The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee will kick off the initial phase of a pilot for its new digital administration system on October 7 afternoon, incorporating Gantt chart tracking to ramp up transparency and accountability in public administration.

Gantt charts to track public sector tasks

At a recent session of the Steering Committee overseeing the Politburo's Resolution 57 on sci-tech and digital transformation, Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Tran Luu Quang stressed the pressing need to deploy Gantt charts, insisting they spell out tasks, responsible individuals, units and deadlines with precision.

  People conduct administrative procedures at Vung Tau Moi ward. Photo: VNA  

Dr. Nguyen Tran Nhu Khue, head of the Law Faculty at HCMC Cadre Academy, said Gantt charts help gauge individual and team performance. Their rollout in public administration signals strides in modernising state oversight.

Moreover, Gantt charts promote equity in appraising civil servants and public employees, spurring them to boost performance.

However, as a visual tool, Gantt charts fit best for simpler assignments. For more complex projects with layers of elements, they may miss details, so their use in governance demands thorough vetting for fit and impact.

Digitising all workflows

Alongside Gantt charts, Ho Chi Minh City is gearing up to digitise its full administrative workflow, aiming to sharpen transparency and measure officials' results with hard metrics.

Duong Hoang Thang, Chief of the municipal People's Committee Office, said the system, built by the office and the city's Digital Transformation Centre, links all departments, districts, wards, communes and special zones

Accessible on smartphones, the system lets users track tasks and directives from the Government, the municipal Party Committee and the People's Committee. It drills down to progress at individual departments, units and leaders across levels, moving city governance onto a fully digital platform.

Vo Thi Trung Trinh, Director of the Digital Transformation Centre, said the setup merges several tools: the administrative procedures handler, document and task manager, and the 1022 hotline for citizen and business input. This lets local officials keep tabs on daily admin performance.

The system delivers full daily data reports to aid monitoring and decisions. Crucially, it taps artificial intelligence to flag priorities, monitoring vital metrics like prices, budgets and investments, plus core areas such as public spending, social services, administrative reform, socio-economic development and big-project oversight, he added./.