The Board is presently operating 287 Water Supply Schemes which cover 28.6% of the total population with pipe-borne water Supply, 10.0% of the population with tube wells. It is the principal authority for the provision of safe drinking water and sanitation for Sri Lanka and has 7 Regional Service Centers, 13 Regional Offices and 287 sites spread across the nation.

Solution
Business Process Study

CoOptions has first initiated the process by studying the existing business processes. A team of 16 business analysts identified the Head Office, 4 Regional Service Centers (RSCs) and 8 Regional Offices for the study. Over a period of four months, the team has visited various departments and offices located in Ratmalana, Kandy, Anuradhapura and Matara and studied the business processes.

In December 2005, CoOptions team analyzed the results of the study and prepared a report that proposed improvements in the existing system, including the design of several new processes in asset management, supply chain management and customer relationship management. The report has been reviewed by its partner, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and presented to NWSDB. The Board has studied the recommendations and undertaken an organization-wide change management program.

Enterprise-wide IT Solution Development

Based on the business process study, CoOptions has prepared detailed requirements specifications for an enterprise-wide solution that automates and integrates the workflows in order to achieve the targeted efficiencies across all business functions.

A prototype was demonstrated to the process champions over a period of 6 weeks in March/April 2006. The prototype contained 11 modules:

• Asset Management
• Billing and Revenues
• Consumer Information System
• Consumer Grievance Management
• Maintenace and Repairs
• Financial Accounting System
• Supplier Management
• Purchases
• Inventory
• Human Resource Management
• Payroll

Based on the feedback given by the process champions and owners, development work was undertaken with a team of 71 including 11 testers. The solution was iteratively developed and each release is simultaneously tested by NWSDB’s IT department from January 2007 through April 2007.

Competency-Building Initiatives

To ensure the sustenance of the solution, CoOptions has simultaneously undertaken several competency-building programs that would ensure the sustenance of the solution.

CoOptions has trained a team of 14 developers from NWSBD’s IT department for a period of 6 months, at its state-of-the-art training facility at Hyderabad, to equip them with the skills required for solution maintenance.

To ensure a successful adoption of the IT solution, CoOptions has conducted several programs for all the tiers of the organization. The workshops to senior management were on topics ranging from technology trends & best practices in IT management to change management. Training programs ranged from introduction to computer usage to end-user training on the application.

Status: As on May 31, 2007, the solution is going through acceptance testing and field trials.