EMIS Online Data Entry Pilot report pdf

(1)

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

EDUCATION MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

FINAL REPORT

ON

PILOTED ON-LINE DATA ENTRY

(2)

Pilot Exercise for Proposed Online Data Entry - Report

5th

August 2013

1.0 Background:

The Ministry of Education, Ghana has a vision of EM IS that focuses primarily on monitoring and reporting on its Annual Education Census. The EMIS has been notable in recent years for producing relatively comprehensive statistical coverage of pre-primary, primary, secondary, teacher training, and technical and vocational sub-sectors. In addition, it has provided technical support to the institutional entities responsible for producing the non-formal and tertiary education statistics. Ghana is among those African countries that regularly address the requirements of UNESCO Institute of Statistics Global Monitoring with reports on its education statistics (including Higher Education).

Currently, timelines is of a major essence. Relevant data is essential to drive performance related management, an integral feature of the Ministry's national, district and regional reporting systems and hence the strong desire to consistently improve upon EMIS' capacity, framework, processes, technology to mention but a few of the structures required of a good system to function efficiently and effectively as possible.

Thus, stakeholders of the EMIS in Ghana have never relented in their efforts to improve upon the system and to ensure that the desirability of a good system is ultimately achieved.

It was in light of the above, invitation was extended to Dr Arun C. Mehta sometime in August, 2012 to also evaluate processes of the system and possibly recommend the way forward. It should be indicated that the above happened after a twelve member delegation from Ghana had been exposed to a similar system in place at NUEPA, India.

2.0 Purpose of the Exercise:

(3)

time data merger as all districts are hooked to the same server with only one EMIS application running.

3.0 Composition of the Pilot Teams:

Below are the names of the officers of the EM IS unit who were in the districts to monitor the conduct of the pilot exercise.

NAME DISTRICT TOWN

1. Mr. Samuel A. Okang Kumasi Metro Kumasi

2. Mr. Herbert Gorman Gomoa West A pam

3. Mr. Edward Dogbey Cape Coast Metro Cape Coast

4. Ms. Veronica Kutin Harvey Gomoa East Afransi

5. Mr. Isaac Kofi Mensah Ajumako-Anyan-Esiam Ajumako

6. Mr. Suleman Salman Faris Mfantseman Salt-Pond

4.0 Scope of the Exercise:

The pilot exercise covered six (6) districts in all. These consist of five districts from the Central Region and the last one was the Regional Education Office in Kumasi. Incidentally, the regional office in Kumasi also served as the control case to the pilot as they were allowed to work with the existing internet infrastructure so as to be able to detect whether size of bandwidth impacted significantly on data entry speed on-line.lt is instructive to indicate that even though all districts have internet connectivity, not all were considered for the pilot exercise mainly due to time, funds and manpower constraints. Sampled districts in the Central region were Cape Coast, Ajumako, Mfantseman, Gomoa East and Gomoa West.

5. Summary of Observations:

(4)

workgroup of the server. It is instructive to point out that working outside the domain in its real

sense cannot be described as online but rather within a Wide Area Network (WAN).

Observations across the pilot districts were that it was extremely difficult on the first day to

load the application, navigate with ease and to submit a questionnaire after data entry. These

challenges were communicated to the Internet Service Provider (ISP) who then blocked all the

other districts from accessing the internet except the pilot districts. The above move saw a

significant increase in the speed of navigation through the various screens of the application

and data submission. Below is a table showing number of questionnaires keyed over the period

in the pilot districts;

TOWN

DAY1

DAY2

DAY3

DAY4

TOTAL

Cape Coast

2

11

14

41

Salt Pond 7

12

10

12

41

Ajumako

6

16

14

42

Afransi

1

2

8 9

20

A pam

1

7 7 7

22

Kumasi

4

11

6

11

32

Total 21 49 61 67 198

The above notwithstanding, some seriously encountered challenges were;

1. Intermittent power outages, Break in internet connectivity, web-page getting expired

when one stays on a screen for some considerable number of minutes and loss of data

most especially on teacher profile screen. The hardest hit districts were Gomoa East and

West. According to the officer who monitored the process at Afransi, she has to always

call those in charge of the server room every afternoon for internet connectivity to be

re-established for work to continue.

As part of the plan, the teams were to work on Saturday when all offices are closed to find out

its effect on the speed of data entry. However, that plan could not be executed. The server was

shut down on Friday without any prior information to us in the districts. Data entry was not

carried out on Saturday because the server was down.

