challenges Implementation of the Manak Online (e-BIS) From time-to-time BIS has appointed different agencies in addition to the creation of internal teams, to study and explore and to improve the IT infrastructure of BIS. Every team did their As part of the new high-level approach, the rst module that is manak online for conformity study and submitted reports and recommendations. However, due to various reasons, no assessment activities under Scheme-I was launched in 2017 to replace the outdated CMMS. projects were implemented based on the reports/recommendations. Manak online was designed to facilitate online processing of new applications for conformity It would be pertinent to bring other salient yet considerable setbacks/stumbling blocks, which assessment, online operations of existing licenses, enabled with features like online fee prevented the achievement of the desired outcome: module, queries and reports, and internal & external communication channels. As such some ● Inadequate support from developer towards this project of the recommendations of PMU were already implemented even before Mr P K Tiwari took ● Frequent changes in BIS requirements over the charge of DG, BIS in Sep 2019. ● Professional competence and manpower challenges faced by developer ● Changes in BIS user department representatives However, there were few drawbacks like lack of integration with activities like standardization ● No simplication of processes/process re-engineering by BIS and lab testing module (LIMS) for sending requests for testing of samples to labs and receipt ● Existing IT infrastructure, Networking, connectivity, security etc. of test reports. There were many other operation aws, deciencies and inadequacies due to lack of coordination and competency, lack of complete SRS, and holistic vision. Because of The journey begins these reasons and implementation in a hurried manner, BIS ended up creating several software/modules over a period of time, in silos and it was not possible to integrate those Before the present DG, Mr. P K Tiwari, BIS was headed by Ms Surina Rajan from Sep 2017 to modules as a holistic system. Aug 2019. Ms Surina Rajan, an IAS ofcer of 1985 batch with 32 years of experience in various capacities at national and international levels, administration, education, skill development, New leadership - Change management initiatives micro-nancing, urban planning, labour laws, infrastructure and defence manufacturing also took a lot of interest in improving BIS IT infrastructure along with the physical infrastructure. The then Deputy Director General (North), Sh. N K Kansara made sincere efforts for listing Under her leadership, a project management team (PMU) involving four experts from PWC down the issues faced in manakonline operation. He started interactions with ITS for and BIS ofcials was created for the strategic and digital transformation of BIS. The team mitigation of problems and emphasizing the need to upgrade the system so that MCR was proposed the idea for e-BIS as a single platform for all activities of BIS. The PMU prepared a centrally generated at HQ. complete roadmap for the strategic and digital transformation of BIS. See Exhibit 5 for a snapshot of the strategy proposed by them. Even the monthly MCR reports of BIS Branch ofces (BOs) engaged in Conformity Assessment were still being done manually using excel sheet format even after almost two Exhibit 5: High-level approach for transformation years the manakonline was rolled out. The process which should have been just a click away normally took two to three days of tireless efforts to successfully compile and cross-check the 102 CASE STUDIES data. Although the online system was developed still all the functions were performed both in online mode and also manually. As a result, the manual and online data were not matching, however, the past experiences did not instill enough condence to stop manual mode of work. In Oct 2019 there was change in top management and new Director General Mr. Pramod Kumar Tiwari IAS took the charge of BIS. All were discussing that BOs must bring the issues faced with the manakonline module to the notice of New DG. On the evening of Oct 30 2019, when the BOs were calling it a day, a message ashed on the inbox - This was the opportunity all were looking for, as Co-ordination cell conveyed the Meeting Notice for Workshop on `Visioning and Planning for Strategic transformation of BIS’ on Friday, 8 November 2019 at 0900 h at NITS. The meeting was to be chaired by the new DG and all DDGs and Heads at HQ and Regional/Branch Ofces /Labs/NITS were invited to attend the workshop. The schedule of the meeting was also received and displayed at Annex-6. The meeting started with a welcome address by DDG (NITS) and opening remarks by Director General. He emphasized the need for increasing the outreach, simple & user-friendly processes, automation of workow in conformity assessment and laboratory testing, building the efcient systems & processes, increased participation of consumers and consumer groups, transparency in working and a common platform for interface with stakeholders. There was ample opportunity for everyone present to express their views and ideas for meaningful Strategic transformation of the organization. The ofcers in BOs expressed the CASE STUDIES 103
need for complete digital transformation and highlighted the deciencies in the current Exhibit 6: Components of e-BIS platform. Top management was directly listening to the issues faced by the Branch Ofces and the manakonline’s improper functioning emerged as the key point of discussion. It was now Source: BIS ITS Department two years since the BOs were expressing concerns related to the functioning of manakonline. DG carefully listened to the issues and assured that needful will be done to improve the Additional elements in the new approach existing software or was even open to developing a new version. Data and analytics: Data driven decision making is a major aspect of any digital It was a long day of discussion but at the end of the day, there was no sign of exhaustion on the transformation. By bringing data together from different verticals of BIS, real-time insights into face of DG. After the meeting all left for their respective places with a hope that soon they would nance, sales, marketing, product certications, registration, standards and other processes get a system which would be user friendly and make the work process easier and simpler. are obtained. These insights enable departments to collaborate better, achieve better results, and outperform the competition. Data analytics enables viewing data in context and make The ITS Department and senior ofcials of BIS and the PMU team recommended that BIS smarter business decisions to achieve improved products and services. should engage some agencies for developing the module or it has to be developed in-house. However, the DG was weighing the situation. If BIS has to develop the digital platform with a Mobile friendly environment: An effort was made to make the environment mobile friendly. This new vendor/team, it has to: was done by providing basic features like search & Report viewing, Geo-tagging of Factory and surveillance activities, and providing a direct interface with key stakeholders including ● Float tenders and identify the right team; consumers etc. ● Study and understand BIS functioning and existing modules; and ● Overcome delays in implementing the plan The key features of the newly envisaged e-BIS which were not present in the old system: Hence, he decided to go with the present CDAC team with strict monitoring at the top 1. Single Window Registration for all stakeholders management level and with stricter timelines. The series of meetings with ITS ofcials and the 2. Internal & external Application Tracking developer’s team started and there was apparent lack of consensus on the overall approach 3. Notications & SMSs and way forward. It emerged that there is a lack of coordination among developers, ITS and 4. Drill-down features in Dashboards certication which had resulted in the issues being faced in the current module. 