National Minimum Information Requirements: briefing

PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
24 October 2001
NATIONAL MINIMUM INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS: BRIEFING

Chairperson: Mr J Gomomo

Documents Handed Out:
Extent of Compliance to the National Minimum Information Requirements on Human Resources as at 30 September 2001 (Appendix)

SUMMARY
The National Minimum Information Requirement programme is a system introduced in early 2001 by the Minister of Public Service and Administration for Human Resources Requirements on employees and posts in the public service. This serves to strengthen policy development, planning, management, monitoring, evaluation and reporting. Departments were required to be compliant with the requirements for all new appointments after January 1 2001.

There are major challenges in implementing the programme as only the former RSA had reliable information on issues such as the payroll, leave forms and basic employee biographical information. The PERSAL system which is used in the payment of public servants has also proved a difficult system to use as cases of ghost workers have been reported.

Information was provided on the progress made in making departments compliant with the new system.

MINUTES
Mr Imraan Patel, The Chief Director for Information and Knowledge Management in the Department, briefed the Committee on progress made in terms of compliance to requirements of the NMIR programme, nationally and provincially.

Mr Patel presented a brief history of the programme stating that in the post 1994 the total number of employees in the former RSA was the only credible information as opposed to an inadequate and unreliable former homeland and self-governing territory system. There was no easy method to extract this information.

Information in the former TBVC states and self-governing territories was often not accurate and expensive to retrieve. The problem was worsened by a variety of systems, manual and electronic leading to much confusion and loss of information for those who had to integrate the information into one system.

There was no consistency in data elements and also different rules and regulations from the various homeland systems.In this post 1994 period so there was a focus on a rationalisation of the former administrations into one new exercise.

A strong focus was on harmonising rules and procedures and that this was implemented together with trying to maintain these new rules and procedures. A major emphasis at this time was on the accuracy of the total numbers and by 1996 there was a considerable level of confidence in the upgrading of the system.

At the moment 95% of the information is accurate with presently around a million public servants. Mr Patel informed the Committee that managing personnel expenditure and collective bargaining has created an additional need to address the issue of reliable employee records with urgency.

Information improved because of major improvements in the salary levels and occupational information and this was enhanced by the usage of an international model for salary classification breaking down the salary scales into more manageable divisions. Due to the usage of the PERSAL system in the payroll, there was now a quick access to basic information on for instance, employee information.

Intense policy development and planning processes had highlighted the need for more reliable information. There was a problem however, that there was no system in place to get the information quickly before the adoption of the Vulindlela Project which was aimed at improving the reliability of Human Resources information at the disposal of the Department. Before this project, it took the department about two to three weeks to get basic information such as the number of employees in the department, but now this takes only a few minutes as a result of the project.

This programme on improving the reliability of and access to Human Resources information was one of the seven priorities of the new minister of Public Service and Administration, on coming into office in 1999. In May 2000 an integrated programme to ensure quality information in the future for policy making was started.

Mr Patel informed the Committee about the eight sections of the NMIR programme:
-essential biographical information for all employees
-current rank and salary information for all employees
-education, training and development information for all employees
-career incidents within the public service
-disciplinary matters
-leave
-organisational and geographical information
-all posts on fixed establishment

The programme also prioritised the adherence of deadlines for compliance and this was divided into three parts:
-information on existing staff by 30 June 2001
-departments had until 30 June 2001 to comply with requirements for information on posts on the approved establishment
-departments were required to ensure that information for all new appointments immediately comply with the NMIR

Audit
The audit in use is using secondary information which was due to the limited capacity to conduct a full-scale audit and as a result it yielded little information. Secondary evidence used detailed audits conducted using the PERSAL system on three national departments and also a review of information extracts from PERSAL.

Please refer to attached document for details

Findings
Mr Patel informed the Committee that the qualitative findings revealed that the majority of departments around the country have instituted programmes to address NMIR or some key parts of it such as the leave system.

Compliance Levels
In the Eastern Cape Province strong progress had been made in, the establishment of reliable information according to the NMIR. This was especially the case in the large departments, where employee biographical and leave information was being updated at a high rate. The province as a whole is only 10% compliant at the moment. The biggest problems were being experienced in the Education and Health departments because of the large numbers in these departments.

Mr Patel noted that there was a massive backlog in the leave system, especially in the former TBVC and self-governing territories as a result of the manual filling system which was in use in the apartheid era.

Moving away from the case study, he informed the Committee about the Defence Force whom he noted had a different system to the PERSAL and was currently about 80% compliant with the programme. They could get to full compliance because of different policies with other departments and expensive system changes.

