A questionnaire was formalized and generated by the projects team via Google Forms,

which was to be shared with the key users of the FEMIS MIS at MEHA. The target set
ranged from HQ users, Teachers, Admin staff and other users of FEMIS. Due to strict
confidentiality, the projects team was advised against collecting any forms of data on the
MEHA staff, (names, gender, age etc.) and the findings of the questionnaire to be shared
with MEHA IT team. The Projects team were also not allowed to share and distribute the
data to external parties and usage was only permitted for the purpose of the MBA433
research project. Following agreement of MEHA’s terms and conditions, the questionnaire
link was shared with the target user group(s). The analysis of the results are as follows:
Question 1 – Do you know what an Information System is? (with examples)

A very positive response was received to the question with all the respondents confirming
that they are aware of what an Information System is. To further determine the actuality of
the responses, respondents were asked to provide examples.

Count of Response(s)
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Correct FEMIS Incorrect No response

From the 17 responses, majority of the respondents were able to correctly identify what a
basic information system is and what it entails. Reponses ranged from simplified examples
such as “database and software” to more defined and specific instances such as “An
organized system designed to collect, process, store and disseminate information or data
electronically. eg. database management system, multimedia information system which are
computer-based information system. All of these will use computer and internet.”. This
demonstrates a high level of computer savviness among the target set of users and IT
knowledge. 3 respondents stated that FEMIS is an example of an MIS and 3 respondents
did not correctly understand what an MIS is and its examples. 1 User did not provide a
response. Given that FEMIS is an example of an Information System, 76% of respondents
were correctly able to understand and identify an information system while the remaining
24% were unable to. From this data, we can determine that there needs to be more
awareness on the types of MIS and digitalization tools people are utilizing and its inherent
uses.

Question 2 – Does the Ministry of Education have an Information System?

This survey question was answered by all respondents who were able to correctly identify
that the Ministry has an Information System presently. This is contrary to Question 1 where
24% of the respondents were unable to correctly provide an example of an information
system, indicating the respondents are still unclear on what constitutes an information
system and what does not.

Question 3 – Prior to the introduction to FEMIS, SIMS was used by the MEHA. Which
system do you prefer?

From the above graph, it is clearly depicted that 14(82.4%) of the respondents want FEMIS
as the preferred MIS for use at MEHA. These responses were further broken down as
follows:
 Why FEMIS is preferred
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Efficiency Used FEMIS Only

From the 14 pro-FEMIS responses received, 79% have found the system to be more
efficient in terms of usage, functionality, and accessibility whereas 21% of the respondents,
have only used FEMIS and not SIMS so there is no way to make a comparison over which
MIS they would prefer as their judgement is biased toward the only system they have used.
1 respondent has stated that they preferred SIMS as the MIS of choice. To justify this, the
respondent has mentioned that FEMIS is an updated version of SIMS but they would still
prefer SIMS. An inference into this can be accredited to culture change where legacy users
are introduced into a new environment with new norms in terms of business processes and
accountability, which can dome as a drastic change to unyielding end-users. 2
2 respondents have stated that they prefer neither information systems, but no justifications
have been provided, thus the data is inconclusive to make an informed inference.

Question 4 – How does MEHA's staff and its respective affiliates receive/disseminate
internal information?

The above analysis shows the various mediums used to circulate information with emails
being the most used mode of information dissemination and Information Systems come in at
2nd. With the Fiji government’s current aim towards digitalization, it is a concern, not to
mention a risk, that there are still hard copies being used to receive and disseminate
information. The FEMIS MIS is specific to MEHA and its operations and business processes,
such that all information processing and outputs needs to be handled from a single point of
management. Given that emails are an important communication tool, all information related
to the operations of MEHA should ideally be managed through a structured and documented
information system with its relative SOP’s, Process maps etc. Social Media, if used only for
official MEHA announcements, would be effective as it covers a much wider reach as
compared to FEMIS.

Question 5 – Does the use of the FEMIS system speed up the internal business
processes?