5. Technology enabled Factory Surveillance 6. Customer Facilitation & Helpdesk Some of the decisions taken during the key meeting on 19 Dec 2021 includes that BIS will 7. Mobile App share consolidated functional requirements to CDAC by 31 Dec 2019, a responsibility matrix 8. Paperless ofce with timelines for each module on manak online to be rolled out; CDAC to Clearly state out the Manpower Estimation, Team Lead and nancial implications for each module along with Conclusion response to the Timelines quoted by BIS The system was improving fast and DG BIS had set April 1, 2020 the date for completion of Now DG himself was aware that system needed to be revamped. He was keen to inculcate a migration and to dispense away with the manual working. This was a major cultural shift in the spirit of team work and coordinated effort rather than disjointed efforts. Co-ordination team for organization. BOs decided to gradually stop the manual activities and as a rst step the ROs/ BOs was nominated to quickly resolve the ITS support issues, please see Annex-7. manual processing of the renewal of licences was stopped. At this time, the Covid-19 With this level of team co-ordination, the manakonline processes started improving. As a CASE STUDIES 105 result, the system of sending manual MCRs was dispensed away and centralized MCR generation for the entire certication activity became a reality. This was nothing less than a celebration for the branches who had struggled to match the online and ofine data. Implementation of New Plan After several discussions and brainstorming sessions, the DG BIS and ITSD decided to go ahead with the slightly modied version of the strategy proposed by the PMU. The components/modules considered to be integrated with the new e-BIS portal is given in Exhibit 6. 104 CASE STUDIES
pandemic struck the world followed by a national lockdown. The Covid 19 pandemic may Annex 1 result in tremendous pendency of applications for Conformity assessment and COMPUTERIZATION IN BIS – MILESTONES apprehensions that piling work load might eventually lead to dealing ofcers losing track of work in hand. 1. Introduction of Computerization in BIS Directions for Work from Home through an online system were issued and an option for ofine work was not available. Left with no choice, employees started using the revamped online Computerization in BIS started in the early eighties. There was a main frame-based Computer system to clear the pendency of applications for grant of new licences and renewal of existing Center at headquarters for certain computer related activities. Regional and Branch Ofces licences. Soon everyone realized that the system is now the lifeline and one after the other were equipped with DOS based PC system. In this initial stage, the use of computers was processes, right from granting of new licences and renewals of existing licences were limited to compilation of data received from Branch Ofces. successfully done through the portal. The three-week lockdown proved a blessing in disguise as it helped in change management and quick adoption of new online/ paperless functioning. 2. 2001: NEED FOR CMMS All returned to their ofces after lockdown with totally upto date work, reduced pendency and were looking at their cabins full of les left pending before the lockdown. The pending work in Ever increasing popularity of ISI mark, and growth of product certication marks scheme, those les was already disposed off while working from the comfort of home. Scary of manual necessitated the need to develop a comprehensive IT system for managing major activities of movement of les in the pandemic period further compelled developing a habit of online work BIS. Software Requirement Specication (SRS) was built for Standardization and Product culture. Now it was the time to drive the benets of digital transformation and review the Certication including Hallmarking. The project was awarded to National Informatics Centre timelines for different processes like grant of new licences, renewal of existing licences, etc (NIC) for providing the basic infrastructure, i.e., set of systems for all ofcers and staff engaged New modied guidelines for grant of BIS licence were rolled out with implementation from Sep in such activities. The software developed was named Certication Marks Management 01, 2020. Processes and systems were made more efcient and strict monitoring of time norm System (CMMS) for facilitating Product Certication activity. Software for Standardization, compliance for each activity was now possible through data and reports generated by the however, could not be developed due to lack of support from the developer. system. As a result, the strict compliance to time norms for BIS conformity Assessment processes became a reality and thus reduced the compliance burden on the organization and 3. FEBRUARY 2004: LAUNCH FOR CMMS overall cost of certication to the manufacturer. Other Achievements included capacity building, creation of data centers, creation of in-house Certication Marks Management System (CMMS) was launched in Feb 2004 to facilitate rewall in addition to rewall provided by the ISP, upgradation of bandwidth to 1Gbps and operation of the activities in Product Certication and Hallmarking. The system facilitated data single window system from the perspective ease of doing business. entry of existing and new applications in the system, entry of all stages related to application However, few questions still remained, what more could be done to ensure that the meaningful and operation of licenses. It enabled reection of the data entered in CMMS on BIS website for user training can keep pace with the rolling out timelines of new systems? Was earlier system common public and report generation for BIS employees. However, the system was a primitive made more complex and less user-friendly in process of correcting its aws and addition of model restricted to data entry with no provision for automated work ow. It was not a web- new features? If BIS had chosen another path by appointing a new team in place of CDAC for based application. Data was maintained individually at Branch level, and was synchronized to developing the systems, where would have been BIS today in terms of digital transformation? a central server hosted in NIC. The process of replication was itself a separate module hosted at NIC for communication with all servers staged at BO level. Moreover, it was post action entry 106 CASE STUDIES making system that led to duplication of effort and difculty in real-time monitoring. There was no interface for applicant/licensee/labs to apply/use the services online or use any online mode of payment. 4. 2012: HCL ON BEHEST OF NIC In order to develop web-based application with online interfaces for automated work ow, NIC was assigned the task to develop a rened Software Requirement Specication (SRS) for Certication Marks Management System. The said SRS was developed by HCL at the behest of NIC and included provisions for Registration Scheme and Laboratory activities. The SRS was submitted by HCL to BIS and in turn was sent to NIC for review. However, due to lack of co- ordination between NIC & BIS this project could not be carried forward. 5. 2013: PORTAL FOR COMPULSORY REGISTRATION SCHEME Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MEITY) in coordination with BIS and CDAC developed a portal for the operation of Compulsory Registration Scheme: http://electronicstds.gov.in/CREITG/. Initially, as BIS was given limited access to this portal, the applications for grant of registration were processed ofine using indigenously built software. CASE STUDIES 107
