Browsing by Author "Germinous, George"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Development of a web-based record management system for primary cooperative societies in Tanzania: a case of Kilimanjaro region
(NM-AIST, 2024-08) Germinous, George
Co-operative societies in Tanzania play a vital role in the country's economic development, serving as a means to combat poverty and enhance members' economic prospects. However, the current in-house methods of documentation and record-keeping in co-operatives poses challenges for stakeholders such as District Co-operative Offices (DCOs), Regional Co- operative Offices (RCOs), the registrar of co-operatives, and researchers. Manual processes or limited-access summary reports hinder real-time data availability for management and decision making. This study addressed these challenges by developing a Centralized Record Management System (CRMS) for District Co-operative Offices and their members. To collect user requirements, administered questionnaire was used among District Co-operative Offices (DCOs). the Registrar of cooperatives and researchers in the co-operative arena. The study revealed that both hard and soft copies were used for record’s keeping purposes interchangeably. Physical files such as clip and spring files, as well as file cabinets, were commonly used for storing hard copies, while electronic files in various formats (e.g., word processors, spreadsheets, pdf, and images) were employed for digital record-keeping. Both manual tools (pens and papers) and electronic tools (computers, smartphones, and cameras) were used for data processing. Following careful analysis of user requirements, CRMS was designed and implemented using a Joint Application Development Model incorporating an Evolutionary Prototyping (EP). The developed CRMS facilitates online registration and approval of cooperative societies, reporting of cooperative data to the DCO, DRCO and Registrar, and disseminate the generated cooperative reports to the stakeholders. By implementing the CRMS, primary co-operative societies can benefit from streamlined processes and improved access to data, ultimately fostering their growth and contributing to a more transparence and thriving co-operative sector.
Evidence-Based Practices on Co-operative Societies Information Record Management
(Springer Nature, 2024-06-30) Germinous, George; Dida, Mussa
Co-operatives have proved to be one of the driving forces in the socio-economic empowerment of its members. The Government of Tanzania has been implementing the Poverty Reduction Strategy by encouraging people to form co-operatives in order to improve their economic prospects. Establishing a primary co-operative society involves a process which passes through the district co-operative office, regional co-operative office, and the registrar of co-operatives’ office at the national level. These processes bring about the issue of documentation and record keeping. The processing of records is done manually by using pen and paper, or electronically using computers, smart phones, and cameras. The research work essentially used questionnaires, interviews, observations, and document reviews to gather data. The findings of this study show that 8 out of 13 respondents (61.5%) responded to physically visiting co-operative offices to acquire existing records about co-operative societies. This vividly explains the use of manual procedures for co-operative records management thus leading to unsolved challenges such as; data inaccuracy and inconsistency, bureaucracy during physical access, money and time consumption due to geographical challenges, lack of transparency, and improper presentation of co-operative information in request. This ongoing research work avails a web-mobile approach named Co-operative Records Management System (CRMS). CRMS offers a solution that will enable District Co-operative officers (DCOs) to record, process, and generate electronic reports on co-operative societies’ records thus mitigating challenges about, but not limited to; time wastage, inconsistency in recording financial records as well as reducing costs for data acquisition. Thus, this paper presents evidence-based practices on co-operative societies’ information record management, a case of the Kilimanjaro region with a designed proposed solution.