The new broom

Msimang, the former head of SITA, told iWeek that the Home Affairs Department`s IT infrastructure is "in a shambles".

Tellingly, he feels that the Home Affairs Information System (Hanis), which has been over a decade in the making and is not yet fully functional, is the most successful ICT implementation the department has rolled out. "Everything else IT-wise is in tatters," he says. He describes the level of disarray as "unbelievable". For example, there are new PCs standing unused in the building - but no-one knows what they do or who they belong to.

But Msimang is not daunted. Credited by some as being something of a turnaround expert, Msimang now promises a major overhaul of Home Affairs, starting with the IT systems. He says budgets to revamp IT and to complete long-in-the-tooth projects are already planned. "There are contracts that need to be gotten on stream as soon as possible." Also, he aims to ensure that the systems that are already in place get properly utilised.

Heads to roll

Msimang blames a lot of the problems on a lack of leadership. He says the major overhaul will, unfortunately, include heads rolling and new blood being sought - most likely from the private sector.

"We are looking for people with management potential. When we find them we will take the risk of appointing them to particular positions, moving aside those that don`t have the capabilities while consulting the necessary legislation to do this. I just hope that we do not spend too much time at the CCMA."

Home Affairs has arguably been SA`s most dysfunctional government department. It has long been dogged by inefficiencies, plagued by lethargy and corruption and renowned for its languishing projects.

Hanis, the most prominent of these, was first conceived in 1993 and approved by Cabinet in January 1996. The aim of Hanis was to record all citizens` fingerprints and photographs digitally and allow several levels of verification that could be used whenever a government service was requested. This included pension payments, unemployment payments and access to the healthcare system. It was hoped that by this year, 30 million identity books would have been replaced by multifunctional smartcards.

Msimang says though Hanis has been slated, it is a good system and it is working to some degree, although it needs refurbishment. He says his predecessors took the wrong routes in their attempts to do this. However, he says, a plan has now been put in place to ensure that the much-needed refurbishment gets done. The system currently captures and stores all ID information, including fingerprints, with around 28.7 million digital records having been absorbed into the system to date.

Msimang declined to name a completion date for the revived project, but hoped the smart ID cards would be issued before 2010.

Fixing immigration

Also high on of Msimang`s to-do list is a complete overhaul of the immigration system. Late last month, Msimang found himself fending off a barrage of uncomfortable questions from the Parliament`s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), who demanded an explanation for the seemingly non-existent systems to control the influx of immigrants to South Africa.

By the end of his three-year tenure in 2010, Msimang says he would like to have implemented a consolidated system that allows for a single view of the citizen. This, he adds, will not be difficult as technology to do so is already in place.

Cradle to grave

Gartner analyst and consultant Willie Appel explains that tracking citizens from the `cradle to the grave` is a critically important government function. He thinks South Africa`s Home Affairs has been rendered ineffective in this role because of mountains of paperwork clogging its processes and because the technology has not been used effectively.

"Whereas in other parts of the world governments have managed to digitise their citizens` data, SA has fallen behind. This has resulted in a lot of disparate systems and legacy being created, causing a massive pile-up of paper work in an environment that already generates large amounts of paper work," says Appel.

Streamlining

Msimang agrees. "We have a team developing processes and models for making the organisation function efficiently," he says. IT will play a crucial role in streamlining all processes.

"We will reorganise our IT department to look at the various areas of functionality. We are going to look at business applications and IT infrastructure. IT needs to be put into place to support the consultative work. As it stands, only 5% of the IT in place is being used. Our systems are still paper based. This needs to change," he says.

He says: "IT implementation and utilisation is a road we must walk step by step. Some will be slower, but it must be done nonetheless."

Msimang maintains that the effective usage of the systems that are currently available would be enough not only to unclog the blockages of unnecessary paperwork, but would also help the department reduce corruption.

"I think people are taking chances. They think they will not be caught because they have access to things technology would prevent them from accessing. But now they will have to get used to the fact that there are passwords and that they, and only they, have access to a particular program and if things go wrong they are accountable."

Action talk

As part of the plan to set the department right, a Turnaround Action Team has been appointed to help Msimang. The team includes consultants from the public and private sector in various fields such as IT, finance, business process re-engineering and communications. Among them are consultants from Fevertree, AT Kearney`s local representatives. Msimang says the same consultancy was used by SARS. "Until recently, SARS were dogs, just like us, but now they are one of the leading departments in providing services to the public," he says.

The team is tasked with redesigning business processes, preventing financial mismanagement and waste, and implementing IT solutions that will create an efficient, customer and business friendly Home Affairs structure able to fight corruption and deliver services on time.

Hains tops the agenda

First on the agenda should be to get Hanis revamped and integrated with all the other systems, according to Appel.

Msimang is confident that there is nothing wrong with Hanis. "All the experts I have spoken to have assessed Hanis and say it is a good system." What`s wrong with it, he says, is that it has been neglected.

"The first maintenance contract, which was a five-year contract, expired in 2005/2006. At that point there would have been a need to quite naturally refresh technology by doing upgrades. That has yet to be done."

He blames his predecessors, saying: "What the previous people did is go on tender for the continuation of the Hanis system and I think that, given the investment made into Hanis, that was a mistake. This was a sole propriety system, and to invite people to tender presupposes that we were willing to make a technology change at that point. That wouldn`t make sense at all. What needed to be done was refresh the technology, upgrade it, because it is a good system."

He explains that when the contract lapsed there were administrative issues around its renewal, which stifled the development of the system.

"What we need to do is commission the same group of people to do upgrades," he says.

Beyond Hanis, Msimang outlines the future plan for the department. "We are going to draw up a technology road map for the organisation, where we will invite companies to tender for an information system that will consolidate our systems."

"In the next three to four years, depending on how long the upgrade takes, we will get Hanis upgraded so it continues to function efficiently," he says.

Leaders wanted

While the consultants are designing models and processes, the department lacks leaders to run with these projects, says Msimang. He says the department is targeting candidates from the private sector.

Interestingly, Msimang is hoping the private sector will not only part with some of its top people for this cause, but he`d also like the public sector to help the department subsidise the cost of this exercise.

"An effort is being mounted to get funding from the private sector beyond what the public sector can provide and we are happy to say that from our initial discussion, the private sector is willing to assist in this regard.

Besides needing to better serve the people, Msimang says it is imperative for Home Affairs to be functioning effectively by the time 2010 rolls around, since SA needs to have the capacity and skills to deal with the influx of visitors that will stream through its ports and borders.

"It`s imperative for it to work - the whole world will be watching," he says.

While Msimang has made some bold statements and promises, he has given himself some exit clauses: he says the plan of change depends to a large degree on "political will and resource allocation". In addition, he has three years in which to effect the changes.