ICT ROADMAP (2015-2020)icta.go.ke/pdf/6.pdfEmbu County Government ICT Roadmap 2015-2020 1 “ICT as a tool of enhancing service delivery in the County” November, 2015 ICT ROADMAP

Embu County Government ICT Roadmap 2015-2020

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“ICT as a tool of enhancing service delivery in the County”

November, 2015

ICT ROADMAP(2015-2020)Popular Version


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SIGN-OFF AND APPROVALSProject: County ICT Roadmap Sign-off for: County RoadmapCounty: Embu County

Sign-Off:

______________________ Accepted

______________________ Accepted with Modifications

______________________ Not Accepted

Signature:Accepted_____Date 1/9/15

Name (Capitals): JOHN N. LIBOYIPosition: CEO & Group Team Leader,

IPA Consultants

Signature:______________________ _____________

Date _____________Name (Capitals): ______________________Position: ………………………

In charge of ICT

Signature:______________________ _____________

Date _____________Name (Capitals): ______________________Position:

Governor

Signature:______________________ _____________

Date _____________Name: ______________________Position: Project Manager, ICTA


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

While submitting the ICT Road Map, IPA Consultants take this opportunity to thank all stakeholders for the cooperation extended, timely inputs provided and hospitality extended, during the various stages of our assignment. We would specifically like to thank the ICT Director, the Chief Officers and Directors of various Executive Committees, the staff of the ICT department and all stakeholders in Embu County for making this a reality. We would also like to acknowledge that the successful completion of our assignment is largely as a result of the stakeholder’s level of commitment and involvement in understanding the purpose and importance of the assignment.

We are confident that the future of Policy formulation in Embu County is in the hands of stakeholders who possess a sound understanding of the way forward on the County ICT Roadmap. Most important is the clarity and unanimity that exists between the stakeholders, in recognizing the common objectives from a central viewpoint, that constitutes the prerequisite for success in achieving ICT Road Map objectives. We look forward to the opportunity of future interaction and guidance, if any is required from us, by the stakeholders, as they move forward to undertake initiatives or realign projects already in progress, with the objectives of an integrated environment as per the National ICT master plan.

We are confident that Embu County is moving ahead with a clear vision and towards attaining objectives that will not only strengthen the functioning and efficiency of each stakeholder but will further enable the stakeholders to interplay effectively to position in attaining a unique and contributing position in the competitive regional environment, wider perspectives in facilitation and important long term programmes

IPAMr. John Liboyi


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PREFACEThe Embu County ICT Roadmap Project is an initiative of the County Government of Embu and Information Communication Authority of Kenya (ICTA). The objectives of the County ICT Roadmap are:

1. To develop a coordinated and coherent approach for ICT road map development and guidelines which will enable Embu County to provide high-quality and cost-effective ICT-enabled services that meet the needs of the County residents.

2. To foster innovation, best practices, and value for money in the use of ICT in management of County resources, learning and Citizen Outreach.

3. To define the conditions under which it will be possible to provide a shared and optimized ICT infrastructure with appropriate user support and standards for the National and County governments in Kenya.

4. To develop an ICT Strategy Roadmap for the next five years:

Embu County ICT Road Map covers initiatives and strategies developed for the whole County in reference to previous sector plans and policies.

The ICT Roadmap will be measured against a number of factors such as how well it aligns county ICT programs to the National ICT Master plan and County developmental plans. Other factors include:

1. Identification of relevant County ICT roles and responsibilities;2. Identification of County ICT gaps and appropriate action support measures; and,3. The County ICT Implementation plan.

In developing the Embu County ICT Roadmap, we categorized ICT projects into four categories, i.e. Connected County Government, Connected Citizens, Citizen Satisfaction and Connected legislator. A fifth category called COBIT was included to help the county track ICT maturity in a designated duration of the County ICT Roadmap. Projects and strategies described in this Roadmap are grouped along these five themes. The Roadmap attempts to address the whole gamut of government services that can be transformed by ICT. It looks at polices, Governance institutions and mechanisms, human capital, ICT infrastructure, as well as ICT and Mobile applications that can help to deliver services better at a lower cost.It is my hope that the County will implement the projects identified in this document.

ACRONYMS

BPR Business Process Re-Engineering

CBO Community Based Organizations

CCK Communication Commission of Kenya

CECM County Executive Committee Member

CIDP County Integrated Development Plan

CO Chief Officer

COBIT Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology

DMS Document Management System

EMR Electronic Medical Records


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TABLE OF CONTENTSSIGN-OFF AND APPROVALS 6ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 7PREFACE 8ACRONYMS 9EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 10PART 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION 11

1.1 County Strategic Direction 11Vision, Mission and Core Values 111.2 County Profile 111.2.1 Governance Structure 11Figure 1: Embu County Organogram 121.2.2 Strategic Focus Areas and Plans 12Focal Areas 121.2.3 County Socio-Economic Data 141.3. County SWOT Analysis 151.4 County Monitoring and Evaluation Systems 151.5 County Stakeholders Analysis 16Table 2: Stakeholder Analysis 17

PART 2: CURRENT STATE 182.1 Current state of ICT in the County 18 2.1.1 County ICT Structure 182.1.2 Current ICT Direction 182.1.3 County ICT SWOT Analysis 19Table 3: County ICT SWOT Analysis 192.1.4 Current County Integration to National ICT Master Plan 192.1.5 Current State of ICT in the County 20 2.1.6 Current Technical State of ICT in the County 21Table 4: County Current Technical state 212.2 Current state of the County ICT Maturity – COBIT 212.3 Financial Policy and Strategy for ICT 22

PART 3: SUMMARY OF DESIRED END STATE 233.1 Desired End State Description 233.2 Gaps Analysis and Closure Strategy 24Table 5: Gap Analysis 24


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3.2.1 Connected County Government 26Table 6: Connected County Proposed Projects 263.2.2 Connected Citizens 26Table 7: Connected Citizens Projects 263.2.3 Citizen Satisfaction 27Table 8: Citizen Satisfaction- Proposed Projects 273.2.4 Connected Legislator 28Table 9: Connected legislator Proposed Projects 28Table 10: Embu County Gap Analysis Summary 293.4. Financial Policy and Strategy for ICT 30

PART 4: ICT Vision Roadmap and ICT Maturity 314.1 Connected County Government 31Table 11: Connected County Projects 314.2 Citizen Satisfaction 31Table 12: Citizen Satisfaction Projects 314.3 Connected Citizen 32Table 13: Connected Citizen Projects 324.4 Connected Legislator 32Table 14: Connected Legislator projects 324.5 COBIT Implementation 32Figure 2: COBIT implementation Phases (source ISACA) 33

PART 5: Critical Success Factors 34Figure 3: Critical Success Factors 345.1. Vision, objectives and strategy 345.2. Laws and regulations 345.3. Organizational structure 355.4. Business process 355.5. Information technology 35Table 15: Critical Success Factors 36

PART 6: PRIORITY PROJECTS FOR QUICK WINS 38Table 16: Quick Win Projects 386.1 COBIT Implementation 39


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GDP Gross Domestic Product

GIS Geographic Information Systems

HR /M Human Resource Management

ICT Information and Communication Technology

ICT G&M ICT Governance & Management

ICTA Information and Communication Technology Authority of Kenya

IFMIS Integrated Financial Management Information system

IPA Information Professionals Africa

ISACA Information Systems Audit & Control Association

ISO International Standards Organization

LAN Local Area Network

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

NGO Non-Governmental Organizations

NOFBI National Optic Fiber Backbone Infrastructure

nRI Network Readiness Index

PaaS Platform as a Service

SaaS Software as a Service

SLA Service Level Agreement

SMEs Small and Medium sized Enterprises

SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

TCO Total Cost of Ownership

WAN Wide Area Network


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe Embu County Government’s strategic focus is to invest in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for improved governance and service delivery. ICT has demonstrated its propensity to enable other sectors of the economy, improve resource management and lower operational costs while improving operational and management efficiency. The County will use ICT to set an example for smaller government by making Embu a model County, provide better services to Citizens and deliver improved value for money for the Embu People.

