Mumbai: The finance commissioner of the Railway Board, S Murali, inaugurated the electrical MIS application developed for the Indian Railways at CST, Mumbai, on 27 September 2002.

This application, consisting of modules such as locomotive maintenance and management, EMU maintenance and management, asset management, energy management, budgeting and headquarter activities, was implemented successfully by Cirrius Software India, a Mumbai-based software development firm, at the pilot site in Mumbai.

The assignment, which was awarded to Cirrius Software in late 2001, involved study, design, development and implementation of the application for the pilot site at Central Railways, Mumbai. It was followed by customisation and implementation of the same at other locations of the Indian Railways all over India in a period of three years.

The key benefits to the railways will be: integration of information, security, reduced paperwork and timely and accurate reports.

Apart from the electrical department of the railways, which has become a key focus area for Cirrius Software, other key clients include the civil engineering department, Central Railways, Gujarat Ambuja Cements, Great Eastern Shipping and Alok Textiles. Cirrius has their own enterprise solution, Circle, which is a midrange ERP covering functionality such as finance, accounts, materials, sales and distribution, assets and maintenance, personnel and payroll modules.

Says Cirrius Software CEO Software Kapil Kuwelker: "Our focus has been understanding the business processes and how things work in the railways. This is necessary to implement a solution of this kind on an all-India basis."