(5)

a. The average waiting time of the application after submission ranged between 20 seconds to 2 minutes depending on the speed of the internet at the time.

b. Regarding whether it was that easy to navigate from one interface to the other, all the groups responded in the affirmative.

c. It was observed that it took a minimum of 15 minutes and a maximum 1 and half hours to complete one questionnaire. However, it is interesting to note that some other factors affect time taken to complete a questionnaire. Some of these may be individual's skill level, speed of the internet and number of teachers in a particular school among others.

d. With the exception of Kumasi, all the other districts indicated that electricity supply during the period was stable.

e. On the average, it took less than a minute to log unto the GES network.

f. All the staff members of EM IS have dedicated offices and computers to work with. g. The computers have been in use for not less than two years. For Kumasi and Salt Pond,

their computers have been in use for seven and eight years respectively.

h. However, none of them suffered any major breakdown during the pilot exercise despite non-routine maintenance culture.

i. On the question of inter personal relationship, all the groups indicated of the existence of cordial relationship between the Statistics Officer and the Data Entry Clark.

6.0 Conclusion:

Undoubtedly the piloting of the on-line data entry had been an exercise worth undertaking. Hitherto, proponents of on-line data as a way of improving upon our data collection processes basically did so due to the fact that they have read about it or experienced it in other countries without necessarily taking cognizance of the Ghanaian situation and the ICT infrastructure on the ground. Today, the pilot has given the team the opportunity to experience it at first hand and as a result is in a better position to tell what may be workable regarding the type of internet connectivity in place.

(6)

..

into their day to day planning that goes on. Besides, the existing internet bandwidth {56 kbps) at the districts cannot be relied on if the on-line data entry is to be successful in the future.

Again working outside the domain of the server during the pilot can be likened to simply working in a peer to peer environment but not on-line in its true sense.

The team is of the view that there is the need to make a second attempt at the on-line data entry where all the aforementioned challenges will be looked at in a holistic manner.

7.0 Recommendation:

The team would like to recommend the following for immediate consideration

There is the need to constitute proper technical team, which will be tasked to look at observations made at the districts and design a workable roadmap regarding how the on-line data entry will be either re-piloted or rolled out to cover all districts with internet connectivity.

1. The need for the districts to have access to their own databases at all times cannot be over emphasized. As a result there is the compelling need to ensure that the application is not only accessed by the districts for data entry but they can as well query/generate their own reports from it. One way of tackling the above is to ensure that the database is mirrored at districts/regional levels.

2. The successfulness of the exercise under discussion depends by and large on the caliber of officers entrusted with the responsibility at the district level. Consequently, the issue of capacity cannot be overlooked. Most district staffs are simply handicap when it comes to ICT related skills. Thus continuous training is very paramount.

3. As per the current arrangement regarding monthly subscription of the internet facility at the district level, our understanding is that the ISP is being paid from a donor fund. It is not too clear if the sustainability of the exercise in future will not be compromised as donor funds utilization may elapse or be redrawn based on breaches and or lack of transparency. Perhaps a more reliable source of funding is preferred.

8.0 Appreciation:

(7)

..

can be described as the first hurdle of many intentions. It is hoped that JICA will be committed to seeing the outcome of what they have helped to initiate.

It is also important to intimate that JICA Expert in-charge of Decentralized Education

Management at the Ghana Education Service (GES) deserves commendation for spearheading

the processes and making sure that resource for the exercise is well sourced and coordinated.

By:

Name Signature Date

Mr Samuel A. Okang

Mr Herbert Gorman

t

Mr Edward Dogbey

Ms Veronica Kutin-Harvey

t~

l ]

Mr Isaac Kofi Mensah

~_]

I

MrS. Salman Faris

(8)

Piloting of online data entry for EM IS

Check list

(Name of District _ _

0_----t>,___·_~

____

···

_1_~

__

/_S _ _,..._, ____

~>

I. What is the average waiting time alter submission? ___

7S_, __

~-~-2. How many questionnaires were entered by the data entry clerk at close of day'?

• Tuesday ______

! _______

• Wednesday_

2 -..

---~---• Thursday

'l- __ ...

• Friday ____________

2.._ ___

• Saturday _________ -~- _ _ __ _

3. Was electricity supply stable during the pilot period?

@1

No

4. How many minutes does it take to recall the EMIS application interface?

~;s-~

5. On the average how long does it take to complete a questionnaire based on the speed of the internet?_

j

!

~<W -~

""'

6. What is the total number of questionnaires entered at the end of the piloting exercise?

?-2-_

___:::.___

___

~---

,-7. How long does it take to log into the GES network?

_j_!?_ __

~~---8. Was it easy navigating from one interface to the other? YES/ No

-9. How long have the computer been in use? ')...

1 e--r5

I 0. When was the last time it was serviced?

~-1-~)

II. Was internet connectivitY stable? YES/NO

.

---12. Was the data entrv clerk allowed to work without interruption'! YES /NO

.

-13. Number of questionnaires entered • Basic ___

2

?-• SHS

• TVET _ _ _

• ·Colleges of Lducation ... ____ _

14. Was the EM IS staff allocated a dedicated office and a computer?

rJ.ili.

