Tuesday, February 18, 2014

SAVANNAH CEMENT TO RUN ON SAP HANA


Savannah Cement Kenya has today launched the implementation of a major ERP System, SAP Business All-in-One powered by SAP HANA project. Savannah Cement located in Athi-River 30km from Nairobi City is one of the six cement grinding companies in Kenya with a capacity of 1.5 million tons a year.

Savannah Cement becomes the first firm in Kenya to implement the ERP system on SAP HANA and only the second in Africa after Royal Swazi Sugar Corporation (RSSC), in Swaziland.
SAP Business All-in-One is a comprehensive, industry-specific ERP System with solutions that help manage every aspect of a fast-growing midsize business by automating the core processes like Financials, HR, Sales, Procurement, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supplier Relationship Management (SRM), Business Intelligence (BI) among many others.

SAP Logo from sap.com
SAP HANA is SAP's new in-memory computing platform for real-time analytics and applications. It converges database and application platform capabilities in-memory to transform transactions, analytics, text analysis, predictive and spatial processing so businesses can operate in real-time.

SAP Business All-in-One powered by SAP HANA therefore means driving an entire business in real-time for higher business value and dramatically simplifying IT for a lower cost, optimize business processes and get unprecedented speed with the midsize business management software.

During the launch, the company’s MD Ronald Ndegwa said automation will ensure seamless operation process and data management that will lead to optimal results on production efficiency while ensuring that the quality is consistent.  He stated that the #SAP System is a major investment that will produce profit margins in the construction arena.

Savannah Cement has invested $600,000 in this project that will be implemented by SAP Kenya in partnership with Sperkjet East Africa Ltd (SEAL). “Quality comes at a cost.” MD Ronald Ndegwa said. Savannah’s value proposition is driven by a promise of a differentiated and intentional customer experience, best value in terms of price and consistent quality coupled with a strong distribution footprint to assure constant availability and the company is setting the standard to achieve this.

The eco-friendly and ultra-modern plant has upped the stakes in the way cement is manufactured in the region and is building perfection against the competition. Being the youngest entrant into the growing cement manufacturing sector in Kenya and barely 2 years old , Savannah Cement has acquired a substantial market share in the country and is already actively expanding its clientele in Rwanda, Burudi, Tanzania Uganda, DRC and S.Sudan. One of the mega projects Savannah Cement is currently working on Garden City construction along Thika Rd.


Other cement manufacturing companies running on SAP in the region are the Larfage Group of Cement Companies, Dangote Group which is expected to open a cement factory in Kenya in the coming days among others.
Savannah Cement
By: John Nderitu

John Nderitu is an IT Professional and Certified SAP Technology Consultant at Geda Ltd.