The ICT Roadmap for the Embu County comprising a number of projects has been jointly developed by the people of Embu in consultation with Information Professional Africa (IPA) – the Consultant - and Information and Communication Technology Authority (ICTA) of the Kenya Government, through a consultative process. The project was funded by the World Bank.

The Roadmap identifies and prioritizes various sector specific initiatives where ICT can add value or create new value chains, enable information management or extend the reach of Government services.

The roadmap proposes that the County should focus on ICT infrastructure development, staff training, ICT literacy for Citizens and developing of ICT strategic plans and policies. These areas are important in enabling the county to deliver a Unified ICT services delivery mechanism at low cost, addresses specific County development challenges and is measurable.

Although the county is progressively investing in ICT infrastructure and systems, there are several opportunities for improvement particularly in ICT governance, ICT strategic planning, ICT procurement and ICT training. Currently, the county has inadequate ICT staff and the highest ranking ICT officer is an ICT manager. The County ICT infrastructure is fragmented with a few Local Area Networks (LANs) in departments. Another area where the County needs to refocus ICT investments is in the acquisition of sector specific software, systems and solutions. Currently, departments only use MS office for clerical work.

To improve service delivery and scale up the ICT maturity ladder, the County should focus on procuring sector specific software solutions. For example, the department of health could procure electronic medical records (EMR) software to enable sharing of information across level 5 and level for hospitals. The department of education should invest in e-learning to enable it deliver life skills and on job training to out of school youth. More importantly, the county should acquire and train appropriate ICT workforce.

The ICT Roadmap also proposes an ICT Governance structure and an implementation plan that aims at delivering the proposed solutions on time, on low cost and on specifications. This report has 6 parts. Part one provides background information about the County’s demographics, current strategic plans, governance and stakeholder analysis. Part two discusses the current state of ICT in the county and uses COBIT, an ICT maturity modeling tool, to describe current, benchmark and desired states. Part three gives a summary of desired end state while Part four describes ICT Vision Roadmap and ICT Maturity. gap analysis, ICT vision projects and quick wins. Part five describes critical success factors while Part six looks at quick win projects that can be implemented in span of 6 months to one year.


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PART 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND INFORMATIONThis section presents a summary of the Embu County background and lays the foundation for understanding how the county currently invests in and uses information technology. A substantive amount of content in this section has been borrowed from the Embu County Integrated development 2013-2017, the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and Vision 2030 and the Commission of Revenue allocation reports.

1.1 County Strategic DirectionOver the last 15 years, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in Kenya has grown exponentially, driven by Mobile Service Providers, an innovative and literate population, and existence of key documents such as Vision 2030 and the National ICT master plan. As a result, tools and services such as Ushaidi and MPESA have put Kenya on the Global technology map, attracting investments into Kenya by Global ICT heavy weights such as IBM, Microsoft and Oracle among others. These and other initiatives such as availability of high speed internet on the National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI) is expected to spur growth of new ICT services, mostly in the public sector to support electronic governance (e-governance) at both the Central and devolved Governments. Strategic investments in ICT in public sector have demonstrated its ability to strengthen democratic governance and deliver citizen-focused government services. This section reviews the Embu County strategic direction as spelled out in the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP), County policies and other documents such as vision 2030.

Vision, Mission and Core ValuesThe People of Embu have a vision of:“A Prosperous, Wealthy and Secure County” and a mission “to improve livelihoods through provision of suitable infrastructure, investment opportunities, legislation and security, while maintaining sustainable environmental management practices”.

The County CIDP 2013-2017 stresses the need for the county to refocus resources and investments to strengthen government accountability and transparency; reduce corruption; increase citizen participation; improve financial management and delivery of public services; and inform policy dialogue, advocacy and reform.

1.2 CountyProfile1.2.1 Governance StructureThe County Government of Embu, like all other 46 Counties in Kenya, is headed by an executive Governor and a Deputy Governor. Other County Governance structures are the County Public Service Board, the County Treasury and the County Assembly.

The County Government is headed by the Governor (and deputy governor), the County Executive Committee and the County Secretary. The Governor guides the management team through setting of, and overseeing, the strategic direction of the County.

Figure 1 below presents the Embu County Organogram (Executive only).


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Figure 1: Embu County Organogram

1.2.2 Strategic Focus Areas and PlansThe mission sets an agenda of the key development areas namely infrastructure, investment and legislation. The County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) lists focus areas as agriculture, infrastructure, and investment in industry, health, water and Education. These focal areas are key ICT consumers. For example, ICT has been extensively used in government to extend services such as e-Extension services to remote and rural farmers. Mobile phones and SMS services have been used to provide market information to farmers or provide recipes for expectant mothers to promote good health. E-Learning brings life skills and knowledge to out-of-school youths, preparing them to be better citizens and equip them for the job market. In this way ICT is both a sector and an enabler. SMS, Email, social media and websites are used to organize citizens and support public participation and policy development.

Focal Areas• Infrastructure: The CIDP notes that poor infrastructure is major challenge in the county,

particularly impassable roads that affect transportation and delivery of agricultural produce to markets. The county has prioritized infrastructure development with a view


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of accelerating the speed of completion of infrastructure programmes and projects so as to ensure that they play a catalytic role in county’s development.

• Food Insecurity: The second challenge identified by CIDP is food insecurity and low agricultural production. The CIDP attributes food insecurity to inadequate and unreliable rainfall, poor terrain, and small parcels of land, poor soil fertility, and poor coverage by extension services; concentration in growing of cash crops such as coffee and tea, high prices of farm inputs, and poor storage facilities.

• Project Coordination: A third challenge for the County which can be - easily addressed by ICT is ineffective Coordination of Projects. The CIDP points out that currently most sector programmes are planned and implemented independently leading to uncoordinated project implementation and wastage of scarce resources. The first step in addressing this challenge lies in policy and legislation to harmonize devolved funds so that, for example, the County does not try to implement similar projects as Constituency Development Fund (CDF). The policy issue notwithstanding, ICT offers a simpler and pragmatic solution to this problem Suing the following approaches:

• GIS for project mapping. A database that lists all projects implemented in the county describing the beneficiary-community / region - project objectives, source of funds, project governance, business case for the project and sustainability, will ensure that the county only invests in projects with little duplication, whose benefits are well articulated and whose beneficiaries are known.

• Automated Project management and monitoring and evaluation tools will help the county monitor and track projects against budgets, timelines and value for money.

• Appointment of a project / programs unit responsible for project management and coordination.