/NO

15. Is the relationship between the District Statistics Oflker and the data entry clerk cordial? YES/NO

-16. Did the computer used for the pilot exercise suffer any major breakdown during the course of capturing data? YES I NO

(9)

-Pilot

i

ng of online data entry for EM IS

Check list

(N arne of District _ _

c

_

~

_

'-

·-if-_JL.. _ _ _

C

_

o

_

c~

-=

-

t

______

_

~

>

I. What is the average waiting time after submission'! _ __:/,__ __

~

_

,~ ~

2. How many questionnaires were entered by the data entry clerk at close of day?

• Tuesday

--

~

-

---• Wednesday .,__/_,_/ _ _ ___ _

• Thursday J

tf

• Friday

tf

•

Saturday ___ ~---

----/

3. Was electricity supply stable during the pilot period? Yes I No

Ab

c9

uX

I

~..- .;f~

5. On the average hovv long does it take to complete a questionnaire based on the speed of

the internet?

:3

0

vvr

I VI~

)j/

7. How long does it take to log into the GES m:twork?

50 ,J_~~

8. Was it easy navigating from one interface to the other'J

Y~

~

o

9. How long have the computer been in use?

3

· ytp-:1"..!

10. When was the last time it was servic~..,A_ -~~ c,

o-o

II. Was internet connectivity stable" Yl:SINO

12. Was the data entry clerk allowed to work without interruption'! YES /NO

13. umber of questionnaires entered • Basic _ _

3 -=-_

Cif

L-

-• SHS _---~-

'::2-

_-

----• TYET _ _ _ __ _ _ _

• Colleges of Education __ _-::______ _ ~

14. Was the EMIS staff' allocated a dedicated onicc and a computer? Y'r:S /NO

15. Is the relationship between the District Statistics Officer and the data entry clerk cordial?

YI

~

O

(10)

v---Piloting of online data entry for EM IS

Check list

(Name of District £/l·flr.T

.-~

if((./(i'[

./V

vl

II

Ll

PA

L. )

1. What is the average waiting time after submission?

i

e,;.,;:.

ftc

i:bh -:::?!

Ill~

l.wv{i,

2. How many questionnaires were entered by the close of day?

•

Tuesday _ _ _ '{..:..._ _ __ _ _ _

•

Wednesday_ -+{_l . _ _ _ _ _ • Thursday _ _ ....,!!/_.ft""-J _ _ _ _

• Friday

I ''

• Saturday _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _

~

No

4. How many minutes does it take to access the EMIS application interface?

..:.:

~

y

"-

CJ

_ _.._(___L_,_,__:_:_:

.

:e:;.s

·'

...,~'1\ I ('(\.)~

6. On the average how long does it take to complete a questionnaire based on the speed of

the internet?

h

_-

b "'- }-

\...)."•--

_-

_o

_·

_l...

.a.o

v·

_bth

'

_tq1--v _'

7. What is the total number of questionnaires entered at the end of the piloting exercise? •

•

8. How long does it take to log into the GES network?

I

{-$!..

\~.(A.

;

""";

nt~\·('1•\-\,\t.-9. Was it easy navigating from one screen to the other? ~ESI No

10. How long have the computer been in use? ~

"'rs

'

-(_ vv

t"l

tt ..

f:,

II. When was the last time it was serviced?

12. Was internet connectivity stable? x,J2S'INO

13. Was the data entry allowed without interruption? ~S /NO

14. Number of questionnaires entered

• Basic _--~~---

I

• SHS

• TVET _{- - - -}

-• Colleges of Education _ _ _ _ _

15. Was the EMIS staff allocated a dedicated office and a

computer?~S

/NO

16. Is the relationship between the District Statistics Officer and the data entry clerk cordial?

,¢!NO

17. Did the computer used for the pilot exercise suffer any major breakdown during the

(11)

P

i

lot

i

ng o

f

onl

i

ne data e

n

try for EM IS

Check list

(Name of Dis trict _

___::

(;

""-'

.:,

'-'

C

=-=-

'11

_,_,_,

~

::;_

· _

ei

_

1 .!.___

· _,

t

""--

o.

---'-

,

_

{t

=-

~

_-_ _ _ __ _ _

I. What is the average waiting time after submission? _

:;-0

~c

.

-

:;.2

(/1)1

il

2. How many questionnaires were entered by the data entry clerk at close of day?

•

Tuesday

\

•

Wednesday

:L

•

Thursday

~

•

Friday c.

Saturday ,..

•

-- - _~

GO.(.

e_e

the internet? \

~

(

h

J

JrDjwv

,et.YJ el

~

i..

nllt~'

Yl.f

r:hO

7. How long does it take to log into the G ES network?_

?.

