IPAS : Integrated Payroll and Accounting System

IPAS is the integration of Railway Payroll and Railway Accounts. This application software has been developed by CRIS on web based 3-tier centralized architecture using Java and Oracle. It brings a common application to all Railways on a centralized platform so that similar processes are followed across Railways in terms of accounting practices. A key benefit of such centralization would be faster change management and integration of effort along with automation of processes. 

IPAS application is undergoing a continuous up-gradation exercise to achieve better efficiency, security and safety. IPAS will provide real time access to financial transaction data across IR and will also bring financial and fiscal discipline. Although core design of IPAS application is same as design of PRIME/AFRES.

It includes the following modules:

Personal Department Module :

• Payroll
• Cadre
• Electricity
• Quarter
• Loan
• Cadre Management

Executive Department Module:

• Executive Bill

Accounts Department Module:

• Bill Passing (Older name Internal Check)
• PF
• NPS
• Pension
• Books
• Budget
• Cash MCR
• Cash CRN
• E-Suspense
• G-Suspense (Deposits)
• Pay
• Stores Accounts

Advantages of IPAS:

Technology Level: 

• Centralized Architecture.
• Web based Application. It doesn’t require any client software on end-users’ PCs. 
• Designed and developed using state of the art open Java technology. As the programs are developed in Java, it can run on any Operating System, any Application Server (i.e. of any company product) and any hardware. 
• Java is futuristic technology specially designed for web based application as compared to existing Oracle Forms based technology of PRIME/AFRES which has become obsolete. 
• High Availability (24*7) as all the servers have been clustered to run in fail-over mode. 
• Centralized maintenance and management of Infrastructure (Application Software, Hardware & Systems Software). 
• Disaster Recovery. Being Centralized Architecture, it is easy to replicate data as well as switching of sites from Data Center (DC) to Disaster Recovery (DR) and vice versa.

Security Level: 

• Secured Socket Layer (SSL) software has been enabled to encrypt the data so that any transaction of IPAS including passwords of users can not be hacked by hackers. 
• Role based access to the end users which can be administered by Administrators nominated at each unit. Provision for security of each screen/report is available in IPAS. 
• Audit trails to monitor the changes made by any user including Administrators. 
• Credentials of users are stored in encrypted way, which can not be decrypted by any algorithm.
• Mobile based OTP facility has been provided to restrict unauthorized user access. 
• No access of database has been given to anyone for security reasons. For running adhoc queries, a utility has been provided by CRIS to extract the data, as per requirement, by writing Oracle SQL queries.

Trust Level: 

• IPAS has been developed entirely In-house by CRIS using its own team of software professionals. Similar to other IR Application such as PRS, FOIS, UTS, CMS, COA etc, the complete knowledge base of the application is with CRIS and in any case, Railways need not be dependent upon outside IT companies for the Software Maintenance.  
• Source code of IPAS is the property of Railways and therefore in long run, there is no issue of Intellectual Property Right (IPR).

Database level: 

• PRIME and AFRES databases have been merged into single database and all the redundant tables have been dropped. 
• Few tables have been merged for storing similar data (e.g. Tables for Current & continuous Allowances/Recoveries) 
• Processes written in Pro*C (e.g. Salary Processing, Income Tax etc.) have been converted into Oracle Stored Procedure for performance enhancement.

Application Level

• Inter-related data capturing screens have been merged into single screen to reduce navigations. (eg. GIS/PF/Gratuity have been given through single screen; change card entries have been merged into single screen). This makes the work easier for the bill clerks. 
• No Pay Rates form for entry of Basic Pay, DA, HRA and Transport Allow. While processing of salary, data for Basic Pay, HRA, and Transport Allowance are fetched from Employees’ Bio-data. iii) Steps for salary processing have been merged to reduce the work of end-users. 
• The salary and income tax processing to be done by respective bill clerks. 
• Salary Bill passing screen has enriched functionality now. The screen compares allowances/recoveries/allocations with that of previous month for individual employee to check. In addition, variations are shown in red colour. Moreover, the user has been provided all the information required for passing the salary bill.
• Format of Numbers like CO6, CO7, PPO have been changed to maintain uniqueness at Zone/IR level. 
• All the interrelated modules are integrated. PF deductions/Loan recoveries through regular/ supplementary salary are credited in the employee's respective ledger as soon as abstract is prepared. PF withdrawals are also automatically debited along with automatic start of recovery from next month. Deposit of PF through MCR is linked with PF module. Cash authorisation under Budget Module is linked with Internal Check. Bill passing has been linked with Agreement.
• Where-ever possible, data during entry has been validated as per extant rules e.g. Nursing Allowances can be given to Nursing category only. 
• No duplication of PF data between Personnel and Accounts department. PF application can be processed on-line by Personnel department. 
• Posting of Transfer inwards and outwards (Divisional) for maintenance of transfer inwards and outwards (divisional) does not require any separate transaction. The issuing division changes Bill unit only as and when any employee transferred and the receiving units get the data automatically and they need to confirm the data by entering JV number. This is secure data with in-built checks and least manual intervention.

Interface with Other Applications

• IPAS has integration with Integrated Material Management System (IMMS). As both the systems are interfaced, Stores bills are passed through IMMS and the cheques are issued through IPAS. 
• Design of Works Register is compatible with IRPSM (Indian Railways Projects Sanctions and Management). Similarly, Budget Outlay allotted through IRPSM will be linked to Works Register. 
• Design of Budget Module is compatible with RBCS (Rail Budget Compilation System) of Budget Directorate. IPAS in Centralized architecture, RBCS can be linked with Budget Module of IPAS for August Review, RE/BE & FM. Similarly, Budget allotted under Revenue Demands through RBCS will be linked to Budget Module. 
• IPAS is integrated with Crew Management System (CMS) for allowances of running staff. All the above applications have been designed, developed and implemented on centralized architecture by CRIS and are hosted in CRIS Data Centre. 
• IPAS is also integrated with IREPS (Indian Railway Electronic Procurement System) and GeM (Government E-Market Place) portal for seamless flow of data for payment to vendors without manual intervention.

Other:

• As application is based on Centralized Architecture, Real Time Information of IR level can be provided to Board. 
• Being a uniform application similar to any other IR applications (eg PRS, FOIS etc.), all the business rules and report formats are uniform over IR. Compliance of any rules/circular of Board (such as DA Arrear, Bonus etc.) can be made speedily. 
• Easy monitoring and control over expenditure by Board in line with PRS/FOIS. 
• Transfer of employees from one unit to another would not require physical movement of his service data (service card, LPC, leave etc) and financial data (PF, loans etc) in order to enable the new unit to access his data. Mere change of Bill Unit of the employee would enable the new Unit to access his entire data viz. PF, Loans, leave, service details etc. before the physical communication is made. There is no need for fresh entry of data by the new unit for previous months.