Other areas of concern include high poverty incidences, unemployment and HIV/AIDS. Investments in ICT can empower the youth with skills for the job market or provide better information about HIV/AIDS interventions and management.

The CIDP identifies ICT as a cross cutting issue in county development and recognizes ICTs’ centrality to productivity, innovation and economic growth, particularly in resource management and employment creation. The CIDP notes:

…it is very evident that ICT, when well harnessed and focused, has the potential to bring in multiple benefits in the areas of governance, integration of all areas of the economy, development of rural areas and productive improvement thus promoting the livelihoods of the entire population and alleviating poverty.

Leveraging on ICT has the potential to address all focal development areas, lower costs of project implementation through automation, increase project visibility through communication, deliver improved low cost services to citizens and support innovation through research.


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1.2.3 County Socio-Economic DataEmbu County is one of the 47 counties created by the Kenya Constitution 2010. Located in the former Eastern Province of the Republic of Kenya, Embu has a population of 516,212 (Census 2009) with a population density of 183 people per square Kilometer.

The County occupies a total area of 2,818 Km2 and is bordered by 7 counties i.e. Kirinyaga County to the West, Kitui County to the East, Machakos County to the South, Murang’a County to the South West, Tharaka Nithi County to the North and Meru County to the North West. It lies approximately between latitude 0o 8’ and 0o 50’ South and longitude 37o 3’ and 37o 9’ East.

Both poverty index and illiteracy are high. Poverty rate, based on KIHBS, stands at 42.0% of the population living below a dollar a day. This is slightly below the National average of 47.2%.

The population with primary education is at 71.3% while those with secondary education are at 15.5% of the population. This indicator implies that ICT literacy may even be lower. Low ICT levels mean that the population may not fully optimize ICT potential in poverty alleviation, job creation and resource management.

The percentage of households with electricity in 2009 was only 14.9% but rural electrification programme is connecting power to all primary schools. This is expected to increase the number of households with electricity in the county. Although ICT initiatives that depend on solar power exist, experience is that ICT and power connection are twins. The county should invest more in power connection as a strategy of increasing ICT penetration. All county installations such as dispensaries, health centers, Sub County and ward offices need power connection.

As at 2010 (Census 2009) health outcomes in the county were poor, with fully-immunized population of 1year old babies standing at a paltry 33.4% of the population against the National average of 64%. The CIDP notes that HIV/AIDS prevalence is decreasing from the high of 4.1 in 2002 to 4.0 in 2008 against the national average of 5.6%. The rate of penetration of HIV/AIDS awareness among the youth is over 90% (CIDP).

The County is home to a number of permanent rivers such as the Tana, Rupingazi, Kii and Thuci and borders its borders extend the top of Mount Kenya, rising to an altitude of 5199m. Availability of these rivers can be used for irrigation to counter food insecurity.

The most conspicuous physical features in the county are Mt. Kenya, Kiang’ombe hills, Kiambere hills, Mwea game reserve, River Tana, Masinga dam, Kamburu dam, Kindaruma dam, Kiambere dam and Gitaru dam.

The main economic activities in the county are agriculture (subsistence farming, livestock, bee keeping), Tourism and forestry and timber products. The agricultural sector employs 70.1 per cent of the population and 87.9 per cent of the households are engaged in agricultural activities.


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1.3. County SWOT AnalysisImplementing the systems and plans identified by both the CIDP, sector specific plans and the ICT Roadmap requires a clear understanding of the County strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A study undertaken by an organization to identify its internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as its external opportunities and threats is called SWOT Analysis.

Table 1 below provides a summary of SWOT analysis for Embu County.

Table 1: County SWOT AnalysisCounty Strengths County Weaknesses

1. High Agricultural Potential. Agriculturally productive soils and water for irrigation

2. Tourist attraction sites such as Mwea game reserve, Mt. Kenya, Kiang’ombe hill, Karue hill, waterfalls

3. Skilled manpower including well trained health workers, teachers

1. Poor monitoring and evaluation mechanisms

2. Poor physical and ICT infrastructure

County Opportunities County Threats

1. Presence of fiber optic cable2. Devolved funds that allow the County

to prioritize its development initiatives.

1. Political wrangles2. Poverty and illiteracy among the

population3. Climate change and declining

agricultural productivity

The county must address the three threat identified in Table 1 above. In particular, poverty and illiteracy among the population has a direct impact on ICT programmes.

1.4 County Monitoring and Evaluation SystemsThe Embu County Integrated Development plan identifies hundreds of projects for implementation across various sectors, increasing the need for rigorous and evidence based monitoring and evaluation (M&E). Monitoring and evaluation helps quantify the attainment of project goals. To get value for money, there is need for the county government to use rigorous and evidence based Monitoring and Evaluation systems, whether automated or manual. The Government needs to know if money has been spent appropriately and whether the outcomes have been met.

The County Government currently uses non-automated Monitoring and evaluation systems but as the CIDP notes there is need to strengthen the Monitoring and Evaluation section through automation and capacity building.


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1.5 County Stakeholders AnalysisA clear understanding of County stakeholders and their expectations is essential in design and delivery of public service. The purpose of Stake-holder analysis is to assess which individuals or groups are likely to support, resist, or remain neutral during the project implementation . The process looks at why the stakeholders respond the way they do and how they may be influenced to ensure a response most favourable to achieving project goals.

The CIDP identifies all Embu stakeholders, the people who provide access or positively or negatively impact county government services. These include:

1. All the people of Kenya, whether or not living or working within Embu County. The Embu County Government has been cited as one of the few counties that meet the constitutional threshold in employment where 30% of the workforce does come from the local community. Given that taxpayers in Kenya directly fund the County Government of Embu, they are stakeholders.

2. Embu County Assembly and all elected and nominated leaders who provide leadership or legislate and develop policies that impact on the good people of Embu.

3. All Kenya Citizens working and living in Embu County4. Organized Groups of Citizens such as Youth and Women Groups, locally working within

Embu County or based in the diaspora with interest (such as investment) in Embu County.

5. All Professionals working or living elsewhere but are originally from Embu County6. Local Non-Governmental Organizations registered or working in Embu County7. National Government and its various ministries and departments based in Embu County

or Nationally such as the Commission of Revenue allocation8. The Kenya Senate9. All other private or public Institutions including Universities, Churches with a ground

presence in Embu10. Development partners including Kenya’s bilateral partners and International NGOs

with a footprint in Embu11. The County Government Staff, both casual and permanent as well as all National

Government staff based in Embu.

The commitment of stakeholders’ response can be rated by how favourable they currently view the project and to what extent they might support, resist or remain neutral to the project. A scale of 1-5 is assigned to each stakeholder as described below.

1= negatively, actively or subversively working against2= moderately negative, passive resistance3= Neutral4= moderately positive, passive support5= Active support, “All in”


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Table 2 below shows stakeholder matrix for Embu County from an ICT project management perspective.

