Development and Implementation of an Electronic Work Permit System for The Ministry of Immigration and Registration of Persons, Kenya

Abstract

The Ministry of Immigration and registration of persons collects data related to businesses, labor, and employment as well as other relevant economic areas during the process of issuing work permits. Significant problems are high chances of human error while capturing and analyzing data making the quality of data collected poor. Data is collected in isolation from other government agencies which might be in need of similar information resulting in lack of standardization and consistency across government entities. This study sought to evaluate the current processes and procedures used by the Ministry of Immigration in issuing work permits, with a view to design and develop a computer based system to improve on work permits issuance. Qualitative research strategies were employed; case study research design was used at the evaluation stage and agile methodology for software development at the system development and implementation stage. The study presents results of literature review of case studies from both developed and developing countries. A sample size of 30 was purposively selected, consisting of four members of the management staff and twelve work permits officers, five information communication technology officers, five members from the work permit approval committee and four contact persons from other government agencies which utilizes data from Ministry of Immigration. Data was collected through interviews, observation, group discussion and document reviews and analyzed using cross-case analysis and the narrative strategy. The findings of this study highlighted the weakness of the current work permit setup which included incidences of human manipulation, long processing time, and lack of consistency. This formed the basis for developing a computer-based information system to automate the entire work permit issuance business processes and thereby eliminating the highlighted weaknesses.