In education, the largest sector, progress is being limited by the sheer size, capacity constraints and by high levels of decentralisation. A strategy adopted was to set up the Education Support Unit to help the provinces become compliant and this will assist with such issues as leave backlogs and the capturing and establishing of biographical information.
The Department of Health is the second largest sector with the majority of people at provincial level and had in general similar limitations as the department of education. They have a support structure to facilitate compliance, as in education, but the problem here was on a smaller scale.

Mr Patel pointed out that biographical information was mostly adequate but there were problems with citizenship, disability and residential addresses information. He added that this was more the case with existing than new employees.

On the issue of career incidents within the public service, he noted that the larger portion was compliant since the information is required for salary and other purposes.
With regard to occupation and salary he informed the Committee that the quality of information is good because of the required reliable information for the payment of salaries.

On the issue of education, training and development he pointed out that the functioning was not adequate on the PERSAL system. This was largely because the requirements previously were to keep the information manually. A section on bursary information was now available in the database. He noted that problems experienced in the public sector were also prevalent in the labour market in general including the private sector.

On the issue of leave, he pointed out that there has been a significant improvement as a result of changes in policy. However, the original task at hand was substantial and it will still take considerable time for the task to be completed.

On the issue of organisational and geographical information he informed the Committee that compliance was high due to the current basic information requirements. The big challenge here he noted would be to get information which will be used for the Geographical Information Systems.

On the issue of posts on the fixed establishments, he noted that this was a difficult issue to address in most organisations and indeed the departments. Significant advances like in the case of leave had been made however, and he identified the need to make the establishment and management functions on the PERSAL system more user-friendly interface.
He added that this was however an expensive projects to undertake. The PERSAL Company was investigating ways of making the system user-friendlier.

In concluding, Mr Patel identified a way forward based on a three-pronged strategy which needs to strengthen the control mechanisms, raise awareness, understanding and capacities of large role players and lastly assist departments in undertaking the programme. On the issue of the elapsed deadlines for compliance, he pointed out that a reminder system for all the provincial and national departments was most useful at this time and as from the 2002 financial year, internal audits as well as adherence to deadlines are going to be demanded from the various departments.

Discussion
Mr T Abrahams (UDM) asked what authority Mr Patel has to enforce deadlines? To what extent is the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) involved in trying to ensure compliance?

Mr M Maphalala (ANC) enquired about the size of the problem of citizenship. Had problems of ghost workers as reported in the media been resolved yet?

Mr Patel replied to the deadlines issue stating it is usually a question of departmental control which makes any authority on his side limited, as the various departments must by themselves oversee adherence. His experience was generally that compliance with the deadlines was very low. He noted that sometimes-practical obstacles, like the processing of leave forms with a big backlog, proved to be a daunting task for many departments.

On the question of SITA, Mr Patel said they could not assist very much because it is not a technology problem but a capacity problem.

On the issue of citizenship, departments fill in information and only verify it later when it comes to issues like salaries. Some information is discovered to be incorrect, incomplete and sometimes fraudulent, but they were busy with dealing with such problems.

On discussing ghost workers, he informed the Committee that on some of his provincial visits, he had found that this did exist, for instance in the Department of Public Works in the Northern Province, they discovered that some employees were paid double salaries because their transfers had not been processed yet, this was however, also an infrastructure problem where in some areas the PERSAL system or database was not even available.

The chair commented on the issue of deadlines by saying that there is a need to put a system in place where deadlines are strictly enforced, with possible penalties for failure to do so.

Mr J Modisenyane (ANC) asked if there were any penalties enforced for not meeting deadlines.

Mr Patel agreed that there is a need for enforcing deadlines and there are a number of ways in which this could be done, in matters of strategic importance, applicable laws set out in the various acts can be used as penalties. However, in terms of the NMIR, no scientific deadlines were put in place and he felt that departments were overwhelmed with expectations placed on them by the Public Service and Administration Department.

The meeting was adjourned.

Appendix
Extent of compliance to the National Minimum Information Requirement on Human Resources - as at 30 September 2001

Executive Summary
National Minimum Information Requirements (NMIR) on employees and posts in the public service was introduced in early 2001 by the Minister for Public Service and Administration to strengthen policy development, planning, management, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting.

Departments were required to immediately comply with the requirements for all new appointments made after 1 January 2001. In terms of existing staff members, departments were given until 30 June 2001 to comply. The same deadline was given for departments to ensure that establishment information on the system is correct. Departments were also required to ensure that policies and procedures were in place to ensure that they remain compliant.

Nine months after its introduction, compliance to the NMIR has not been fully achieved. The level of compliance remains uneven between departments as well as between different sections of the NMIR.

