KWA software network to cover entire state soon

The next one year would see entire network infrastructure and software packages being implemented at KWA offices across the State, thus making it the first public utility service to go fully online.

The important software expansion will be of Advanced Billing, Accounting and Collection Utility System (ABACUS), which was implemented in the Thiruvananthapuram Division in January, 2008. Now the consumers can pay water charges in any collection centre under the division. When fully implemented across the State, consumers can pay water charges at any collection centre.

‘’Now it has only consumer billing, covering over 1.8 lakh consumers of the Thiruvananthapuram division. We are adding 10 new modules to the existing ABACUS. This enhanced ABACUS will be the one that will be rolled out to the 192 centres in the State (excluding the centres in Thiruvananthapuram), thus covering over 12 lakh consumers,’’ a KWA official said.

The existing data in the systems in Kochi and Kozhikode Corporations and various municipalities will migrate to the enhanced ABACUS. Another software that will be rolled out is the Complaint Redressal System, which is already in place in the Thiruvananthapuram division. It is being extended to 33 more KWA Revenue Divisions.

The Project Monitoring System software, currently being used for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) project, will be used for other projects also in future. The modules for Employee Information System and Financial Accounting System are in the testing phase. The hardware roll-out will mainly have the expansion of the network infrastructure. Connectivity will be extended to the 440 offices of the KWA in 202 locations with Kerala State Wide Area Network (KSWAN) as the backbone. Now KSWAN has connectivity up to the block level.

‘’The price bids for the network expansion have already been opened. It will take nearly 10 months for the complete execution of the same. The tenders for server infrastructure and ac-