Table 2: Stakeholder AnalysisStakeholder Strategic Impor-

tanceCurrent Commit-ment

Involvement Goals/Needs

ICT gover-nance com-mittee

Defines and pri-oritizes use of re-sources to drive transformation

Not in place Decision making · Define key performance mea-sures· Guide de-ployment of efforts· Implement strategy· Report on successes

Leadership Provides resource support and endorsement for transformational leadership

5 – Department of ICT has no Director. Lead-ership through Computer Man-ager and Minister

Support/Endorse-ment

· Overview of key activities/ ser-vice issues· Overview of performance mea-sures

Staff Streamline pro-cess and in-crease capacity; improve service delivery

3 Feedback · Demonstrate expected be-haviours· Provide feedback on lead-ing practices and experiences

Assembly Provides checks and balances on excesses of the executive and legislate on projects issues

2 – ICT Depart-ment with a single staff

Oversight Overview of project implementation in regard to policies and legislation

Citizens Provide feed-back on service delivery systems and citizen satis-faction

3 – Challenges in ICT literacy hin-der capacity

Public participa-tion

Understanding of the project and its needs/effects of implementation


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PART 2: CURRENT STATEThis section describes the current state of ICT in Embu County. Overall, investments in ICT are low resulting into low ICT staff numbers, a poor application portfolio and little or no automation. Going forward, the county should focus on ICT strategy development, workforce training and ICT infrastructure development.

2.1 Current state of ICT in the County 2.1.1 County ICT Structure The Embu County Government structure places the head of ICT as a manager reporting to the Director of administration in the department of Public service. The ICT department is fully centralized offering ICT services to departments from a central location.

The County Government has three ICT staff including the ICT manager responsible for supporting all the County Departments including sub County and at ward level. Compared to an approximate workforce of 4000 staff, urgent measures need to be undertaken to bridge the ICT staffing gap.

Due to ICT Understaffing, the ICT staff is “a Jack of all trades” providing support, managing LANs, Developing applications and training staff. The consequence is sub optimization. There is also need to elevate the head of ICT to an ICT director to give ICT visibility in Management.

2.1.2 Current ICT Direction

The Embu County Government’s ICT department has not developed a specific vision and mission, perhaps because the county is yet to develop an ICT strategy and key policy documents. However, the department has identified a number of projects:

1. Install a Wide Area Network connecting all government offices. This is expected to improve internet connectivity and information sharing across government departments. The project is also expected to connect about 20 polytechnics so as to empower the envisioned digital villages.

2. Develop Key ICT Documents including a strategic plan and ICT policy that encompasses the following:

• ICT strategic Plan 2015-2020• Information Security Policy• ICT fair use policy that directs fair use of County ICT Resources• Communication Policy• Business Continuity, Risk Assessment and Disaster Recovery Policy• Cloud Computing Policy

3. Roll out Wi-Fi Internet Connectivity and Hotspots county wide to give the public access to internet facilities. This is expected to spur growth and encourage ICT innovations among the youth.

4. Commission and a number of ICT sector specific systems including:• Fleet Management System• Revenue Collection Systems• Document / Knowledge Management Systems• Human resource Management Systems• Health and Hospital Management Information Systems• Spatial Planning Systems

5. Carry out an ICT Baseline survey to gain insight into information on the ICT needs of the


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County and County offices6. Build data Centers 7. Develop ICT legislation to anchor ICT initiatives into law

2.1.3 County ICT SWOT Analysis As noted earlier, implementing the County ICT projects require a clear understanding of the County strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Table 3 below provides a summary of Embu County ICT SWOT Analysis.

Table 3: County ICT SWOT AnalysisCounty Strengths County Weaknesses

• Well-articulated role of ICT within the CIDP• Private sector support through training and

investment• Extensive mobile network coverage• Availability of telecom exchange and land-

line• High number of cyber cafes;• Existence of ICT infrastructure, notably the

National Fiber Optic cable

• Limited financial support to the sector;• Lack of a strategic plan and various ICT

policies• Low ICT literacy levels among staff

County Opportunities County Threats

• The laying of fibre optic cables is expected to improve on efficiency and reduce cost

• Existence of training institutions in the coun-ty;

• Cyber Security• Vast county with hills and mountains mak-

ing the development of ICT infrastructure costly

2.1.4 Current County Integration to National ICT Master Plan The Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) is a central Government financial system that provides single accounting system. Despite its benefits in integrated financial planning, implementation and control of public expenditure, IFMIS usage in Embu faces a number of challenges. The e-Procurement Module is not in use and staff is unable to generate reports.

The National Fiber Optic cable is already in Embu and investments are needed to connect the cable to the Government Offices to support seamless use of IFMIS.

The second challenge is local IFMIS support. Currently there is only one IFMIS expert in the County. IFMIS usage stops whenever the expert is out of the office for one reason or the other. There is need to train local staff, including County ICT staff, to offer first line support for IFMIS.

IPPD for payroll processing is also used in Embu. As far as payroll processing is concerned, the county is happy. However, payroll is a small element of Human Resource Management (HRM). IPPD does not handle the HR issues such as timesheets, staff leave management and performance appraisals. There is need to provide interfaces for connecting to HRM system.

The County needs concrete steps to increase the usage of National Systems such as IFMIS


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and IPPD. A training plan for finance staff is the first step but ultimately, there is need to invest in Infrastructure and training of local ICT team to offer first line technical support.

2.1.5 Current State of ICT in the County

The current state of ICT in Embu County is basic, mostly for word processing, email and occasional use of planning systems such as auto cad. IFMIS and IPPD remain the only systems usable within the county.

There are only 3 members of ICT staff supporting around 4000 staff involved in ICT operations. To understand how the County uses ICT, we present a description of ICT infrastructure, human resource, policy and application portfolio.

Infrastructure: Infrastructure and connectivity among government offices is poor or does not exist. County Government offices are scattered in various offices around Embu Town and only a few are located at the Governor’s office. The following facts exist on the ground:

• There is no connectivity among government offices. There is a Local Area Network at the Governor’s office but this network has not been connected to other network. Sub Count Offices are not connected to the headquarters.

• Mobile Network Coverage by Safaricom, Airtel and Orange exist. There is also an extensive land line connection at the county headquarters.

• Power supply from KPLC is available in all government offices in the County Headquarters. • The National Fiber Cable is already in Embu Town. However, last mile connections have

not been completed. • Internet connection is slow mostly because they depend on mobile network connections.• There is a lot of duplication of resources. Each office has a printer with some network

printers that are not shared.• The department of finance has staff highly skilled in ICT and is currently using IFMIS and

IPPD.Communication: The County has established a communication department responsible for managing the County website. However, there is a disconnect between the ICT and Communication departments in terms of the exact roles. This calls for the development of a Communication policy that will guide communication within the county.

Policy, Strategy and Governance: The County Government is implementing its CIDP but departments, including the ICT department are yet to develop strategic plans and policies that provide a framework for ICT procurement, use and compliance. Without such a framework, it is difficult to determine business benefits from ICT investments. The following are facts on the ground:

• The County has developed an Integrated County Development Plan• Departments are yet to develop strategic plans based on the CIDP• ICT department has not developed any ICT policies• The CEC department of Public Service will appoint an ICT Governance Committee to

spearhead ICT investment and Governance in the County.

Human Resources: The County has only 3 ICT staff. It was not possible to establish the level of ICT skills available in other departments except the planning department where staff are highly skilled in using ICT for financial planning.


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2.1.6 Current Technical State of ICT in the County Table 4 below presents a summary of the Embu County current ICT technical state.