The majority of departments have instituted specific programmes aimed at reaching compliance. Many of these programmes are ongoing. Only a minority of departments (mainly small departments that are not geographically dispersed) have achieved a high level of compliance.

Substantial proportions of departments have indicated that the original deadline of 30 3une 2001 was unrealistic based on the magnitude of the tasks. Most small departments have indicated that they would have achieved compliance by the end of March 2002. The majority of big departments, including health and education, will be able to make major progress by the end of 2002 but may not fully comply with selected measures, e.g. leave.

From available evidence, there is a high level of compliance with regard to biographical information except for information on citizenship, disability, and residential address. Occupation and salary information as well as career incidents is good as many of the variables are compulsory for paying salaries.

Education, training and development information remains inadequate, as PERSAL has not yet develop an adequate function to capture information in this regard. In addition, information on prior qualification needs to be coupled by a labour intensive process of capturing and validating information on qualifications. As a result of a Public Service commission process, this information is adequate for the senior management service of the public service. Finally, the bursary function on PERSAL continues to be under-utilised because of limitations of user knowledge and skill in this regard.

The two elements that have shown significant improvement is leave and establishment information. This is a result of the new leave provisions that were introduced as part of the 2000 wage agreement and the requirements for departments to have approved establishments that support the strategic priorities of the department. However, because of the low base on which this improvement is based, the information is not fully reliable for policy and planning. However, with a continuation of current efforts, reliability will improve substantially over the next 6 to 12 months.

Information on disciplinary cases is not adequate at the moment with only a handful of departments using this function. The low utilisation levels may be due to the fact that this was a completely new function that was only enabled on PERSAL at the start of the second quarter of this year. The labour relations unit within the DPSA embarked on a road show to inform departments of this function and to get them to utilise the function. Many departments are still using manual processes to capture this information as they have not developed the competencies or procedures to use the function on PERSAL. An additional problem that has been identified is the absence of capacity (skills and PERSAL terminals) within labour relations units of departments to capture the required information.

Finally, the current organisational and geographical information is adequate. However, requirements on this element needs to be improved in the next release of the NMIR to assist in the creation of geographical information systems.

consistent with the future-oriented nature of the NMIR, a key objective of this audit was to identify barriers faced by departments in achieving and maintaining compliance. Barriers were identified that hamper ongoing compliance. A recurring theme that emerged during the audit was that compliance to NMIR serves as a barometer on the functioning of the department. Several of the barriers hampering compliance have their roots in capacity constraints, management weaknesses, and inefficiencies in systems and procedures.

On the basis of the audit, a three-prong strategy is being adopted to improve the level of compliance. This strategy reflects the current strategy of government and the DPSA on improving the functioning of the public service. The three prongs of the strategy (discussed in greater detail in the report) are: -

· Strengthening mechanisms of control with a specific emphasis on monitoring
· Raising awareness, understanding, and the capacities of the chain of people who
impact on the achievement of the NMIR
· Support and assistance to departments by the DPSA and other government
departments.

Introduction
Under the current regulatory framework and policy environment, relevant, timely, and credible information is crucial for effective policy development, planning, management, and monitoring of human resources in the public service. Weaknesses in this regard impacted on the quality of human resource management and development initiatives of the DPSA and departments. As a result, the need to improve human resource information remain an ongoing challenge that was raised by key stakeholders systematically over the last few years.

Over the last seven years, significant strides have been made to improve the availability of credible human resource information.

Improving Human Resource Information
To contextualise the NMIR, it is useful to briefly reflect on efforts since 1994 to improve human resource information.

In 1994, the only credible information that was easily available was the total number of people employed in the public service of the former RSA. This information was complemented by basic demographic data such as race, gender and salary level. Similar information from the former TBVC states and self-governing territories were difficult and expensive to acquire. In addition, the information was not reliable since it was mainly constructed from secondary sources.

Detailed information issues could not be addressed during the difficult and lengthy process of rationalising 11 former administrations into a single public service that occurred between 1994 and 1996. The major emphasis was on ensuring that we had accurate figures on the total number of people in the employ of the public service. At the time, a key concern in this regard was the possibility of large numbers of 'ghost' workers. Although there were isolated cases of 'ghost' workers, the overall extend of this problem was not as significant as originally thought.

In 1996, we cross the first major hurdle to improved human resource information. The available information on total numbers of employees were accurate enough for improved policy development, planning, and bargaining.

