A grassroots unit of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has turned to big data to help with the hard work of assessing Party members' performance.
The program is being piloted in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province. The city is also known as China's e-commerce capital and home to Internet giant Alibaba, as well as the host of the 2016 G20 Summit.
The city committee of the CPC has enlisted IT firms to help develop and apply a big data system to help manage its 661,000 Party members.
"We have sorted Party members' assessment criteria into 136 categories. Through updating and analyzing the data, scientific intra-Party management can be achieved," said Shang Liping, a researcher with the city's CPC organization department.
The ruling party of China has put a premium on monitoring the work performance of its 88.75 million members, which is key to the Party's governance and protecting the people's interests.
The Party leadership adopted a new regulation in June about an internal Party accountability mechanism, which can be applied across all levels and divisions.
"By turning the code of conduct, rules and requirements into performance indicators, we can have a closed system to supervise members' performance through monitoring and analyzing the data," said Zhang Zhongcan, head of the organization department.
Zhang's department oversees 37,000 grassroots-level Party branches.
Yang Fan, a Party member in his thirties, recently downloaded the Party management app to his phone.
"The system is so powerful. It keeps a record of everybody's work evaluation and attendance. All app users can check their ranking based on the system's monthly updates," he said.
He said when he attends the Party's routine activities, he is required to use a fingerprint reader on the app to keep record of his meeting attendance. He also uses the app to study Party doctrine and complete assignments.
A serious and meticulous approach to political life has been an important tradition and political advantage of the CPC. Party members are mandated to attend routine Party activities and meetings to study new Party doctrines and conduct intra-Party communication.
"The system helps tighten the organization mode," said Zou Zijuan, secretary of the CPC branch at the Shangyangshi Street Community. Party management in grassroots organizations in residential communities has been a challenge, as members have a rather loose sense of organizational discipline, compared with members from governmental organizations.
Zou said the system also relieves grassroots Party leaders from the burdensome work of giving year-end assessments for each member, as the big data system can trace members' performance and eliminate the paperwork of assessing them.
Zhang Zhongcan said the Party leadership has emphasized the comprehensive and strict management of the Party to improve the work style of the Party and governments. The big data system can stimulate members' own initiative in Party building through the timely data upgrades and ratings.