Table 4: County Current Technical state

Feature The Executive Public Service Board

ICT Governance ICT Governance structure not in place No ICT officer

Standards & Operating Procedures

No ICT Strategic Plan None

NO ICT Policy No ICT Policy

Con

nect

ivity

LAN

Exists at Headquarters and at a number of ministriesNo LAN in Sub Counties except Mbeere North

None

WAN None None

Internet Access

Email Available at embu.go.keStaff use personal email

Available but not extensively used

Website Available at www.embu.go.keHosts email No specific website

Network equipment

Available as part of the Local Area Network None

ICT LiteracyLow ICT knowledge despite high ICT awareness among staff

Low ICT knowledge

Enterprise Applications No corporate database man-agement System (DBMS) None

Hardware Equipment

· Desktops PABX, Routers, Servers(4)· Laptops· Printers

DesktopsLaptopsPrinters

ICT Capacity - Inadequate ICT techni-cal staff Inadequate

Data Centre facility - Planned N/A

Application Portfolio

- IFMIS, G-pay, Laifoms ,Bursary on the web(educa-tion.embu.go.ke)Servers(No virtualization IPPD

Relies on the HQs

2.2 Current state of the County ICT Maturity – COBIT ICTs can be used as a tool to facilitate efficient delivery of services, improve accountability and transparency while increasing public participation in the political processes. However, successful implementation of ICTs in County governments faces many challenges and


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requires legislative, budgetary, and technical coordination as well as political support without which the ICT opportunities will remain unrealized.

As a way of guiding the County through the above ICT challenges, Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) has been proposed as a standard for modelling processes of ICT maturity in the County.

COBIT is a set of best practices for Information Technology management developed by Information Systems Audit & Control Association (ISACA) and IT Governance Institute in 1996. ISACA develops and maintains the internationally recognized COBIT framework, helping IT professionals and enterprise leaders fulfil their IT Governance responsibilities while delivering value to the business. The latest ISACA’s globally accepted framework COBIT 5 is aimed to provide an end-to-end business view of the governance of enterprise IT that reflects the central role of IT in creating value for enterprises.

2.3 Financial Policy and Strategy for ICTIn Embu County the ICT Budget was KES 27 million representing 0.77%% of the total budget. Of this KES 15.1 (55%) was spent on administration, KES 4.8 (18%) on hardware and infrastructure, KES 0.7 (3%) on software, KES 2.8 (10%) on consultancy and KES 3.5 (13%) on training. The County targets should target to increase their spending on ICT to 5% of the total budget in line with the national broadband strategy. This funding will be targeted at infrastructure, software, consultancy and training needed to implement the roadmap.

To fund ICT projects the County depends on allocations from the County Treasury. In future, the County could use other instruments such as Public Private Partnerships to finance training and infrastructure development.


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PART 3: SUMMARY OF DESIRED END STATE This section describes the desired end states for Embu County across the five themes i.e. connected county government, citizen satisfaction, connected citizens, connected legislator and COBIT. The section describes how the County should rethink the way it acquires and uses ICT in service delivery. To achieve the County objectives of improved service delivery, project management and governance, this roadmap proposes investments in the following four areas:

1. Development of ICT strategic plans and policies2. Infrastructure Development3. Workforce training and Management4. Digital services / Systems

The Embu county ICT Roadmap provides a framework for how ICT infrastructure and services will be designed, sourced and delivered within the principles of “value for money, improved customer experience, inter-operability and always connected.”

3.1 Desired End State DescriptionThere are a number of ways where the County can reduce costs while increasing operational efficiency in Citizen Service delivery through ICT and internal operational efficiency. To do this, the County must answer a number of questions:

i) Connected:• How can ICT inform Government wide project management, Governance, project

monitoring and evaluation?• How can the County improve Internal Communication and resource sharing?• How can the County reduce fiscal and resource wastages from duplication of effort?• Is there a case for developing a common ICT infrastructure and services shared across

departments and with Citizens and other Governments? • Is current staff capability – skills and numbers adequate to optimize technology?

ii) Citizen Satisfaction• How can the County enable and deliver real time services to citizens?• What shared technologies can help extend Citizen Services to underserved regions?• Is it possible for citizens to access services at home?

iii) Connected Citizens• Is there a conducive environment for Citizens to do business with Government?• What legal and regulatory frameworks need to be in place to support SMEs?

iv) Connected Legislator• How are we conducting Citizen Participation? Are there ways we can add value to

this process?• Is the Assembly accountable to the people?


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3.2 Gaps Analysis and Closure StrategyTable 5 below presents a summary of the Current ICT State analysis and Gaps.

Table 5: Gap AnalysisICT STATE ANALYSIS

FEATURE CURRENT STATE DESIRED STATE and Clo-sure Strategies

Status Ramifications and Gaps

ICT Governance No ICT Governance structure in place.

Fairly coordinated decisions

A well-established ICT Gov-ernance Model in place

A well formulated policy for ICT investments in place

Develop an ICT strategic Plan

Standards & Oper-ating Procedures

No ICT Strategic Plan

CIDP in Place

Difficulties in planning for ICT investments

ICT projects cannot be aligned to County development Goals & Objectives

A well-developed ICT Stra-tegic plan in place

No ICT Policy, Oper-ating procedures

Uncoordinated pro-cedures/operations

Well-developed ICT policy and procedures in place

Con-nectivity

LAN WIFI LAN Exists at the Headquarters only. No LANS in Sub Counties

No effective & ef-ficient information sharing

LAN in all county gov-ernment Offices and Sub Counties

Last Mile Connection to the NOFBI

WAN None No intranetNo efficient sharing of information between HQs, sub-counties and wards

WAN based connectivity

Internet Access

Email Use of personal emails Low Internet Con-nection Speeds

Compromised com-munication security of official information

Access to informa-tion is slow

· Official email in use· Used Fiber Cable to access high speed Internet

Website Available but not extensively used for online Government services

No effective commu-nication

· Interactive website operational· Taking all govern-ment services online


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ICT STATE ANALYSIS

FEATURE CURRENT STATE DESIRED STATE and Clo-sure Strategies

Status Ramifications and Gaps

Network equip-ment

No WANWIFI existsVPN Exists

No effective commu-nication

Routers, switches, firewall, etc.WANWi-Fi VPNs

ICT Literacy Low ICT literacy among Citizens

Low ICT literacy among County Staff

Low productivity among staff

Resistance to change

Reduced effective-ness and efficiency in production of reports

ICT trained and enabled technical and general staff

Continuous ICT skills acqui-sition

E-Learning System for staff and citizen training

Hardware Equip-ment

Inadequate Ineffective productiv-ity and communica-tion in offices/depart-ments

Optimal number of hard-ware

ICT Security No ICT security policy Vulnerability of gov-ernment data

A comprehensive ICT Se-curity Policy

Data Centre facil-ity

No Data Centre

No Cloud Computing

Not easy to use shared services

No centralized stor-age and efficiently distributed informa-tion

Data centre

Using Government Clouds to reduce data centre costs

Application Port-folio

IFMISIPPD integrated

Integration

No integrated reve-nue collection system

Reduced transpar-ency and account-ability

Integrated revenue collec-tion system

Procure systems including Health Record Manage-ment system, land plan-ning systems, SMS, E-Portals for online service delivery, document digitization, document management system and e-extension services.


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The summaries in Tables 6, 7, 8 and 9 below show Embu County’s proposed flagship projects in the four thematic areas (Connected County Government, Connected Citizen, Citizen Satisfaction and Connected Legislator) to help bridge the ICT gap within the next five years.

