GENERAL SANTOS ITY (March 16, 2015) – This April 2015, the Community Tax Information System (CTIS), another in-house developed ‘killer app’ of ICTD will be presented to the Asst. City Administrator, Gabriel Francis Glenville Gonzalez and OIC City Treasurer, Rodilon Lacap, CPA before rolling out the system after the final correction be made.
Both individual and corporate auto-generation of the cedula is included in this newly-developed, ready-for-implementation system. This can be deployed to offsite location or those outside the main city hall building.
This e-Cedula is being developed by Leonard Pe, IT Officer I and undergoes the same process of development under the SDLC processes. By first week of April 2015, Percival Pasuelo, IT Officer II, will present the overall flow of system while Leonard Pe, IT Officer I, will facilitate the actual hands-on use of the system which he developed.
Currently, the proposed system is being tested by Anna Lou Buyco and Irene Casipe, both Computer Programmer I, for bugs and fixes.
IN-HOUSE DEVELOPMENT VS THIRD-PARTY SOFTWARE
Almost all computer application systems are expensive as it involves the direct use of intellectual property of the system development team from analysts, designers, programmers, QA testers, implementers, maintenance experts, project managers and corporate owners.
This includes the marketing and advertising people who comprise the innovation of the packaged software product. This is the reason why outsourced computer system development is highly expensive. The worst case scenario for this canned software is that it might not meet the local needs of the front-line users.
Each city or municipality has its own unique revenue code to be followed. Although legal mandates like ordinances and executive orders are created based on existing national laws, specific rules for each locality differ in a way.
REASONS WHY SYSTEMS FAIL
Based on the past experiences of LGU General Santos City in implementing various computer systems that were either outsourced or donated from other agencies through grants, most of these systems may be implemented. Initially in the first couple of months or years, the system installed functions as expected and runs without bugs.
However with the actual need(s) of the user to adopt to new processes and the new requirement as directed by national agencies, the revision of process flow cannot be embedded in the system right away as the system is either donated or outsourced. Users in their capacity and drive to use the system, usually, the users initiate a solution just to make the system functional.
Eventually with more changes that cannot be addressed by the system, system users abandon in using the system resulting to failure in providing the needed information to clients.
ICTD MANDATE
With the official mandate of the Information and Communications Technology (ICTD) through City Ordinance No. 14 Series of 2012 as approved during the 16th Session of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, generally to provide IT solutions to all LGU offices, an in-house developed system must be practically for the following reasons, to wit:
A. Zero Costing
The in-house development is basically free of all charges or zero project cost except the hardware requirement which is part of the standard operation of any office. All staff involved in the development including the project management are all regular or job order employees paid through salaries and wages with approved annual budget from LGU General Santos City.
B. Guaranteed Tools
ICTD drafted its own mission-vision aligned with the thrusts of the city thus a different tools were crafted from that. It established its own Hierarchy of GSC ICT Needs. It has developed its own version of SDLC or system development life cycle where different phases of development are covered. The Business Information Protocols and Strategies (BIPS) culled from the Government Enterprise Architecture (GEA) which are set of tools being used during assessment phase to uncover all the processes in the manual system practices by the requestor.
One-Time Lifetime Database
The design of the database is targeted to serve the LGU General Santos for a lifetime use as all requirement(s) are included during the system analysis and design phase. Database backend being used is an industry standard MSSQL that can save thousands or records. Tables within the database are normalized by the analysts to eliminate data redundancy.
Success Indicator
With the implementation of the Strategic Performance Management System (SPMS) in 2014, ICTD scored big during the PMT review of rating. In the current year 2015 ICTD included the LG-ELIS under one of its success indicators that need to be completed not later than December 29, 2015.
Hardware.Software.Peopleware Support Services
ICTD is a regular division under the City Mayor’s Office with an approved annual 2015 budget for personnel services for regular and job order employees numbering to 16 personnels. With this status, ICTD provides all the service components of information technology to ensure successful implementation of all system being proposed.
This is because ICTD is practicing the team programming approach where specific function is handled separately and spearheaded by assigned staff. Thus the hardware and network support services complement the system testing with variable respondents to dry run the data entries among non-technical and technical people.
The peopleware component includes the users training and continuous debugging for system enhancement. The hardware, software and people of ICTD converge in an ever-changing tapestry of communications and information technologies.
After Sales Support
ICT is a regular pffice – division under the City Mayors Office – with approved annual budget. As such regular staff has specific work instructions to carry out on-going system development, hardware and software support services, and training of system users.
Once the maintenance phase of the SDLC is reached, where the proposed system has been formally turned-over and officially launched, there are staff assigned to sustain the project by providing daily support services – in hardware, software, or peopleware requirement.
The support is part of the development cycle to ensure successful project maintenance and sustainability.
“WYSIWYG” (pronounced as wee see wig)
“What You See is What You Get.” Requests filed by various offices related to system development can get what they want as long as the requests are within the bounds of local and national laws. With the aid of the BIPS or the Business Information Protocols and Strategies wherein assessment team members are guided with the right questions to be asked resulting to no stones unturned in the interview process.
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