Portrait of a CIO (chief information officer): small investment gains great benefit.

Dr. Pham Van Sang

E-office

Sometime, he clicked on anther program to monitor all activities in his Department. 15 cameras installed in different units in his Department were transmitting the images into his computer. In the evening, he took his computer to a conference in order to monitor his Department while he was in the conference. This was the usual work he always done when he was on mission abroad. He used his computer to connect to Internet in the airport and hotel to communicate with his staffs.

This “e-office” management software was developed from the Net office Software designed by MSc Dao Kien Quoc from the national university of Ha Noi City. At first, it was the frame of Net office without having any data on its. Then, the Dong Nai Department of Science and Technology leading by Dr. Pham Van Sang deployed a project to upgrade this software by constructing a working process basing on ISO Standard for his Department. After upgrading it was given a new name of “E-office” and piloted in his Department. Like him every staff is granted a username and password in order to access to this “virtual office”. Most of the works can be done through computer, local network, Internet or wireless system. Therefore, it saves a lot of time and papers. If someone is looking for official dispatches, legal documents and references, he must not go to the storehouse. The only thing he should do is to use the search tool on this program because all these documents and references have been stored on this program. If you want to exchange or report works with other government agencies, you can send these reports through the CPnet, a governmental network.

Economic question

In 2001, when he was Director of Dong Nai Department of Industries, he conducted a project to computerize the administrative management of his Department in order to get a certificate of senior specialist. The chairman of the assessing board was Mr. Nguyen Khanh, former Deputy Prime Minister, who had required him not to forecast but to determine the effectiveness of this project. He immediately played a film made by Dong Nai Radio and Television Station. This film is about the time when he was in China but he still could preside over a one-and-a-half-hour conference taking place at his Department. He could do this thank to Yahoo messenger program. If the telephone was used in this conference, only two persons can talk with each other at a time. And no one could see each other and the telephone fee would be 2 million VND. By using yahoo messenger program, every one can see one another and the cost was not so much high as that of the traditional one. His project was graded 10 marks by the chairman.

He was using e-office at singaporean ariport to check his works

In fact, he had considered the economic question from the very first time when he had decided to invest in this field. In the period of 1990 – 1992, the Dong Nai Department of Industries had a LAN network with some computers. Most of which was bought by cadres in Department and foreign partners with cheap prices. In 1993, there was no way to connect to Internet in Viet Nam but he still managed to fulfill his duties when he was on business abroad. He used an application called PC anywhere to connect his notebook computer with computers in his Department. To minimize the cost of international telephone fee, He copied all needed documents to his computer and disconnected. After processing all these documents, he connected again in order to send his instructions to his Department. The cost of this method was much cheaper than that of using fax machine to send documents.

Teaching computer

Last year, when the e-office program was piloted in his Department, he had taught two administrative officials to use computer, to scan documents, to classify, to store and to process all internal and external works. Officials in every division in his Department took their notebook computers to the conference hall to work with one another and to help each other if someone had problems. Then these officials would teach to their staffs. He used both compulsory and encouraging policy during the pilot time. It means that he would always give priority to those requirements which were made by this program. In contrast, all traditional requirements would have to be waited. When all his staffs had acknowledged the effectiveness of the program, they unveiled that they had deliberately played a mischievous trick on him. They just sent all their requirements at the end of the workday. Therefore, there were many days he had to stay late at the office to processes all the requirements. He concluded that a leader must keep his promises in order to be a good example for his staffs to follow. He would be a loser if he didn’t keep his promises. As a result, he could not overcome the traditional working style.

A long time after that, whenever there were important conferences or congresses in the province, he volunteered to take in charge of the logistical duties (to prepare computers, projectors...etc for the conference) in order to make every one realize the usefulness of information and technology. Finally, he had succeeded in preaching the computerization “moral”. He was assigned to construct the e-office for the office of provincial National Assembly delegates and to establish a wireless system for provincial committee of the Party. His Department had succeeded in persuading remote communes in province to cooperate to build website as to supply scientific and technological information for their localities. In Nam Cat Tien commune, there were no television signals but local people still could see some important programs of provincial television station owning to his Department which had recorded these programs then uploaded them into website.

(Translated by THKC)