CR Software, the world’s leading collections and receivables management software supplier announced today the establishment of a Government Solutions Division.

“As most of us know, the private sector isn’t the only area struggling with decreased operational funding, record debt levels and high consumer expectations,” said Martin Germanis, CEO, CR Software. “The public sector is being asked to do more with less. Government budgets have been cut and staffs have been reduced. Budgets across the country are stretched tighter than ever,” he stated.

Government leaders are rethinking debt collection, recognizing the impact increased collection revenue has on budgets at every level. “We’ve been helping agencies at the Federal, state and local level increase collection revenue for years. Creating a government division is a natural step as we continue to expand our expertise in this area,” Germanis said.

The U.S. Department of Education, collecting more than $33 billion debt from three million borrowers and more than 15 million active loans recently implemented CR Software’s Titanium ORE (Open Receivables Environment) platform as their system of record. The office of Federal Student Aid plans to increase student loan recovery by almost three percent by the year 2015, using Titanium as the basis for this increase.

The State of Mississippi doubled collection revenue in one year following the implementation of Titanium. Other states, agencies and counties across the country are experiencing similar, tangible success.

Property taxes, unemployment insurance overpayments and fraud detection, child support, DMV fees, fines and other charges are included in the debt types Titanium specializes in collecting. “The beauty of the Titanium platform is its’ ability to collect every type of debt, integrating with legacy and any other system or application an agency requires, using one platform, one download and one support system” said Germanis.

Germanis went on to document the savings government agencies realize using Titanium. Designed to accommodate a wide variety of business processes to support the most complex environments, agencies gain the ability to significantly improve processes in real time, independent of vendor assistance with little additional cost.

“Configurability is key. Not only do government agencies save a tremendous amount of money because the system is so flexible, it also puts them in control. They collect more because they’re meeting their own specific requirements, revising workflow processing to meet ever-evolving needs,” Germanis stated.

Source:http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/11/prweb8995776.htm

UID Chairman Nandan Nilekani- headed task force’s report on developing a common software platform for PDS for states is under the consideration of the government, Parliament was informed today.

The task force on reforms of PDS, constituted under the chairmanship of Nandan Nilekani, had submitted its report to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on November 2, 2011, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister K V Thomas said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.
“The report of the task force is under consideration of the government”, he said.

The report mentioned that a common software platform for PDS can be developed for all states with the flexibility to configure policies, prices and administrative structures, he said.

The report inter-alia also said the software will make it possible for state governments to decide on the choice to the beneficiaries in receiving their entitlements in kind (food/kerosene) or cash.

The task force observed that the software will also make it possible to provide a choice of the location from where the beneficiary can get his/her entitlement, he added.

Thomas said strengthening of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) is a continuous process.

The government has regularly reviewed and has also issued instructions to states/Union Territories to strengthen functioning of TPDS by improving monitoring mechanism and vigilance, adoption of revised model citizen’s charter and improving the efficiency of fair price shop operations among others, he said.

Detailed guidelines on end-to-end computerisation of PDS have been framed by the central government and an institutional mechanism has been set up at the national level in this regard.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/government-considering-nandan-nilekanis-common-software-platform-suggestion-for-pds/articleshow/10830413.cms

The Department of Information Technology (DIT) and the Business Software Alliance (BSA) have come together with a three-track roadmap for the software industry in the country. With encouragement to start diligence policy framework for software acquisition, this synergy is poised to accelerate software industry.

Speaking at an event organized by the BSA with support from the DIT, Robert W Holleyman, CEO of BSA, said that their focus would be to build market environment where technology could grow. “BSA member companies have heavily invested in India and have made significant contribution to the economy,” he said.

BSA’s three-fold roadmap includes implementation of the software asset management (SAM) in the government agencies. It’ll also hold orientation workshops for the officials in the e-governance division. DIT will also leverage BSA guidance to protect and secure IT assets.

DIT will also work with other ministries in the central government to bolster legal software usage and encourage best practices for software procurement. In addition, the BSA will work with FICCI for awareness programs for SMEs.

R Chandrashekhar, secretary, Ministry of Communications and IT, said that industry partnership is extremely important. “The IT sector has grown with the services as well as with the government policies and the industry participation,” he added.

“The government can facilitate in terms of policy framework and initiatives but the industry needs to identify the areas of innovation, added Chandrashekhar. BSA said that it will continue to hold regional workshops for state government departments.

Shankar Aggarwal, Additional Secretary, DIT, said that ICT can play a vital role in inclusive growth. “We adopted national e-governance plan to empower a large number of people and India would be largest economy by 2050,” said Aggarwal.

NASSCOM chief Som Mittal said that the government is today making investments in infrastructure to drive growth. “IT is going to be a big change agent. We have to build a new level of trust with the government,” he said.

Mittal said that innovation is happening in SMEs and the country’s 9 per cent GDP growth is led by the enthusiasm of the business leaders.

With an objective to promote IT/ITes sector, DIT is all set to boost the software industry which is plagued by piracy and unethical practices through this collaboration.

Source:http://news.ciol.com/News/News/News-Reports/Govt-ties-up-with-BSA-to-boost-software-sector/156714/0/

A U.S. government database of popular software files is being modernized to keep up with advancements in digital forensics and e-discovery collection processes.

By comparing the database to the files found on a real-world computer, experts can determine which files should be examined for evidence or preserved for legal holds, and which can safely be deleted or ignored. The more accurate the database, the faster, less expensive, and more efficient the process can become.

The database is updated every three months and is maintained by four full-time employees, along with college students, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s National Software Reference Library in Gaithersburg, Md. “We have shelves full of the original media, almost 12,000 applications now. We take forensic-quality copies of the media and store them on a SAN,” project leader Douglas White explained, referring to unalterable images of vendors’ original files being saved on a business-class data storage network.

A version due in December will be noteworthy for adding Microsoft Office 2010 files, White said. Demand for that program became so important that White’s team stopped other work, refocused on Office 2010, and started over, he explained.

The team has four other major projects under way. In one, they’re vetting files from the most popular applications by performing actual installations, rather than just gathering data from distribution media, which will improve accuracy, White said. In another, plans are being developed to include files from mobile operating systems such as Apple iOS and Google Android, with files expected to be available in a summer 2012 database. Still another project in conjunction with AccessData and Guidance Software aims to make the entire database available in binary format, which is smaller, faster, and cheaper to use. A fourth group is updating NSRL’s outdated website by installing a content management system, although White indicated he doesn’t know when that will be ready.

In addition, White said the database can be further improved if the companies that use it gave more feedback to NSRL engineers. It’s vital for software vendors to keep up with the latest database version and to understand its sometimes complicated usage, so that important data is not missed and customers aren’t paying to process irrelevant system files, he noted. Even in ideal laboratory conditions, the database only catches up to 85 percent of files from recent Microsoft operating systems — a figure that can be much lower in real-world conditions.

Despite its shortcomings, the database is invaluable, and White’s team deserves recognition, said industry experts Peter Coons, senior vice president of computer forensics and collections at Rochester, N.Y.-based D4 Discovery, and Austin, Texas-based Craig Ball, an attorney, special master, and member of the Law Technology News advisory board.

Coons and Ball elaborated in a recent series of blog posts regarding the process, known among insiders as de-NISTing. Even though the database needs constant updating, “It doesn’t necessarily have to get everything out, because you’re not depending on it for everything. It’s the first cut,” Coons added in an interview. “I think they do a pretty good job.”

Source:http://www.law.com/jsp/lawtechnologynews/PubArticleLTN.jsp?id=1202532647567