3.2.1 Connected County GovernmentTable 6 below provides a summary of proposed projects and policy needed to empower the County government improve internal efficiencies.

Table 6: Connected County Proposed ProjectsDesired State Flagship Project Outcome

An Integrated ICT infrastruc-ture comprising of LANs, WANs, Data Centers at Coun-ty Headquarters, Sub County and Ward Level

ICT infrastructure Develop-ment

A connected County with seamless information and Re-source sharing

Efficient Service Delivery through use of ICT

Develop ICT strategic plans and policies and appoint an ICT Governance Committee responsible for ICT develop-ment in the County

Appropriate ICT governance

Improved County Project de-livery capability

Train staff to increase ability to deliver and user ICT

A motivated and capable workforce for efficient Service delivery

The Connected County theme desires an efficient County where staff can share resources.

3.2.2 Connected CitizensTable 7 below presents a list of proposed projects under the connected citizens theme.

Table 7: Connected Citizens ProjectsDesired State Flagship Projects Desired Outcomes

Public access to infor-mation and govern-ment services

Online Service delivery

Increased linkages between business and government

Reduced digital margin-alization

1. Public Wi-Fi 2. Digitization of

Government Documents

3. Development of Citizen Portals

4. ICT legislation

• Online Citizen Portals that offer services online

• Creation of online Jobs• High speed public WIFI hotspots in Towns,

schools and public places• Secure online transactions• Integrated Online and mobile payment

gateways• Online participation by Citizens (e.g.

through provision of Free WIFI) through im-proved access to health, education, gov-ernment services and job opportunities.

• Open government data to the public

ICT literacy and ICT legislation are part and parcel of the digital strategy by default. ICT literacy programs will increase staff capability to deliver ICT enabled Services. Legislation on e-signatures, cyber security, open data, information privacy and e-procurement to enable the digital economy in which citizens have online access to business and government


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services using multiple channels.

3.2.3 Citizen SatisfactionTable 8 below presents a list of proposed systems under the citizen satisfaction theme

Table 8: Citizen Satisfaction- Proposed ProjectsDesired State Flagship Projects Desired Outcomes• To Extend services to

Citizens using digital fronts that are location and device independent

• To enable access to government services 24/7

• Improve County Asset Management

• Revenue Collection System,

• Asset Management• E-Extension Services,• Land Planning and

Management System

• Improved Revenue collection for the County

• Improved food production

• Improved access to land information

• Improved County Asset register tracking

The Citizen Satisfaction theme has many projects, each identified by various departments. The Finance department listed several systems that can be implemented as part of an ERP system. These included in particular:

• HRMIS• Accounting and Finance (including supply chain management)• Fleet Management• Automated Monitoring and Evaluation and Project Management tools• SMS for communication with citizens

To deliver systems identified here the County must increase staff and citizen capability through ICT Literacy programmes. Developing online portals with self-care mobile Apps will help extend services and improve Citizen service and convenience. E-Government brings public services to citizens on their schedule and their venue. Citizens gain access to government services in their homes and offices, without having to work within the confines of limited office hours in sometimes distant locations. Wage earners do not have to forego a half a day’s pay to visit a government office

Possible strategies for ICT literacy is in using E-Learning portals. Benefits of e-learning include improved staff skills through continuous low cost training and Higher Knowledge retention rates compared to traditional training since it is possible to refresh or update course work whenever needed.


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3.2.4 Connected LegislatorTable 9 below presents a list of project proposed under the connected legislator theme.

Table 9: Connected legislator Proposed ProjectsDesired State Flagship Projects Desired OutcomesOffer ICT specific legislation in cyber security, e-Identification and e-signatures

Improve public participation outcomes

Radio / TV Broadcastinge-Voting

Online Citizen Participa-tion

ICT Legislation

Better public legislation

Improved accountability among MCAs

ICT specific legislation to enable digital services by assuring on trans-actional security

Implementing the proposed projects will improve access to legislative information. E-Participation enables Citizens to access information on Legislation enabling local communities to develop long-term capacity to solve and manage challenging social issues, often overcoming longstanding differences and misunderstandings.

The County Assembly staff and MCAs should also benefit from staff training and capacity development initiatives through the Capacity training and Citizen Literacy programmes identified under Connected Legislator theme.

3.3. COBIT Gap Analysis

Table 10 below shows the gap analysis for the seven elements of the ICT Governance & Management Framework with respect to the desired state. The ICT process matures from a current state to a desired state with one level step function. Within each level, the maturity progression can be described as Not Achieved, Partially Achieved, Largely Achieved and Fully Achieved. In our case we need all the processes to be fully achieved for the desired state. However, the maturity progressions within a given level are labelled as follows: Not Achieved, Partially Achieved, largely achieved and fully achieved.

N – Not Achieved (0%-15%)

P – Partially Achieved (15%-50%)

L – Largely Achieved (50%-85%)

F – Fully Achieved (85%-100%)


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Table 10: Embu County Gap Analysis SummaryEMBU COUNTY GAP SUMMARY

Achieved Capability LevelElement 0

Little/No Achieve-ment

1 Per-formed

2 Man-aged

3 Estab-lished

4 Predict-able

5 Optimising

Strategy & Governance P P P

Financial Manage-ment

P P

People& Re-sources L P

Service Plan-ning & Archi-tecture

P P

Infrastructure & Operations P P

SecurityP L P

ApplicationsP P

Current StateDesired State

Gaps identified in the County include:• Lower project delivery capability:Staff training, appointment of a project management

and governance committee, policy development and Monitoring and evaluation will help increase the County capability to deliver ICT projects successfully.

• Inadequate ICT Staff• Inadequate application application software. Currently the county uses Microsoft

office applications only. There is need to procure or develop application software that support staff to deliver digital services.

• Connectivity Gaps between the County headqiuarters and sub County offices• Information management challenges• No ICT strategic plans and policies


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3.4. Financial Policy and Strategy for ICTPrimarily, the County Government can fund the foundational pillars through a re-focused expenditure planning model, as adopted from the Kenya National ICT Master Plan of 2014. This can be facilitated through the County budget and allocations on ICT increasing to 5% of County Government budgets; as per the international benchmark.

Secondly, counties can also leverage on funding their priorities by approaching development partners who have ICT at the top of their support lists to meet the costs of ICT related expenditure. Creation of strategic mutually-beneficial partnerships with e-ready states in sectors such as education, tourism and entrepreneurship, counties can effectively leverage these partnerships for ICT funding.

Thirdly, the County ICT Road Map can be financed through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). ICT projects have a high risk associated with their implementation. These can be overcome by working with a partner that has demonstrated ability to deliver. One trend is to use a shared services approach to the provision of public services. The County should explore partnerships with universities and youth polytechnics to offer training and ICT literacy programmes to staff and citizens.

The introduction of user fees and special taxes to populations engaging in County-owned ICT equipment is also a type of funding for the ICT Roadmap. Special taxes will include licenses and rates for the various entities interacting with the ICT segment. The user fees will include membership and access to public computers, internet connectivity, County ICT databases and libraries among others. This category of funding will fundamentally aid in maintenance of the equipment, and ensure accountability in the uses of the various hardware and software.

There is need to enact policies that are suitable, promote sharing of costs and liabilities while promoting sustainable work methods such as service level agreements ensuring that the County gets value in ICT investments. Open Data and Open Source Legislation will enable the County optimize existing Data (for Innovation) while open Source will lower the cost of implementing Systems.

