DEVELOPMENT OF AN ONLINE

RESERVATION AND MONITORING SYSTEM

FOR THE USE OF TWC DORMITORY,
FUNCTION ROOMS AND VEHICLES
Conducted by:

ARIES GLENN L. MONTESINES

Lead Researcher

MARIA CLARA B. IGNACIO

MYLENE H. SOMERA
GERRELEN D. BALBIN
LUCIA P. TABU
RITCHIE U. BRIAGAS
MELANIE M. DAJAN
MICHAEL M. CAISIP

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 2017
Contents

List of Acronyms and Abbreviations .................................................................................................... iii

List of Tables and Figures .................................................................................................................. iv
Research Summary ............................................................................................................................ v
Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Rationale ............................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Problem Statement and Objectives .................................................................................... 2
1.3 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework ............................................................................. 2
1.4 Scope and Limitations of the Study .................................................................................... 4
1.5 Report Organization ............................................................................................................ 4
Chapter 2: Review of Related Literature ............................................................................................. 4
2.1. Definitions of e-Government ............................................................................................... 5
2.2. Benefits of e-Government ................................................................................................... 5
2.3. e-Government and Good Governance Principles ............................................................... 6
2.4. e-Government and Gender Equality ................................................................................... 7
2.5. e-Government, Barriers and Critical Success Factors ........................................................ 8
2.6. e-Government and Policies ................................................................................................. 9
2.7. The TESDA Roadmap ...................................................................................................... 10
Chapter 3: Methodology .................................................................................................................... 10
3.1. The research method used ............................................................................................... 10
3.2. Data gathering methods.................................................................................................... 10
3.3. Sample Population and Sampling Frame.......................................................................... 11
3.4. Instruments and Data for Collection .................................................................................. 11
3.4.1. Primary Data. ................................................................................................................ 11
3.4.2. Secondary Data ............................................................................................................ 11
3.4.3. Instruments ................................................................................................................... 11
3.3. Data Collection Procedures .............................................................................................. 12
3.3.1. Conduct of Meetings with Research Sponsors and Systems Developer ...................... 13
3.3.2. Bench marking .............................................................................................................. 13
3.3.3. Data Analysis ................................................................................................................ 13
Chapter 4: Findings ....................................................................................................................... 14
4.1. Preparation Phase ............................................................................................................ 14
4.1.1. Requirement analysis ................................................................................................... 14
4.1.2. Business Case Use ...................................................................................................... 14
4.1.3. Actors for Systems Design and Development............................................................... 16
4.1.4. Process Flow ................................................................................................................ 17
4.1.5. Benchmarking (South Ville model) ................................................................................ 20
4.1.6. Description of the TWC Online Reservation Technical Systems Requirements ........... 22
4.2. Systems Development ...................................................................................................... 22
4.2.1. The Home Page............................................................................................................... 23
4.3. Challenges encountered ................................................................................................... 34
4.4. Future Plans ..................................................................................................................... 35
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendation ................................................................................... 36
5.1. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 36
5.2. Recommendations.................................................................................................................. 38
Reference Materials ............................................................................................................................ v

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List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
APACC Asia Pacific Accreditation and Certification Commission
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
e- TESDA Online System
TESDA
FASSU Finance and Administration Support Services Unit
ICT Information and Communications Technology
IT Information Technology
KPI Key Process Indicators
NCR National Capital Region
OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
R&D Research and Development
TechVoc Technical and Vocational
TESDA Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
TWC TESDA Women’s Center

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List of Tables and Figures
Table/Figure Description Page
Figure 1 Conceptual Framework 3
Figure 2 Policy Triangle of ICT Services 9
Table 1 Interview guide questions and observation checklist 12
Table 2 Summary of Business Case Use 15
Figure 3 Process Flow of TWC Function Room Reservation 18
Figure 4 Process Flow of the TWC Dormitory Reservation 19
Figure 5 Process Flow of the TWC Vehicle Reservation 20
Figure 6 Screen shot of the Southville Scheduler without Data 21
Figure 7 Screen shot of the Southville Scheduler with Data 21
Figure 8 TWC Reservation System Home Page Screen Shot 23
Figure 9 Function Rooms Search Availability Screen Shot 24
Figure 10 Reservation Details Page Screen Shot 25
Figure 11 Function Room Details and Equipment Request Summary Page 26
Screen Shot
Figure 12 Equipment Request Section Screen Shot 27
Figure 13 Reservation and Function Room Detailed Summary Screen Shot 28
Figure 14 Client Details and Coordinator Details Summary Screen Shot 29
Figure 15 Confirmation of Reservation Page Screen Shot 30
Figure 16 Search Availability Dormitory Screen Shot 31
Figure 17 Vehicles Search Availability Page Screen Shot 32
Figure 18 Sample – Filled-in Vehicle Search Page Screen Shot 32
Figure 19 TWC Vehicle Reservation Summary Page Screen Shot 33
Figure 20 Vehicle Submit Request Page Screen Shot 34
Table 3 Critical Success Factors and Assessment of TWC systems approach 36

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Research Summary
The Development of an Online Reservation and Monitoring System for the Use of TWC
Dormitory, Function Rooms and Vehiclesincrease the efficiency and timeliness of services and
improve the business process of the TWC. The development of the System involves studying
the reservation, occupancy and use monitoring needs, current business processes and systems
design in place at the TWC, and develop a system that increases and improves the business
process of the organization. At the end of the study, the most appropriate, efficient, and useful
system should be in place for TWC to manage its reservations, occupancy and usage of
facilities.

In conducting this action research, the research team employed desk review and use of
available secondary data, one-on-one structured or semi-structured interviews, focus group
discussions, and the direct observation method. The sponsors, the systems designer and
implementer, process owners, and the users were consulted and involved in determining the
system design. The data content was analyzed, existing policies were reviewed, the results
were contextualized based on the stakeholders and gender, andSWOT and risk analysis were
conducted over the course of the study.

The study found that there was a need to capture what the business user needs to do and what
the software needs to do to support the business user. In designing the technical details and
design of the system, some of the issues that surfaced were the lack of technologies to provide
better benchmarking for the process/system, the lack of dedicated personnel to oversee the
research and development of the system, and the need for process owners to be more involved
in developing the system, among others.

In conclusion, the critical factors needed to ensure the success of the TWC systems approach
are the presence of: drivers of reform from without and within the organization, an overall vision
and strategy, the ability to manage a project effectively, effective change management, design,
requisite competencies, and adequate funding and technological infrastructure.

Further, the research recommends for the TWC Leadership to continue championing and
promoting research and development, allocating resources for the maintenance, expansion and
roll out of the systems proven to be efficient and effective to the TWC, and supporting innovative
approaches to systems development and promotion of information systems.