Twitter: @johniewain


Friday, October 11, 2013

How the GoK can make the One Laptop per Child (OLAP) Project successful

Change Management Process a Case Study of One Laptop per Child (OLAP) Project
Background
In any country’s general election, politicians make many promises to the citizens during the campaign period in an effort to woo them for votes. In Kenya this is not any different. During the last general election campaign period, the Jubilee coalition also known as ‘UHURUTO’ traversed the country and one of their most catching promise was introduction of laptop project in lower primary school where every class one child would be issued with a laptop in an effort to impact technology early in the development stages of the children. Many people opposed to Jubilee Coalition criticized this promise and dismissed it as just another campaign tool and strategy that would die immediately the campaign period was over and probably be used in the next general election campaigns. On March 4th 2013 Kenyans went to the polls and Jubilee Coalition won and consequently formed the government.
The government through the President Uhuru Kenyatta himself has reiterated that the project will be implemented as promised and is due to start from January 2014. To prove the commitment, 17 Billion Kenya shillings was allocated for the program in the 2013/2014 budgetary allocation presented in parliament by the finance cabinet secretary in June this year.
The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is an education initiative program developed to issue new low cost laptop computers to hundreds of millions of children from the age of 4 years around the world in both developed and developing countries in the world to introduce technology to the young minds early in the developing stage of the children. This will provide seamless integration of ICTs in teaching, learning and management of education the main focus being enhancement and support of the teaching and learning process (Pedagogy).
With the technology, children can learn to read, speak and write early and quickly and also nature their innovative minds early in life. It also allows primary school students early access to computer skills and computer science understanding while expanding their knowledge on specific subjects like Science, Mathematics, languages and Social Sciences through online research or content hosted on servers.
The project will also complement the low ratio of teachers to pupils in impoverished countries and help the pupils cover the school curriculum even with the reported high rate of teachers’ absenteeism in schools. This project will be a major transformation in the education sector in Kenya and a fundamental step towards the building of a knowledge based economy as stipulated in Kenya’s Vision 2030.
According to Nicholas Negroponte the founder of the One Laptop per Child initiative, the overall project goal is to put a learning tool in the hands of children, assume an intelligent, creative, curious user who will interact with the machine and possibly do unexpected things with it and provide tools for creation of media, documents, programs, and previously unimagined innovations.
The project has attracted a lot of criticism from many quotas in Kenya from teachers, parents the technology community, the political opposition parties and the larger public many saying that this is an expensive undertaking coming at a time when the country is facing many other social and economic challenges that should be given a higher priority.
OLPC Criticism
The major criticism that is facing the project includes;
Lack of supporting infrastructure to guarantee successful running of the computer classes in many schools in the rural areas for example access to electricity and internet connectivity. Majority of the schools have dilapidated classrooms and other amenities, not to mention some extreme cases where learning takes place under the trees. The forces against the project have dismissed the program maintaining that there is no point of giving students laptops when their schools have other more pressing needs.
Lack of capacity among the teachers is another hurdle. There are very few teachers who are computer-literate and can use a computer leave alone use it as a teaching gadget. The gap in technical expertise to troubleshoot and repair the computers when they break down has also been forwarded as a point to review the program.
The project has also been dismissed many saying it is a wrong timing for such an ambitious initiative. There are other pressing matters that can be dealt with instead of throwing away money in an impractical project. For example, many have said the money allocated for the project should instead be used in jobs creation for the youths, improving the healthcare or paying the striking teachers or at least first hire more teachers if at all this is a matter of enhancing education.
The major criticism of the OLPC project is the teachers’ view of the program as an initiative to replace them with the gadgets. In the just ended teachers strike in demand for higher pay, there was high indication of how much skeptical the teachers are on the project yet they are the ones relied on for the successful implementation.
From the onset, it seems the project will have to undergo major hurdles and resistance in the implementation and requires clear and sound change management leadership for its successful implementation.
Change Management
Change is the process of improving the performance and position of a person, organization or sector by moving from a current state to a future state and changing how work is done. A strategic change decision is made at the strategic level and is aimed at transforming the industry from its current situation to a better state usually perceived to be a better position for the organization which makes it gain a competitive advantage over the rivals (Bridges, 2003). Changes may include cost reduction strategies, production cuts, and staff lay-offs which in many cases bring about process changes.
Change management is a set of processes employed to ensure that significant changes are implemented in a controlled and systematic manner. It is the approach of shifting or transitioning individuals, teams, organizations or an industry from a current state to a desired future state (Peters, 2006). It is the process and tools; such as communications, sponsorship, coaching, training and resistance management plan for addressing the people side of change. Change management is not an event but rather a process of helping individuals understand, internalize and support a change. Sometimes change management refers to a project management process or stage where changes to a project are formally introduced and approved.
One major goal of change management is the alignment of people and culture with strategic shifts in the industry to overcome resistance to change in order to increase engagement and the achievement of the change’s goal for effective transformation (Kotter, 2006). Achieving sustainable change begins with a clear understanding of the current state of the organization, followed by the implementation of appropriate and targeted strategies. According to Shaffer & Thomson (1999), the focus of change management is on the outcome the change will produce; the new arrangements that must be understood.
A comprehensive change management strategy should lead to the desired objectives and create a sense of ownership, enable sustained and measurable improvement and build capability to respond to future changes.
Change Management Process that Government through the Ministry of Education should take
For the One Laptop per Child project to be successful and gain support from all the stake holders, the Government through the Ministry of Education should put more emphasis and effort in the change management process. This will assist in reducing the resistance that is currently facing the project and have more driving force that support the change exceed the restraint forces that are against the change. Qualified, skilled and experienced project managers should identified to lead the change.
