After 20 years GSIS documents operations manual

In a move to streamline its operations, the Government Service Insurance System has embarked on a system-wide project to establish the procedures in all aspects of its operations that were encapsulated in 69 volumes of manuals of operations, the very first in the history of the state pension fund.

An initiative of GSIS President and General Manager Winston Garcia, the 69 volumes of GSIS "Manual of Operations" were documented covering all the functional groups in the GSIS home office, 40 field offices, and seven district offices. The MOOs have already been distributed to all GSIS offices across the country.

The MOOs are now being strictly implemented to ensure uniformity of procedures in the processing and payment of claims and loans, processing of applications for membership, and receipting and posting of collections, recording and reporting of financial transactions and a variety of other transactions and activities, Garcia said.

"This is the first time the GSIS has ever documented an operations manual after 20 years,". He said. "Operating procedures were undertaken in disparate and varied methodologies over so many decades without any standardized manual. This old practice resulted in financial leakage either due to intentional fraud or simple lapses in controls. But now, all operating units of the GSIS apply the same policy and follow identical steps, reducing scams and significantly reducing processing times," Garcia said.

All GSIS executives and employees were also given exams on the contents of the MOOs, a move which, according to Garcia, measures the essential operating and administrative systems competencies of GSIS employees and instills in them the pension fund's functions and objectives.

The manuals come in both book and compact disc form. They are continuously improved and regularly updated, especially when there are new functions, new polices adopted, or structural reassignments in GSIS. - Jasmin R.Uy