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 Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Rationale

Almost all governments are moving towards digitalization and automation of services to provide
more efficient and effective ways of delivering services to citizens. The use of information and
communications technology can bring about differentiated experiences in actualizing better
government performances both in its internal and external operations and business processes.
When the performance areas of government become aligned in actualizing public good, the
resulting benefits can include cost reductions, revenue growth, greater convenience and
increased transparency. (World Bank cited in ICTD UNAPCICT 2008)

The World Bank (2000) defines e-Government as the use by government agencies of
information technologies, such as use of the internet, wide area networks, and mobile
computing, that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms
of government.1These technologies can serve a variety of different ends: “better delivery of
government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen
empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management.”
(World Bank, 2000)For the OECD, the term “e-Government” focuses on the use of new ICTs by
governments as applied to the full range of government functions. In particular, the networking
potential offered by the Internet and related technologies has the potential to transform the
structures and operation of government. Hence e-Government holds tremendous potential to
strengthen targeted service delivery to women (Huyer 2010 cited in Gurumurthy, IT for Change,
2016) and men.

The TWC has made significant strides in advocating for women empowerment and gender
mainstreaming since its establishment in 1993.It aims to become a leading Knowledge Hub on
Women Empowerment in TVET in ASEAN. This is in line with the proposed expansion of the
TWC, in preparation for the Philippines’ leadership role in ASEAN 50, to grow as the ASEAN
Women Research and Development and Vocational Training Center.

However, there is a need to strengthen the TWC’s research and development function due to its
limited number of personnel and capacity. Likewise, the APACC recommends that TWC
develop and conduct action researches that will “find solutions to existing problems in the
workplace or environment or searching for a clarifying explanation of an observed
phenomenon”.

In preparation for the TWC’s APACC accreditation in 2018, it sought to take proactive measures
by conducting researches in partnership with external researchers who will assist and guide the
R&D staff members in the research processes. In so doing the TWC expects to improve its R&D
capacity and specifically:(1) increase the participation of the R&D staff in research and
development; (2) develop and undertake action researches; (3) utilize the research outputs
within the institution, community and industry; (4) publish the research outputs in the TWC
newsletters, research journal, and the website; and (5) Enhance the capacity of the TWC R&D
staff in the conduct of action researches through technical assistance of an external expert.

1The World Bank, “Definition of e-Government”, http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/

EXTINFORMATIONANDCOMMUNICATIONANDTECHNOLOGIES/EXTEGOVERNMENT/0,,contentMDK:20507153~menuPK:7
02592~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:702586,00.html

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The TWC sees the potential benefits of using information, communications technology in its
operations and service delivery. While it requires more capacity (resources, time and effort) to
be able to actualize these benefits, it has gradually and willfully implemented creating and
developing its online systems. One of these include the online reservation and monitoring
system for the use of the dormitory, function rooms and vehicles.

This research was done in collaboration with the TWC officials, the ICT administrator, the
Research and Development staff, the process owners and users of the TWC administration
department and the dormitory staffs.

1.2 Problem Statement and Objectives

The main research question of this action research is: What is the system that is most useful
and appropriate for TWC in the reservation and monitoring of occupancy and usage of its
facilities. Thus, the principal research objective is to assess the existing systems and identify the
most appropriate and useful and more efficient for TWC in its reservations, occupancy and
usage of facilities. Specifically:

1. To identify and assess the most appropriate system useful for TWC in the reservations
and monitoring of occupancy and usage of its facilities;
2. To document and assess the requirements and development of the TWC system;
3. To identify the criteria used in the selection and development of the system;
4. To document the business processes that are undertaken to ensure an efficient and
cost-effective system;
5. To document and assess the testing and training undertaken of the new system; and
6. To document/identify the future requirements in relation to the maintenance and
upgrading of the system.

1.3 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

The study delves on the e-Government framework and the processes of systems development.
The research is a descriptive study that aims to describe the business process, systems
development, and use of the system.

The framework

The study anchors on the e-Government framework and systems development concepts and
theories.
E-Government is a relatively new concept which refers to the use of ICTs to improve the
activities of a government agency or organizations. The action research being undertaken by
TWC is covered by this concept.

The system being proposed and will be developed will be tested whether it will increase
efficiency and timeliness and improve the business process of the organization. The conceptual
framework of the action research is shown in Figure 1.

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 Figure 1: Conceptual Framework

Definition of concepts

Reservation, occupancy and use monitoring needs. The TWC identifies the need to develop
a system that will enable users to reserve in the dormitory and room facilities, as well as monitor
the occupancy and use of these facilities including the vehicle reservation and use.

Business process review. Business process refers to the set of activities and tasks which are
linked to deliver a service or product to clients. In this research the business process involves
the document forms for reservations and use of the facilities such as the dormitory, rooms, and
vehicles.

Systems design. Systems design refers to the definition of the architecture, modules,
interfaces, and the data for a system to meet specified requirements. Operationally the systems
design refers to the illustration and documentation of the design to show the systems elements
and how the system will be developed using software programs and applications, the required
data, as well as relationships from one system to another. The design shall also cover the
necessary steps in the systems development cycle including the procurement of goods and
services that may be required in the process.

Systems development and testing. Systems development is defined here as the actual
creation and implementation of a new software application that is customized as a database
system for the reservation, occupancy and monitoring of use of the dormitory and room facilities
and vehicle usage. Once the actual systems and modules are in process and developed, these
will be tested by the developers and users to ensure that these meet the systems business
requirements.

Systems training. If the systems have passed the testing, the information on use are
disseminated through training.

Increased efficiency and improved business process. Upon development, testing, and use,
the system will be assessed to show its actual rate of efficiency – time, motion and costs - to
compare with the manual process by process owners both the deployment and monitoring
group as well as the users, specifically the clients who will make reservations of the facilities.

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1.4 Scope and Limitations of the Study

The study covers the reservation systems for the TWC rooms, dormitory, and the vehicles. The
research activities were limited to the meetings conducted, the benchmarking activities, the
observation on the module development of the system, and the user testing. The research was
conducted from the months of August to December 2017.

While the research activities were planned to visit a number of agencies and institutions for the
benchmarking activities, only two responded and accommodated the request for observation
and downloading of similar systems.

The research was also limited by the busy schedules of the TWC staff because of other
important planned institutional activities during the research time frame.

1.5 Report Organization

The report outline is organized as follows

The Introduction/Background and Purpose Section of the Evaluation provides an overview

of the study and discuss the purpose and intended audiences of the research, and the key
questions as identified by the TWC researchers.

Review of Related Literature offers a wide range of discussion on the e-Government

framework that guided the research study.

The Research Approach and Method Section contains a brief summary of the approaches
and methods to be used in the research as well as additional information, including instruments.

The Findings Section presents the empirical facts and other types of evidence the
researcher(s) collected on the observations of the systems development process.

The Conclusions and Recommendations Section presents the interpretations or judgments

about the research findings based on the key questions, and enumerates potential actions
offered to be taken based on the results of the research.

The Annexes shall include available supplementary information on the evaluation itself, further
description of the data collection/analysis methods used, data collection instruments,
summaries of interviews, statistical tables, and other relevant documents.

Chapter 2: Review of Related Literature

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This chapter offers a wide range of discussions and studies on e-Government and how these
studies are related to this research.

