Design and development of a dynamic user inventory access and management system case study: United Nations-Office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (UNOCHA) Uganda.

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Date
2009-09
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Kampala International University, School of Computing and Information Technology
Abstract
This study primarily builds grounds on the fact that key information for decision making in organizations is partly a result of good tracking systems like Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) systems and Inventory Control and Management (1CM) systems among others. The main objective of this study therefore was to come up with an inventory control and management system (ICMS) that would allow UN OCHA-Uganda to record, store, retrieve and process information on all equipment, locations, vendors and stocks movement in an efficient and effective manner, providing for interactivity. Literature on the subject matter was widely referenced, obtained from a number of information sources including journal articles, reports, monographs, conference proceedings. In addition, much of the literature was accessed following a number of online searches through renowned search engines on the internet. With particular regard to the choice of methodology, a number of methods, tools and techniques were deployed to support the effective collection and analysis of data that lead to the derivation of useful conclusions that ably backed the recommendations in this regard. In particular, the main methods included interviewing, observation and document analysis. The instruments of research included printed questionnaires that were designed, tested and re-tested, after which, they were emailed to the respective respondents. The study population that predominantly comprised UN OCHA-Uganda staff members based in Kampala and the rest of the Field Offices. Two separate questionnaires were prepared targeting two similar, but occupationally different categories of respondents. The first category of respondents included Management, Finance and Administrative Staff while the second category targeted the rest of the staff from the different departments. Quantitative data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS). This made it possible for the study to yield important statistics to support answering ofthe research questions. Resulting from the data obtained and the analyses made, it is observed that OCHA Uganda does not have a substantive Inventory Control and Management System in place and does not technically own the tools used to track the available data. It was also established that Inventory data was not managed in real time as reflected by a significant 57% of the respondents. It was evidently clear that OCHA-Uganda also adheres to important best practices in 1CM as reflected by over 57% of the respondents who disagree on the proposition that staff received more supplies that requests for resources and the combined 85% respondents who either agree or strongly agree on the proposition of acknowledgement of receipt of materials delivered. On a similar note, a significant number of respondents constituting 29% do affirm that OCHA-Uganda maintains an updated/approved vendor list. The study establishes that no relevant training has been conducted for concerned officials in the recent past. This is evident from 86% of the respondents. This is further aggravated by resource constraints as expressed by over 43% of the respondents who either negate the proposition, or are not aware. XIII In view of the above, the study recommends that OCHA-Uganda invests in the development of a functional, usable, scalable, robust and shareable 1CM system, and in adequate staff training to equip the responsible officers with sufficient skills and techniques to manage the function better. More recommendations are provided in chapter five of this report.
Description
A research dissertation submitted to the School of Post Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Science in Information Systems of Kampala International University
Keywords
Design, User inventory access, Management system, Uganda
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