NEW DELHI: To make its exercise of benchmarking performance through an outcome budget more efficient, Delhi government has set in motion the process to create a cloud-based web application through which departments can directly update the outputs and outcomes against the indicators and targets for 2017-18. The software will also enable creation of customised dashboards for the use of the chief minister, deputy CM, ministers and heads of departments so priority areas can be monitored both on their computers and on mobile devices.The government has initiated the tendering process and hopes to finalise the application developer by the end of November. The application is likely to be ready for use early next year. The application is seen as a route to cut down on the manual work involved currently in updating and collating data on Excel sheets, sources said. Plans are also under way to put the entire data — including output and outcomes — in the public domain after the second-quarter review to facilitate a larger public interface with governance.The state government had announced during the 2017-18 budget that it would boost its experiment on the outcome budget with a web-based monitoring system. “Due to the large volume of data that will be generated, an IT application will be developed to track all commitments on a quarterly basis based on the inputs provided by departments and, in some cases, through independent surveys,” deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had said in his budget speech in March.Explaining the concept behind the outcome budget, Sisodia had explained, “Let us assume that Rs 20 lakh is spent to build a mohalla clinic. We will monitor whether the building is constructed or not. This is budget accountability, but through the outcome budget we will also monitor how many people were benefitted after the construction of the building. This will be its outcome, which will be monitored every quarter.”The review of the second quarter is likely in November. For the first review in July, the planning department had sent out Excel sheets of the outcome budget data and asked the government departments to furnish information on their performance. The principal secretary, planning and finance, told the departments that regular updation of data against existing indicators would be necessary, including on programmes and projects left out. The nodal officer of each department is tasked with sharing the feedback with the planning department for continuous improvement in performance.