There is need to fundraise regionally and pool resources for purposes of implementation of shared services, thus two or more counties can get together implement systems that are cross cutting and of value to all the regions concerned. A case in point is Revenue Collection Systems and Health Information Systems.

Finally, the Roadmap can also be funded through direct investment ventures. The creation of investor friendly environment at the national and County levels is a potent channel through which counties can realize growth in their ICT environment. The clear vision articulated in the road map would provide a viable profile through which investors can develop solid development-based inputs into the counties.


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PART 4: ICT Vision Roadmap and ICT MaturityThis section presents a brief description of systems and projects that the Embu County requires to address the gaps identified in Part 3.

4.1 Connected County GovernmentTable 11 below provides a summary of projects and project outcomes proposed under connected county government theme

Table 11: Connected County ProjectsProject Outcomes

Unified ICT Infrastructure NOFBI last mile connec-tions, LANs, WANs, VPNs

Improved communication, information and Resource Sharing using LANs

Staff Training Increased staff capability to use ICT for service delivery

Enterprise Resource Plan-ning System

Increased staff productivity through improved sharing of informa-tion and tasks

ICT Policy Development Improved project governance

4.2 Citizen SatisfactionTable 12 below provides a summary of projects and project outcomes proposed under Citizen Satisfaction theme.

Table 12: Citizen Satisfaction ProjectsProject Outcome

Revenue Collection Improved Revenue Collection

Integrated Healthcare Information System

Improved healthcare outcomes

e-Extension Services Improved agricultural output for enhanced food security

Urban Planning, Permitting and Zoning System

Improved access to land information


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4.3 Connected CitizenTable 13 below provides a summary of projects proposed under connected county.

Table 13: Connected Citizen ProjectsProject Outcome

Digital Economy – Open Data, E-Payments, Online services

Innovation through use of public data

E-Services Portal Improved access to government services using digital channels

ICT Literacy Programs Increased staff and Citizen capability to deliver or absorb ICT en-abled Services

Public ICT Infrastructure (Wi-Fi Hotspots)

Extended infrastructure to enable citizen access digital services within a digital economy

4.4 Connected LegislatorTable 14 below p rovides a summary of projects proposed under connected legislator.

Table 14: Connected Legislator projectsProject Outcome

Online Citizen Partici-pation

Improve public participation outcomes for effective participatory deci-sion making

ICT Legislation Secure online transactions and protection or privacy

Live Radio and TV Broadcasts

Better public legislation and accountability

e-Voting) Better public legislation and accountability

4.5 COBIT ImplementationThe need of ICT Governance & Management (ICT G&M) is widely recognized by top leadership and management as an essential part of enterprise or corporate governance. Information and the pervasiveness of information technology are increasingly part of every aspect of business and public life. This has added pressure to drive more value from IT investments and manage an increasing array of IT-related risk.

Increasing regulation and legislation over business and public use of information is also driving heightened awareness of the importance of a well-governed and managed ICT environment. ISACA developed the COBIT framework to help organizations implement sound governance practices for the ICT domain. Indeed, implementing good governance is almost impossible without engaging an effective ICT governance framework. COBIT provides a framework, best practices and standards to support ICT governance.

However, frameworks, best practices and standards are useful only if they are adopted and adapted effectively. There will be challenges that need to be overcome and issues that will need to be addressed if ICT Governance & Management is to be implemented


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successfully.

COBIT: Implementation provides guidance on how to do this and covers the following subjects:

• Positioning ICT G& M within an enterprise• Taking the first steps towards improving ICT G& M • Implementation challenges and success factors• Enabling ICT G& M-related organisational and behavioural change • Implementing continual improvement that includes change management and

programme management• Using COBIT and its components

ISACA provides seven implementation steps to guide and facilitate the adoption of the COBIT framework within organizations as shown below:

Figure 2: COBIT implementation Phases (source ISACA)

Counties are advised to engage a qualified (certified) COBIT implementer from ISACA-KENYA Chapter (www.isaca.or.ke), to guide them through the implementation process. The typical activities, costs and timeframes are summarized below:


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PART 5: Critical Success FactorsFor the County to achieve its sectorial developments’ objectives there is need for a conducive investment environment, a trained and motivated workforce and good governance. Other critical success factors include:

• A health, secure and peaceful populace• Good Governance propelled by Policy and anchored in law• Implementation of projects and programs that address the identified and demonstrated

business need.• Monitoring and evaluation to ensure projects and programmes deliver expected

results.

Soh Bong Yu, a leading Korean e-Government specialist identifies the following five major areas for ensuring successful implementation of e-Government initiatives as articulated below.

OrganizationalStructure

VisionObjectivesStrategies

Laws &Regulations

InformationTechnology

BusinessProcess

Figure 3: Critical Success FactorsSource: Soh Bong Yu, “e-Government of Korea: How we have been working with it”

5.1. Vision, objectives and strategyA long-term plan with a clearly articulated vision and strategy is vital to the implementation of e-government. A quick fix or piecemeal approach will not work. The more effective approach is to think big and have a big picture (top-down design), but to start small and prioritize tasks (bottom-up) during the implementation process. The County Vision must therefore be available, with the ICT County Vision clearly aligned accordingly. In sum, successful e-government initiatives require:

• A clear vision by the leaders• Strong support from citizens• Sustainable ICT Agenda setting

5.2. Laws and regulationsSoh Bong Yu says that it is important to plan for sufficient time and effort for legislative changes that may be required to support the implementation of new processes. The following laws need to be in place for e-government initiatives to succeed:


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• Laws on privacy and related issues such as the Data Protection Act.• Laws related to changes in business processes and information systems such as the

e-Transaction Act.• Laws & Regulations regarding the government information technology Architecture

and Data Centers

5.3. Organizational structureThe effort required in change management should not be underestimated. Soh Bong Yu emphasizes that the organizational restructuring required to correspond to e-Government initiatives will typically take up between 30 and 50 per cent of total change management effort. Change in organization structures must therefore be well planned and implemented in a systematic manner .The following are important in successfully effecting organizational change:

• Strong leadership with commitment• Planning – IT management and change management• Budget preparation and budget execution• Coordination and collaboration• Monitoring and performance measurements• Government-private sector-citizen partnership

5.4. Business processThe existing way of doing county business may not necessarily be the most appropriate or effective. One of the tools to do business process innovation is Business Process Reengineering (BPR).BPR involves redesigning the work flow within or between department levels to increase process efficiency (i.e. to eliminate inefficiency in the work process). Counties should have a major review of existing processes with a view to re-defining them in order to leverage on ICTs.

5.5. Information technologyInformation technology changes rapidly. Soh Bong Yu identifies the following factors to consider when choosing technology and vendors are:

• Level of application technologies required• Network infrastructure• Interoperability• Standardization• Technical and human resource capabilities

More specifically, the following factors will drive the implementation and achievement of success the identified ICT transformation projects:

• Good working relationship between the Executive, The County Assembly and Public Service Board

• Top leadership and management support. Political goodwill and top management buy in is the key to success of the ICT Masterplan since financial investments and the right competencies can only be achieved from the top. Top leadership and management are critical both at the planning and implementation phases of the road map development.

