| dc.description.abstract | The Information Communications Technology (lCT) Center through its
Management Information Systems (MIS) section is responsible for: development and
support of management information services at the University of Nairobi. The
groundwork is undertaken by a team of technical personnel who serve under a
manager. The manager (MIS) in turn is responsible to the Director (lCT Center).
To gain insight into the process of system development and maintenance:
questionnaires were sent out to MIS staff of various institutions of learning. At the
ICT Center all members of MIS, twelve in total, were served with questionnaires.
Two other questionnaires were served to the manager (MIS) and the Director (ICT
Center). At the other institutions sampled, only the head of MIS was served with a
questionnaire, which he answered on behalf of the department. This approach was
replicated at Kenyatta University, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and.
Technology, United States International University, Daystar and Catholic
Universities. Disproportionate attention was given to the ICT Center for the obvious
reason that it formed the main basis for the study. Other institutions, however,
provided a good opportunity for comparison.
Indeed system use is increasingly being entrenched at the university. Based on
past performance, the MIS team is up to the task. Given the length of time that the
ICT Center has been involved in systems development for the university, it is clear
that it has come of.age, By the time this research was being conducted, they had not
embraced the use of policy and standards in: development, process, planning,
requirements, design, implementation, review, maintenance of systems. This,
however, is set to change with the introduction of the same towards the end of2004.
Currently, managers at the ICT Center largely-rely.on informal mechanisms
to access information that is subsequently employed to take out decisions. However,
proper auditing needs to be carried out on technical activity at all levels. The results
obtained then channeled back to the managers by means of a formal structure to .
safeguard against misinformation and information loss.
To this end formal Software Quality Assurance (SQA) needs to be introduced
in the administrative structure of the MIS. | en |