· _) u

;-. /

8. Was it easy navigating from one interface to the other? YES/ No

;::2.

_

'1

r

~

-1 0.

When was the last time it was serviced?

_

3 _

t11c:''flc

""'~

II. Was internet connectivity stable') YES/ 0 .._..,/

_ . /

12. Was the data entry clerk allowed to work without interruption? YES 0

13. Number of questionnaires entered

•

Basic

?-

0

·- - - -- -

---• SHS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

• TVET ___ _ __ _ _ _

•

Colleges of Education ____________ _

,_/"' 14. Was the EMIS staff' allocated a dedicated orticc and a computer? YLS /NO

15. Is the relationship between the District Statistics Ofliccr and the data entry clerk cordial?

Y

~

O

(12)

Pi

l

ot

i

ng of on

li

ne data entry

f

or EM IS

C

h

eck

li

s

t

(Name of

Di

s

tri

c

t

_

- A

--=--

-=-'"

U

-+

Q

---=-

VV\

_

ut

__,_

, l

-=---

O

_

_ _

_

_ _ _

___))

r

f\1\\~

I. What is the average waiting time after submission?

2. How many questionnaires were entered by the data entry clerk at close of day'?

•

Tuesday ---"-"-(,

-•

Wednesday _ _ (, _ _ _ _ _

•

Thursday _ _

_.

l

...:b

_

_ _

•

Friday _ __ __,_l

f

+-

----• Saturday _____ /

~

No

\W~

~~(_.

the internet?

~

I

~V\

.

Jf&

Mirw

7. How long does it take to log into the GES net\ivork? _

Jf2:-8. Was it easy navigating from one interrace to the other?

Y~o

::M_

··

_

J&d

J

,

I 0. When was the last time it was serviced? _{- - -} _{- -}

s...svvv--c...t.-I s...svvv--c...t.-I. Was internet connectivity stable?

~

0

I 2. Was the data entry clerk allowed to work without interruption? YES /NO

I 3. Number or questionnaires entered

• Basic

f;)._

• SHS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

• TVET _ _ _ __ _ _ _

• Colleges or Education _______ _

14. Was the EM IS stan· allocated a dedicated office and a computer?

ationship between the District Statistics Officer and the data entry clerk cordial?

16. Did the computer used for the · ot exercise suffer any major breakdown during the

(13)

.

..

Piloting of online data entry for EM IS

Check list

(Name of District

l

.ZVW\~

Re=z:t1

01\ll-tt-

a::Jf?t1?t!P-

)

1. What is the average waiting time after

submission

?

~

)Os:eL: ·

2. How many questionnaires were entered by the close of day?

•

Tuesday

L.f

•

Wednesday

,

'

•

Thursday

0

•

Friday

1 r

Saturday .,..__

•

~

4. How many minutes does it take to access the EMIS application interface?

62 30Srzc

· ..3

O$-r2c_

6. On the average how long does it take to complete a questionnaire based on the speed o 1

the internet? _ _,_t=5~m'-=-'-( Vl:..J._· _ _

7. What is the total number of questionnaires entered at the end of the piloting exercise'?

.3:2-8. How long does it take to log into the GES network?

f?

~

s,e.c...

9. Was it easy navigating from one screen to the other? YES/

-

No

?f:Jc5

-11. When was the last time it was serviced?

~J tes,_~

12. Was internet connectivity stable? YES(liQ_

13. Was the data entry allowed without interruption? YES /NO

---14. Number of questionnaires entered

•

Basic

;{

o

•

SHS

• TVET _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __

• Colleges of Education _ _ -\ _ _ _

15. Was the EMIS staff allocated a dedicated office and a computer? ~ /NO

16. Is the relationship between the District Statistics Officer and the data entry clerk cordial')

YES/NO

-17. Did the computer used for the pilot exercise suffer any major breakdown during the

EMIS Online Data Entry Pilot report pdf

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

EDUCATION MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

FINAL REPORT

ON

PILOTED ON-LINE DATA ENTRY

Pilot Exercise for Proposed Online Data Entry - Report

August 2013

TOWN

DAY1

DAY2

DAY3

DAY4

TOTAL

2

11

14

14

41

12

10

12

41

6

6

16

14

42

1

2

20

1

22

4

11

6

11

..

..

t

l ]

I

Piloting of online data entry for EM IS

0_----t>,___·_~

____

···

_1_~

__

/_S _ _,..._, ____

~>

7S_, __

! _________ __

2 -..

'l- __ ...

2.._ _____ __

@1

~;s-~

j

!

~<W -~

""'

?-2-_

___

_j_!?_ __

1

e--r5

~-1-~)

.

.

2

rJ.ili.

-Pilot

i

ng of online data entry for EM IS

c

_

~

_

'-

C

! _______

2.._ ___