The Namibia Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) has made great strides in adopting the Human Resources Information Management System (HRIMS). As of August 2008 there are a number of reports already available for easy access, including:
o Staff member personal and appointment details;
o Alphabetic list of appointed personnel;
o Personnel within a specific age group;
o Personnel to receive bonuses;
o Occupational groups, job categories and post level ranks;
o Summary of post status;
o Job type and salary level/notch representation;
o region/duty station post and appointment totals;
o Job type representation in O/M/A;
o Male/female totals and ratios;
o Age groupings and length in service matrix;
o Workforce profile (contains job types);
o Workforce profile (contains job categories)
Previously, in the paper-based human resources management process, reports of this nature required days, weeks, or months to compile. Now this data are available immediately at any time via any computer with connection to the HRIMS.
For now these reports include only core personal and appointment information captured to date. The capture percentage is higher than 85% of public service health workers and work continues to complete the core details. These reports greatly assist in checking the accuracy and completeness of entered data as the team works to cleanse the system data.
Although we had been playing to release new versions of iHRIS Manage and iHRIS Qualify in July, as well as Version 1.0 of iHRIS Plan, we had to delay those releases. Our new targeted release date is August 15 for all three systems.
Why the delay? We want to release all of the updated systems at the same time because they use a lot of common code that is also getting a major overhaul. We also want to thoroughly test each system and clean up as many bugs as possible before releasing them publicly. Finally, we want to make sure the user’s manuals and other documentation are up to date.
We are excited about these releases because they represent major steps forward in our software development. iHRIS Plan, workforce planning and modeling software, is the final component in the iHRIS suite. Version 1.0 will enable health workforce planners to project required and actual health workers as well as associated costs. We will pilot iHRIS Plan in Namibia in August and September and expect to release Version 2.0 in the following months with even more features.
As for Manage and Qualify, Version 3.1 includes the ability to build reports and customize report views. This will greatly enhance users’ ability to analyze and report on the HRIS data. In addition, we have developed a brand-new module for managing in-service training courses for employees. HR managers will be able to track and report on the trainings completed by employees, the continuing professional development credits earned and the competencies gained from those trainings. We are piloting the in-service training management module in Zanzibar right now, and will incorporate feedback from that pilot in the 3.1 release.
Look for all three of these new releases in August. We hope that you will be as excited by the upgrades as we are.
In June Laticha Walters joined the IntraHealth team as the local Namibian HRIS Advisor. Laticha will be seated at the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS), working directly with all stakeholders to ensure adherence to the Capacity-funded HRIS strengthening activity plan. She brings a wealth of professionalism and project management experience with recent government experience and already knows many MoHSS and Office of the Prime Minister employees. After only a few days of training she jumped in immediately scheduling meetings with key stakeholders to introduce herself and seek opinions on how she can add value. She is also already at work refining the HRIS strengthening activity plan and taking ownership of key activities such as the regional connectivity pilot and MoHSS and OPM systems strengthening collaboration.
I will continue to work on HRIS strengthening in Namibia in collaboration with Laticha and I think we will see much greater progress now with a local person dedicated to the project success. Laticha is on contract with IntraHealth through the end of October. We will evaluate as that date draws near to see if we can extend the length of her contract and complete all of our planned activities.
Welcome, Laticha!
What is happening with HRIS Strengthening? Get news about our ongoing work in the field, find out when new features and releases of the software are available, learn more about human resource information systems, and join the conversation. Your comments and questions are welcome.