Digitising Governance Automating Public Accounts in Balochistan with Drupal
Video Description
Speaker: Muhammad
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Balochistan, Pakistan, traditionally relied on a manual system to review government audit reports—leading to long delays and inefficiencies. This session explores how we built an automation system in Drupal to streamline PAC’s processes, reduce meeting delays from 3–4 months to under one month, and minimize paper usage by over 90%.
The system, called PACIS, has been in use for the past 1.5 years and has significantly enhanced the effectiveness and efficiency of the day-to-day work of both the Public Accounts Committee and the Office of the Director General Audit, Balochistan. It streamlines workflows, provides instant access to a wealth of information, and supports more productive, informed decision-making.
Key achievements and impact:
- 30+ PAC meetings successfully conducted—more than triple the capacity of the previous manual system.
- 45 government departments of the Balochistan provincial government onboarded.
- 75+ active users, including PAC members, audit officials, and departmental representatives.
- 650+ audit paras processed through the system.
- Over PKR 5,000 million in directed recoveries, with PKR 450+ million already recovered—the rest under deadlines.
PACIS enables stakeholders to access and evaluate comprehensive case files—including audit observations, departmental responses, and audit comments—with a single click. It improves interdepartmental coordination, eliminates the need for bulky hardcopy submissions, and enables remote access for authorized users.
To ensure system reliability and data integrity, PACIS is backed by a Git-based version control setup with sequential backups and rollback recovery mechanisms, making the system resilient against data loss or operational disruptions.
Additional key benefits:
- One-click access to complete case information
- Real-time generation of reports
- A centralized, searchable audit database
- Enhanced stakeholder collaboration
- Strong backup and recovery protections
- Significant reduction in paper usage, promoting sustainability
Future Enhancements:
Ongoing requirement gathering is focused on adding more granular reporting features, secure and reliable export mechanisms for distributing system data externally, and bulk import functionality to easily upload audit paras from yearly audit reports. Additionally, AI-driven features are being planned, including an AI chatbot to assist users in navigating the system and advanced AI capabilities to further enhance performance, decision-making support, and ease of use.
This session will showcase how Drupal’s flexible architecture made it possible to deliver a real-world solution that supports good governance and transparency in the public sector.
- Understand how Drupal can be used for digital transformation in the public sector.
- Learn how to model real-world government processes using Drupal content types and workflows.
- Gain insight into building systems that reduce manual dependencies and promote transparency.
- Explore best practices for collaboration with non-profits and government stakeholders.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Balochistan, Pakistan, traditionally relied on a manual system to review government audit reports—leading to long delays and inefficiencies. This session explores how we built an automation system in Drupal to streamline PAC’s processes, reduce meeting delays from 3–4 months to under one month, and minimize paper usage by over 90%.
The system, called PACIS, has been in use for the past 1.5 years and has significantly enhanced the effectiveness and efficiency of the day-to-day work of both the Public Accounts Committee and the Office of the Director General Audit, Balochistan. It streamlines workflows, provides instant access to a wealth of information, and supports more productive, informed decision-making.
Key achievements and impact:
- 30+ PAC meetings successfully conducted—more than triple the capacity of the previous manual system.
- 45 government departments of the Balochistan provincial government onboarded.
- 75+ active users, including PAC members, audit officials, and departmental representatives.
- 650+ audit paras processed through the system.
- Over PKR 5,000 million in directed recoveries, with PKR 450+ million already recovered—the rest under deadlines.
PACIS enables stakeholders to access and evaluate comprehensive case files—including audit observations, departmental responses, and audit comments—with a single click. It improves interdepartmental coordination, eliminates the need for bulky hardcopy submissions, and enables remote access for authorized users.
To ensure system reliability and data integrity, PACIS is backed by a Git-based version control setup with sequential backups and rollback recovery mechanisms, making the system resilient against data loss or operational disruptions.
Additional key benefits:
- One-click access to complete case information
- Real-time generation of reports
- A centralized, searchable audit database
- Enhanced stakeholder collaboration
- Strong backup and recovery protections
- Significant reduction in paper usage, promoting sustainability
Future Enhancements:
Ongoing requirement gathering is focused on adding more granular reporting features, secure and reliable export mechanisms for distributing system data externally, and bulk import functionality to easily upload audit paras from yearly audit reports. Additionally, AI-driven features are being planned, including an AI chatbot to assist users in navigating the system and advanced AI capabilities to further enhance performance, decision-making support, and ease of use.
This session will showcase how Drupal’s flexible architecture made it possible to deliver a real-world solution that supports good governance and transparency in the public sector.
- Understand how Drupal can be used for digital transformation in the public sector.
- Learn how to model real-world government processes using Drupal content types and workflows.
- Gain insight into building systems that reduce manual dependencies and promote transparency.
- Explore best practices for collaboration with non-profits and government stakeholders.