6. 2013: SHIFTING OF CENTRAL SERVER OF CMMS IN BIS-HQ coordination with CDAC, and IT Team of BIS, to integrate with the e-Nivesh portal of Project Monitoring Group (PMG) of Cabinet Secretariat under the project of Digitization of Clearances. The central server was shifted from NIC data centre to BIS-HQ for maintaining the data centrally, and for enabling real time status updates in the data base. This mechanism also 11. MAY 2014: HANDING OVER OF CRS PORTAL replaced the local servers being maintained at individual BO’s level. It eliminated the time lag occurring due to backward replications in the earlier mechanism. It was decided in the meeting of secretaries Consumer Affairs and MIETY that the online portal developed then MEITY through CDAC for managing Compulsory Registration Scheme online 7. 2014: LABORATORY INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (LIMS) may be handed over to BIS for its operation at no cost. The software was studied and found not t for operation, like, it was treating every test report as a separate application though in this A software for Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) was launched to manage scheme there can be up to 10 Test reports with a single application, modication on the home test request generation by ofcers, and uploading of test reports by labs through a single page of the portal, etc. Certain fast modications were carried out by CDAC, as per directions window system developed and hosted in ITSD. The test requests generated through this from BIS, and then CRS portal was launched in June 2014. Later on, the portal was modied to system was required to be manually updated in CMMS to maintain the history of operation of incorporate various other functionalities after rigorous follow-ups with CDAC, for operating the licenses in the system. Compulsory Registration scheme. BIS then procured a separate domain name, www.crsbis.in and updated it as per the requirement in coordination with CDAC. 8. DECEMBER 2014: PROJECT PROPOSAL FOR AN INTEGRATED WEB PORTAL TO CDAC 12. AUGUST 2015: WORKSHOP FOR THE MODULES DEVELOPED FOR PRODUCT CERTIFICATION AND RELEVANT LABORATORY ACTIVITIES A project was awarded to CDAC for the development of an integrated portal encompassing major activities of BIS, namely, Product Certication, Management System Certication, In the meantime, the module for product certication was also under development Hallmarking, and Laboratory Activities. Out of the total project cost Rs. 5.83 Cr, payment of Rs. simultaneously by CDAC team, and was rendered ready for demonstration. A workshop was 1.98 Cr against advance and Rs 1.09 Cr against the modules that have been developed and organized for demonstrating the modules developed for Product Certication, and relevant tested has been made. So far modules relating to product certication, registration, Laboratory Activities; and initiate User Acceptance Testing (UAT) with two nominated hallmarking (only Jeweler Certication) have been developed and tested. branches (Haryana and Delhi-1 branches). In the workshop, a review was taken by DG BIS, and was decided that since the OMPC is under revision, the new software being developed Modules relating to CAD have been demonstrated to the user department, however should facilitate the provisions envisaged. It was recommended to synchronize the acceptance is still awaited since 2017. User department is frequently changing requirements development with the nalized OMPC, which would be made available shortly. and formats, causing major changes in the software. 13. FEBRUARY 2016: REGISTRATION OF EXISTING APPLICANTS/ LICENSES Development of MSCD module also started in tandem with other modules, and application forms for online submission by applicants were developed. Post this there was a change in the In the meantime, when OMPC was under revision, it was decided to start the work of Data team of BIS for stating requirements. With the changed team, previous efforts were put at halt porting from existing software, CMMS, to the newly developed software, hosted under the and new development started with effect from July 2016, which was called as initial module of domain of Manakonline.in. This resulted in a rigorous exercise, as cleaning of existing CMMS MSCD. This module has been developed in lines similar to our CMMS, i.e., software for data of all the BOs. The data available in CMMS database was entered from les in hard form in enabling entries of all licensees and applicants so that a database can be created, and further the year 2004 and also subsequently CMMS was maintained with help of data/stage entries in online services can be built-in in the next phase. The said initial module of MSCD is already the software. During these manual data entries there were lot of errors which led to incorrect operational, and rest of the provisions are under development simultaneously. and inconsistent database. Many optional elds were left blank such as brand names, pin codes, etc. which were mandatory in the system envisaged. 9. JAN 2015: LAUNCH OF A MODULE FOR ONLINE SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF LICENSE TO USE THE STANDARD MARK Many mandatory licenses were found entered as voluntary and vice-a-versa. Many licences under same premises were found with different party codes and address entered against each Two services of BIS were identied by Govt. of India under the project ‘Digitization of licence was not uniform. Many large scales were found entered as small scale etc. In many Clearances’ monitored by Project management Group (PMG-III) Cabinet Secretariat; licences across India, state was found as Andaman Nicobar etc. licencing under Mandatory Certication, and Compulsory Registration of Electronics & IT Goods. Based on initiative of Govt. of India, Digitization of Clearances was mandatory for the Porting could be done branch wise as there was no single consolidated real-time data entire organization in order to facilitate ease of doing business. Based on the aforementioned available. A data cleaning activity was initiated in coordination with CMDs and branch ofces project, software was launched in Jan 2015, to enable the stakeholders for online submission to rectify such details, such as District, State, factory and ofce addresses, etc. Data base was of application for Grant of License in order to use the Standard Mark. huge so such corrections & cleaning took a long time. Finally, data porting was done and a module was developed separately for generating credentials of existing licensees/applicants, 10. WEB SERVICE INTEGRATION WITH CRS AND CMMS UNDER to enable their registration on the portal Manakonline. In the meanwhile, when the activity of DIGITIZATION OF CLEARANCES data cleaning was in process, it was felt that it is necessary to bring all the stakeholders, Web Services were developed for both the above-mentioned services of BIS separately, in CASE STUDIES 109 108 CASE STUDIES
namely, existing applicants/licensees on board via registration on the portal in order to give Annex-2 them access to the features and functionalities of the portal. Since the number of such THE ORGANIZATION CHART OF BIS licenses/applicants was also huge, and were not mapped with premises using proper mechanism such as party code etc. A separate module was developed for mapping of existing CASE STUDIES 111 license/applications pertaining to a single factory premises as single user (in-line with our policy of one license for each premises and standard). Branches were given the access to this module after data porting to generate credentials for our stakeholder and track their registration status. The set of pre-registered credentials (username and password) were mapped with their existing licenses/applications. Similar practices have been followed in banking sector as well. 14. 2016: CHANGE IN PERSONNEL OF CDAC AND BIS NOMINATED REPRESENTATIVES There were frequent changes in the development team of CDAC, and was combined with frequent changes in the BIS internal structure, which lead to lag in the development of several modules. Knowledge transfer during every change in CDAC team was felt not proper, which resulted in delays. Also, frequent changes in BIS, caused delays, and at one point of time it lacked authorised BIS representatives. Moreover, there was constant pressure from Central Govt., Cabinet Secretariat, to start online services for BIS licencing as well, since CRS portal was already operational, along with provision for making payments online. During such urgencies, there was sluggish co- operation from CDAC, in respect of providing timely services and skilled manpower. This concern was regularly raised to CDAC, and it was informed that local units are helpless, as the procedure for sourcing the manpower has been changed to ‘contractual employment’ rather than inducting manpower on various equivalent grades of CDAC employees. This was assumed to be the reason for not getting required skilled manpower from CDAC for our ongoing projects. 15. MAY 2017: LAUNCH OF MANAKONLINE In order to meet the commitment given to MOCA and Cabinet Secretariat, it was decided in a meeting chaired by DG BIS along with all activity heads and concerned departmental heads held on 08th April 2017, to launch the existing version of portal encompassing modules for Product Certication, and related Laboratory Activities. The portal was launched (before launch testing was done from June 2016 to September 2016 at ITSD and proposals were sent for pilot testing at end user level) on 15th May 2017 to facilitate online submission of application, processing of application for grant of license, operation of license as per the requirement shared by the concerned activity heads. Presently, it is being upgraded, and other activities like Hallmarking, Foreign Manufacturer’s certication, Consumer affairs, Management system are being integrated in the same portal. 16. MAY 2017 ONWARDS: Under the ambit of Digitization, BIS is also taking services of third-party software(s), and several in-house developed software, to facilitate its day-to-day activities, as detailed in Chapter 2. ITSD is also catering to the IT infrastructure requirements, and other services as and when needed by BIS. [Source: ITSD, BIS HQ] 110 CASE STUDIES