According to (Whitten, 2010), any change initiatives should be recommended by the change management leader. Although the change management leader or specialist performs as a key role in change initiatives, this person normally does not have people supervisory responsibilities. In this perspective, a board or a Transformation Committee and a strong cross functional project management unit should be set in the Education Ministry to oversee the OLPC program and work closely with the consultants to deliver the objectives of the program. The Project Management Unit would coordinate with rest of the stakeholders for any necessary input in order to deliver the desired results at the conclusion of the project.  Modalities that would minimize disruptions to the curriculum during the project should also be put in place by this team. The expectation would be that the project would result in operational controls that would lead to efficiency and cost reduction in implementation.
Many change management processes exist and can be used in managing the OLPC project. For example Kurt Lewin’s three phases change process through which the change agent can proceed before the planned change becomes part of the education system can be used.
The process starts with the unfreezing phase. This is the stage where the change agents or the project management unit set up should unfreeze forces that maintain the status quo to reveal the drawbacks of the present education system. The people should become discontented and aware of the need to change. This is very critical because before the OLPC change can occur, people must believe the change is needed. The Government should establish a clear communication channel with all the stakeholders to be able to convince them the need for this change. Campaigns, public awareness forums and seminars should be rolled out all over the country to sensitize the teachers, the parents and the students of the benefits of the program.
As a project manager or the change agent of the OLPC program, the guiding principles in the initial phase should be having a plan for the project implementation and being prepared to adapt the plan if the outcomes at different stages show this to be necessary, having the  senior management or leadership support which is essential for the success of a project, but recognizing that change will come from bottom up, setting objectives and assigning them to project teams and congratulating the team when each objective is achieved while keeping improvement is an ongoing process and finally recognizing that a plan for introducing change and monitoring the effects of the change is important, but gaining commitment of people is vital in the success of a project.
This stage corresponds to John Kotter’s stage of creating urgency for change. The Ministry of Education through the project management unit should start an honest discussion, and give dynamic and convincing reasons to get people talking and thinking about the project. This can be done by organizing study trips for teachers’ representative to schools in Kenya that have already implemented similar projects like NEPAD E-School in Kikambala Primary School and Moi Avenue Primary School Nairobi, ACE in 23 Primary Schools at Coast Province, Camara NGO Open Source in Primary Schools in Mombasa and Kilifi counties, E-reader in 60 Schools in Bungoma, Kisumu and environs. Lessons learnt in other countries that have already implemented the project for example Rwanda, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Brazil should be used as reference. This can work as motivation and strengthen the government argument which will help in changing the attitudes.
Communication as a tool should be the greatest asset that the government should use in this stage. Early communication and consultation, while the change implementation is still in the planning stage, assists in getting people interested and prepared to participate in the change process. The greatest failing of the government from the start of this project has been the lack of communication of what the plan really is, in a comprehensive manner. This single factor has probably been the greatest contributor to the skepticism and resistance the government has received to this project. The project could be a good plan, but without communicating it, people are left to speculate. To be successful, a change management process must include an effective communication strategy of the vision for the project. A good and workable communication plan should be implemented.
The change agent should have a clear understanding that all stakeholders must have opportunities to express their views and attitudes as part of the planning process. A lot of improvement is about changing mindsets. It is about having the tools, techniques and confidence to work with all stakeholders to try something that is different. It is about understanding the possibilities of thinking differently and aiming to make practical improvements that will be of benefit to the pupils, the teachers, the parents and the government as the major stakeholders of the project.
Any change process is faced with a certain level of resistance. In the second stage of Lewin’s process which is movement or change phase, the project manager should identify, plan, and implements appropriate strategies that will ensure that forces supporting change exceed the forces resisting change. Recognizing, addressing, and overcoming the OLPC resistance and criticism may be a lengthy process. Professor Whitten advises that an outside specialist is sometimes recommended to deal with the people perspective of change to minimize employee resistance and engagement. This person coaches sponsors, stakeholders and forefront supervisors into delivering project change plans (Whitten, 2010). For this reason, it is important to value high-ranked employees like school headmasters who are in support of the project and help influence the rest of the staff.
Any change of a system, human behavior, or the perceptions, attitudes, and values underlying the change takes time. Therefore, the OLPC project should be gradual to allow installation of the necessary infrastructure, training teachers and technicians and setting up a good environment for the introduction of the computers. Enough time should also be allowed for those involved to be fully assimilated in the change. The vision of the leaders is also very important for planning and implementing the strategies.
It might therefore be a good idea to begin with a pilot project. The Government can for example use schools or counties that are already enthusiastic about implementing the OLPC both in rural and urban areas and take a few lessons from it. This will increase the chances of success and pave the way for a positive and broader rollout. The pilot or trial will highlight any barriers to the project as well as provide valuable learning in successful implementation strategies. The information and outcomes achieved from a pilot can re-define the approach used in implementing the project in the rest of the schools in an even better way. The purpose of conducting the pilot project should be clarified with the team and all stakeholders involved before commencement and should be run to assess the best method of implementation and not to determine if the project will go ahead.
The purpose of this phase should be to make sustainable improvements to the project implementation and performance. It is during this pilot implementation phase where the project manager and the project team should monitor the project generated short term wins, consolidate the gains to produce more change and anchor new approaches in the education culture. The key objectives of lessons learnt here should be used to prepare and agree the country wide rollout of the OLPC project implementation, resource plans and deliver tailored communication to all the stakeholders that will ensure they all understand by now the need for the change. The challenges faced in delivery of computer classes should also be used to prepare and train all the teachers on training using computers, develop structures, manage concerns and conflicts as soon as they arise, and ensure the planned benefits are achieved by reviewing the impact of the project.