Majority (70.6%) of the respondents have agreed that using an MIS, such as FEMIS, assists
greatly to speed up the business process of the organization. As one of the project teams
member is a current user of FEMIS, one of the greatest issues the MIS has alleviated are
the use of manual processes with hard copy documents. FEMIS is an integrated system
which handles major facets of MEHA’s operations such as HR Management, Financial
Management, Student Information Management, Resource Management and Learning
Support. As these major processes are now managed more efficiently with a more structured
and centralized approach, it will solve many issues that the MEHA staff and users would
have faced previously. On the other hand, 29.4% of the respondents are unsure of the MIS’s
effectiveness due to a major challenge the organization faces which is Internet Connectivity.
In the outer islands and rural areas where internet access is unstable, it becomes an issue to
keep users connected and interactive with the FEMIS system. Another issue is the lack of
training users in various schools/divisions. This is a prevalent issue which the Ministry is
addressing.
Question 6 – How much has the utilization of the FEMIS system at MEHA increased
productivity?
The highest proportion (47%) of respondents agreed that FEMIS has highly increased
productivity at MEHA post its conceptualization and deployment. The responses ranged as
from FEMIS being an excellent Administrative tool, data compilation and report generation
can be done with great ease, more accountability and tracking for audit purposes, and that
the MIS now replaces manual paper based systems.
41% of the respondents are seeing the MIS as a moderate increase in efficiency for
business operations. The responses mainly focused on the ease of information
dissemination, improved speed of decision making and a centralized data repository. The
final 12% focused on the fact that the processes are not using minimal paperwork as the
system is able to execute the previously manually done processes.
This is a good indication of the effectiveness of FEMIS in terms of solving majority of the
issues faced at MEHA in terms of slower manual and distributed silo-based processes. After
the implementation of the MIS, the previous process workflows are now managed and
actioned more efficiently through a structured and digitalized manner.

Question 7 – Would you recommend FEMIS to any similar organisations?

Most of the users have positively responded to this question with 94.1% agreeing they would
recommend the system to similar organizations while 5.9% of users responded negatively.
This graph is synonymous to the previous question’s responses, where their was some
backlash to using a new system in terms of the users not preferring to use FEMIS even
though it is a more advanced and upgraded system compared to SIMS. This comes back to
the cultural aspect of system design and implementation where the time taken for a user to
adapt takes much longer than the time taken to acknowledge, accept and enforce the
implementation of a new environment by Management.

Question 8 – What are the difficulties you have faced whilst using FEMIS?

In terms of the key issues faced by the FEMIS users, the most prominent challenge was
identified as Network Issues. Since FEMIS is a web based platform, internet connectivity is
an essential element for the users accessibility. This will be a major hurdle mostly faced by
users based in the outer islands and interior rural areas where internet connectivity is still a
work in progress.As the system is solely dependant on an internet connection It would be
advisable to that the Ministry look into Fog and Edge computing mechanisms to mitigate the
risks associated with with lack of internet connectivity to mitigate and manage this high risk
and improve reponses and save bandwidth.
The 2nd highest response was a lack of Proper User training. This has been noted to be a
major contraint to the effectiveness of if the FEMIS platform where all users are not up to par
on their knowledge of the platform and its uses and features. Users have noted that they are
not properly advised on how to use various modules in the FEMIS system, which often leads
to staff having to resort to manual procedures. A common example would be leave
management, where users can submit and manage their own leave applications but due to
lack of training and user knowledge, this leads to users reverting to a manual process of
applying for leave which can be easily don’t through the leave module. End-User training is
highly essential for any systems success and for the end users to deem the system a
success.
The remaining responces focused on the user interface being too complicated and not user
friendly at times and the repetition of certain fields related to data entry. Other issues noted
include server downtime, unscheduled maintenance works and lack of timely updates.
These issues can be collectively solved with proper communication between the respective
IT teams and with the stakeholders of FEMIS.
Question 9 – Please provide any suggestions for future improvements.
The final survey question was open ended to gauge the user experience and allow for
feedback for improvement areas as follows:

47% of the respondents have stated that there needs to more training related to the systems
and its many modules. The lack of proper user training has been noted as a significant
hurdle faced by the end users of the system which hinders their productivity and affects the
organization as a whole. This issue can be alleviated through the use of proper trainings and
workshops as well as having a “train the trainer” approach to specific departments as and
when required.
35% of the respondents have collectively stated there needs to be an Antivirus integration
into the system, Network Issues and the platform to undergo UI updates. Additional security
features such as Antivirus integrations are an excellent feature because the platform deals
with storing and processing files at multiple process levels. This would ensure as documents
are downloaded, edited and reuploaded, the “changing of hands” does not bring in viruses,
worms, ransomware and other cybersecurity threats. As stated in previous questions, MEHA
can look into various Fog and Edge computing mechanisms to alleviate the issue of staff not
having network connectivity to access the FEMIS system. In terms of the UI updates, the IT
team need to ensure that the current UI meets the standards set by the ISO 9241-161:2016
which describes “visual user-interface elements presented by software and provides
requirements and recommendations on when and how to use them. This part of ISO 9241 is
concerned with software components of interactive systems to make human-system
interaction usable as far as the basic interaction aspects are concerned.” (ISO, 2016)
The remaining 18% have highlighted that the system needs to be free of glitches and there
needs to be proper updates sent from the system in a timely manner whereas 1 user has
stated that the system is sufficient for them to use as is and no further changes needed.

Bibliography
ISO. (2016, 02). ISO 9241-161:2016 Ergonomics of human-system interaction — Part 161: Guidance
on visual user-interface elements. Retrieved from ISO:
https://www.iso.org/standard/60476.html