| dc.description.abstract | Information Systems are computer based infrastructures, organizations, people and
components that pull together, process, store, transmit, present, disseminate and act on
information. Use of information systems in many organizations has increased across all
industries. Information systems have evolved over the years to match up with changes in
organizational challenges from being simply operational tools to being used for strategic
purposes. Governments are also embracing information systems by using them to deliver
quality services and give access to important information. However, despite usage of
information systems, their implementation faces many challenges which vary from
context to context. These challenges have contributed to high failure rate in development
and implementation of information systems. The failure rate is higher is Government
institutions. Nevertheless, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) successfully
implemented the Advanced Air Transport Information System (AATIS) which fully
automated the processing of landing and overflight clearances within the Kenyan
Airspace. The objective of this study was to establish the challenges that were faced
during the development and implementation of the AATIS.
The main instrument of data collection was a structured questionnaire that was
administered to officers who were involved in the development and implementation of
the AATIS. Out of the 32 questionnaires administered, 29 were responded to giving a
response rate of 91%. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and content
analysis to help in drawing comparisons and conclusions. It was established that the key
challenges in the development and implementation of the AATIS were bureaucracies in
Government projects, organizational politics, slow procurement processes, schedule
overruns, poor change management practices, poor requirements management, inability
to retain technical staff, poor attitudes towards quality improvement, poor IT
infrastructure specifically in internet services, WAN connectivity and computers,
conflicts between user departments and regulatory frameworks. Effective implementation
of the performance contracts between the Ministry of Transport and the KCAA Board of
Directors and its cascading to the individuals resolved these challenges. The study drew
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the following conclusions; proper implementation and evaluation of performance
contracts between parent ministries and the heads of Government Institutions will
increase the levels of automation in Kenyan Government institutions. In aviation
regulation, incorporating computerized information systems in audits from international
bodies like ICAO and FAA will increase the levels of automation in KCAA and other
CAAs. | en |
