Provincial Administration of the Western Cape installs WebFOCUS

The Provincial Administration of the Western Cape has installed the business intelligence tool WebFOCUS from Fujitsu.

The Western Cape houses almost four million people, and the Provincial Education Department cares for over a million learners at school level, about 29 000 educators and 8 000 support personnel. In addition, the department has the responsibility of co-ordinating and monitoring the many adult basic education programmes, early childhood development centres and FET (Further Education and Training) colleges.

Peter Present, director: Research, of the Western Cape Provincial Education department, says the department often needs to balance its role as an agent for social change with limited financial resources. "It is therefore critical that the resources available are allocated and used in the most cost-effective manner," he says.

An example of some the issues the department needs to deal with, and requires management information about, are:

* How many and which schools do not have basic services such as sanitation, water and electricity?
* How long will it take to provide these basic services? Where are the schools situated?
* Given the teaching budget and available posts, and considerations such as the curriculum and poverty index of the schools, how should teaching posts be allocated annually for each public school across the province?
* The department is spending in excess of R100 million annually on learner transport. Is this spending effective?
* Research shows that there will be a shortage of teachers in the near future. Is this so? If so, which subject areas will likely be affected?

Within the Western Cape Education Department, the Directorate: Education Research is responsible for all management information. One of the Research Directorate`s sub-directorates is the EMIS (Education Management Information Systems) section. The EMIS section works in support of the various other sections within the education department and they are, in turn, supported by the Provincial Centre for e-Innovation (CEI). In order to provide answers to the abovementioned and other pressing questions, a variety of surveys are created and issued each year, for completion by the various institutions.

The data from these surveys are captured or scanned and stored in an Oracle database, set up and supported by the CEI. However, the data is only valuable if it becomes useful information, and hence the vision of both the research and CEI is as follows:

* One should be able to get immediate answers to questions.
* Every manager must receive the same answer to a specific question.
* Data validated today should be available to managers for analysis tomorrow.
* Managers with limited IT skills must be able to do their own analysis.
* Dependency on central EMIS/ CEI support for information should be reduced or eliminated.
* Quality of data should be improved.
* Management decisions should be made on accurate information and not a feeling.
* Data from the various sources should be properly integrated.

In order to address these, and other, needs, the Centre for e-Innovation purchased WebFOCUS from Fujitsu. "This solution was chosen because of its strength as an information platform, its scalability and ease of deployment," says Augi De Freitas, ICT solutions delivery manager at the Centre for e-Innovation.

"It allowed strong parameterised reporting, flexible report outputs and unlimited numbers of users. We were impressed by its performance, the ability to directly access our source systems and especially the `light` hardware requirements. In addition, the solution has proved to be extremely cost-effective."

Says Chris van Wyk, deputy director: Applications Development: "Staff in my section were immediately able to produce a number of reports for use by the education department, and had no trouble deploying them on the Web. Due to staff shortages and constraints within the Centre for e-Innovation, Fujitsu has remained involved in providing services for various critical projects, under the auspices of the Centre for e-Innovation."

One such project was the creation of a data mart that has improved performance and simplified the reporting process.

Additional functionality has been added, as needed, in the form of WebFOCUS Maintain for closed-loop processing and collaboration, and most recently, the ESRI adapter for spatial information analysis.

"The WebFOCUS ESRI adapter, though recently implemented, has had and will no doubt continue to have a huge impact on the decision-making process. Now, managers can verify possible solutions and identify trends spatially," says De Freitas.

The ArcIMS GIS software, from ESRI, identifies factors such as infrastructure, roads, rivers and mountains, which affect the provision of education in the diverse geographical areas within the province. This WebFOCUS/ESRI adapter is unique in providing dynamic, bi-directional integration between the GIS software and WebFOCUS. One can, for example, use a selection on the map to produce a report, or can map schools based on certain criteria.

Present adds: "Our vision was to provide reporting information `at the fingertips` and GIS functionality to managers. WebFOCUS could always provide the information but since our project to integrate WebFOCUS` reporting with the strength of a GIS system, we have achieved a unique and fresh view of the status of our schools."

Kevin Tabisher, head of the EMIS section, says: "We have developed a strong partnership with Fujitsu, as our service provider. They have provided valuable advice and have delivered useful, cost-effective solutions, on time and always within budget. Their service and availability has assisted my section to deliver critical solutions in short timeframes."

The immediate benefits have been increased communication and co-operation between sections within the department, as the management and staff have a common understanding of the issues and problems being faced. In addition, as people get used to finding their own answers, the pressure on the EMIS and Centre for e-Innovation will decrease, allowing them to apply themselves to the more urgent and strategic tasks.

* WebFOCUS Reporting Server
* WebFOCUS Report Caster
* WebFOCUS R/W Adapter for Oracle
* WebFOCUS Maintain
* WebFOCUS ESRI Adapter (for GIS and spatial analysis)