Employees of Punatsangchhu hydropower projects I and II will not have to scribble lengthy details on print forms for leave, travel allowances and other benefits and wait for their bosses to approve it.

They can now apply for leave or encash it, claim their travel and other benefits, and book materials through an application on their mobile phones starting today.

The service is one of the modules of the systems, applications, and products (SAP) for enterprise resource planning (ERP) launched by the economic affairs minister Lekey Dorji and Indian ambassador Jaideep Sarkar at the PHPA office in Bjimthangkha, Wangdue, yesterday.

The remaining modules are finance and controlling (FICO), material management (MM), human capital management (HCM) and employee self-service (ESS).

According to the DGPC’s project manager of SAP ERP, Jambay Tshering, besides saving paper for the services that have now gone online, the PHPA now has the ability to close annual accounts within a month which earlier used to take about two to three months.

He also said that it will help in efficient management of assets and inventory, required information available at any point of time for timely decision-making, generating reports of cost centres, company or project, which will facilitate planning and monitoring in optimal use of the resources.

The project manager also said that with the system installed, PHPA would have a smooth transition when it joins Druk Green Power Corporation (DGPC) as the corporation uses the system.

Officials said that the best thing about the new system is that subordinates can now do the regular tasks. “This would spare the more skilled or heads of the units to dedicate more time for important jobs,” Jambay Tshering said.

He said the system will also facilitate easy auditing, which will contribute to a high degree of transparency in the projects. The PHPA has recently instituted an internal auditing unit.

PHPA I and II managing director, RN Khazanchi, said the SAP ERP project was done through DGPC and WIPRO at the  cost of Nu 10 million, including configuration costs, implementation by DGPC, the license fee to SAP. The projects will pay Nu 1 million annually to keep the system running.

He said that introduction of SAP ERP has come after eight years of active implementation of Punatsangchhu I project and six years that of Punatsangchhu II project. “The timing is right for a period of five to seven years for completing the projects and handing them over to the government.”

Lyonpo Lekey Dorji said that the new system will bring the much-needed transparency, efficiency and ease of various functions that the project managers will use.

RN Khazanchi said that the projects for the management of monitoring and other aspects used a software package developed by a company based in Noida, India at the cost of Nu 2.85 million.

The old system had modules for financial information and payroll, management information system, and personal information system, stock procurement and inventory system.

ERP is a conceptual term for day-to-day business activities like inventory, accounting, personnel record keeping, and other records. SAP (Systems, applications, and products) is one of the ERP products founded in German in 1972.

SAP has been standardized as the common ERP platform for DHI and subsidiaries companies from November 5, 2009.

DGPC team implemented SAP for its corporate office, plants, Dagachhu Hydropower Corporation, and DHI in June 2011. Then the DGPC team along with Wipro Limited implemented it for Mangdechhu, Tangsibje, and Kholongchhu hydropower projects, Bhutan Hydro Service Limited. SAP project to develop the system for PHPA I and II began in March this year.

SAP is a software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customised relations. Founded in April 1972, the latest version of the software SAP ERP 6.0 was released in 2006. Since then it has been updated through SAP enhancement packs. The most recent one was package 8, released last year.

Tshering Palden | Wangdue

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