• Establishment of a Project Management Office / Team. This office or team will be responsible for all aspects of the ICT Projects.

• A Change Management and Capacity Building: Continuous Communication, Capacity


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building and team development plan is critical to the successful implementation of the ICT roadmap. A change management and capacity building plan must be developed and focus on staff skills and capacity and managing culture and group dynamics. An external and internal communication strategy must be developed and change agents and champions identified and incorporated in the plan.

• User trainings and continuous testing to ensure users are capable of using the technologies. These trainings must focus on both internal users as well as external users of the new ICT technologies and services.

• System Integration and projects sequencing: it is critical that projects are rightly sequenced and systems are implemented in an integrated manner to allow for seamless operations. An appropriate project implementation plan must be put in place and followed to ensure projects are prioritized on the basis of sequencing first followed by impact and costs.

• Periodic performance monitoring, evaluation, reporting and reviews and taking appropriate corrective actions. An appropriate project management application and monitoring and evaluation staff are a must.

• Managing people’s expectations, maintaining clarity and focus of the projects and ensuring deliverables are realistic.

• The right organizational structure to support the ICT Strategy and ensuring right leadership and governance of the project.

• Adequate Financing of the projects. An appropriate investment and financing strategy must be put in place and implemented to ensure the County can obtain finances from diversified sources and partners.

Table 15 below summarizes the critical success factors necessary for successful implementation, use and optimization of the solutions proposed in the previous sections

Table 15: Critical Success FactorsFACTOR DESCRIPTION

Vision, Objectives and Strategy

Develop a long-term plan with a clearly articulated vision and strategy and move away from quick fix or piecemeal approachUse top-down design but to start small and prioritize tasks (bottom-up) during the implementation process. The County Vision must be available, with the ICT County Vision clearly aligned with County Development PlansIn summary, there is need for:

• A clear vision by the leaders• Strong support from citizens• Sustainable ICT Agenda setting

Legislation and Policy

Plan for sufficient time and effort for legislative changes that may be re-quired to support the implementation of new processes. Laws on privacy and related issues such as the Data Protection Act. Other laws include e-Transaction Act, ICT Policies


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FACTOR DESCRIPTION

Organization Structure and Governance

Restructuring the County Organizational arrangements to make it corre-spond to e-Government Including Change Management programme ImplementationStrong leadership with commitment to ICTAppointment of ICT Governance Committees

Business Process Redesign

Use Business Process Re-engineering to Redesigning the work flow within or between department levels to increase process efficiency The County should have a major review of existing processes with a view to re-defining them in order to leverage on ICTs.

ICT Infrastructure Development of integrated ICT infrastructure that support or forms the base of other systems

ICT Procurement Rapid Change in Information technology demands that the County Con-siders the followingReduce ICT Procurement DelaysMove from owning ICT capital Equipment to leasing / outsourcingPrioritizing shared ServicesStandardizationFocus on Technical and human resource capabilities


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PART 6: PRIORITY PROJECTS FOR QUICK WINS The County discussed, adopted and prioritized several projects to be implemented in a span of five years. To implement these projects successfully, there is need for the County to select and adopt an appropriate project management portfolio with a well constituted ICT Project Governance Committee responsible for selecting and ranking ICT projects based on a sound business case and return on investments. This section presents a summary of projects that the county can implement in a span of 6months to one year.

Table 16 below presents prioritized systems based on the 4 themes of connected County Government, connected citizens, citizen satisfaction and connected legislator.

Table 16: Quick Win ProjectsConnected County Duration Budget (Mil-

lion Ksh)

ICT Policy Development: Develop Key ICT Policies and strategic plans. The proposed policy should cover information security, disaster recovery, fair use policy as well as guideline on how the county procures ICT assets.

3 moths 5

NOFBI Last Mile Connection to County Headquarters. To enable staff access with speed internet and share resources, focus should be redirected to creating and linking local area net-works using the National Fiber Optic cable which terminates at the Embu Post office.

5 years 150

Operationalize ICT Governance Committee to provide both the legal and regulatory framework for ICT adoption in the County.

1 year 0

Citizen Satisfaction

Develop a County Project Management and Monitoring and Evaluation Unit with an ICT component.

1 year 10

Conduct a needs assessment for ICT skills among the staff. This is important in determining the staff training needs

1 year 5

Connected Citizens

Install a document management system and start the docu-ment digitization processes. This is critical in creating a founda-tion for taking government services online

3 years 10

Connected Legislator

ICT legislation, in particular, Information Security, ICT procure-ment and digital signature legislation. These legislations are es-sential in giving the public confidence to transact using digital services.

1 year 5


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6.1 COBIT ImplementationCost ImplicationsOne-Off Approximate Costs (KSH)

1. Search, Evaluate & Procure COBIT Consultant (2months, 100,000/=)2. Contract & Sign up a COBIT Consultant (1 Day, contract amount of between 400,000/-

to 500,000/-)3. COBIT Awareness & Appreciation Training for Top Leadership (Governor, County Exec,

Speaker, and Chief Officers). (1Day Training for approx. 30 Pax, Cost of Hotel, Teas, Lunches, Cost of Trainer @ 50,000 per day)

4. COBIT Technical Training for Mid-level Management (Directors, Managers across Ministries)(2Day Training for approx. 30 Pax, Cost of Hotel, Teas, Lunches, Cost of Trainer @ 50,000 per day x2 Trainers)

5. COBIT Implementation Training for Technical Management (ICT Directors, ICT Technical Support, Auditors) (3Day Training for 10 Pax, Cost of Hotel, Teas, Lunches, @ 50,000 per day x2 Trainers)

Annual Costs (KSH)1. Continuous Improvement Costs – Improving processes from Level 0 through 1, 2, 3, 4 &

5. Various processes such as writing Strategic Plans, Documenting Operational Tasks, etc has to be done. The trained employees are supposed to drive these processes so the cost would approximate to the monthly salaries.

2. External Annual Audits (3-5days). COBIT Audits cost between 400,000 to 500,000 depending on the size and scope of the activities.

ICT Governance and Policy is a priority area for EMBU County. Some of the policies discussed and endorsed by the County include:

• Architecture: ICT Customization and System Development Policy and Central ICT Governance Policy. The objectives of these policies are to provide guidance in system acquisition and ICT governance.

• Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Policy• Identity Management and e-authentication policy• Government Cloud Computing and Open Source Policy• Fair use Policy• ICT Procurement Policy


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When developing the above policies, stakeholders should be involved and departments trained on the need for compliance. The ICT policy should clearly indicate the penalties department heads face when they do not comply with agreed policies. In some cases, legislation may be needed, for example, cyber security.


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Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology

Telposta Towers, 10th Floor, Kenyatta Ave. Koinange Street

P.O Box 30025-00100,Nairobi Kenya

Tel: (+254) 4920000 / 1

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.information.go.ke

Embu County Government - Embu Town, Embu County

Mobile: +254 771 204 003, +254 703 192 924

Phone: +254 68 30686, +254 68 30656

Email: [email protected]

http://www.embu.go.ke

ICT Authority

Telposta Towers, 12th Floor, Kenyatta Ave

P.O. Box 27150 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya

t: + 254-020-2211960/62

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Website: www.icta.go.ke

Become a fan: www.facebook.com/ICTAuthorityKE

Follow us on twitter: @ICTAuthorityKE


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Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology

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