The Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) has recently launched an online document tracking system (DTS) to enhance the management and tracking of pertinent documents within its offices, thus improving efficiency of the project implementation.

The web-based DTS was developed by the PRDP’s National Project Coordination Office (NPCO) to facilitate updating of documents’ status online. The system will record the status of processing of various documents routed within the PRDP from the regional to cluster and national offices.

PRDP National Deputy Project Director Arnel V. De Mesa said that this system will help the management and concerned offices to trace documents easily.

“Considering a vast project scope along with a wide range of implementers, the operation of the Project involves voluminous critical documents that needs to be processed promptly in order not to hamper the delivery of interventions, thus this system will help us achieve PRDP’s objectives efficiently,” added De Mesa.

Known for promoting technology in government project management—such as the geotagging and expanded vulnerability and suitability assessment tools—both used in determining feasibility of proposed sub-projects under the PRDP, the DTS is another milestone in the PRDP implementation.

Prior to this, the Project has developed a web-based management information system (MIS) for the concerned offices and agencies within the DA family. The system, which records and maintains information on the updates of various DA projects, was commenced last year.

To further capacitate PRDP personnel on the use of the DTS, the NPCO has conducted trainings to cluster offices mainly involving Project Development Associates who will handle the encoding of information in the system.

De Mesa added that the DTS will provide access to the real time status of processing of the document or responding with the action required from it.

“It will also provide feedback on the magnitude of documents still in circulation that are already exceeding timelines as well as those that are nearing the prescribed processing or service timeline standard, helping us identify specific bottlenecks in processing various documents.

“Most importantly, the DTS will provide the management a more transparent basis in drawing out decisions to improve, over time, the handling of Project documents,” added De Mesa.

PRDP is a six-year national project that aims to establish a modern, inclusive, value-chain oriented, and climate resilient agriculture and fisheries sector. It is implemented through the partnership of the DA, World Bank and Local Government Units. (Catherine Nanta, NPCO InfoACE )