IPTR REPORT

EASTERN WATER AND SANITATION COMPANY

LIMITED

Submitted By
Collins Nyendwa
20231552013
27 June 2022 - 12 August 2022
Submitted On
15 August 2022

DMI. St-Eugene University

Chipata Campus
Bachelor of Business Administration

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Acknowledgement
First, I would like to thank Mr. Kapunula, Human Resource Manager for allowing me
the opportunity to do my industrial attachments within the company.
I would like to thank the District Manager of Chipata Mr. Collins Kayeye for his
support and allowing me the privilege to work at the company’s district office
I am highly indebted to Madame Brenda Nkhuwa and Mr. Emmanuel Mulenga for the
guidance they provided me during the course of my attachments at Eastern Water and
Sanitation Company.
I would also like to thank Mr. Moyo and Madame Judy for their support to get and
complete my industrial attachment and training program in the aforementioned
organization
I am extremely greatful to the department staff members and friends who helped me
in the successful completion of this program

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Executive Summary
As per the academic requisite for completing the fifth semester of my Bachelor’s
degree in business administration, I was required to complete 8 weeks industrial
attachments with any reputable organization with the purpose of acquiring an in depth
practical knowledge of the specialization they opt for discipline of Business
Administration.
As I did my industrial attachment in Eastern Water and Sanitation Company Limited,
this report will provide comprehensive insight about my activities and experience
during my seven weeks at the company as well as the challenges and possible
solutions I encountered.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgement……………………………………….. i
Executive summary………………………………………ii
Introduction………………………………………………1
Training Program………………………………………..1-2
Learned Experiences…………………………………….2-3
Problem Identification and Solutions…………………...3-4
Conclusion…………………………………………………4

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Introduction
Eastern Water and Sanitation Company was incorporated on 12 th May 2008 and
provides water supply and sanitation services to the urban and peri urban population
in Eastern Province. It offers a number of services which include but not limited to
new water and sewer connections, water supply services, septic tank cleaning and
waste water disposal, new water connections etc. During the period I was under
attachments and training, I worked at the district office in the billing section as well as
the commercial department at the company’s head office.

Training Program
As aforementioned, my seven week spell at Eastern Water and Sanitation was spent
alternating between The commercial department and the District Offices’ billing
section. Some of the duties and tasks I had to complete routinely are as follows;

Calling customers
My time at the head office was spent making inquiries with customers to ask the if
they are aware of their outstanding balances and the dates the would be likely to settle
them. I was required to take their response into writing and produce a list of
customers and specific dates they promised to settle their bills. During the seven
weeks I spent at Eastern Water and Sanitation, I made phone calls to customers in
Chipata, Lundazi, Petauke and Mambwe.

Aligning of CSA Walk routes

One of my first tasks at the district office was aligning the CSA walk routes to match
the paths taken by the meter readers. This was done with an excel spreadsheet. The
purpose of the alignment was to prepare for the new system of meter reading using
smartphones.

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Entering of new meter readings
Another task I learned was to enter new meter reading after the CSAs had completed
taking readings for a month of a particular walk route. This was done using the SAGE
Evolution 200.

New Account Creation

On a day to day basis, one of the routine duties we had to perform was to create new
accounts for customers in the registry book and the system. This was done using
SAGE evolution and included taking particulars of the applicant as well as copies of
documents such as NRCs, land records or proof of ownership of the property as well
as a sketchmap and quotation. After the account was created and an account number
given, the applicant would have to first wait and have the property they want a water
connection for to be surveyed before paying.

Account Tagging
When water supply was connected to a particular account, its documents came back to
the billing section and we were required to tag it into the system and allocated walk
route so that readings could be taken and billing would commence

Entering Tagged accounts into Connection Register

When an account was tagged, the document that remained at the billing section was
was entered into an excel register and the physical document itself put in a folder and
filed securely.

Handling Customer Complaints and Queries

Perhaps the larger part of the time I spent at the company was devoted to addressing
customer complaints and queries as well as assisting customers with information and
help. This was doe either through phone calls or in person. Some of the more common
matters where requests for account statements, over billing complaints, no water
supply or low water supply, explaining the procedure of creation of new water
accounts or change of name.

Learning Experience
My time at Eastern water and Sanitation was not shot of learning experiences as I
acquired new skills and knowledge which has broadened my perception and
understanding of the business and organizational world. Among some of thr skills
learned are the following;

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Better Communication Skills
Having to interact with with customers a well as my supervisors and colleagues and
addressing different problems as well as having to create and outlay solutions
improved my communication skills vastly. Both my speech and listening abilities
have been enhanced for the better.

Improved Problem Solving Skills

Dealing with complaints and queries which more often than not are out of the
ordinary has resulted in a diverse understanding of problems and the different ways to
solve them. This skill has been instrumental to my experience at the company.

Time and Resource Management

As there were may tasks to be completed, having to manage time ad resources
efficiently while at the same time not compromising the quality of the work proved to
be a useful gain I the process as keeping time was always a priority.

Improved analytical and decision making skills

The different duties and tasks I had to complete gave me knowledge which allowed
me to make better analytical decisions using the skills and experience of different
activities and problems.

Problem Identification and solution

Network Outages
A major problem that occurred was the outage or disruption of network which slowed
down or even completely halted all operations that were concerned with going into
the SAGE Evolution system. This resulted in loss of work and going behind schedule.
Quite often, the network would need the assistance of IT personnel which took long to
resolve.
The possible solution to this would be to have a semi autonomous networking system
between different locations which will reduce the risk of network outages being being
a centralized problem. Another solution which would accompany the aforementioned
one would be to switch from traditional ethernet to powerline adaptors which use a
building’s electrical wiring as a medium of internet connectio thereby offering the
same security and speed but with less risk of outages or MoCa adaptors which use
existing COAX cabling in buildings to transmit networking frequencies from the
router to other devices

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User Limit in SAGE Evolution
The user limit for the company’s SAGE evolution 200 is 26 users. Time and again,
this number has proven too small to accommodate the size and proper functioning of a
company of this magnitude and size. This led to work being slowed down and stopped
as we had to wait for others to log out of the system.
The solution to this would be to switch to the SAGE Evolution 200 version that
allows a maximum of fifty users as this number would significantly improve the
workflow and reduce congestion.

Conclusion
My time at Eastern Water and Sanitation Company proved to be an enlightening and
mind broadening experiences as I learned many skills from a practical and hands on
perspective. This experience has given me an insight into the operations of companies
and their various activities and how they are interlinked to ensure that the company
moves forward. I am greatful to everyone who has helped me during my time at the
company.