THE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Background

The Makerere University College of Health Sciences (CHS) identified the need to improve the quality of service delivered to students who are the major stakeholders by improving performance management at the college. This was to be done by providing a solution for obtaining data to monitor and evaluate the services provided. It is upon this basis that the College Monitoring and Evaluation System was proposed. METS was contracted, in July 2017, to design and implement the system on behalf of CHS. METS together with the Task Force from the CHS collaborated to come up with all the requirements that were to be captured and implemented by the proposed system.

The Development Team from METS

A technical team from METS started the development of the system which was divided into versions and released Version 1.0. The version included the module of the administrators that would allow them to manage data and the system users. The administrators were given rights to register students under an intake, enter courses in the system as well as attach lecturers to course units. Student results could also be entered, displayed and exported as a testimonial in Version 1.0.

Members of Staff at the College of Health Sciences were fully represented at the presentation

The system was officially launched at Mulago in the Davis Lecture Theater on 18^th August 2017 by the VC-Elect Professor Barnabas Nawangwe. “I must commend METS for the tremendous work done to improve the quality of service providence at the College and I encourage the team to fully execute this task,” he said.

Presentation to the University Administration

On 13^th September 2017, Professor Barnabas Nawangwe invited METS to make a presentation to the university administration to give insight on what the system would do for the university and as such decide whether to adopt the system. Key users include college registrars, coordinators, Deans, Heads of Departments and Principals. The system will use biometric technology to capture attendance and generate reports and track class hours. The system is secure with a two-step authentication and requires a user name and password. The administration commended the system, offered tailored suggestions and agreed to adopt it to aid the university and better serve the students. Professor William Bazeyo, the Dean SPH and PI MET noted that it was important to have homegrown solutions because they were more likely to grow since they addressed the root issues. He emphasized this because the system was created by students and staff of the university.

Comments from Staff

“We are happy to support this innovation if we can be given the opportunity and approved by the University Management.” Samuel Mugabi, End User Support Manager DICTS-Mak

Samuel Mugabi giving his comment

“I am excited by this innovation because it addresses most if not all our problems at the College that hinder better service delivery to the students.” Dr. Josephine Ahikire Deputy Principal CHUSS-Mak

“This is music to my ears, we are building components that communicate to each other. Let us embrace the system as it develops; one component at a time.” Dr. Vincent Sembatya Director Quality Assurance-Mak

“The idea is good and timely, let’s deploy the system component by component as we monitor what works best for who and then we can figure out how best it will help us.” Dr. Gilbert Maiga Dean CIT-Mak

“This is a good innovation, we are willing to work with it.” Moses Gamuwa, DICTS-Mak