2.1. Definitions of e-Government

There are many definitions of e-Government. The UN defines it as the utilization of the Internet
and World Wide Web for delivering government information and services to citizens. 2For the
World Bank, as mentioned earlier, it is the use by government agencies of information
technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the
ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses and other arms of government. These
technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of government services to
citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access
to information, or more efficient government management. And for the OECD, the term “e-
Government” focuses on the use of new ICTs by governments as applied to the full range of
government functions. In particular, the networking potential offered by the Internet and related
technologies has the potential to transform the structures and operation of government. 3
Broadly, e-Government can be defined as the application of ICTs to enhance the performance
of government functions and services. More specifically, e-Government is “the use of digital
technologies to transform government operations in order to improve effectiveness, efficiency
and service delivery.”4 Accordingly, e-Government should leverage ICTs to help the public
sector operate more efficiently and provide better services to internal constituents, citizens and
businesses.

The government of the Philippines has long been planning and implementing e-Government
through the automation of its front and back end applications.

2.2. Benefits of e-Government

The OECD enumerates the benefits of e-Government as:5

• e-Government helps improve efficiency in government. ICTs are a necessary enabler of

reforms to the ways in which public administrations work. Improving internal operating
systems—financial systems, purchasing and payment arrangements, internal
communications and sharing of information—and programme processing and delivery
arrangements can generate operating efficiencies and improve performance.

• Enhanced quality of service has been a major component of public administration reform
over the past two decades, and the use of ICTs to generate improvements in services
has been a primary driver for e-Government activity. In particular, the use of the Internet
has given a major boost to customer focused, seamless services, which aim to
transcend the structure of public administrations. Online services are increasingly seen

2 UN Division for Public Economics and Public Administration and American Society for Public Administration, Benchmarking E-
Government: A Global Perspective - Assessing the UN Member States (2002), p. 1, http://www.unpan.org/
Portals/0/60yrhistory/documents/Publications/Benchmarking%20E-Government.2002.pdf
3 OECD, “e-Government: Analysis Framework and Methodology”, OECD Public Management Service, Public Management

Committee, 13 December 2001, p. 2,

http://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=PUMA(2001)16/ ANN/REV1 and docLanguage=En
4 Mark A. Forman, “e-Government: Using IT to transform the effectiveness and efficiency of government”, presentation dated

15 June 2005, p. 4, http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTEDEVELOPMENT/Resources/FormanEgov(6_05).ppt

5 OECD, The e-Government Imperative, OECD e-Government Studies (Paris, 2003), pp. 28-29

http://pavroz.ru/dov/egovimperetive.pdf

5
 as part of a broader services strategy, with important customer and efficiency benefits.
As users of public services are often obliged to interact with government, user
dissatisfaction with the quality of government services can quickly become a major
political issue.

• ICTs can support more effective outcomes in key policy areas such as health, welfare
services, security and education. Ultimately, governments and public administrations
exist to deliver policy outcomes, and ICTs are a major enabler across all major policy
areas. The use of the Internet to deliver value in these areas is a major preoccupation in
member countries.

• Better governance arrangements in themselves will promote economic policy objectives.

More specific effects may range from impacts on ICT production, e-commerce diffusion
and business productivity to indirect effects such as reduced fiscal requirements owing
to more effective programmes and efficiencies flowing through to the broader economy.

• e-Government can help forward the reform agenda. When aligned with modernization
goals, implementing e-Government can help administrations focus on the additional
changes needed to meet service delivery and good governance concerns. At the same
time, it provides some valuable reform tools and builds support from high-level leaders
and government employees for achieving those objectives.

• Through citizen engagement, e-Government can improve the overall trust relationship
between government and public administrations. e-Government, by improving
information flows and encouraging active participation by citizens is increasingly seen as
a valuable tool for building trust between governments and citizens.

In summary, e-Government can offer a number of benefits, including better quality government
services, higher efficiency, less costs, a lower administrative burden on citizens and businesses,
shorter processing times, increased citizen participation in the decision-making process, and
enhanced transparency.

2.3. e-Government and Good Governance Principles

E-Government must operate within the framework of good governance. The latter is also
referred to as the Good Governance Principles. These principles include1. Legitimacy and
Voice –participation and consensus orientation; 2. Direction – anchored on a strategic vision; 3.
Performance – centered on responsiveness, effectiveness and efficiency processes; 4.
Accountability – accountability and transparency; 5. Fairness – covering equity and the rule of
law.6

On Legitimacy and Voice, participation refers to the idea that all men and women should have
a voice in decision-making, either directly or through legitimate intermediate institutions that
represent their insights; and consensus orientation sees the mediation of differing interests to
reach a broad consensus on what is in the best interest of the group and, where possible, on
policies and procedures.

6www.goodgovernance.org.au/about-good-governance/what-is-good-governance/

6
Direction in good governance takes a serious look on strategic vision where leaders and the
public have a broad and long-term perspective on good governance and human development,
along with a sense of what is needed for such development.

Performance anchors on responsiveness where institutions and processes try to serve all
stakeholders; and on effectiveness and efficiency where processes and institutions produce
results that meet needs while making the best use of resources.

Accountability is focused on decision-makers in government, the private sector and civil

society organizations that are accountable to the public, as well as to institutional stakeholders.
Likewise, accountability refers to transparency which is built on the free flow of information.
Processes, institutions and information are directly accessible to those concerned with them,
and enough information is provided to understand and monitor them.

On Fairness, the concepts of equity where all men and women have opportunities to improve or
maintain their well-being; and in the rule of law which upholds the legal frameworks that are fair
and enforced impartially, particularly the laws on human rights.

Having these principles in mind, Good Governance requirements in e-Government therefore

outlines the organization and leadership imperatives for efficient, effective, reliable, sustainable
and secure governance and management of ICT services. It is specifying decision rights and
accountability framework to encourage desirable behavior in the use of ICT in the organization.

Leadership comprises the decisions stated at the high-level son how ICT is to be used by the
organization in order to bring about the business and service principles in pursuing the social
and economic development goals. Good governance requirements in e-Government also must
cover the Architecture that signifies the decision on the integrative model and the set of
performance, process, data, application and technology reference standards to guide the
organization to logically mapped out the requirements and metrics to be implemented in the
solution development and delivery of ICT services. It must also include the ICT Infrastructure
where decision on the integrative, standard-based and strategic approaches to acquire and
construct the ICT foundation of the organization’s operating platform, network, application,
databases, security and business continuity. Furthermore, Application Solution Needs must be
based on decisions about the suitable ICT application to be acquired or developed to enable the
technology mediated process to create, capture, share, and re-use information, and to mediate
communication, transaction and interactivity.

