THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF

EASTERN AFRICA

DIPLOMA IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

KIRIINYA VICTOR MWITI

REG: 1031254

ATTACHMENT REPORT

KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE

P.O. Box 40241 - 00100

LANG’ATA RD, NAIROBI KENYA Tel:

+254 (20) 2379407, +254 (20) 6002345,

Email Address: kws@kws.go.ke

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I take this opportunity to acknowledge the Information department for granting me the
opportunity to undertake my attachment at the Kenya Wildlife Service. I also would like to give
thanks and express gratitude to my supervisor Mr. Tony Kenyaiti and all the trainers from
various IT department sections in KWS for their unwavering support and dedications in helping
me to learn throughout the attachment period. They really helped me to learn a lot.

It is also my honor to express my greatest regards to my school, The Catholic

University of Eastern Africa for granting me the opportunity to undertake my industrial
attachment.

Lastly, I would like to profusely thank all the Kenya Wildlife Service staffs for their support and
guidance during my attachment especially the IT Department. They were very helpful and
willing to offer any assistance.

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report gives a description of the work done during my industrial attachment, which took place
from 18 th June to 18th September 2018, covering a period of three months at the Kenya wildlife
Service Headquarters in Lang’ata.

The main aim of my attachment was to enable me to gain experience, to learn, and to contribute
towards the realization of the company goals and objectives. It was a requirement for
fulfillment of t h e award for Diploma Certificate in Information Technology from The Catholic
University of Eastern Africa.

It will entail what I was doing during my attachment period, which involved working in the IT
Department which has different sections or units; IT workshop, Telecommunications, Systems
administration, IT help desk and Safari card.

I will also present the history of the company since its inception in which can be traced to 1990,
how the company was able to clinch not only the Kenyan market but also the African and
International Markets and how it’s fairing on in the present available markets.

Selection of the establishment

Kenya Wildlife Service was my choice institute for attachment mainly because of;

 Encouragement from my parents.

 Its location is very convenient from where I reside making the commute to and from
the institution easy.
 Reputation of the company as it has capable individuals with great experience in the
work place.

 Great reputation in its industry making it a coveted institute to build ones career in.
This especially with the government putting in place policies for all government
institutions to help the youths by having attachment programs that help the youths
get a feel of the workplace encouraging internships and attachment programs

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Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ii
Table of Contents iv
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 HISTORY OF KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE 1
1.2 VISION, MISSION STATEMENT AND CORE VALUES OF THE INSTITUTION 1
1.3 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF KWS 3
CHAPTER TWO: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT 4
2.1 Structure of the IT department 4
2.2 key functions of the IT department. 5
2.3 Staff establishment of the IT department 6
2.4 Objectives of this attachment 11
2.5 Attaché’s assigned routine duties and department’s participation forums 11
CHAPTER THREE: EVALUATION OF ATTACHMENT PERIOD 13
3.1 Successes/ failures of attachment period 13
3.2 Challenges encountered during the attachment period 13
3.3 How the challenges were solved 14
3.4 Recommendations 14
REFERENCES 15

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 HISTORY OF KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is a Kenyan state corporation established in 1989 to
conserve and manage Kenya’s wildlife. It is established under an Act of Parliament Cap 376
(The Wildlife Conservation and Management (Amendment 1989) Act) with the mandate to
conserve and manage wildlife in Kenya, and to enforce related laws and regulations. It manages
the biodiversity of the country, protecting and conserving the flora and fauna.

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 1.2 VISION, MISSION STATEMENT AND CORE VALUES OF
THE INSTITUTION

KWS undertakes conservation and management of wildlife resources across all protected areas
systems in collaboration with stakeholders. It is our goal to work with others to conserve, protect
and sustainably manage wildlife resources. The community wildlife program of KWS in
collaboration with others encourages biodiversity conservation by communities living on land
essential to wildlife, such as wildlife corridors and dispersal lands outside parks and reserves.
The premise is that “if people benefit from wildlife and other natural resources, then they will
take care of these resources."

