The Department of Social Development (DSD) has awarded IT tenders worth over R18 million in 2008, but is struggling to maintain its systems, saying it does not have funding for training or the internal capacity to maintain systems.
The department revealed in its annual report that it struggles to find the skills and capacity necessary to support its IT systems and projects. The department is in the process of implementing a national, integrated and standardised network of systems and solutions.
“A comprehensive overhaul and redesign of existing business processes was required to make optimum use of appropriate technology. One of the key reasons for the lack of sufficient support in ICT application functionality was the lack of proper business requirements,” said the DSD.
While the department also says funding is a problem, in 2008 it spent over R1.6 million on a specialist Oracle developer and Oracle Database administrator for one of its Secure Care projects.
The department's Information Management Systems and Technology (IMST) unit says it has recruited “very critical skills” to improve progress in some of its projects.
“Key industry skills in enterprise architecture, data warehousing, mass data management, systems development, and systems and technology analysis were acquired during the reporting period,” the report reveals.
While the unit says this enabled a “speedy and quality delivery of IMST solutions”, the report states the rollout of systems did not happen at the same pace. Seven provinces were running the system by the end of the financial year, but capacity still remained a problem.
“This implementation highlighted the need for capacity in the provinces for systems training and support,” the report reveals.
No funding
Business cases for several projects, such as network strategy and architecture to support systems, were developed, but the projects were still waiting for funding.
The department also noted that its National Integrated Social Information System (NISIS) project was also waiting for funding. The system, which will be integrated with the departments of Housing and Home Affairs, was supposed to have been rolled out this year.
Feasibility studies and proof of concepts were conducted and successfully completed, demonstrating that this system can be implemented and add meaningful value - but funding is still outstanding.
Crime concerns
The design and installation of an electronic security system, which consists of and integrates access control, visitors' management system, closed-circuit television and asset tracking, was installed.
“Initiatives included a biometric [component] to track who had accessed the system, stricter policy enforcement to regulate the conduct of staff and the strengthening of practices and procedure,” the report reveals.
One of the department's key agencies, the SA Social Security Agency, was dealing with matters of fraud, and was trying to come up with a holistic programme to address it.
“The challenge was to research, design and deploy state-of-the-art technology solutions and innovative security management techniques both to safeguard the agency and, at the same time, assist the police,” the report reveals.
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