2.4. e-Government and Gender Equality

For the scholars and policy practitioners, e-Government is certainly much more than the narrow
idea of the use of the Internet and other ICTs by government agencies “for delivering
government information and services to citizens”.7They subscribe to an extended idea of e-
Government – one that aligns with the idea of e-Government as the use of a wide range of
digital technologies by government agencies, to restructure social relationships – between
government and citizens, government and businesses, and within the various arms/wings of
government (World Bank 2009, cited in Ju Choi and Zoo 2011).In this vision, e-Government
comprises the sum total of efforts by government agencies for “... (making) governments more
accountable, transparent, effective and responsive to citizens’ demands;...based on a citizen-
centered approach that tailors services to people’s needs rather than to the needs of the agency

7 UN 2005, cited in Jain Palvia and Sharma 2007, pg. 1 cited in Anita Gurumurthy et al, 2016

7
delivering them”8.Here, e-Government is viewed as comprising not only supply side issues such
as the 'push' for e-services, but critical demand side-efforts for citizen uptake and engagement.

e-Government efficacy, especially to meet the goals of women's empowerment, is contingent

upon sensitivity and sophistication in the design of service delivery. The connectivity
architecture is an important ingredient in this mix, and serves both institutional and individual
capacities. Thus, “....(t)he mobile is but one part of the menu, with a wide-ranging complex of
servers, apps, platforms, wired and wireless connectivity, human organization and contextual
priorities and much more, powering what we see as 'use'.9For the majority of the world's
marginalized women, situated in developing country contexts, the ability to access the full range
of opportunities in the emerging digital eco-system hence requires adequate attention in e-
Government initiatives to the connectivity architecture.

2.5. e-Government, Barriers and Critical Success Factors

E-Government is a platform for government to realize the value for money and right service to
speak the results required by open government and of development goals (MDGs and SDGs).

Critical processes of e-Government require governance and management, assessment and

planning, financial management, solution development and project management,
implementation monitoring and evaluation, and continuous improvement.

On one hand the barriers to e-Government10 include:

• Leadership failures resulting in slow and patchy progress to e-Government;

• Financial inhibitors limiting the flow of investment to e-Government innovation;
• Poor coordination across jurisdictional, administrative and geographic boundaries that
holds back e-Government networking benefits;
• Workplace and organizational inflexibility impairing adaptability to new networked forms
of information sharing and service provision;
• Lack of trust heightening fears about inadequate security and privacy safeguards in
electronic networks;
• Poor technical design leading to incompatibilities between information and
communications technology (ICT) systems or difficult-to-use e-Government services and
digital divides and choices, where inequalities lead to differences in motivations and
competences that constrain and fragment e-Government take-up and fail to address
particular user needs.11

On the other hand, the Critical Success Factors in e-Government solutions12 are:

• External pressure - Driver for reform from outside government, e.g. from civil society
• Internal political desire -Driver from key government officials for reform and for
achievement of e-Government goals

8 Huyer 2010, pg. 1 cited in Anita Gurumurthy et al, 2016

9 Gurumurthy and Chami 2014, pg. 2 cited in Anita Gurumurthy et al, 2016
10 Breaking Barriers to eGovernment study (2007): http://www.egovbarriers.org/

11 Ibid.
12 Cited in John Macasio’s powerpoint presentations on ICTD training.

8
 • Overall vision and strategy- Overall vision and master plan for good governance and
for e-Government, identifying 'where we want to get to', seeing IT as the means not the
end, and integrating IT with broader reform objectives
• Effective project management - Including the use of rigorous process of development
and identification in consultation with stakeholders, the use of PM methodologies to
ensure results and benefits to government, beneficiaries and stakeholders.
• Effective change management - Including leadership with a project champion, use of
incentives to create commitment to and ownership of e-gov project, and stakeholder
involvement to build support and minimize resistance
• Effective design - An incremental/piloting approach with feasible objectives and quick,
scalable outcomes; participatory involvement of all stakeholders, leading to designs that
meet real user needs and match real user contexts.
• Requisite competencies - Presence of the necessary skills and knowledge, especially
within government itself; need both management and IT skills and knowledge
• Adequate technological infrastructure - Presence of the necessary skills and
knowledge, especially within government itself; need both management and IT skills and
knowledge
• Adequate Fund - Source of fund to initiate, implement and sustain e-Government
Solutions framework.

2.6. e-Government and Policies

For e-Government to happen, policies need to be in place. The screen shot below shows the
“Policy Triangle of ICT services; these are the business policies, information policies, and
technology policies.

Figure 2: Policy Triangle of ICT Services

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From the above diagram, ICT solutions must be supported by policies specifically to be able to:

• Enable mandate, policies, strategies, standards and governance to bring the value of e-
Government to programs and projects for reform and development agenda
• Redirect business process improvement of agencies to match performance driven
objectives for the internal and external customers.
• Connect the citizen to the network of engagement, participation and productivity.
• Be connected to the platform where citizen finds presence, meaning, expression,
dialogue and transaction.
• Realize citizen centric and open systems to bring information, transaction, participation
and communication anywhere, anytime, and in any device.

2.7. The TESDA Roadmap

The TESDA Roadmap provides the outcomes and strategic guidelines for its plans of action.
The outcomes relevant to this study pertains to O2: Leadership, Management and Innovation.
Under this outcome category are the strategies: S1 Implement Good Governance Systems and
under this strategy are two main programs: the ICT enabled systems such as the e-TESDA and
the TechVoc Information System. The development of applications for more efficient and
effective reservation and monitoring processes are considered to be relevant projects in the
delivery of the TWC administrative processes.

Chapter 3: Methodology
This chapter covers the discussion on the research methodology. The sections include the
method of research, the data collection method, analysis, and procedures of the research.

3.1. The research method used

The study is an action research that aims to document the processes and activities involved in
the business process review, systems design and development, and actual use of the system.
Action research as a method is outcome based with the purpose of improving the
organizational systems. It also calls for a participatory research as it involves several
stakeholders such as process owners and users in the actual study.

3.2. Data gathering methods

In general, the following methods for gathering information and data were used: desk review
and use of available secondary data, one-on-one structured or semi-structured interviews, focus
group discussions, and the direct observation method.

1. Desk review pertaining to the available secondary data from TWC and external
sources. Using content analysis, data that indicated and measure variability and
evidence were culled from documents made available. In the course of observation and
data analysis there were patterns and deviations that have emerged which were
deemed important to uncover and seek explanations and relationships of variables in

10
 the study.
2. One-on-one structured or semi-structured interviews refer to in-depth interviews to
individuals who have thorough knowledge about the activities. These include key
stakeholders of the research foci.
3. Direct observation of the actors in the documentation of systems design, development,
testing, and training.

3.3. Sample Population and Sampling Frame

The samples included the sponsors, the systems designer and implementer, process owners,
and the users (based on alpha users/beta users) in terms of navigating the system, when the
system is being used in varying Internet connection speeds, accessibility to people with or
without visual impairment.

Below are the main respondents and actors of the action research:
• Systems designer and developer
• Business process owners
• Systems users

The systems design were largely based on the review of the business processes in relation to
the reservation and scheduling activities. Likewise, in the validation of activities user testing
were conducted to test the use of the system.

3.4. Instruments and Data for Collection

3.4.1. Primary Data.

These data come from the respondents directly interviewed and observed, and those who
participated in the user testing.

3.4.2. Secondary Data

Documents, reports, policies, and other related studies formed part of the secondary data. In the
draft and final reports, the sources of the secondary data are provided in the Annex section.

3.4.3. Instruments
The research instruments included checklists for secondary data and interview schedules are
provided below. Part of the instrument preparation is to ensure efforts toward ethical research
consideration, specifically soliciting the informed consent from the respondents during the
interviews and direct observations. The research team also observed gender fair language and
the sex disaggregation of data.

Table 1 provides the interview guide questions and observation checklist. The guide questions
are specifically outlined based on the main problem statement and objectives of the research.
The questions are detailed according to the categories are drawn from the phases of the action
research: the preparation phase, actual or implementation phase and future plans. The matrix
also provides the source of data and information for these phases.

Table 1: Interview guide questions and observation checklist

11
Categories and Source of Data Interview Guide Questions
Indicators
1. Preparation: - TWC Sponsor - Why is there a need for this system?
Background and - TWC systems - Efficiency benefits? (time and motion)
rationale of developer, - Cost benefits?
requirements or - TWC R&D - What are the business requirements?
definition of - Who are the process owners?
requirements - What are the current business process
and practices?
- Who are the users?
- Who are the systems developer?
- What are policies for collaboration?

2. Actual - Source of - What are the systems requirements?

implementation prototype and Functional and non-functional
- Business documentation requirements? Reasons for these
process from designer requirements
- Systems and - What was the design? Platform?
development developers, Modules? Program/applications?
- Testing process
- What are the requirements? System
- Training owners and
Protocols?
users
- What are the criteria used for
procurement, access, and program
application?
- What is the timeframe of systems
development, testing and training?
- What were the challenges encountered in
the development process and actual
implementation?
• In development,
• in testing,
• in training?
- How do the process owners and users
find the system during testing? During
training?
3. Future plans - Systems - What are recommendations for
administrator, improvement? For maintenance (who
sponsors, and how)?
process owners - When is this planned to take place?
and users - What is the budget allocated for this
activity?

3.3. Data Collection Procedures

During data collection, the following were observed:

12
 3.3.1. Conduct of Meetings with Research Sponsors and Systems Developer
The research involved the TWC officials and staff. Several meetings were conducted to
discuss the research design, conceptual framework, the research methods, and
implementation and testing of the system application or the ICT solution developed. These
meetings were documented.

3.3.2. Bench marking

Benchmarking is a tool that facilitates the identification of possible projects for an organization
by comparing and measuring an organization’s policies, practices and performance against
those of high performing organizations in a similar sector.

The benchmarking processes involved are:

• Identification of problems areas using a range of research techniques such as
interviews, observations, focus group discussion, process mapping, quality control
variance reports and financial ratio analysis. It is important to establish a baseline or the
current status of the organization that will serve as a reference point for any
improvement effort;
• Identification of organizations that are leaders in the area of interest, by looking at the
best in the industry or in any country;
• Surveying the organizations identified for alternative measures and best practices, and
• Visiting the organizations identified to have leading-edge practices.

The research team followed research protocols such as informing the TWC and its concerned
partners. Letters were prepared or sought from TWC to introduce the research team. If required
and helpful, the guide interview questions were shared with implementing and partner
organizations.

The research team visited a number of private and government entities with existing ICT
solutions. These were the Southville International room and vehicle reservations and
scheduling, the University of the Philippines for dormitory ICT applications. The TWC systems
administrator and Research and Development staff were able to access the systems used by
the agencies they visited.

3.3.3. Data Analysis

In general, the data analysis used was of a qualitative approach, where data was collected from
qualitative method of data gathering, specifically the document reviews, in-depth interviews and
direct observations. The data from the sources were collated and organized for disaggregation
and consolidation of results. Triangulation and comparison of data were used based on the
collated results of the data.

Disaggregation were based on the respondents’ sex, age, and location of respondents.
Triangulation were used based on the trends of indicators for the research categories.

The Research Team used the following methods to analyze and interpret the consolidated data:
1. Content analysis of meeting, interview, and observation documents and secondary
data sources. The research team looked into data categories and indicators from
gathered forms.
2. Policy review on policies and guidelines related to the research.

13
 3. Stakeholder and gender analysis were used to contextualize the results as well as
cultural analysis if applicable
4. SWOT and risk analysis were used to understand the efficiency and effectiveness of
results when found applicable.

Chapter 4: Findings
This chapter covers the findings and analysis of the study. The report includes a discussion of
the business process, and the systems design.

4.1. Preparation Phase

4.1.1. Requirement analysis

The TWC is a specialized training is a specialized training center well known for proving free
quality skills training to women. Aside from training the center also has lecture and function
rooms that are being used for events, training and lectures, presentation programs and the like.

The TWC Online Facilities Reservation System an online system designed to manage
reservations made by clients/users of TWC facilities such as TWC Dorm, Function rooms/Hall
and vehicles.

The objectives of the system are:

• To reduce the workload of staff needed to manage the scheduling of the facilities and
vehicles;
• To improve customer service by using ICT resources
• Improve communications
• Eliminate scheduling conflicts;
• Save time and eliminate long process of making a request

4.1.2. Business Case Use

There is a need to capture what the business user needs to do and what the software needs to
do to support the business user. Use cases must include technical detail and design
documentation.

Use cases contain the following elements13:Table 2 provides a summary of the Business Case
Use of the TWC Online Facilities Reservation System.

Table 2: Summary of Business Case Use

Element Brief Description of Actual systems use case
Element

13 http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/what-is-a-use-case/

14
 Element Brief Description of Actual systems use case
Element
Name A clear verb/noun or The TWC Online Facilities Reservation System
actor/verb/noun descriptor
that communicates the
scope of the use case
Brief A brief paragraph of text The client can reserve/book the usage of the
Description describing the scope of the facilities or vehicles through the TWC website
use case anytime anywhere;
Conflicts can be easily detected upon selecting
the preferred dates;
The system can quickly displace availability of the
facilities and vehicles;
User clients and guests can easily get a detailed
confirmation of their reservations through their
emails;
Actors A list of the types of users Process owners:
who can engage in the - FASSU/Facilities Coordinator
activities described in the - FASSU Head
use case. Actor names - Dormitory Manager
should not correspond with - IT Administrator/Developer
job titles. Users:
- IT Administrator/Developer
- FASSU
- TWC Dormitory Manager
- TWC Driver
- Clients
Preconditions Anything the solution can - Internet connection
assume to be true when the - Web server and web space with valid URL
use case begins - Email address of clients
- System generated Reference code after using
the system
Basic Flow The set of steps the actors The set of steps the actors take to accomplish the
take to accomplish the goal goal of the use case. A clear description of what
of the use case. A clear the system does in response to each user action.
description of what the See screen shots for explanation.
system does in response to
each user action
Alternate Capture the less common Capture the less common user/system
Flows user/system interactions interactions such as being on a new computer and
answering a security question. See screen shots
for explanation
Exception The things that can happen The things that can happen that prevent the user
Flows that prevent the user from from achieving their goal such as providing
achieving their goal incorrect user name or password. See screen
shots for explanation
Post Anything that must be true Anything that must be true when the use case is
Conditions when the use case is complete.
complete. Discussions on maintenance is provided in
succeeding sections.