Vision

"To save the last great species and places on earth for humanity”

Mission

“To sustainably conserve, manage, enhance Kenya's wildlife, its habitats, and provide a wide
range of public uses in collaboration with stakeholders for posterity”

Core Values

"Passion, Professionalism, Innovation and Quality"

Mandate

● Conserve and manage national parks, wildlife conservation areas, and sanctuaries under
its jurisdiction;
● Provide security for wildlife and visitors in national parks, wildlife conservation areas
and sanctuaries;
● set up a county wildlife conservation committee in respect of each county;

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● Promote or undertake commercial and other activities for the purpose of achieving
sustainable wildlife conservation;
● Collect revenue and charges due to the national government from wildlife and, as
appropriate, develop mechanisms for benefit sharing with communities living in wildlife
areas;
● Develop mechanisms for benefit sharing with communities living in wildlife areas;
● Advise the cabinet department on matters pertaining to wildlife policy, strategy and
legislation.
● Coordinate the preparation and implementation of ecosystem plans;
● Prepare and implement national park management plans;
● Assist and advise in the preparation of management plans for community and private
wildlife conservancies and sanctuaries;
● Undertake and conduct enforcement activities such as anti- poaching operations, wildlife
protection, intelligence gathering, investigations and other enforcement activities for the
effective carrying out of the provisions of this act;
● Conduct and co-ordinate, all research activities in the field of wildlife conservation and
management and ensure application of research findings in conservation planning,
implementation and decision making;
● Advise the national land commission, the cabinet secretary and the council on the
establishment of national parks, wildlife conservancies and sanctuaries;
● Promote and undertake extension service programs intended to enhance wildlife
conservation, education and training;
● Identify user rights and advise the cabinet secretary thereon;
● Grant permits;
● Establish forensic laboratory

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1.3 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF KWS

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 CHAPTER TWO: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT

2.1 Structure of the IT department

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2.2 key functions of the IT department.

The IT department in any organization plays a major role in the running of the daily routine
activities of the organization. These activities enable business users to carry their roles
efficiently, productively and securely. These functions include;

2.2.1 Planning

The IT department in conjunction with business executives develops an IT strategy that supports
KWS’ business objectives. The department customizes software and other elements of the IT
system and ensures the right levels of IT resources at the organization’s disposal are available to
meet the ever changing levels of demand.

Aside from this the IT department looks into options such as outsourcing management of the
infrastructure or renting additional IT capacity from an external provider

2.2.2 Network management/ Communication

The IT department at Kenya Wildlife Service is in charge of communication systems ranging from
the radios used in the park by the rangers to the computers used in the offices. They manage
an intranet network as well as an internet network that connects all stations under the management
of Kenya Wildlife Service which is split into wide area networks that comprises of Wi-Fi signals
and local area networks. The organization has a dedicated server that they use to conduct their
internal affairs which every employee has access to via a company account.

2.2.3 Data management

This is the most essential resource that the organization has and the IT department at Kenya
Wildlife service is tasked with developing tools to collect, store, manage, secure and distribute
data to employees who need access to the latest information to make decisions about strategic,
financial and operational issues. For organization of this size, there is need for the IT department
to manage all data and information pertaining to the organization as a whole.

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2.2.4 Security

In terms of security, the IT department is crucial for management of information security. Here
at KWS, the department is tasked with guarding the organization against attacks from viruses,
cybercrime and other threats that constrain security. Any form of attack that occurs to the
infrastructure of the organization could be catastrophic as it may hinder the organization from
carrying out crucial business operations which could vastly affect customer service. In the case
of employees use of personal computer and smart phones to work on company data, the IT team
at KWS has strict policies on the dos and don’ts to maintain a high level of security.

2.2.5 Support

The IT department provides support that enables employees to make good use of company
resources. Support in this case occurs in various ways such as installation of software’s,
facilitations of network connection, hardware issue resolution among others. The team also
provides ongoing support to users through a helpdesk or self-service facilities on the company
intranet

2.3 Staff establishment of the IT department

The department had a number of employees each with their own roles, and they include;

2.3.1 Applications Team Leader.

Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Supports the Service Delivery Manager in preparing and implementing annual work and
resource plans; assess their applicability within the overall ICT strategy.
2. Responsible for all KWS Software Applications.
3. Provide leadership in the management, support and development of KWS applications,
services and solutions.

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 4. Define, document, plan and specify KWS application requirements.
5. Enforce, maintain, and document compliance, maximum uptime and performance with
all established standards for the data center systems and server systems

2.3.2 System Administrator Team leader

Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Ensure optimum Server Availability.

2. Ensure appropriate Backup onsite and offsite facilities are in place and functioning. Be
responsible for Disaster Recovery of all servers.
3. Ensure sufficient redundancy and backup for critical components are carried out.
4. Provide regular Server Maintenance.
5. Carry out monitoring of systems to ensure they are functioning, including maintaining of
historical records and Logs.

