[caption id="attachment_6983" align="alignnone" width="350"] Udyog Bhavan, Ministry of Commerce and Industry[/caption] In accordance with the Government's policy to introduce online Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR) for Group 'A' services, Ms Rita Teotia (IAS:1981:GJ),Commerce Secretary, launched the SPARROW-ITS (Smart Performance Appraisal Report Recording Online Window) on Wednesday, to enable the Indian Trade Service (ITS) officers to fill their APAR online for  2016-17 . The event was attended by Ajay Bhalla, DGFT and other senior officers of DGFT.  The APARs would be generated and transmitted online to the officers concerned for filling up the self-appraisal report.  The officer can then submit the self-appraisal online through Digitally Signed Signature (DSC) or through E-sign.  The subsequent processes of reporting and reviewing would also be done online by the Reporting and Reviewing Officer by using DSC or E-sign.  The timelines have been drawn up for each stage of the process.  The entire process of filling up the APAR would have to be completed by 31st December and no remarks can be added after that date. The very idea of switch over from manual to online system is to ensure ready access to APAR dossier by the authorized users, preventing loss of APARs in transition, address the issues of ante-dating, remarks recorded by the Reporting Authorities without dates, etc.  Above all, it brings in transparency into the APAR management system.  This would, in turn, ensure that the APAR dossiers are readily available for promotions at various levels which used to get delayed for want of updated APARs. This is another step towards Digital India in the government, where various administrative processes are being moved to the IT platform leading to transparency and ease of administration. The 150 officers of ITS may, thus, benefit from timely promotions and all other benefits dependent upon the evaluation of their APARs.