15
 4.1.3. Actors for Systems Design and Development

The actors of the actions research were consulted during the preparatory phase. Below is a
description of each set of actors and their role in the preparation and creation of the systems
design and modules.

4.1.3.1. The business process owners

The business process owners are responsible for managing and overseeing the objectives and
performance of a process through KPI.A process owner has the authority to make required
changes related to achieving process objectives.14

For the TWC Online Reservation System the following are the business process owners:
o FASSU/Facilities Coordinator. The responsibility includes
▪ Monitoring the reservations of function rooms and vehicles.
▪ Preparing the Billing Statement
▪ Recommending approval to the FASSU Head of the free use/special
discounts given to selected clients (e.g. TESDA NCR, Aboitiz, etc.)
▪ Preparing reports in relation to the use of TWC Function Rooms and
Vehicles
▪ Preparing of trip tickets

o FASSU Head. The responsibility includes

▪ Approval of free use and special discounts for the use of TWC Function
Rooms, Dormitory and Vehicles

o The Dormitory Manager is the Administrator of the Dormitory Reservations; the

responsibility includes
▪ Monitors Check-in and Check-out of clients
▪ Preparing the Billing Statement for the use of TWC Dormitory
▪ Assigned rooms to the guests/client during check-in
▪ Preparing reports in relation to the use of TWC Dormitory

o The IT Administrator/Developer is the IT Administration of the system; the

responsibility includes
▪ Preparing the system to access by clients via internet
▪ Upload updates
▪ Technical Support of clients
▪ Back-up and maintenance of databases used

4.1.3.2. The users and end-users

A system user is a person who interacts with a system, typically through an interface to extract
some functional benefit. User-centered design, often associated with human-computer
interaction inside a wide range of generic systems.15The users are also the group of persons
who will ultimately use the system or software product or the actual beneficiaries.

The TWC Users of the online reservation system are the following:

14https://www.techopedia.com/definition/4525/process-owner
15https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/end-user-
development

16
 o IT Administrator/Developer
o Finance and Administrative Support Services Unit (Facilities Coordinator)
o TWC Dormitory Manager
o TWC Driver
o Clients

The clients are the customers or end users of the system. They are supposed to benefit from
the system apart from other users who operate the piece of software.

4.1.3.3. The systems developer

The systems developer is the IT Administrator of TWC.

The systems development is not externally procured. It was done in-house by the TWC IT
Administrator.

4.1.4. Process Flow

A business process follows steps and stages of tasks to complete a result. A process flow chart
represents the business processes and are displayed visually. It is a type of diagram showing
the steps as boxes of various kinds and their order by connecting them with arrows. This
diagrammatic representation illustrates a solution model to a given problem. A process flow
analysis can be conducted to understand the current condition of any processes. It draws upon
waste elimination, value adding and visual management to map out an accurate representation
of the current processes used to be able to identify areas for improvement of activities.16

The current process flow of the TWC Function Room Reservation is shown in Figure 3. There
are several steps to take from start to tend of the business process. In the TWC Online
Reservation System, there are several steps that are eliminated which are described in the
succeeding discussions.

16 https://crmbook.powerobjects.com/basics/business-process-flows/

17
 Figure 3: Process Flow of TWC Function Room Reservation

The current process flow of the TWC Dormitory Reservation is shown in Figure 4. There are
several steps to take from start to tend of the business process. In the TWC Online Reservation
System, there are several steps that are eliminated which are described in the succeeding
discussions.

18
 Figure 4: Process Flow of the TWC Dormitory Reservation

The current process flow of the TWC Vehicle Reservation is shown in Figure 5. There are
several steps to take from start to tend of the business process. In the TWC Online Reservation
System, there are several steps that are eliminated which are described in the succeeding
discussions.

19
 Figure 5: Process Flow of the TWC Vehicle Reservation

4.1.5. Benchmarking (South Ville model)

Benchmarking process includes the study on the Southville school scheduler. This can be
accessed in the following link http://www.southville.edu.ph/scheduler/Web/.

The research team visited a number of private and government entities with existing ICT
solutions. These were the Southville room and vehicle reservations and scheduling, the
University of the Philippines for dormitory ICT applications. The TWC systems administrator and
Research and Development staff were able to access the systems used by the agencies they
visited.

The Southville International School and Colleges “Online Scheduler” is a reservation and
scheduler systems; the way it is viewed are shown in the screen shots of Figures 6 and 7, the
former without data and the latter with data. The application requires registration of users. It has
several features and functions as shown below.

20
Figure 6: Screen shot of the Southville Scheduler without Data

Figure 7: Screen shot of the Southville Scheduler with Data

21
 4.1.6. Description of the TWC Online Reservation Technical Systems
Requirements

This section describes the functional and non-functional requirements of the system, the data
requirements, systems protocol, criteria for selection, and timeframe of development, testing,
and training.

Functional and non-functional requirements: The term refers to a software engineering concept
that shows and specifies what a system should be able to do to perform its functions. It is used
to identify user requirements specifications in the software life cycle. It is a capability
requirement that a product must have to make it function for the user. Some of the typical
functional requirements are related to business rules, transaction corrections, adjustments and
cancellations, administrative functions, authentication, authorization or the functions user is
delegated to perform, audit tracking, external interphases, certification requirements, reporting
requirements, historical data, and legal or regulatory requirements to name a few. 17The non-
functional requirements refer to specifications on how the system should behave, constrained
upon the systems behavior. Typical non-function requirements involve performance, capacity,
reliability, maintainability, security, manageability, data integrity, Interoperability, scalability,
availability, recoverability, serviceability, regulatory, environmental and usability.18

The system requires the following to operate:

o Internet connection
o Web server and web space with valid URL
o Email address of clients
o System generated Reference code after using the system

For personal computers (PC) or laptops, the system can operate in the following:
• Operating System: Windows XP or higher/Mac-OS X – Leopard or higher/Linux (GUI
Environment)
• Browser: Internet Explorer 10 or higher/Safari/Google Chrome ver 7.0.517 or
higher/Mozilla Firefox ver 56.0.2 or higer

For Smart Phones, the system can operate in the following:

• Operating System: IOS, Windows or Android
• Browser: Internet Explorer/Opera/Google Chrome/Safari/Firefox

4.2. Systems Development

The TWC Online Reservation System is web-based application. Web applications are
applications accessed by users over a network such as the Internet or the intranet. It may mean
a computer software application that is coded in a browser supported programming language
such as JavaScript, combined with browser rendered markup language like HTML and reliant
on a common web browser to render the application executable.19The development of the
system follows a release life cycle version which includes the:
• pre-alpha - requirements document, software design, and activities before testing;
• alpha - covers core application features but unstable;

17 Mark Kozak-Holland,2009 cited in Maria Macapagal 2013 published by APCICT Primer Series 2014
18 Ibid.
19 Norik Davtian, 2012 definition cited from Wikipedia retrieved 2012.