For individual level change management, Prosci a renowned researcher in change management introduced Change Management Methodology called ADKAR model (Prosci, 2009). The project management unit can apply this model for stakeholders individual change management where 5 stages (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement) are focused on.
In the first stage of awareness, one must define why the change is needed, the risk of not changing, why the change is currently proposed now instead of later, and what is currently wrong with the existing process. The OLPC project management unit must be able to create awareness amongst the teachers and stakeholders who will be involved in the transformational changes by holding focus group discussions to highlight the needs for the changes and to get their opinions. According to (Whitten, 2010), this is the phase where a leader will experience pro and con attitudes. This is also the stage to visually see who is pro-change or reluctant to the change presented.
The second stage is the desire phase where everyone is considered to have their own personal view of the recommended change. So as a change the leader, the project management unit must instill the desire to change during this phase along with leaders’ participation. Unlike awareness stage, this phase focuses more on the expected questions of how the change will directly benefit the affected persons or will it be a threat to their status quo. The management should therefore communicate the expected benefits of the changes to the involved persons.
Knowledge is the third stage. Through communication, the change management team should deliver the needed knowledge to stakeholders, so that they may perform change as well as sustain it. This phase includes training in skills as well as behavior. Training must include both technical and nontechnical dimensions especially in OLPC which is an IT project that will typically change the teaching processes and practices which can become barriers to achieving project goals such as scope, costs, and quality. Workshops and tutorials in using the technology should be incorporated. The teachers should also be informed about the increase of responsibility and accountability in their duties at this stage to change their belief that the project has come to replace them.
The fourth stage of personal change management process is the ability to implement the change. This includes displaying the ability to achieve the intended level of performance for the change. The teachers should be given the responsibility of implementing, monitoring and controlling the OLPC changes in their respective schools, with the focus being reduction of costs, growth in value and gaining greater acceptability.
The last stage is reinforcement where overall success should be noted along with sustaining the new processes and resistance. The project management team should engage in effective communication and dialogue with all the stakeholders involved in the project to ensure that the resistance is reduced.
 For the project team to be able to review the results of the individual change management and overall OLPC piloting, the project management unit should lay out evaluation strategies to ensure the involved teachers and schools have a clear channel for communicating the results to the management, capturing, recording and communicating lessons learnt to the broader change management team and other useful information for future changes in the project. Clear ways of capturing best practice approaches for future reference and to ensure performance objectives are maintained and the process continues to improve should also be in place.
If the pilot project does not produce the expected results, then the first stage should be revisited and planning should start afresh with the lessons learnt in mind and as a foundation of the new strategies.
Finally, the project can be rolled out in the entire country preceded by preparing a conducive environment from the lessons learnt from the pilot project. This may take a long time due to the resources required. The role of the project managers in clarifying direction is even more important during the country wide implementation. It is the role of the direct supervisor to translate the change around the team into clear identifiable outcomes and expectations for individual roles. These outcomes need to be managed and supported throughout the change process. If anything, managers need to communicate more and meet more frequently with their team members and stakeholders during times of change to ensure efforts stay focused and constructive towards the new education system vision.
The last stage in change process according to (Lewin, 2000) is refreezing. This is the stage where the industry once again becomes stable (Syque 2007). The change management should keep a keen eye to see when the changes are taking shape and the stakeholders have embraced the new way of teaching using the laptops and use this as a sign that the change is ready to refreeze.  Otherwise, the team should not be so quick to celebrate success.
The refreeze stage also should be used to help people and the country to internalize or institutionalize the changes.  This means making sure that the OLPC project is incorporated into everyday pupils learning both at home and at school. The pupils should be allowed to try new things with the gadgets, teach their parents and other siblings, play games with other children and be allowed to feel comfortable using the laptops at all times.  With this new sense of stability, everyone will feel confident and comfortable with the new ways of teaching.
As part of the refreezing process, the managers should make sure the country celebrates the success of the change.  This helps people to enjoy success, thanking them for enduring a painful time, and helping them believe that future change will be successful and we as a country can transform the country to a developed nation through technology.
Recommendations
The Government should start advocating for the OLPC project. A committee to steer the project should be setup led by able, experienced change managers to act as the change agents. All stakeholders should be identified and fully involved in the project including cabinet secretaries in the concerned Ministries led by the Ministry of Education, teachers, students and parents, vision 2030 management team among others. Leaders across the board should also be involved including ICT champions, technology community, digital content providers, NGOs who are implementing similar projects and other countries that have already implemented similar projects. The change committee should identify the most appropriate change model to use that will see resistance reduced and ensure a successful project at the end.
The Government should also commit enough funds to lay infrastructure required for smooth implementation of this project. Electricity, internet connection and security, capacity building by training teachers and the laptop technicians should be a priority. The digitization and development of education content should also be underway.
Conclusion
ICT is undisputedly a key driver of knowledge-based economy. In the Vision 2030, one of the goals for Kenya’s development and improvement in educational quality and increased use of ICT might be addressed by an implementation of OLPC in Kenya. The project will address access to quality education and opportunities for all students both in rural and urban Kenya as stipulated in the constitution and at a cheaper cost. This will propel Kenya from a Least Developed Country to a middle-income economy; and therefore these reforms need to happen sooner rather than later.
However, it must be noted that implementation of any significant change process usually succeeds or fails because of the leadership of that change process. The role of the leadership in clarifying direction is important during times of change. It is the role of the management to translate the change around the team into clear identifiable outcomes and expectations for individual roles. These outcomes need to be managed and supported throughout the change process. If anything, managers need to communicate more and meet more frequently with their team members during times of change to ensure all stakeholders’ efforts stay focused and constructive towards the new change vision.






