[kictanet] Software Certification Kenya. ICT Board Project to support the BPO/ITES sector

Thu Feb 4 14:36:37 EAT 2010

I have received many direct emails and I thought I might want to respond to
one publicly and BCC the gentleman who raised the issues. Thank you for your
email.

My answers are in red.

1. Scope of the project-Is it meant to cover software alone or how does it
integrate other pertinent aspects of ITES & BPO
A. yes. for now certification covers software development both for
individuals and for organizations developing software. without pre-empting
the procurement process, this standards may take the form of certification
for process methodology. This basically means that once you
have certified the method by which the firm or individual writes his code,
you can vouch for the standards of the underlying code. One of the
challenges many projects have locally (an indeed internationally), is that
the software designers dont document what they are doing and you are left at
their mercy once they have finished, another challenge is most projects dont
allow for testing the code or the software that is written. Others because
the same person who wrote the code has the responsibility to provide final
test results for it.  Indeed software development, document and testing is
often outsourced and provides an interesting outsourcing opportunity.  There
is another project on the establishment of a BPO centre of excellence centre
which is under way.

2. Character of the project- Does the board intend to entirely transfer the
certification mandate to a private enterprise. Why not remain at the centre
to guide and oversee progress with intermitent consultancy support?
B. The thinking is still open on this. Candidates for this consultancy may
well be educational institutions who can collaborate with local institutions
for a long term capacity transfer. In the case of South Africa, this is
housed at the University of Witwatersrand in a semi-autonomous arrangement
known as the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering. http://www.jcse.org.za/.
This particular one is  a 3 way partnership between academia, business and
government and has a much more enriched mandate than we are envisioning
initially.

3. Duration- 2 years are grossly insufficient for all the tasks envisioned.
Certification can only work successfully along a continous time plan. Some
assumptions cited within the terms list are meant for fun. eg the testing
targets for 200/500 developers. Supposing no one turns out for those tests
where will liability rest? Or are we assuming that people are extremely
looking forward to those tests?
This is true. The project just gets us started with the funding available.
We forsee developing a more long term project as indicated in 2. These have
to be multi-year commitments.

4. Degree of stakeholder participation- Certifications are life and death
issues because they determine whether you qualify for the pay roll or not.
Such matters can not be left to private investors.
As indicated in 2 above, a partnership model would take care of this. I
certainly share the view, However well regulated private investors can
mitigate these risks were we to take a private sector only route.

5. Integration of existing efforts- This project may not necessarily have to
start from scratch. There are multiple instances of related efforts which
just require some little fine tuning.
I am happy to convene a stakeholder discussion on this issue, (and all the
wider issues generally). We shall seek your assistance. The consultants
terms of reference will however include establishing the state of play in
the market. We can augment this with other inputs.

6. Span of resources and their source. How much worth of Kenyan currency is
at disposal for this activity. What other options can be considered using
the same towards the goal in question
I will confirm this here later. Other options include setting up
a specialized unit at the universities, adding this to university
curricular. Any other suggestions. Actually all these are also things must
be eventually done.

7. Outcome- Is the final product meant for the local market or the foreign
one. There seems to be an unfounded assumption that once we embrace foreign
standards international business will come looking for us. Is the emphasis
on the soon to be papers or on the skill quality they will trigger?
Excellent question. We do need better standards in everything. (An example
here is the quality of Masonry, or Carpentry. Is the issue that we don't
enforce standards or that at a basic level, we have lost the reference to
standards in the first place?, or is it that Masons and Carpenters with half
backed skills have been allowed to proliferate the industry? or even perhaps
all the above!). Because we all committed to developing a world class ICT
sector, the attitude towards the basics must be that everything matters.
This is a sustainable approach. ICT is a human capacity sector.

8. Given the critical nature of standards and certification, wouldnt be more
prudent for the Board to invest in a full fledged department that will
handle the pertinent matters in that dimension. Waiting for KASNEB, KBS to
set the pace for ICT certification and standardization can be deemed as
inertia on the Board's part.
As far as ICT standards are concerned the Ministry is already working on
various dimensions as you may be aware. The Board's role here is very
project specific in order to meet the BPO /IT enabled services sector growth
as outlined in the Vision 2030.

Asante

Paul Kukubo
Chief Executive Officer, Kenya ICT Board
PO Box 27150 - 00100
Nairobi, Kenya

12th Floor, Teleposta Towers Koinange Street

Tel +254 20 2089061, +254 20 2211960

Fax: +254 20 2211962
Cell: + 254 735 180001

website: www.ict.go.ke
skype: kukubopaul
googletalk: pkukubo
____________________
Vision: Kenya becomes a top ten global ICT hub

Mission: To champion and actively enable Kenya to adopt and exploit ICT,
through promotion of partnerships, investments and infrastructure growth for
socio economic enrichment