22
 • beta version - the system may have complete set of features but some bugs are
discovered and must be available only to controlled group of users with early access
privilege to the system for the purpose of testing and feedback-
• release candidate version – system is stable, and no features will be added at this
stage; the systems is available as an early preview to users for the purpose of identifying
the last set of bugs in the system or understanding user behavior on a larger scale than
the Beta user version. If user reviews are positive, the version could be published and
may need publicity;
• Release versions may be stable but subject to further improvement, thus versions are
numbered especially if there are major changes or new features added in the software.

As of this writing, the reservation system application is still in the beta version.

4.2.1. The Home Page

Figure 8 shows the designed home page. Aside from the TWC Logo and photo of the building, it
has featured the main menu options – the Home, the Function Rooms, the Dormitory, the
Vehicles, and About (the application). Aside from the main menu the home page already directs
the user to two major options: The Search Availability Option on the right side, and the Manage
Your Reservation Option on the left side.

The Search Availability option provides the option of the facilities whether the function room or
dormitory facilities or vehicles. The default however is the function room option. When option is
chosen the date fields are for filling up; when it will be used in a time range (from and until). It
has a drop-down option where the user can just click the choice dates. It also asks for the
numbers of persons that will be attending and using the facilities.
Figure 8: TWC Reservation System Home Page Screen Shot

23
Zooming in the Function Room Search availability option, it also has time of event from start to
end and the search button. When information is filled up and search button is pressed, the
screen will be directed to the Function Reservation page (Figure 9).

Figure 9: Function Rooms Search Availability Screen Shot

The Reservation Details Page (Figure 10) provides a list of Function Room Options on the date
of reservation. The page shows the time of the function, the function room, the capacity and if
there is a scheduled activity on the said time. The page also shows the immediate succeeding
date’s schedule. Given the capacity and size of attending guests, the user may choose any of
the vacant room by ticking the button. Once the vacant room is ticked, the page will be directed
to the reservation blank field details for user accomplishment.

24
 Figure 10: Reservation Details Page Screen Shot

The Reservation field details for accomplishment is the Title of Function. Type the title, and it
will provide function room details as to the rate and estimated amount. Note that the Number of
Participants, Date of Function and Time of Function fields are saved from previous
accomplishments of the home page and availability page. The function room details page has
another option that is the equipment request. The equipment for use is listed and by ticking the
list and the quantity, it can provide you the estimated total amount if use is desired.

25
 Figure 11: Function Room Details and Equipment Request Summary Page Screen Shot

Zooming in the previous screen shot is the Equipment Request section described earlier.

26
 Figure 12: Equipment Request Section Screen Shot

Zooming in, on the same page is also the fields for the Client Details.

27
 Figure 13: Reservation and Function Room Detailed Summary Screen Shot

On the same page of the Reservation Details appears The Client Details and Coordinator
Details section has fields for accomplishments such as: Office/Organization, Address, Contact
Number (for the Client Details) and the Name, Email Address and Contact Details for the
Coordinator Details.

On the same page is the “Terms and Condition” link and button which has to be ticked before
clicking the Submit Request box.

28
 Figure 14: Client Details and Coordinator Details Summary Screen Shot

Once Submit Request is clicked the user will be directed to the Confirmation of Reservation
page. This has the summary of all the details ticked and accomplished. A reference number is
issued automatically. At the bottom of the Confirmation of Reservation page there is a note that
says that this is not a Billing Statement. Also, once the request is submitted, the system will
automatically send email message to the requesting party of the reservation request/ summary
and reference number of the request.

29
 Figure 15: Confirmation of Reservation Page Screen Shot

At the home page, if the option required is the Dormitory, below is the screenshot of Search
Availability for accomplishment of dates when room is needed, as well as the number of the

30
male guest, female guest, the type of room required. Tap the search button and the user will be
directed to the Dormitory Page.

Figure 16: Search Availability Dormitory Screen Shot

Back to the Home Page, if the option required is the Vehicle, below is the screenshot of Search
Availability for accomplishment of date and time when the vehicle is needed, as well as the
location for pick up and the destination. Tap the search button and the user will be directed to
the Vehicle Reservation Summary Page.

31
 Figure 17: Vehicles Search Availability Page Screen Shot

Figure 18: Sample – Filled-in Vehicle Search Page Screen Shot

The TWC Vehicle Reservation Page provides the summary of the date (highlighted) when
needed, the vehicle type, the time of departure and destination. Note that the latter shows a
map and the distance from the point of pick-up to destination. Further it has a remarks section

32
whether the option is only for drop off, for driver to wait, for pick up and return. If the summary
details are correct, click the Submit Reservation button to direct the user to the Client and Travel
field details for the user to accomplish.

Figure 19: TWC Vehicle Reservation Summary Page Screen Shot

The Vehicle Request page provides fields to identify the Requesting Office, Travel Details, the
Terms and Conditions and the Submit the Request Button. Once the request is submitted, the
system will automatically send email to the requesting party of the reservation request/
summary and reference number of the request.

33
 Figure 20: Vehicle Submit Request Page Screen Shot

4.3. Challenges encountered

The challenges encountered in the development process or actual implementation, and during
the testing and training are as follows:
• In benchmarking only two institutions were able to respond to the visitation request and
the disclosures about the systems developed. This limited the choices of the developer’s
to assess the best prototype that can be more useful to the TWC.

34
 • The action research should have been treated as a project which requires focus due to
the constraints of scope and time. Documentation of the research is also limited since it
is dependent on the systems developer’s inputs and outputs.

• The role of the developer is critical to the research project. The systems developer
required more time to develop the system because of other work responsibilities in the
organization. The developer is also the systems administrator of the TWC. Although he
was given some leeway to schedule work responsibilities, the research work also
demanded time and effort since actual implementation timeline was only for four months.
Capacity and experience of the developer is still limited in e-Government perspectives
and ICT for Development project management.

• The process owners need to be involved from the start of the project. While process
owners were consulted in the charting of the business processes, the personnel fully
involved in the research was not enough for the demanded output for the project.

• The systems at this point is still limited and may not be able to accommodate other
clients or users outside of the TWC and TESDA Central, and NCR.

• Maintenance of the system requires more detailed planning and budgeting.

• There is a need to include change management in the detailed plan of the research
process and systems development.

In the actual user testing activities, the process owners’ and users’ impressions and feedbacks
are mostly in the actual usage of the system.

4.4. Future Plans

The maintenance and transactional features of the systems are one of the major plans for the
systems expansion and upgrading. Aside from the technical work and design, the systems
require involvement of process owners and more training of users.

35
 Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendation
This chapter provides the conclusion and recommendations of the study. It answers the main
and specific research questions posed in the inception report. The objectives of the study is to
assess the system design that is most useful and appropriate for TWC in the reservation and
monitoring of occupancy and usage of its facilities.

