Using Open Source for IT

K P Perumal, D.G.M (MIS), TIIC maintained that most e-governance projects in the country do not meet expectations and that there is a long way to go before these initiatives truly benefit the common citizenry

The Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation Limited (TIIC) is a State Financial Corporation engaged in industrializing the state of Tamil Nadu through various financial schemes, including term lending. We commenced computerization in 1987 and have completed the IT enablement of our core operations such as loan disbursement, financial accounting and MIS, HRM, etc. However, these areas are not integrated with other business functions. Therefore, during 2008-09, the corporation took up integration of these functions on a centralized database concept similar to core-banking solution on an open source platform. The project is expected to be completed in 2010-11.

Implementation issues

The biggest challenges that TIIC faced with regard to IT projects was manpower planning and the availability of manpower on continual basis. Inconsistency in the management—in terms of deciding the scope of IT projects and frequent changes in management created a problem in maintaining the continuity of projects. Finally, data migration from one DBMS format to other DBMS format was yet another factor that was a challenge.

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European Commission to increase its use of Open Source

The European Commission will take a more pro-active approach to its own use of Open Source and Open Standards. Xavier Heymans highlights the importance of a real and mature collaboration with communities where IT providers share their developments and adopt an "open source" philosophy.

Source : IBABC and Zea Partners

In a document published in March 2008, the European Commission states among others topics that the Commission will prefer Open Source software for its new IT projects: "For all new development, where deployment and usage is foreseen by parties outside of the Commission Infrastructure, Open Source Software will be the preferred development and deployment platform."

Next from stating its preference for Open Source for new projects, the EC decided that "for all future IT developments and procurement procedures, the Commission shall promote the use of products that support open, well-documented standards. Interoperability is a critical issue for the Commission, and usage of well-established open standards is a key factor to achieve and endorse it".

The Commission expects to reinforce its internal strategy with its external projects on Open Source, part of its IDABC programme on interoperable e-Government services. "Open Source software plays an important role in e-Government projects and interoperability in the broader sense."

Xavier Heymans, CEO of Zea Partners, an international federation of SMEs developing open source solutions, reacts to these statements. He explains that it's important to build communities around the organization. Open source software brings us a new logic of knowledge management where the knowledge isn't only inside the organization but is shared with lots of people without any formal control. This logic is the real innovation and the real added value. Most IT companies doesn't really understand it yet and sell open source software to do brand marketing. The use of open source software is important, Xavier Heymans tell, but to adopt its way of thinking is even more important. "We draw the attention of the European Commission on the necessity to control that IT providers will work in collaboration with open source communities and will give their development back to society".

Source : http://www.zeapartners.org/