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eGov App Store

Last updated : June 9th, 2023 08:24 pm

eGov App Store

The eGov App Store was implemented by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India and hosted by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to accelerate delivery of e-services. It is a National level common repository of customizable and configurable web services, components and mobile applications that may be used by various government agencies and departments throughout the country.

Objectives

The following are the objectives of the eGov App Store.

• The implementation of eGov App Store has enhanced the speed of development and the deployment process in terms of eGov applications.
• The application also aims to replicate similar successful apps, which are also easy to access across various states of the country.
• The app store strives hard to develop such applications effectively with a vision to avoid duplication and to make the process cost-efficient.
• It also provides a one-stop destination for the availability of certified applications following common standards.
• Gaining access to use the services of eGov App Store can be accomplished only through two primary means:
  • By directly running an application present on the respective eGov App Store
  • By downloading the required application from the eGov App Store.
• The eGov App Store is a repository exhibiting NIC applications and components which were developed to serve certain requirements of the states precisely.
• These applications have not reached their productised form yet. However, they are available on the eGov App Store in order to be used as SaaS (Software as a Service).

Salient Features

The following are the features of the eGov App Store.

• The eGov App Store was initiated with a vision of scaling-up the delivery of e-services as envisaged under NeGP (National e-Governance Plan) and optimizing ICT (Information and Communication Technology) spending of the Government.
• This app will include the setting up of a common platform to host and run applications which are developed by Government agencies or private players and storing it in the National Cloud Services.
• These core and common applications have high demand and are replicable across the state as well as the central levels.
• eGov App Store users can access a vast repository of different mobile applications developed by the various departments.
• Ordinary components such as the payment gateway, messaging platform, MIS (Management Information System) reporting, etc are also made available in the eGov App Store.
• The eGov App Store consists of 61 active mobile applications which are available across 26 sectors of the country.

Merits of eGov App Store

• The eGov App Store permits searching for applications and also sharing the respective ones required.
• The app store provides the necessary information about an application on selecting it.
• It also allows the users to review an application, give feedback on it and rate the application collectively.
• The app store also allows the app makers to contribute innovative mobile applications made by them. However, there exists a three level approval process for Government applications and a two-level approval process for private applications.
• It allows authenticated and privileged users to download apps for consumption.

Applications on eGov App Store

As mentioned earlier, the eGov App Store comprises of numerous mobile applications which serves various purposes of the users. Thus, it is essential to classify them in order to access the required app at the earliest. Hence, the eGov App Store has affixed certain filters to the Apps window. These filters classify the applications based on their Sector, type, Contributor, Popularity and Order.

• The various sectors under which the mobile applications are classified are:

1. 1. Agriculture
   2. Communications
   3. Defense
   4. Education
   5. Environment & Forest
   6. E-Procurement
   7. Finance
   8. Food
   9. Foreign Affairs
   10. Generic
   11. Governance & Administration
   12. Health & Family Welfare
   13. Home Affairs & Enforcement
   14. Housing
   15. Human Resources
   16. Industries
   17. Information & Broadcasting
   18. Infrastructure
   19. Labor and Employment
   20. Library Automation
   21. Office Automation
   22. Rural
   23. Science & Technology
   24. Security
   25. Social Development
   26. Transport

• Based on the type of application it is classified in terms of,

1. 1. Web Application
   2. Desktop Application
   3. Component
   4. Web Service

• There are two contributors to the applications available under the eGov App Store. They are:

1. 1. Government and
   2. Private

• The apps can also be sorted based on their,

1. 1. Popularity
   2. Rating
   3. Most recent
   4. Last updated

• Finally, sorting can be done on the basis of order

1. 1. Ascending
   2. Descending

On applying the required filters, the user can identify the specific mobile applications required by him/her and download it with ease. Each mobile app displayed in the app store has a green tag above it portraying if it is a Government or a Private app. And under the name, customer rating for each app on a scale of five stars is given, which is followed by the app description. Finally, on the footer of each app tab, the number of views acquired by the app is displayed along with its last updated date.

Documentation

The eGov App Store contains three documents in the downloads window of its home page. The first document is a PDF file of the Official Brochure on eGov App Store. The brochure discusses the background of eGov App Store, its objectives, highlights and future aspirations of the app store.

The next document states the On-Boarding procedure, which has to be accomplished by a contributor or an app developer in order to board an application on the eGov App Store.
Step 1: Browse for the Official Page of eGov App Store and click on Login.
Step 2: Login the app store using LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) user id and password.
Step 3: Fill-in the application details by clicking on ‘Share the App’ menu from the ‘Dashboard’.
Step 4: On submitting the filled details to the Reporting Officer, it is taken for further review.
Step 5: Finally, the validator or the reporting officer verifies the application and forwards it for testing and later if the app follows the criterion of the eGov App Store, it gets published.

The last document available in the eGov App Store official website describes the Productization Guidelines, which is inclusive of Software Development and Re-Engineering Processes for Cloud-Based Application.

Metrics on eGov App Store

The home page of eGov App Store consists of a ‘Metrics’ window, which displays the number of views brought to the website. This is measured in terms of three statistics registered namely,

• Visitor Statistics – displays the statistics on a daily or a monthly basis.

• 

  eGov Visitor Statistics
• App Statistics – This menu shows the statistics based on the most displayed applications, most downloaded applications, the highest searched sector and the state contribution.

• State Statistics – Displays the statistics of the number of apps boarded from each state against the name of the states. Delhi dominates this statistics with a count of twenty-three mobile applications, and Tamil Nadu stands second with eight mobile apps.

For further details required kindly check the official website of eGov App Store or dial 110 003. In terms of official information, the user can also draft a mail to [email protected]