References
Corporate Leadership Council. (2001). Change Management Models and Business Applications.
Corporate Executive Board: Washington. DC.

Hiatt, J. & Creasey, T. (2007). Change Management: The People Side of Change. ProSci Inc:
            Loveland.

Hiatt, J. (2010). ADKAR: A Model for Change in Business, Government and Our Community.
ProSci Inc: Loveland.

Kotter, J. (1999). What Leaders Really Do. Harvard Business School Press: Massachusetts.

Kotter, J. (2002). The Heart of Change. Harvard Business School Press: Massachusetts.

Kotter, J. (2003). Leading Change. Harvard Business School Press: Massachusetts.

Prosci (2010). Best Practices in Change Management. ProSci Inc: Loveland.

Whitten, N. (2010). No-Nonsense Advice for Successful Projects. Management Concepts

Press:Virginia.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

So why did @UKenyatta pull out of the 2nd and most anticipated Presidential Debate?

The Digital Team, Jubilee Presidential Candidate Uhuru Kenyatta has pulled out of the 2nd and final Presidential Debate expected to take place on coming Monday the 25th February 2013. With Kenyans eagerly awaiting for the second round of the debate to see how their candidates will fare, many have been taken by surprise by this announcement and have expressed their diverse views in the social media some citing "Chickening out".
In a letter addressed to the the Presidential Debate 2013 Organizing Committee and Secretariat by The National Alliance (TNA) party, several reasons for the pull out have been cited including unfair treatment of Uhuru Kenyatta especially on the ICC issue and biasness of the debate moderators. Other issue of concern is the bad time management and the long hours candidates spent standing which left them in unnecessary fatigue.
The letter however ends by the Jubilee Campaign Team quoting their readiness to meet with members of the Presidential Debate Organizing Committee to discuss these concerns and maybe reiterate their stand. Its our high hope that the two teams will come into a consensus.
Here is the TNA Letter to the Presidential Debate 2013 Organizing Committee: