Thesis (MBA) -- Stellenbosch University, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Management within Local Government are increasingly required to report on the various spatially related projects and initiatives within their jurisdiction. As Information Technology develops, various electronic systems are implemented within the organisations, not only assist in the reporting. but also to fulfil the data requirements in relation to maintenance, capturing and storing of data. In order to fully adhere to the reporting needs, systems are also increasingly required to integrate, and in so doing, provide access to more data in the organisation. But as the reporting requirements are often clear, the cost in implementing the required systems elude implementers. One of the reasons for costs being unclear stems from a need for integrated systems to help implementers to understand the cost factors which drive costs, and in so doing, enabling them to manage costs incurred in projects better. By means of a literature review, the spatial information needs within Local Governments are investigated, fol1owed by the investigation of solutions to address the spatial needs. As a solution, an Integrated Spatial Management Information System (ISMlS) is discussed. Seven primary cost fac tors are identified and discussed to assist in the better understanding of the relevant cost factors. These cost factors include data, software, hardware, training requirements, customisation, maintenance and time constraints. Each cost factor is discussed in detail, and the potential impact it might have on the total cost of a project investigated. A method measuring the success of a project is also discussed, whereby the total cost 10 implementing an ISMlS is related to the number of active users as expressed in cost-per-seat. The relationship between the different types of users within a local municipality, their function and the impact the cost factors can have on the use and cost-per-seat calculation are also discussed. To illustrate the impact, three different scenarios are discussed. each with variable cost factors. It is found. that the management of cost factors can greatly increase the use of a system, and thereby make the implementation of the system more cost .. effective. Finally the concept of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is also discussed, providing a concept whereby the costs can be measured against benefits, where the aim is to implement an ISMIS where the benefits outweigh the costs. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: DaaT word al hoe meer van die bestuur in pJaaslike owerhede verlang. om verslag te lewer oor verskeie ruimtelike projekte en inisiatiewe in hul owerheidsgebied. Met die ontwikkeling van Informasie Tegnologie word verskeie clcktroniese stelsels ge-implementeer om nie net aan die versJaggewingbehoeftes te voldoen nie, maar oak die instandhouding. datavaslegging en stoor van data te ondersteun. Om ten volle aan die verslagewingbehocftes te lean voldoen, word daar ook al hoe meer van stelsels verlang om te integreer, om sodoende toegang tot meer datastelle in die organisasie te gee. Maar terwyl die versJaggewingbehoeftes gewoonlik duidelik is, is die kostcs om relevante stelsels te integreer gewoonlik onduidelik. 'n Rede waarom kostcs onduidelik mag wees, spruit uit die behoefte vir implimenteerders van gelntegreerde stelsels am faktore wat kostes dryf te begryp, en sodoende kostes beter te lean bestuur. Deur middel van 'n literatuurstudie is die ruirntelike behoeftes binne plaaslike regenng ondersoek, gevolg deur 'n ondersoek na moontlike oplossings om die ruimtelike behoeftes aan tc spreek. As 'n opiossmg, word 'n Gclntegreerde Ruimtelike Bestuursinligting Stelsel (GRBS) bespreek. Sewe primere kostefaktore word geldentifiseer en bespreek om 'n beter begrip te ontwikkel van die relevante kostefaktore. Hierdie kostefaktore sluit data, prograrnmatuur, apparatuur, opleidingsbehoeftes, doelgemaakte programmatuur, instandhouding en tydsbepcrkings in. Elke kostefaktor word in detail bespreek, en die potensiele impak wat dit op die totale koste van 'n projek mag he, word ondcrsoek. 'n Metode om die sukses van 'n projek te meet, word ook bespreek, waarvolgens die totale koste om 'n GRBS te implementeer gemeet word teen die totale aantal aktiewe gebruikcrs van die stelsel, soos uitgedruk in koste-per-gebruiker. Die verwantskap tussen die verskillende gcbruikers in 'n plaaslike munisipaliteit, hul funksics en die irnpak wat die kostefaktore kan he op die gebruik en koste-per-gebruiker-berekening word oak bespreek. Om die impak te illustrcer, word drie verskillende voorbeelde bespreek, elk met veranderende kostefaktore. Daar is gevind dat die bestuur van kostefaktore die gebruik van die stelsel grootliks laat toeneem, wat sodoende die implementering van die GRBS meeT koste effektief maak. Laastens word "koste-voordeel analise" as konsep bespreek, waarby koste teenoor voordeel gemeet kao word, om sodoende '0 GRBS te ontwikkel waar die voordele die kostes cortref.

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology / Department of Computer and Information Science

M.Comm. (Computer Auditing) / The internal auditors play an important role in any organisation, irrespective of the type of audit they perform. Metropolitan municipalities (Category A municipalities) in South Africa are established in terms of Section 155.1(a) of the South African Constitution as municipalities that execute all the functions of local government for a city and that have sufficient resources to perform municipal functions, as opposed to areas that are primarily rural, where the local government is divided into district municipalities and local municipalities. Recently, many weaknesses have been reported regarding these municipalities. This is evident when looking at the recent billing problems experienced within the City of Johannesburg metropolitan municipality, during which the city blamed its Project Phakama, an IT system intended to integrate municipal services accounts into one database for effective accounts management, for any deficiencies. The above considerations triggered the need to conduct this study. The study focuses on the types of internal IT audits that are conducted within these municipalities, the independence of the internal audit departments, the audit standards/guidelines/legislation followed, the roles and responsibilities of IT auditors, the knowledge expected from IT auditors, the IT audit skills (both core skills and soft skills) required to perform the audits and the IT audit tools and techniques that are applied while performing the internal audits. The study was therefore conducted to establish the functioning of the information technology internal audit departments at metropolitan municipalities in South Africa, given the above background. A quantitative research methodology was followed in the study, in which a detailed questionnaire was designed and sent to all heads of IT audits/Chief Audit Executives (CAE) in all eight metropolitan municipalities in order to find answers that would achieve the above-mentioned objectives. Seven out of the eight metropolitan municipalities in South Africa participated in the study. This study revealed the following key results, general controls reviews were the most performed type of audit, and municipalities were found to forward their internal audit reports to both municipal managers and audit committees. Computer knowledge is considered to be the main expected knowledge from the IT auditors, audit and technical skills are considered to be the most important core skills required from any IT auditor. The Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) is found to be used by all municipalities while conducting their internal audits. The detection role is singled out as the main role played by IT auditors in municipalities, followed by the oversight role. Ensuring that IT policies, procedures, laws and regulations are managed in accordance with standards, as well as identifying and evaluating IT risks are considered by internal auditors in municipalities as the most important responsibilities they perform on daily basis.

This study of bureaucratic behavior is from the perspective of a particular federal government operations process - the management and delivery of computing services to the federal agencies. It supports the idea that federal bureaucrats are utility maximizers. The first of the two theories considered in this thesis is based upon William Niskanen's hypothesis that the primary objective of the government bureaucrat is to maximize the bureau's budget through the maximization of output. The second theory is based upon Jean-Luc Migue’s and Gerald Belanger's hypothesis that the objective of bureaucrats is to maximize "discretionary budget” - the difference between the bureau's total budget and the cost of producing the bureaus authorized output. This thesis contends that the maximization of discretionary budget is the maximand of the federal bureaucrat evaluating the computer investment decision. / Master of Urban Affairs

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology / Department of Computer and Information Science

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the degree Magister Technologiae: Information Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / The research reported in this dissertation focuses on seamless data sharing in e-government space because of the intrinsic complexity, disparity and heterogeneity of government information systems as well as the need to improve government service delivery. The often observed bureaucracy in government processes, especially when verifying information, coupled with the high interdependency of government departments and diversity in government operations has made it difficult to improve government service delivery efficiency. These challenges raise the need to find better ways to seamlessly share data between government to citizens, government to businesses, government to suppliers and government to public institutions. Obviously, efficient automatic data sharing is an important phenomenon that contributes to improvements in communication, collaboration, interaction and efficiency in the service delivery process because it reduces information verification time and improves reliability of information. The general applications of data sharing systems become perceptible in institutions such as banks and government establishments where information verification is highly necessary in the process of service delivery. Data sharing usually occurs between a data holder and a data requester when copies of authorized data are transported from the source databases to the requester. This data sharing process should guarantee a high level of privacy because of the confidential nature of certain data. A data integration gateway (DIG) is being proposed in this research as a methodological solution to seamlessly share data in e-government space, using Hippocratic database principles to enforce data privacy. The DIG system is a centralized web application that utilizes a lightweight database within the government data centre to hold information on data contracts, data sources, connection strings and data destinations. The data sharing policies are stated as contracts and once indentures on how to share data are established between different data publishers, it is possible to ensure a seamless integration of data from different sources using the DIG application being proposed in this dissertation. The application is malleable to support the sharing of publisher data that are stored in any kind of database. The proposed DIG application promises to reduce costs of system maintenance and improve service delivery efficiency without any change to the existing hardware infrastructure and information systems residing within different government departments.