2.3.4 ICT Compliance team leader

Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Safeguards KWS information system assets by identifying and solving potential and
actual security problems.
2. Protects system by defining access privileges, control structures, and resources.
3. Recognizes problems by identifying abnormalities; reporting violations.
4. Implements security improvements by assessing current situation; evaluating trends;
Anticipating requirements.
5. Determines security violations and inefficiencies by conducting periodic audits and Risk
assessment.

2.3.5 IT Network Team Leader.

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Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Supports the IT Infrastructure Manager in preparing and implementing annual work and
resource plans; assess their applicability within the overall ICT strategy.
2. Ensure all the IT infrastructure is maintained, operated and supported to an appropriate
standard.
3. Design, provide specifications, implement and maintain of network systems and all KWS
Hardware related equipment
4. Take overall responsibility for ensuring the availability, performance and
security of network services within agreed service levels for KWS IT network
infrastructure operations.
5. Manage and maintain all IT Network Services provided by ISPs including: internet facing
network devices, network device configuration and administration, network monitoring
(event and alert management, problem and change management, asset and configuration
management).

2.3.6 Senior IT networks

Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Support KWS LANs, WANs, network segments, Internet, and intranet systems.
2. Troubleshoot network problems reported by users.
3. Maintain network security.
4. Monitor networks to ensure security and availability to KWS users.
5. Evaluate and modify Network system's performance.

2.3.7 Senior Analyst

Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Examine existing IT systems for any upgrade or modification.

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 2. Analyze systems requirements;
3. Implement, configure and test various solutions.
4. Specify system requirements and operations
5. Overseeing implementation of a new system including data migration;

2.3.8 Helpdesk and Support Team Leader

Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Provide technical assistance and User support for incoming queries and issues related to
computer systems, software, and hardware.
2. Respond to queries either in person or over the phone.
3. Train computer users.
4. Maintain daily performance of computer systems.
5. Respond to email messages for users seeking help.
6. Ask questions to determine nature of problem.

2.3.9 Webmaster/Database analyst

Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Maintain websites for KWS and other KWS departments.

2. Ensure the web servers, hardware and software are operating accurately.
3. Design websites.
4. Generate and revise web pages.
5. Examine and analyze site traffic.
6. Utilize scripting languages in modifying the websites.

2.3.10 Application Analyst Leader

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Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Understand the principles of the Sun system application systems and use them to
analyze, test, implement, maintain and document.
2. Identify the features, advantages and disadvantages of Sun system applications.
3. Support users by investigating and resolving application errors, data discrepancies and
queries
4. Working together with the Systems Support Analyst in identifying and proposing
application system.
5. Receive and log requests for support from help desk, other service delivery staff and/or
users; investigate problems and other requests for support and determines appropriate
actions to take.

2.3.11 Field Support Analysts, network analysts and System analysts

Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Install and configure computer hardware, operating systems and applications

2. Monitor and maintain computer systems and networks
3. Talk staff/clients through a series of actions, either face to face or over the telephone to
help set up systems or resolve issues
4. Troubleshoot system and network problems and diagnosing and solving
hardware/software faults
5. Provide support, including procedural documentation and forward updated weekly
reports to KWS Helpdesk and Support Team Leader and IT Network Team Leader.

2.3.12 Support analysts

Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Install and configure computer hardware, operating systems and applications

2. Monitor and maintain computer systems and networks

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 3. Talk staff/clients through a series of actions, either face to face or over the telephone to
help set up systems or resolve issues
4. Troubleshoot system and network problems and diagnosing and solving
hardware/software faults
5. Provide support, including procedural documentation and forward updated weekly
reports to KWS Helpdesk and Support Team Leader and IT Network Team Leader.

2.4 Objectives of this attachment

The following were some of the objectives:
❖ To provide students the opportunity to test their interest in a particular career
before permanent commitments are made.
❖ To develop skills in the application of theory to practical work situations.
❖ To develop skills and techniques directly applicable to their careers.
❖ Internships will increase a student's sense of responsibility and good work habits.
❖ To expose students to real work environment experience, and gain knowledge in
writing report in technical works/projects.
❖ Internship students will have higher levels of academic performance.
❖ Internship programs will increase student earning potential upon graduation.
❖ To build the strength, teamwork spirit and self-confidence in students life.
❖ To enhance the ability to improve students creativity skills and sharing ideas.
❖ To build a good communication skill with group of workers and learn to learn
proper behavior of corporate life in industrial sector.

The student will be able instilled with good moral values such as responsibility, commitment and
trustworthy during their training.

