A web-based, enterprise-wide, integrated information system as the source of high quality information for decision-making processes in the Department of Education in South Africa

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Education Management Information System (EMIS) is the business unit that is responsible forinformation management and business reporting in the Department of Education. EMIS finds it difficult toprovide high quality information to the Department of Education internally and its stakeholders externallyand attributes the reduction of the quality of its education information to factors such as the organisationalnature of the South African education system, the lack of information management standards andpractices, the low level of information technology skills in EMIS, the existence of a multitude of disparateinformation systems in the Department of Education and Provincial Education Departments, and theapparent discontinuity in the flow of information from education institution level to the nationaldepartment and back. Most research in information management confirmed the state of EMIS as beingtypical of most large organisations whose functioning depends on the quality of their information. Thefactors that influence information quality in EMIS had been identified as accuracy, timeliness, consistencyand relevance of the information. A 'quick-fix to the information problem is not possible but research ininformation systems management indicates that there are trends in the electronic business arena that mayprovide an acceptable solution to most of the problems encountered by EMIS. This report investigates thenature of EMIS problems in terms of information management and investigates possible solutions to theproblems. The investigation is done within the framework of acknowledged information systems planningprocess and aligned to the process model of information management.An exposition is given on the theory pertaining to information management, information systems andinformation systems management to give insight into the particular fields of study and theirinterdependencies. A section on business intelligence is included since business reporting is the primaryfunction of EMIS. Investigations into information systems development indicate an exponential growth inelectronic technology development specifically the Internet and the Web. The information systems planprovides the framework or set of guidelines to determine the information systems solution that will be ableto solve their problems. The research report included four stages of the information systems planframework. The first stage pertains to the identification of minimum information required from theeducation sector and supporting sectors to provide high quality education information for decision-makingand planning. The second stage determines and benchmarks the state of EMIS in terms of informationmanagement processes. The third stage investigates the trends in electronic business and specificallyelectronic information systems applications. Current best practices indicate that a possible solution toinformation management problems in large organisations is the application of a web-based, electronic,enterprise-wide, integrated information system.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University