Annex-3 Annex-4 THE STRUCTURE OF BIS LIST OF DIRECTOR GENERALS LED BIS SINCE THE YEAR 2000 President Hon'ble Union Minister for Consumer # Name From To Affairs, Food and Public Distribu on 1. Shri P.S. Das 21 Jul 1997 20 Jul 2000 Hon'ble Minister of State for Consumer 2. Shri S. Nautiyal 20 Jul 2000 30 Jul 2001 Affairs, Food and Public Distribu on Vice 3. Shri K.M. Sahni 31 Jul 2001 12 Aug 2002 President 4. Shri Nirmal Singh 14 Aug 2002 23 Dec 2004 Bureau 5. Smt. Satwant Reddy 23 Dec 2004 3 Aug 2005 Members 6. Shri S.P. Sharma 3 Aug 2005 30 Nov 2006 7. Smt. Alka Sirohi, Addl. Secy. (Addl. Charge) 30 Nov 2006 14 May 2007 Bureau 8. Shri Sayan Chatterjee 14 May 2007 14 May 2008 9. Shri Rakesh Kacker 14 May 2008 5 Aug 2008 Execu ve Advisory 10 Shri Sharad Gupta 5 Aug 2008 1 Mar 2012 commi ee commi ee 11 Shri Alinda Chandra, ADG (Addl. Charge) 1 Mar 2012 29 Oct 2012 Finance 12 \"Shri Pankaj Agarwala, Secretary, MOCA (Addl. Charge)\" 29 Oct 2012 19 Nov 2012 13 Shri Afzal Amanullah, AS, CA, F&PD 19 Nov 2012 1 Jul 2013 Standards 14 \"Shri Pankaj Agarwala, Secretary, 1 Jul 2013 1 Jul 2013 MOCA (Addl. Charge)\" 15 Shri Sunil Soni, IAS 2 Jul 2013 28 Nov 2014 Laboratory 16 Shri G. Gurucharan, IAS 28 Nov 2014 6 Jan 2015 17 Shri M.J. Joseph, ICAS 6 Jan 2015 14 May 2015 Cer fica on 18 Shri G. Gurucharan, IAS 14 May 2015 30 Jul 2015 Consumer 19 Smt Alka Panda, IAS 30 Jul 2015 31 Jul 2017 policy 20 Smt Madhulika P. Sukul, AS (CA), Additional Charge 1 Aug 2017 2 Aug 2017 Planning and Development 21 Shri Sanjay Kumar Singh, IAS 2 Aug 2017 11 Sep 2017 22 Smt Surina Rajan IAS 12 Sep 2017 31 Aug 2019 23 Shri Rohit Kumar Parmar, IES 2 Sep 2019 25 Oct 2019 24 Shri Pramod KumarTiwari, IAS 25 Oct 2019 Till date Source: www.bis.gov.in Source: www.bis.gov.in 112 CASE STUDIES CASE STUDIES 113
Annex 5 Status of software modules for each activity of BIS: It Infrastructure Hardware Details # Software Activity Current Status Hosting Info # ITEM Qty REMARKS 1. Integrated Web Portal - Product Developed by CDAC Hosted in CDAC Data 1 Server and in use since Center 9 \"Both rack and tower servers are available at BIS Manakonline\" Certication 15 May 2017 Headquarters. It is used to host our applications e.g., CMMS, SFSM, Login Module etc.\" Laboratory Developed by CDAC Hosted in CDAC Data Activities and in use since Center 15 May 2017 2 Routers 2 Networking equipment is used to provide and manage network/internet connection at BIS Headquarters. MSCD Developed by CDAC. Will be Hosted in First phase in use since CDAC Data Center 01 November 2017. 3 Network Switch 31 4 Unied Threat 1 Jeweler Being developed Will be Hosted in Management Certication by CDAC CDAC Data Center (UTM) Device Scheme 5 Leased line 2 The 34 Mbps and 10 Mbps leased lines are CAD Being developed Will be Hosted in connected to NIC for availing internet services. by CDAC CDAC Data Center FMCD Being developed Will be Hosted in by CDAC CDAC Data Center 6 Internet services - Availed from NIC. Routers and network switches are installed in BIS ofces to access the internet. Assaying and Being developed Will be Hosted in 7 Hosting services - \"CDAC, Noida is providing data center services for Hallmarking by CDAC CDAC Data Center manakonline.in, crsbis.in; NIC, New Delhi is Centers hosting www.bis.gov.in.\" Lab Recognition To be Developed Will be Hosted in 8 E-Mail services - Availed from NIC. All ofcers and staff are eligible Scheme by CDAC CDAC Data Center for receipt of ofcial e-mail ID. 2. Human Resource and Human Resource, Procured as a Will be Hosted in Finance Management CDAC Data Center System Finance, Accounts, customizable off the 9 E-Procurement - Availed from NIC. DSCs have also been procured Establishment shelf solution from Services for the concerned ofcials. related activities CDAC and is 10 Bandwidth Services - \"Leased lines having bandwidth of 4 Mbps and 2 currently being Mbps are installed in ROs and BOs respectively by BSNL and MTNL which currently is under customized upgradation. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) for BIS has also been commissioned over the NIC 3. CRS portal - Crsbis.in Compulsory Developed by CDAC in Hosted in CDAC network.\" Registration coordination with Miety Data Center Scheme and is in use since 2013 4. Standard Formulation Standards Developed In-house Hosted in ITSD Repository, View and in use since 11 Video Availed from NIC. Feasibility of procuring Cisco Standards, August 2015 Conferencing Webex is being explored. Standards Services Locator, Meeting Management, Standards Development, Committee Management, Reafrmations 114 CASE STUDIES CASE STUDIES 115
5. BIS Website Developed In-house and Hosted in NIC Data Annex 6 6. BIS Login & Intranet in use since August 2013 Center Schedule of Workshop on `visioning and Planning for Strategic Transformation of BIS’ At Nits, Noida on Friday, 08 November 2019\" 7. Module for CAD Access based login Developed In-house and Hosted in ITSD for outsiders and in use since Feb 2014 8. BIS-Care BIS employees to S.NO. TIME PROGRAMME SCHEDULE access Salary, 9. Module for WTO- TBT Circulars, SFMS 1. 0900h to 0905 Welcome Address by DDG (NITS) and other 2. 0905h to 0915h 10. Library Management functionalities 3. 0915h to 0925h Opening Remarks by DG Software 4. 0925h to 1015h Introduc on of the Programme by DDG (PP&C) 11. Standards BIS To facilitate Developed In-house and Hosted in ITSD common public to in use since Sep 2014 by CAD. Improving the system of Registra on – Increasing the outreach, simple & 12. Certication Marks lodge an online user-friendly processes, challenges in automa on, SOP for monitoring & Management System complaint for BIS 5. 1015h to 1100h renewal. (CMMS) products/services - Introduc on by DDG (Registra on), DDG(Cer fica on), and its processing DDG(Hallmarking), DDG(Standardiza on) / HoDs concerned 13. Laboratory - Interac on and delibera ons for Plan of ac on Information Mobile App to Developed In-house and Hosted in ITSD Management facilitate in use since June 2015 Building the efficient surveillance system – Streamlining the process of System (LIMS) submission and selec on of firms and surveillance personnel, SOP for on-sight surveillance, tracking of 6. 1100h to 1120h quality of repor ng system, monitoring the compliance, addressing 14. Payroll Management complaints. 7. 1120h to 1200h complaints and grievances. System - Introduc on by DDG (Cer fica on) / HoDs concerned Software to Developed In-house Hosted in ITSD - Interac on and delibera ons for Plan of ac on disseminate WTO- and in use since Tea Break TBT notications November 2016 Addressing the gaps in market surveillance system - Increased coverage, par cipa on of consumers and consumer groups, transparency in market Cataloguing of Third Party software Software congured 8. 1200h to 1245h place opera ons, selec on of establishments and inspec ng officials, books and procured and used by in Library membership Library deptt 9. 1245h to 1330h meliness in repor ng, monitoring of ac on taken. management for - Introduc on by DDG (Cer fica on) / HoDs concerned Library 10. 1330h to 1430h - Interac on and delibera ons for Plan of ac on 11. 1430h to 1515h Portal to facilitate Software procured from Hosted in vendor’s 12. 1515h to 1600h Improving Laboratories - Infrastructure, equipment, automa on of work sale of Indian third party (Aspire) and location flow, SOP for tests, PR review and performance audit, standardizing Standards used by Sales deptt 13. 1600h to 1620h repor ng system. 14. 1620h to 1730h - Introduc on by DDG (Labs) / / HoD concerned Portal for Through BSB’s Hosted in vendor’s - Interac on and delibera ons for Plan of ac on location 15. 1730h to 1800h subscription/lease Website/portal Hallmarking of gold and silver jewelry - Challenges and solu ons, Source: Co-ordina on Cell, BIS Func oning of Assaying & Hall marking centers, awareness genera on. of Standards (third party) - Introduc on by DDG (Hallmarking) / / HoD concerned CASE STUDIES - Interac on and delibera ons for Plan of ac on\" Product Developed by NIC and in Earlier hosted in NIC Certication, use since 01 April 2004 and now shifted to Lunch Break Hallmarking ITSD Checking packed water quality – Challenges. - Introduc on by DDG (Lab), DDG(Cer fica on) / / HoDs concerned Test request Developed In-house and Hosted in ITSD - Interac on and delibera ons for Plan of ac on generation and in use since Feb 2014 test report Iden fica on of new standards – Iden fica on of sectors and trade for new uploading and standards, modus operandi tracking - Introduc on by DDG (Standardiza on) / / HoD concerned - Interac on and delibera ons for Plan of ac on Payroll and Salary Third Party software Hosted in Salary management procured and used by Department Tea Break Salary deptt Interface with stakeholders - Building trust. 116 CASE STUDIES - Introduc on by DDG (MSCD), DDG (Standardiza on), DDG (Cer fica on), DDG (CAD), DDG (Hallmarking) / / HoDs concerned - Interac on and delibera ons for Plan of ac on\" Concluding Session 117