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 2.5 Attachee’s assigned routine duties and department’s participation
forums
Upon arrival at KWS headquarters I was attached at the IT workshop station where the attachees
were posted for the rest of their attachment. Some of the works done at this station were
as follows:
❖ Software Installations and Uninstallations.
❖ Computer hardware repair and maintenance.
❖ Terminating and crimping network cables i.e. crossover and straight cables.
❖ Blowing computers' CPUs and other related machines.
❖ Creating and configuring new user accounts and emails.
❖ Receiving and inventory of new machines brought or taken out of the workshop.
❖ Laying of network cables.
❖ Troubleshooting and configuration of networks.
❖ Fixing of UPS problems.
❖ Troubleshooting and setting up of printers, fax machines and scanners.

Troubleshooting networks problems in the server room were only done with or under the
supervision of the host supervisor or the network administrator. Our role was to go there
and see how the real problems were tackled and ask questions where we experienced
difficulties.

During the entire period of twelve (12) plus weeks in the station, I did and solved many tasks
assigned to me as shown and discussed in the University log book. However what I
observed is that the daily activities kept on repeating themselves as time went by. Therefore
this gave me the courage and confidence to handle them comfortably.

Now in the following discussions we are going to see how I tackled some of the projects and
tasks assigned to me. I have clearly shown methods and techniques used to solve them.
Also included their importance and relevant to the organizations.

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CHAPTER THREE: EVALUATION OF ATTACHMENT PERIOD

3.1 Successes/ failures of attachment period

3.1.1Successes

I was able to achieve satisfaction in my area of expertise and reaffirm my interest in my pursuit
of a career in Information technology. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Kenya wildlife
service as an IT attachee and was able to gain more skills for the enhancement of my career goals.

The attachment period exposed me to scenarios that allowed me to employ the theory skills I
obtained in school to practical situations which was a bonus as I was able to learn more techniques
that I previously wasn’t able to attain in school.

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The attachment period enabled me to gain greater satisfaction for the real work environment and
gave me an appreciation for responsibility and a sense of commitment. All these are necessary to
foster good and healthy work ethics and habits.

The attachment period enabled me work improve my teamwork and confidence through
interactions with other people who we worked with at KWS.

3.1.2Failures

Unfortunately the attachment period was not able to provide financial growth.

3.2 Challenges encountered during the attachment period

Transport to and from work was one of the biggest challenges I encountered considering I live
far from the organizations location

Financial backing was another great problem I got because as an attaché, I was not privy to
monetary remunerations for the work performed. This was made clear on arrival at Kenya
Wildlife Service that attaches would not receive any pay, only work experience.

It was a tough period for me at the start to do satisfactory work as I had little knowledge of how
things worked around the organization thus I had to rely on my superior and other attached who
had been there for a longer period of time.

The level of sophisticated machines that I encountered was a challenge as I had not had the
opportunity to work with such while at school. I constantly faced problems with the machines
especially when I was tasked with a job on my own.

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3.3 How the challenges were solved

Kenya Wildlife Service offers transportation to and from work on working days which came as a
big advantage to me as I was able to overcome the transportation hurdle that I faced.

I was able to receive financial help to cater for my needs while working at KWS thanks to my
parents who were gracious enough to extend a helping hand and support me during my
attachment period.

Through constant exposure to different situations, I was able to adjust to the daily routines of the
work place and people were able to put more trust in me to get the job done, especially my
immediate supervisor

Through directions and supervision from my immediate supervisor, I was able to fully
understand how the hardware I encountered operated and was also able to comfortably work on
them without supervision eventually.

3.4 Recommendations
On the part of Kenya Wildlife Service, I would like to see the organization pay a small
remuneration to its attachees for the work they do. Such dealing would boost their morale and
lead to better work output from them. The allowances given would moreover cater for the
expenses incurred by the attachees such as transport, lunch, and any other emergency.

Attachees should also be allowed to enjoy some of the KWS employee benefits like transport in
the morning and evening. In addition, when on field excursions, attaché’ expenses should be
catered for together with those of other employees.

Also, and orientation and training for newly accepted attaché should be carried out to help them
get habituated with the organization fast and to know how work in the IT Workshop is carried
out.

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On the part of the School, I would like to see that it takes up the task of offering help to students
in their quest to seek attachment to enable them to at least get a great working experience and
also avoid incidents where the students waste a lot of time searching for a place to undertake
their attachment. Many companies are difficult to get a chance at for university students which
leads to wastage of valuable time.

I would also like to see the lecturers show more passion for the wellbeing of the students as this
is a crucial activity for the attainment of the credits that the student is studying for.

REFERENCES
● Kenya Wildlife Service website

http://www.kws.go.ke/

● Kenya Wildlife intranet

● Students attachment log book

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