MODULE 16. BUILDING A MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
Objective
This module is dedicated to the installation of a Management Information System (MIS) for the purpose of a national mechanism to deliver coordinated SPFs.
Key questions
1. What is a MIS in the context of social protection?
2. Why is there a need for a MIS in the mechanism, and what functions can be completed by the ICT system?
3. How does the MIS contribute to the integration (and coordination) of the social protection system?
4. What is a shared registry and why is it important in the case of a SWS?
5. How to define and implement a MIS?
Take away message
Social protection schemes can be regarded to as information management systems. Each step of a scheme operation (identification of beneficiaries, registration, verification of conditional actions if any, payment, grievance management) required information to be captured, stored and analysed. The use of an information system, and particularly in case of a Management Information System (MIS), does not only intend to ease the operation through automation, it also contributes to improve transparency and traceability of the scheme. Through the information stored in the system, any decision (such as inclusion or exclusion) can be tracked and post explained when necessary.
Any social protection MIS should allow the monitoring of (i) beneficiaries’ identification and benefit’s delivery, (ii) internal processes of the institution in charge of delivering the benefit –e.g. accountability – and (iii) complaint and appeal procedures. MISs also contribute to reflect or inflect a policy by setting up concrete costraints in the implementation of social protection schemes - they can have a direct impact on the organisation of the system (level of integration) as well as on scheme parameters themselves.
Moving from one single scheme to the whole social protection system of one country, information systems are also required to better coordinate and ensure consistency across different schemes and institutions involved in social protection or employment services. That coordination (and integration) is needed in order to install a case management approach which aims at supporting the people and their families during the whole life cycle, at developing combined packages of transfer and services for a sustainable graduation out of poverty (addressing the different dimensions of poverty), and hence for the SWS. In order to install such a coordination, a national integrated MIS (notably database of beneficiaries) has to be build up and shared across different programmes.
Broadly speaking, there are three key steps when setting up MIS: (i) conduct a feasibility study (ii) agree on broad design parameters (iii) development and implementation of SP MIS. This three steps approach basically follows and simplifies the V system development life cycle.
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