Annex 7 LIST OF ITSD CO-ORDINATORS Sl No. OFFICER MOBILE NO. BRANCH OFFICES ekud% iFkizn'kZd% Testing Labs: 9437082725 Ahmedabad Branch Ofce The Outsourcing Dilemma of BIS Bengaluru Branch Ofce 1. Shri Jagannath Majhi, Sc-E 9910533136 Bhopal Branch Ofce 9868936963 Bhubaneshwar Branch Ofce 2. Shri Koushik Dutta, Sc- D 9871127128 Chandigarh Branch Ofce Arun Swaminathan, Deputy Director General (Laboratory Operations) at Bureau of Indian 3. Shri Hemant Kr. Bansiwal, Sc-C 9999070236 Chennai Branch Ofce - I Standards (BIS) was oblivious to the ongoing celebration of World Standards Day around him. 4. Ms Ankita Srivastava, Sc-C 9911746222 Chennai Branch Ofce - II The ongoing seminar on “Niche Capacity Building by Government Organizations” had drifted 5. Shri Nitish Kr. Verma, Sc-C Coimbatore Branch Ofce his mind to the million-dollar question; Capacity Building v/s Outsourcing of BIS laboratory 6. Ms Jyoti Kushwaha, Sc- C Dehradun Branch Ofce activity which had been occupying his mind for quite some time now. BIS had established itself Delhi Branch Ofce - I as the renowned body dealing with standards and a pioneer and front-runner in laboratory Delhi Branch Ofce - II testing activity. Galloping rate of increase in the number of samples to be tested due to Faridabad Branch Ofce increasing outreach of BIS however posed a serious challenge to the activity. Arun Ghaziabad Branch Ofce Swaminathan knew that the organization had to come up with some scaling strategy to Guwahati Branch Ofce improve the laboratory setup and subsequently the testing dynamics. Time and again he had Haryana Branch Ofce thought of the evident challenges and the repercussions in the process of removing the Himachal Pradesh Branch Ofce resource crunch of testing laboratories. Outsourcing the activity appeared to be a viable Hubli Branch Ofce solution to the problem, but the solution had its own challenges. Hyderabad Branch Ofce Jaipur Branch Ofce Dilemma Jammu & Kashmir Branch Ofce Jamshedpur Branch Ofce Ensuring the testing standards, transparency, reliability were his main concerns apart from the Kochi Branch Ofce fact that outsourcing the activity would mean losing the edge BIS had gained in the testing Kolkata Branch Ofce industry over span of decades. Should BIS be investing its resources in capacity building of Lucknow Branch Ofce BIS owned laboratories or think of a mechanism to establish a trustworthy relationship with Mumbai Branch Ofce-I already empanelled outsourced laboratories or was there a middle path? With limited Mumbai Branch Ofce-II resources at his disposal DDG (Laboratory Operations) was battling to decide on what should Nagpur Branch Ofce be the roadmap for BIS laboratories in the coming years? Patna Branch Ofce Pune Branch Ofce Background Raipur Branch Ofce Rajkot Branch Ofce BIS overview: Bureau of Indian Standards, the ‘National Standards Body’ of India was Vishakhapatnam Branch Ofce established as a statutory organization under Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 2016. The organization had its roots in Indian Standards Institution (ISI), which was established on 06 January, 1947 around the time of independence. Through the journey of 70 plus years, BIS had evolved itself into a premier institution for formulation of National Standards, for providing Conformity Assessment Schemes to the Industry, and providing reliable testing services to the stakeholders. BIS had also grown in multiple of its support activities including Training Services, Grievance Handling Mechanism, Consumer Affairs, Action Research, etc. Major Activities of BIS Standards Formulation: BIS took up formulation of Indian standards through 16 division council representing diverse area of economy and technology like chemical, metallurgy, food Source: BIS, ITSD Kumar Animesh, Souvik Chanda, Jose Charles, Ankita Srivastava, Naveen Kumar, Divya Chaudhary prepared this case. This case study has been prepared as part fulfillment of the training on Prepara on of Case Studies organized by NITS of BIS. Cases have been developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustra ons of effec ve or ineffec ve management. ©All Rights Reserved No part of this case study may be reproduced, photocopied, electronically processed and forwarded without the wri en consent of BIS. 118 CASE STUDIES CASE STUDIES 119
etc. Standardization helped in ensuring the safety, interoperability and compatibility of goods number of licenses would directly result in increase in the number of samples received for produced thus forming a base of agreement to which every industry and manufacturer had to testing. adhere to. In order to issue license to a manufacturer, the product being manufactured had to be tested Conformity Assessment: To protect consumer’s interest, BIS was operating various thoroughly as per the specications in the corresponding standard. A robust system of testing conformity assessment schemes which was the second core activity of the organization. laboratories was the primary requirement for the same. These laboratories not only needed to Under these schemes, BIS granted licenses/registrations to such manufacturers who were be well-equipped in terms of infrastructure, machinery, skilled manpower etc. but they also capable of producing goods conforming to relevant Indian Standards, on continuous basis. had to be diverse to cater to the wide variety of products. Various schemes like Product certication, Self-declaration of conformity (SDOC), Foreign manufacturer certication scheme (FMCS), Hallmarking of Gold and Silver articles, Arun knew that Government of India was in the process of making ISI mark mandatory for an Management systems certication scheme (MSCS) etc. were part of the conformity additional 215 products which mean that manufacturers of all of these products would be assessment activity of BIS. applying for license in near future. These mandatory products were spread across manufacturing spectrum and included diverse products like Cement, Household Electrical Laboratory Operations: An important component of Conformity assessment schemes was goods, Food & Related Products, Cylinder, Valves and Regulator, Steel products, Chemicals, testing of the end product being ISI marked. To support these schemes, testing of products Toys, Air conditioner, footwear, Transports engineering etc. was required on regular basis for checking conformity to the relevant Indian Standards. BIS had established a network of eight laboratories and approved various other third-party Apart from this, under the BIS SDOC Scheme, 76 more electronic products were being notied laboratories, including laboratories owned by major research organizations, academic as mandatory. Furthermore, under Hallmarking scheme, gold jewellery was recently notied institutions and PSUs. as mandatory and BIS was anticipating multi-fold increase in the number of jewellers seeking BIS registration. With increase in the number of licenses, the number of samples to be tested Product Certication and need of testing was bound to increase many times over. Product certication was the process of certifying a product that had passed certain Testing and BIS performance & quality assurance tests and met the qualication criteria stipulated in specications or regulations etc. This enhanced the performance requirements of product, BIS was operating eight self-owned laboratories across country catering to a wide spectrum of increased customer satisfaction, established credibility, streamlined processes, promoted products. However, since the testing requirement was much more than the capacity of BIS savings on the cost; and there were numerous benets for industries, customers and labs, around 35 labs owned and operated by various research organizations, academic stakeholders. institutions and PSUs were empanelled and roughly 255outside laboratories (OSLs) were recognised by BIS for testing and issuing reports. Majorly these labs were private laboratories, Under BIS’ ISI product certication scheme there were 1030 products covered on which more recognised by BIS under Lab recognition scheme (LRS). Under this scheme, BIS audited the than 38000 licenses were operative. Out of these, 146 products were mandatory and 854 labs for their process and technical capabilities for each product for which they were being products were voluntary. recognized. Further, periodic audits of these labs were also done under the LRS scheme to ensure adherence to the prescribed system. Product certication was often mandatorily required in sensitive product and marketplace areas where a failure of the products could have serious consequences, such as negatively Testing vis-à-vis Certication affecting the health and welfare of the people or person using the product. For instance, certication was made mandatory for Gas cylinders & their ttings since the products were Mandatory Certication: BIS propagated creation of complete testing facilities, to the extent extensively used in every household for domestic purposes and any sub-par product could possible, for the products covered under the mandatory certication. To ensure the same, BIS tend to lead towards a major accident affecting households, specically women. Similarly, tried to divert major fund allocation towards procurement of modern test equipment and SDOC was made mandatory for mobile phones and other hand-held electronic devices, which creation of increased testing infrastructure by converting the dispensable ofce spaces of were being used ever so commonly. They had to pass through RF emissions criteria failing regional ofces into laboratories and hiring outsourced personnel dedicated towards which would result into a health hazard. Other sensitive product areas including food, laboratory testing. electrical equipment and construction material used in bridges and high-rise structures etc. were also brought under gambit of mandatory certication. Voluntary Certication: Manufacturers tended to acquire a BIS license for their products even though they were not covered under the ambit of QCOs since an ISI mark on their product Apart from these, in order to ensure delivery of the product of the purity advertised, Hallmark would increase their sales value and customer demand. was made mandatory for gold articles and it was expected that the variants like white-gold, silver etc. too would be soon made mandatory. Government of India had the regulatory role Also, it was observed that products with ISI mark had better market in neighboring countries and ministries concerned with each product would issue Quality Control Orders (QCOs) to like Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Hence BIS labs needed to gear up as per the growing notify these products for mandatory certication. A manufacturer willing to sell any of the demands of the manufacturers, who were mostly of medium and small scale and required products covered under QCOs had to mandatorily take a BIS license for the same. Increase in timely service from BIS w.r.t faster testing time with accurate results. 120 CASE STUDIES CASE STUDIES 121
Self-Declaration of Conformity (SDOC): Testing time: BIS owned laboratories though eight in number received a variety of samples ranging across the categories of mandatory products (products that have been covered under This was a unique scheme being operated by BIS under which the manufacturer needed to get mandatory quality control orders) and voluntary products. The infrastructure of BIS labs was their products (IT and related products) tested from third party labs and submit the test reports restricted with regard to the availability of manpower, type of equipment and these could not along with other relevant documents, for registration of their product with BIS and to apply be increased suddenly based on the occasional increase in in-ow of samples. registration mark on their products. A major challenge with the scheme in terms of laboratory testing was that the version/model of the products involved being mostly related to electronics Samples received were being tested on FIFO (First -In First- Out) basis. However, applicant goods would get upgraded/modied rapidly. Hence it required the entire process of samples, samples drawn from licensees under stoppage of marking and resumption of registration involving third-party testing to be completed within few days. Laboratories needed marking were required to be given priority while considering for testing. Such situations would to respond promptly with the testing reports once the sample was received by them to support cause delay in testing of samples and creation of test reports, resulting in over-all testing time the dynamic nature of industry. of the queued products. Exceptional scenarios like COVID lockdowns added to the plight of labs thereby increasing the testing time further. All the BIS laboratories put together had complete testing facilities for 398 products and partial testing facilities for 320 products to support the certication schemes of BIS which was roughly These instances of delayed testing time led to an overall increase in time taken for granting of 70% of the 1030 products for which BIS had granted 38,000 licenses. Total testing capacity of licenses by the branch ofces, thereby resulting in nancial loss for applicant and creating a all the BIS owned laboratories was around 36,000 samples [see Exhibit 1 for details] sense of disbelief towards BIS testing facilities. The testing capacity of BIS owned laboratories was bound to increase after the ongoing centralized as well as local procurement process for The legal provision of BIS Act 2016 granted the body the power to recognize any laboratory in laboratories but Arun Swaminathan knew this was not enough. India or Outside India for carrying out testing of samples in relation to conformity assessment and quality assurance. BIS had recognized 255 such labs to full the ever-growing demand of Product coverage: The central government having realized the importance of ISI mark was product testing. Similarly, 35 laboratories of National repute/Research Organizations were bringing more and more products under QCOs. In order to cater to testing of these products, it empanelled by BIS for utilization of testing facilities. was needed to overhaul a lab completely by adding new equipment as per the modern test methods; installation, operation and calibration of the same. Installation of these equipment BIS however, had no test facility for a massive 436 products and these were being tested by many a times required expansion of the testing area of laboratories. Training of the testing OSLs in totality. These were the products which required specialized testing setup and the personnel was also required to operate new instruments and, in a few instances, new and same was not available at BIS owned laboratories. Developing this expertise and additional testing personnel had to be recruited to meet the pace of testing. infrastructure in BIS would require substantial investment in terms of capital and manpower, which was not viable because these expensive facilities would cater only to a specic type of Procurement Time: As per Rule 149 (Government e-Market place (GeM)) of General Finance product. Rules (GFR), 2017, the Government of Indian had mandated the government buyers to utilize GeM portal for direct on-line purchases. Cumbersome rules specied for the procurement One such example was setting up a laboratory to test Polycarbonate sheets as per IS 14443. process on GeM made the process difcult. Bullets had to be red at test pieces under dened conditions for testing the resistance of sheets against bullets. Not only the expertise required for ring bullets was not available in BIS, Arun Swaminathan knew that procurement of equipment would take a lot of time and various developing this expertise for only one such test was not viable owing to the safety concerns hoops would have to be jumped through which would in turn will lead to delay in procurement involved. The required test facility however was available with government empaneled labs of new equipment and therefore rendering the solution moot in the short run. He recalled like DRDO. Similarly, the Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering & Technology instances where the model of equipment purchased had been superseded with another (CIPET) had equipment and infrastructure with respect to testing related to Pipes and ttings. version by the time it got installed in the laboratory for use. Samples of Ceramic pipes and pipes used for transportation of gases, etc. being bulky in nature required specialized tests and CIPET had test facility for such products. Establishing Out-Sourced Laboratories (OSLs) these test facilities at BIS labs required substantial resources in terms of land, machinery, manpower and expertise. While it was of utmost necessity that complete and time-bound testing of the sample may be done as dened in the relevant Indian Standard, the same was not feasible with the help of BIS Laboratories: Problem Areas eight BIS labs only. A lucrative option available was to outsource the testing to a third-party lab or outside labs. Financial implications: Setting up testing facility was a costly affair, prices running into Crores of rupees at times for products which required specialized. For instance, setting up the testing In order to ensure efcacy and legitimacy of these labs, BIS was operating a Lab Recognition facility for IS 15322: 2003: Particle Filters Used in Respiratory Protective Equipment, would Scheme (LRS) under which audits were carried out at these lab premises by BIS Scientic require a total investment of around 1 Crore, neglecting the xed cost which would be incurred Cadre Ofcers and these labs were granted recognition, which was renewable in every three in the process. Considering the fact that only a handful of licenses existed for the product, the years. These labs undertook complete testing of samples drawn by BIS ofcials under the investment did not seem to be viable at the moment. Conformity Assessment Schemes, in lieu of BIS laboratories. These laboratories then made the test reports of these samples accessible to BIS. 122 CASE STUDIES CASE STUDIES 123
Samples were being diverted to OSLs if the BIS laboratories were over-burdened or the result of disruptive change in technology being used in the market. These instances had required test facility was not available at BIS owned laboratories. For instance, BIS laboratories resulted in massive losses, further making the process of budget approval for purchases did not have the required facilities for testing of pneumatic tyres for passenger car vehicles and difcult. thus any sample taken for these products was directly being sent to OSLs. Similarly, there were scenarios where BIS owned laboratories had only partial testing facility for a product and Capacity Utilization of labs: Under-utilization of laboratories had emerged as another major the remaining tests had to be conducted by OSLs. One such example was Packaged drinking issue in the process of capacity building. Till such time that the complete test facility was built, water (IS 14543). One of the tests prescribed in the IS for detecting radioactive residues had to the partial facility had to cover for the overhead expenses of the vacant lab which made the be done by OSLs as BIS owned laboratories did not have the requisite equipment required for setup further unviable. Private labs were dealing with this issue by lling vacant lab space with this test. Approximately 60% of the total samples tested were done by OSLs [see Exhibit 2 for tenants. For example, since the early 1990s, Shell Chemical had sold about half their chemical detailed breakup]. Over time it was observed that the number of samples tested by OSLs had businesses, substantially reducing the need for lab space at their Westhollow Technology by far surpassed the testing of BIS owned laboratories [see Exhibit 4 for details] Centre in Houston. Much of this lab space was now being rented by the new owners of these businesses such as Dow Chemical, Hexion, and Kraton. This practice was becoming global. OSLs had emerged as a major support mechanism for BIS. However, Arun Swaminathan These options however, were not available to BIS owned laboratories. knew that picture was not as rosy at it appeared. Through his experience he knew that there were red ags raised time and again about plethora of issues, which made relying on OSLs Recruitment and manpower management: Both BIS labs and OSLs were looking to completely a risky affair. Instances of negligence regarding various facets had been reported strengthen their labs with the best available manpower with appropriate academic in past, including backgrounds and work experience for the available positions. But there were road-blocks in doing so. • Failure to take adequate time to perform the lab tests • Use of the incorrect or faulty lab equipment BIS owned laboratories or rather BIS was deluged with applications. However, nding • Ambiguous or ill-dened results appropriate candidate from the plethora of applications was a tedious and time taking • Errors in the recording of results process. In the past, many scientists had applied for jobs for which they were not qualied in • Tendency to report test results conforming to Standard the hopes that another job for which they would qualify would soon become available. Sorting for the ideal candidate turned out to be a tedious and time-consuming for human resources A signicant difference in the percentage of samples passing in BIS owned laboratories and ofcials. Small OSLs had the opposite problem — not enough candidates. OSLs was an important information to be analysed [see Exhibit 3 for details]. Apart from these, in general high testing charges quoted by these OSLs as compared to BIS owned laboratories BIS however had historically held the advantage in nding qualied candidates. Their size was another issue. permitted larger recruiting budgets for advertising, maintaining a careers section on their corporate website, offering a fair process of recruitment. Being the national standards body Arun Swaminathan was also concerned about the fact that the reputation BIS had gained of BIS personnel had advantage of understanding the standards and better skill in interpretation being the domain expert in eld of Standardization, of which testing was a major facet would thereby increasing the testing efciency. Intermittent recruitment done by small labs was more deplete with time. Due to lack of testing facility for products, BIS would lose the edge and expensive as it was done on a per candidate basis. Small company stafng efforts were often expertise in testing and thereby would also deprive its Standards Formulation activity of the geographically limited too. valuable and much needed input and insight, which otherwise was provided by these laboratories and their personnel. He repulsed the idea of the possibility of losing such However, the trend of online advertisement had made recruitment comparatively easier for enriching unbiased and consumer centric input that the BIS owned laboratories provided. small laboratories thereby cutting the cost of expensive newspaper and trade magazine advertisements. Capacity Building at BIS: Data bases of interested candidates through online job-portals further made the process easy The obvious need of the hour was capacity building. Scaling the facilities to be at par with the for them. Dearth of skilled manpower however still existed thereby making the process of testing requirements appeared to be most viable solution to the problem at hand. However, recruitment a tedious and time-taking task. there were challenges accompanying the solution. Safety and regulatory Mechanism: The scope of workplace safety and environmental Capital Expenditure: Purchasing or leasing expensive instrumentation and equipment regulations (their complexity and reporting requirements) has been increasing continuously. emerged as a nancial challenge for both BIS and outside labs. While OSLs had the option to The process of acquiring land, establishing a laboratory, managing testing wastes etc. has set up test facilities for only the products which seemed nancially viable but, being the been getting tougher by day. national standards body, BIS did not have that leverage. The best possible scenario was a no- prot-no-loss testing. Pilot Reports Tedious procurement process added to the woes of the bureau. Further, there had been Arun Subramanyam had been mulling over this decision and to take an informed step, he had instances when the machinery installed was rendered useless due to update in the IS as a already commissioned a study. He had set up an internal committee a few months back to study various aspects of testing of certain products. In particular, reports based on two 124 CASE STUDIES CASE STUDIES 125