5.1. Conclusions
To answer the question, “What systems approach and design is proven effective to TWC use?”
answers to specific questions were undertaken. Criteria is established for assessment main
covers two general criteria and that is simplicity of the system and cost beneficial to the TWC.
Criteria setting is relevant to the action research study. The list of criteria includes the definition
of functional and non-functional requirements of the system. The study concludes that the
systems design must consider and include the critical success factors of any e-Government
systems applications such as:

Table 3: Critical Success Factors and Assessment of TWC systems approach

Critical Success Factors Assessment
External pressure - Driver for reform from The Ambisyon 2020 and the seal of Good
outside government, e.g. from civil society Housekeeping promoted by the previous and
current administration
Internal political desire -Driver from key The TWC leadership believes in the
government officials for reform and for principles of good governance and gender
achievement of e-Government goals mainstreaming as well as provides the
direction for this action research allocating
time and resources for the research.
Overall vision and strategy- Overall vision The TESDA Roadmap provides the
and master plan for good governance and for outcomes and strategy that includes the
e-Government, identifying 'where we want to promotion of good governance system and
get to', seeing IT as the means not the end, the Strategies of establishing ICT-enabled
and integrating IT with broader reform systems for e-TESDA and the development
objectives of techvoc information systems.
Effective project management - Including The research rationale and framework in
the use of rigorous process of development itself promotes the ideals of project
and identification in consultation with management. It is a start to model the
stakeholders, the use of PM methodologies promotion of effective project management.
to ensure results and benefits to government, The process of identifying the criteria in
beneficiaries and stakeholders. consultation with stakeholders and
beneficiaries marks the initial desire of
moving towards good governance principles.
Effective change management - Including Champions are present at the TWC; these
leadership with a project champion, use of are officials, section and department heads
incentives to create commitment to and who are involved in the project. There is a
ownership of e-gov project, and stakeholder need to build this further among other staff
involvement to build support and minimize when the systems are rolled out and
resistance expanded.
Effective design - An incremental/piloting The framework promotes the incremental and
approach with feasible objectives and quick, pilot approach to systems development.

36
scalable outcomes; participatory involvement Likewise, there is an attempt to involve
of all stakeholders, leading to designs that stakeholders in specifically the leadership,
meet real user needs and match real user process owners, and users in the process.
contexts.
Requisite competencies - Presence of the The research is one of the attempts to build
necessary skills and knowledge, especially competencies in the institution specifically in
within government itself; need both the Research and Development section of
management and IT skills and knowledge the TWC.
Adequate technological infrastructure - There is some presence of the skills and
Presence of the necessary skills and knowledge in management and IT,
knowledge, especially within government nevertheless there is still a need to build
itself; need both management and IT skills capacity (competency) among the TWC staff.
and knowledge In the IT section, the fact that the decision to
build the systems in house provides some
level of confidence in the IT skills of the staff.
Adequate Fund - Source of fund to initiate, The TWC is aware that they will need to
implement and sustain e-Government allocate funds for maintenance and
Solutions framework. expansion of the systems initially developed.
There is still a need to invest in
infrastructures and capacity at the TWC.

1. Rationale of reservation systems development and use of a system to monitor

reservation and use of its facilities. The development of the system underscores the
following articulated in the objectives:

o To reduce the workload of staff needed to manage the scheduling of the facilities
and vehicles;
o To improve customer service by using ICT resources
o Improve communications
o Eliminate scheduling conflicts;
o Save time and eliminate long process of making a request

2. Process of the TWC development of the system. The TWC IT Administrator and
Research and Development sections conducted benchmarking of similar systems in
other jurisdictions specifically the Southville International and the University of the
Philippines. They also used the in-house procurement of services where the systems
developer is also the TWC IT Administrator. Furthermore, the Research Team held
consultations with sponsors and process owners of the room, dormitory and vehicle
reservations.

3. Criteria used in the program selection of and development of the system. Criteria is
established for assessment main covers 2 general criteria and that is simplicity of the
system and cost beneficial to the TWC. Criteria setting is relevant to the action research
study. The list of criteria includes the definition of functional and non-functional
requirements of the system. The study considers and include the critical success factors
of e-Government systems applications in the assessment.

4. Business process activities undertaken to ensure efficiency and cost effectiveness.

Analysis of the business process for the reservation systems were conducted. Cost
effective analysis was also undertaken. The results were validated in the consultation
processes with process owners and users as well as the TWC leadership.

37
5. Results of the testing and training of the new system. The feedback of process owners
and users of the system were mostly on the actual usage of the system.

6. Future plans for the system. The maintenance and transactional features of the systems
are one of the major plans for the systems expansion and upgrading. Aside from the
technical work and design, the systems require involvement of process owners and
more training of users.

5.2. Recommendations

• For the TWC Leadership

o Continue championing and promoting research and development as well as
building the capacity of the TWC by engaging the staff and trainers to participate
and develop systems that will increase efficient and effective delivery of services
– at the finance and administrative sections and operations sections.

o Allocate resources for the maintenance, expansion and roll out of the systems
proven to be efficient and effective to the TWC. Specifically, provide additional
staff who will focus on the maintenance, expansion of the systems and
establishment of help desks for the use of these systems.

o Support innovative approaches to systems development and promotion of

information systems.

• For the IT Administrator/Developer

o Improve systems development approach through effective project management

o Conduct regular consultations with process owners and users, and external
resources such as ICT applications specialists for improving, upgrade,
expansion, and roll out of the systems.

• For the Research and Development Section

o Continue to conduct researchers to ensure innovation and improvement of the
techvoc courses and information systems

o Support and promote the utilization of the research findings and

recommendations.

• For the Process Owners and Users

o Help and support the IT administrator and staff, as well as the Research and
Development personnel in promoting innovation and creation efficient and
effective systems for the TWC

38
 Reference Materials

- The World Bank, “Definition of e-Government”

- UN Division for Public Economics and Public Administration and American Society for Public
Administration, Benchmarking E-Government: A Global Perspective - Assessing the UN
Member States, 2002
- OECD, e-Government: Analysis Framework and Methodology”, OECD Public Management
Service, Public Management Committee, 13 December 2001
- Mark A. Forman, “e-Government: Using IT to transform the effectiveness and efficiency of
government”, presentation dated 15 June 2005
- OECD, The e-Government Imperative, OECD e-Government Studies (Paris, 2003)
- www.goodgovernance.org.au/about-good-governance/what-is-good-governance/
- UN 2005, cited in Jain Palvia and Sharma 2007, pg. 1 cited in Anita Gurumurthy et al, 2016
- Huyer 2010, pg. 1 cited in Anita Gurumurthy et al, 2016Gurumurthy and Chami 2014, pg. 2
cited in Anita Gurumurthy et al, 2016
- Breaking Barriers to eGovernment study (2007): http://www.egovbarriers.org/
- John Macasio’s powerpoint presentations on ICTD training.
- http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/what-is-a-use-case/
- https://www.techopedia.com/definition/4525/process-owner
- https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-
interaction-2nd-ed/end-user-development
- https://crmbook.powerobjects.com/basics/business-process-flows/
- Mark Kozak-Holland,2009 cited in Maria Macapagal 2013 published by APCICT Primer
Series 2014
- Norik Davtian, 2012 definition cited from Wikipedia retrieved 2012.