New Delhi, Apr 7 (IANS): A new software has been developed to "demystify and strengthen" the planning process at the panchayat level.

The Panchayati Raj ministry Tuesday said the software has been developed in collaboration with the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

In a statement here, the ministry said the software known as 'Plan Plus' is generic and open to customisation by states, line department and local governance agencies.

"It is a decentralised planning tool, which aids the various participants through the planning process, so that informed decisions can be taken by the participants in preparing, vetting and approving the plan," it said.

The software will be employed to make the planning processes interactive from "need assessment, identification of project, work, preparation of draft annual plans, approval by technical appraisal committee and final approval by district planning committee".

According to the ministry, the software will also provide "a holistic view of how funds from different central and state-sponsored schemes could be converged to carry out works approved in a plan."

"The software is a web-based software and captures the entire planning work flow...it is highly generic and can be extended to capture the plans prepared by line departments at the state and central level to generate the national plan," the statement said.

"The software brings about total transparency in the plan approval process and provides role-based authentication and authorisation," the statement said.