products had caught his eye. Focusing on empanelment and recognition of new OSLs and strengthening the process of auditing of these labs has its obvious advantages. It would leave BIS with substantial Test facility for Packaged Drinking Water other than Natural Mineral water (IS 14543: 2016): resources to dedicate on activities like commissioning required studies, periodic training of This standard prescribed the requirements, method of sampling and tests for packaged personnel and leverage to focus on other activities of BIS. However, it was bound to slowly drinking water (other than natural Mineral water) offered for consumption and /or for sale in deplete the knowledge base of BIS laboratory personnel and losing the edge it had gained in packaged form. the testing industry. This product had been under mandatory certication for a long time now and more than Arun Swaminathan was also considering the possibility that this might not be a binary decision 12,000 licenses had been granted for the same. Eight BIS laboratories were functioning with situation. What would be the nature of future of laboratory testing activity of BIS? What was to partial test facility of the product and 82 OSLs had complete testing facility. Packaged During happen to the front-runner in laboratory testing legacy of BIS? Was the consumer safe and water (PDW) having limited shelf life, had to be diverted to OSLs due to backlog at BIS owned receiving the product quality and safety promised? Was there a third, more balanced solution laboratory. Issues like ensuring safe delivery of sample by parcel service to designated OSL the problem? Was BIS utilizing the available resources in the best interest of the consumers within shelf life without any breakage were faced by BIS on a daily basis. and organization? Arun Swaminathan, no doubt, had a tough call to take. Result of the study indicated that total investment in setting up a facility for testing of the Exhibit 1 product turned out to be around 10 Crores and the prot envisaged per annum would be Testing Capacity of BIS Owned Laboratories approximately 170 lakhs, which would result in a payback period of 6years [see Exhibit 5] S No. Lab Testing Capacity per year Test facility for Outdoor/Indoor Type Oil Immersed Distribution Transformers upto and 1,000 Samples per year including 2 500 kVA, 33 kV - Mineral Oil Immersed as per IS 1180 (Part 1):2014: IS 1180 (part 1 Patna Branch Office Laboratory (PBOL) 4,000 samples per year 1): 2014 specied the requirements and tests including standard loss levels of mineral oil 4,500 samples per year immersed, natural air-cooled, outdoor type, double wound distribution transformers for use in 2 Northern Region Office Laboratory (NROL) 12,000 samples per year power distribution systems with nominal system voltages up to and including 33 kV and of 4,500 samples per year following types and ratings: a) Three phase ratings up to and including 200 kVA both non- 3 Eastern Region Office Laboratory (EROL) 7,240 samples per year sealed type and sealed type. b) Three phase ratings higher than 200 kVA, up to and including 2 3,000 samples per year 500 kVA both non-sealed type and sealed type. c) Single phase ratings up to and including 25 4 Central Laboratory (CL) 127 samples per year kVA sealed type. 36,367 samples per year 5 Western Region Office Laboratory (WROL) This product was under mandatory certication and BIS had granted approximately 800 licenses all over India for the product. None of the BIS owned laboratory had the facility to test 6 Southern Region Office Laboratory (SROL) Distribution transformers. Eight OSLs had complete test facility with NTH(NR) having to test up to 200 KVA. 7 Bangalore Branch Office Laboratory (BNBOL) Study indicated that setting up a transformer laboratory would incur a total cost of Rs. 40.5 8 Guwaha Branch Office Laboratory (GBOL) cores and the prot envisaged would be approximately Rs. 222 lakhs per annum which would translate into a payback period of 18 years [see Exhibit 6] TOTAL What lies ahead? Exhibit 2 While BIS is focused towards providing complete testing solution for covering all variety of S No. Quarter, Year Test request to Test Request TOTAL products and catering to the ever-increasing inux of samples for testing, Arun Swaminathan BIS Labs to OSLs was indecisive between the two options; Capacity building of BIS owned laboratories v/s 1. 2017 (last 3 quarters) 6121 4235 10356 Outsourcing of the testing activity. Capacity building though had been the focus of the 2. 2018 15277 organization till off-late, sustainability of the same was being doubted since quite some time 3. 2019 5344 9933 13454 now. OSLs however, was an option with its own associated issues. With limited resources at 4. 2020 4167 his disposal, moving forward in both the directions was not an option for Arun Swaminathan. 4833 8621 43254 Dedicating his resources for setting up new BIS owned laboratories was a major risk given the TOTAL dynamic nature of market and technology, however it would give BIS complete autonomy and 1338 2829 ensure reliable operations. It would also mean that BIS would be able to retain its knowledge base and therefore remain to be a front-runner in the testing industry of the country. 17636 25618 126 CASE STUDIES Number of Samples tested by BIS Labs and OSLs (Samples for IS 14543) CASE STUDIES 127
Exhibit 3 Exhibit 5 Ratio of samples passing and failing in BIS labs and OSLs Pilot Report on IS 14543: 2016 (Samples for IS 14543) Payback Period for Packaged Drinking Water Laboratory as per the specications in IS 14543: 2016 BIS Labs OSLs TOTAL S. Quarter, No. of No. of No. of No. of No. of No. of No. of No. of No. of S. No. Details Cost No. Year samples samples samples samples samples samples samples samples samples 1. Total Investment 10 Crore Passing Failing Passing Failing Passing Failing 2. Return per annum 170 Lakhs 3. Payback Period 6 years 1. 2017 (last 6121 4452 1420 4235 3527 571 10356 7979 1991 3 quarters) 2. 2018 5344 3833 1411 9933 8755 1080 15277 12588 2491 3. 2019 4833 2833 1752 8621 7252 1295 13454 10085 3047 Note: This is the case-writers estimation and it may vary from the actual gures. 4. 2020 1338 630 541 2829 2471 299 4167 3101 840 Total 17636 11748 5124 25618 22005 3245 43254 33753 8369 Exhibit 6 Pilot Report on IS 1180 (Part 1):2014 Percentage 66.82% 29.05% 85.90% 14.10% 78.03% 21.97% Payback Period for Outdoor/Indoor Type Oil Immersed Distribution Transformers up to Exhibit 4 and including 2 500 kVA, 33 kV - Mineral Oil Immersed Laboratory as per the Time taken for testing by BIS labs specications in IS 1180 (Part 1):2014 and OSLs (Samples for IS 14543) BIS Labs OSLs TOTAL S. No. Details Cost No. of Average No. of 1. Total Investment 40.5 Crore S. Quarter, Year samples me taken No. of Average samples Average 2. Return Per annum 222 Lakhs No. samples me taken 10356 me taken 3. Payback Period 18 years 15277 1. 2017 (last 3 quarters) 6121 55.7 4235 44.08 13454 49.88 2. 2018 4167 44.88 3. 2019 5344 62.39 9933 27.4 43,618 56.79 Note: This is the case-writers estimation and it may vary from the actual gures. 4. 2020 32.61 4833 86 8621 27.57 45.79 Total/Average 1338 38.54 2829 26.68 Suggested Discussion Questions: 17,636 60.99 25,982 30.59 1. What are the dimensions in which BIS might get affected due to outsourcing? (Economic, capacity building, depletion of knowledge base of the employees, domain shifting) 2. Should BIS establish the criteria to decide whether testing of a product should be retained in-house or outsourced or carried out in both the modes? What are these criteria broadly? 3. What are the checks and balances which can be put in place to ensure swift and monitored operation at OSL end? 4. Can the OSLs be graded on the basis of their performance and feedback? Should BIS go for capital investment for its own lab or hire them on contractual 128 CASE STUDIES CASE STUDIES 129
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