>
> On 2/2/10, Paul Kukubo <pkukubo at ict.go.ke> wrote:
>
>> Thank you for your questions. many have written to me directly to seek
>> clarification.
>>
>>
>> I have received a flurry of questions on the status report and I will
>> respond to those that are of a recurring nature directly on this list while
>> pointing listers to the website www.ict.go.ke for more information and
>> updates on aspect of the projects.
>>
>> *
>> *
>>
>> *Objective of the assignment*
>>
>> The objective of this assignment is to recruit a leading international
>> academic institution or standards body to develop and implement an
>> internationally recognized and sustainable software developer certification
>> program (Certification Program) for Kenya. The Certification Program will
>> have multiple components, including content and processes for local software
>> developers to prepare, register and be certified; an Internet enabled
>> credentialing program; and an initial pilot testing, evaluation and fine
>> tuning of the Certification Program. The program should be underpinned by a
>> sustainable business model.**
>>
>>
>> * Scope of services*
>>
>> i.  *Inception Report and Business Plan:*  Provide an Inception Report
>> that contains a description of start-up activities, the detailed work plan,
>> methodologies, and an estimate of the time allocation for involved personnel
>> from both the Government of Kenya and the organization’s team. In addition,
>> to provide a business plan that spells out the resources to be deployed and
>> the results proposed to be achieved. The business plan should also propose
>> long term, sustainable business model options for the Certification Program.
>>
>> ii.                 *Content Development:* Develop appropriate content
>> for certification in close collaboration with relevant partners; including
>> leading international and local IT companies, academic institutions,
>> governments, international standards bodies and industry/trade associations.
>> The developed content should have their explicit support in terms of
>> relevance and quality, be based on the latest technologies and extensible to
>> address the major languages (C, C++, Java), operating systems, language
>> combinations, and software development tools and environments.
>>
>> iii.               *Certification Process Development: *Develop an
>> internationally recognized, authentic, secure and valid process for software
>> developer certification. This process should be developed in consultation
>> with leading IT companies and academic institutions as well as have the
>> buy-in of at least two industry associations of established countries in the
>> area of BPO, and two countries aspiring to establish themselves in this
>> domain. Countries should be chosen to be representative of at least three
>> regions out of the following: Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and
>> Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, East Asia and other
>> parts of Sub Saharan Africa. In addition, the processes should be based on
>> proven experiences in similar certification programs. The testing process
>> should be representative of real-life, professional software development.
>> The examinations should also be refreshed annually; and extendable to
>> address the full software development life cycle (including post-deployment
>> maintenance) and modern issues (including the development of secure software
>> systems). The examination must be developed using recognized techniques for
>> validation and verification of quality. Linkages may be established with one
>> or more organizations with leading testing and certification mechanisms to
>> ensure that the certification will be conducted in a secure and proctored
>> setting.
>>
>> iv.                *Provision of Internet-Enabled Credentialing Program:*Provide a web-enabled credentialing program, including functions for online
>> registration, preparation and certification.
>>
>> v.                  *Piloting:* To pilot the Certification Program with
>> an initial batch of at least 50 enrollees, comprising of local software
>> developers who should be benchmarked against a control group.
>>
>> vi.                *Evaluation Reports:* Conduct an evaluation of the
>> pilot to prepare a detailed report to recommend strategies and action plans
>> for improving the Certification Program. An evaluation should also be
>> conducted on gaps and weaknesses in software development skills, so as to
>> recommend changes in curriculum and pedagogy required as part of broader
>> education reforms in Kenya.
>>
>> vii.             *Program Refinement and Local Capacity Building:*
>> Refine the Certification Program based on the agreed recommendations of the
>> Evaluation Report, and develop capacity within the country to conduct the
>> assessments for certification.
>>
>> viii.           *‘Live’ Rollout:*  Commence ‘live’ rollout of the
>> Certification Program with assessment of certification by local
>> institutions, with the target of testing at least 200 local software
>> developers. In addition, to obtain the commitment of leading companies
>> operating globally and locally to use the results as a necessary
>> pre-requisite for their hiring decisions.
>>
>> ix.                *Mass Rollout and Marketing, and Business Model
>> Implementation:  *Implement mass rollout and marketing campaign for the
>> Certification Program across Kenya, with a target to test at least 500 local
>> software developers. In addition, to implement a business model for the
>> Certification Program that is internationally recognized, financially
>> self-sustaining and affordable for local software developers by the end of
>> this consultancy service (24 months after contract signature). A final
>> report is to be prepared to highlight the next steps to be taken by Kenya
>> for the Certification Program, including future steps on training content
>> development, certification process and local capacity building.
>>
>>
>> Paul Kukubo
>> Chief Executive Officer, Kenya ICT Board
>> PO Box 27150 - 00100
>> Nairobi, Kenya
>>
>> 12th Floor, Teleposta Towers Koinange Street
>>
>> Tel +254 20 2089061, +254 20 2211960
>>
>> Fax: +254 20 2211962
>> Cell: + 254 735 180001
>>
>> website: www.ict.go.ke
>> skype: kukubopaul
>> googletalk: pkukubo
>> ____________________
>> Vision: Kenya becomes a top ten global ICT hub
>>
>> Mission: To champion and actively enable Kenya to adopt and exploit ICT,
>> through promotion of partnerships, investments and infrastructure growth for
>> socio economic enrichment
>> Sent from Nairobi, Kenya
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> kictanet mailing list
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>>
>> This message was sent to: kamothonjenga at gmail.com
>> Unsubscribe or change your options at
>> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/kamothonjenga%40gmail.com
>>
>>
> hi
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20100204/bebe20e2/attachment.htm>