PARCO highlights digital transformation in land records management

The company’s innovative “Digitization of Lands Records” leverages cutting-edge digital tools to enhance efficiency, improve data security, and ensure long-term preservation of land documents.

As digital transformation continues to reshape industries worldwide, companies across sectors are embracing innovative solutions to streamline operations, enhance efficiency, and safeguard valuable data.

Pak-Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO) has set a new standard in digital transformation with its "Digitization of Lands Records" project, which recently earned the company the prestigious Pakistan Technology Excellence Award for Digital - Oil & Gas at the Asian Technology Excellence Awards 2024.

By converting over 60,000 ageing land documents into a secure and digital repository using Microsoft Power Platform and SharePoint, PARCO has streamlined the management of critical land records, ensuring faster retrieval, enhanced data security, and greater operational efficiency.

In a recent interview with PARCO, the company shared insights into the challenges of the project, the role of digitisation and innovative technologies, and how this achievement positions them for continued success in the evolving digital landscape.

What made you decide to utilise Microsoft Power Platform in implementing the project and what advantages does it provide over other tools?

We chose Microsoft Power Platform for our Lands Management System due to its seamless integration with SharePoint, which allowed us to leverage existing data and security settings effectively. Over the past two years, we have developed up to 25 applications within Power Apps, covering various aspects of land management and other critical business functions. Shifting our technology stack from PHP to Power Apps has significantly streamlined our development processes. The user-friendly interface and the low-code/no-code nature of Power Apps enabled us to deploy these applications rapidly, reducing both development time and costs. This flexibility has been crucial in allowing us to quickly adjust and scale solutions to meet evolving requirements, ensuring that the applications remain aligned with business needs.

One of the primary reasons for this transition was the ability to deliver solutions much faster thanks to Power Apps' low-code/no-code platform. This has enabled our team to build and deploy applications in a fraction of the time it previously took using traditional development environments like PHP. Additionally, the Power Platform ecosystem, including tools like Power BI, has further enhanced our capabilities. Power BI allows us to create detailed reports and dashboards, offering real-time insights into our data. This has been instrumental in improving decision-making processes by providing us with comprehensive, data-driven views of our operations.

Power Automate has also proven beneficial in integrating advanced technologies such as chatbots and robotic process automation (RPA). Leveraging these tools, we’ve developed automated workflows and interactive chatbots to enhance user interaction and improve operational efficiency. The integration of RPA has allowed us to automate routine, time-consuming tasks, freeing up valuable resources and reducing human error. Overall, Microsoft Power Platform has provided a flexible, scalable, and secure solution, enabling us to not only streamline land management processes but also explore broader digital transformation initiatives across the organisation.

Can you tell us about your document digitisation project and some challenges that came with it, especially those that have already deteriorated over time, and how does your project become crucial in this situation?

The digitalisation of the PARCO land records was crucial due to the fact that all the records pertaining to the titles/ownerships, allotment orders, leases, mutations, etc. of land/assets owned/acquired by PARCO worth billions are placed physically in our record rooms. In order to protect, automate, safe keep, backup, and streamline this extravagant land record into the digitalisation system, this full-fledged system was developed as Lands Management System LMS, migrating hardcopy records to digital storage. This has been a vital step in safeguarding our valuable information and land records, ensuring long-term protection against potential damage and loss.  

The challenges remained for the retrieval of physical records as the records are considerably very old (30-40 years) and required proper handling; hence, at first instance, the potentially weak documents were identified and protected in protector sheets, and then business fields were identified for proper tagging of records for smooth retrieval after the scanning process.

Moreover, the documents were scattered across various physical locations of the department and in varying states of preservation. This fragmentation not only complicates the retrieval process but also poses a significant risk of data loss and errors due to the physical degradation of documents. The labour-intensive process of searching through ageing files to locate specific documents often results in significant delays, impacting decision-making and operational efficiency.

By converting the old paper records into a digital repository, the new system is designed to enhance service delivery, reduce error rates, and ensure quick and reliable access to land records. This modernisation effort represents a significant leap towards improving the transparency and efficiency of land/asset records management, ensuring that crucial land/asset-related decisions are based on accurate and readily available data.

Since all records are now consolidated into a single platform, how does your digitisation project ensure the security of sensitive information?

To ensure the security of sensitive information, we leverage SharePoint’s comprehensive security features, which include role-based access control (RBAC) and rights management through SharePoint Online. This ensures that only authorised users can access, view, or modify sensitive data. The integration of Microsoft Single Sign-On (SSO) simplifies the authentication process by allowing users to log in with a single set of credentials across multiple platforms, enhancing both security and user convenience. Permissions and access controls in SharePoint are seamlessly extended to documents accessed through Power Apps, ensuring consistent enforcement of security policies across all tools and platforms. Furthermore, SharePoint provides robust encryption both at rest and in transit, guaranteeing that sensitive data remains protected from unauthorised access. Regular security updates and compliance certifications from Microsoft further enhance the reliability of our security posture.

In addition to these core features, we have developed applications specifically tailored to securing Lands records within SharePoint. These applications, built over land data, are tightly integrated with SharePoint’s workflow and authentication systems, ensuring that sensitive land information is handled securely and efficiently. Workflow processes ensure that data passes through appropriate authentication checks before being accessed or modified, adding multiple layers of verification to protect against unauthorised access. SharePoint’s built-in audit trail functionality tracks document access and changes, providing a detailed log of all activities for transparency and accountability. This comprehensive approach not only safeguards our sensitive documents but also supports compliance and oversight, critical for managing confidential land records and other sensitive information.

What does it mean for you to win the Pakistan Technology Excellence Award and how do you plan to follow through on this success?

Winning the Pakistan Technology Excellence Award is a significant achievement for PARCO, marking a milestone in the company’s journey of innovation and leadership within the energy sector. This prestigious recognition underscores PARCO’s ongoing commitment to technological advancement, as it remains the only oil and gas company in Pakistan to win this award consecutively over two years. In 2023, the award was earned for our excellence in Data Analytics, whilst in 2024, we were recognised for our revolutionary work on the Lands Management System project. These accomplishments reflect the culmination of our team’s hard work, dedication, and continuous pursuit of pushing the boundaries of technology. The award not only signifies individual success but serves as a testament to PARCO's role as a trailblazer, setting new standards for technological integration in the energy industry. This achievement also serves as a platform to inspire others within the sector, motivating them to innovate and contribute to the growth of Pakistan’s energy landscape.

Building on this momentum, PARCO is focussed on leveraging this recognition to further innovate and lead. The award opens doors for greater collaboration with industry leaders, fostering partnerships that will benefit the broader technology and energy sectors. It also provides an opportunity to mentor and cultivate emerging talent, helping to build a pipeline of skilled professionals who will drive future advancements. Looking ahead, PARCO is investing in cutting-edge technologies such as Generative AI, Computer Vision, Predictive Analytics, BOTs, and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to enhance its digital capabilities. These technologies will not only improve operational efficiencies but also strengthen our ability to make data-driven decisions, automate complex processes, and create more intelligent systems. By embracing these innovations, we aim to solidify our position as a leader in digital transformation within the energy industry, ensuring sustainable growth and continued success in the years to come.