As a result, the focus naturally shifted towards improving personnel expenditure information. Personnel expenditure information also improved as a result of Treasury-led initiatives to improve general financial management. In addition, the bargaining and policy agenda required improvements with regard to information on the salary and notch distribution of the public service. A key enabling factor in this regard was the simplification of the grading system through the creation of the 16 salary band system. In addition to the simplification of the grading system, a new occupational system (CORE) was also introduced. The CORE system assisted by providing a better organisations of the many occupations within the public service. On the negative side, the replacement of the former PAS system with the CORE system weakened the information base on occupations for a few years as departments grappled with the implementation of a system based on a completely new framework.

During the period 1996 to 1999, access to improved information was facilitated by the decision by all departments (except defence) to use PERSAL as the system of choice for managing the payroll and for capturing basic information on employees and posts. In cases where PERSAL was introduced during this period, the focus was on ensuring that PERSAL could address payroll needs. As a result some of the more higher-level and value-adding HR functions were not utilised (e.g. the management of bursaries).

During the same period, the information needs of government as a whole (including the DPSA) was growing at an exponential rate. Departments and the DPSA were bombarded with ad-hoc requests for information and in many instances not given adequate time to respond. In many instances, departments as well as the DPSA were not aware that such information may be required and therefore no systems were in place to collect this information. To satisfy requests for information, departments would have to manually search primary sources of data for this information. As a result, response rates were low and the information received was not trustworthy.

Around the same period, the DPSA started working together with National Treasury to use its data warehouse (the Vulindlela project) to improve access to HR information that was available within the PERSAL system. This project help to highlight two issues. Firstly, that the extend of data quality problems on PERSAL (the garbage-in, garbage-out principle). Secondly, it helps to demonstrate the importance of good information to departments who were ultimately responsible for the quality of the information on PERSAL.

In July 1999, the new public service regulatory framework was implemented. The success of the new framework was significantly dependent on the effective use of information for decision-making. On this basis, the incoming Minister for Public Service and Administration identified improved information as one of seven priorities in 1999. In May 2000, the Department of Public Service and Administration launched a short-term integrated programme to improve the human resource information base. The focus was aimed at ensuring the availability of sufficiently credible information at all times. The information must be available to support the development of best practice policies as well as assist departmental managers in implementing the new regulatory framework.

National Minimum Information Requirements
The National Minimum Information Requirements (NMIR) on human resources were introduced by the Minister for Public Service and Administration in early 2001. The NMIR represented one leg of the integrated strategy. The NMIR specify the minimum information that each department needs to keep on its employees as well as on each post on the approved establishment. The NMIR were aimed at ensuring the availability of credible HR information for future policy development, planning, management, and monitoring.

For ease of reference and management, the NMIR is sub-divided into the following eight sections: -
· Essential biographical information for all employees,
· Current rank and salary information for all employees,
· Education, training and development information for all employees,
· Career incidents within the public service,
· Disciplinary matters,
· Leave,
· Organisational and geographical information,
· All posts on the fixed establishment.

The NMIR was formally released by the Minister for Public Service and Administration in January 2001. To aid the discussion in this report, the deadline for compliance had three parts: -
· Firstly, departments had until 30 June 2001 to ensure that existing staff complied
to the NMIR,
· Secondly, departments also had until 30 June 2001 to comply with the
requirements for information on posts on the approved establishment,
· Finally, departments were required to ensure that information for all new
appointments immediately comply with the NMIR.

In terms of its design, the intention of the NMIR is to ensure that credible information on people and posts is available to decision-makers at all points in time. Therefore, it is simplistic to state that departments have reached compliance or not. It is more accurate to talk about departments being compliant at a specific moment in time. This should be taken into account when reading this report.

Methodology of audit
A high-level audit of the extend of compliance by departments was conducted between July and September 2001. Due to limited capacity within the DPSA to administer such an audit in each of the 156 departments within the public service, a qualitative and high-level audit was conducted which mainly relied on secondary information and evidence.

The key elements of the audit included the following: -
· Review of detailed audits conducted by the PERSAL unit within the National
Treasury on three national departments
· Utilisation of information extracts from PERSAL
· Telephonic interviews with departments
· High-level review of support programmes by national departments to provinces
· Discussions with other line functions within the DPSA that deal with a specific
aspects of the NMIR (for example, leave, disciplinary matters)

As indicated above, the findings of this report are more qualitative in nature and tries to provide the following: -
· A general sense of the level of compliance in terms of the different elements of the
NMIR,
· Understanding the factors that hamper compliance,
· Provide recommendations on improving the level of compliance

Findings
The findings will be presented in terms of two dimensions: - by employing entity
(department, province, or sector) and by the different sections of the NMIR. In addition, due to the strategic importance of the PERSAL system for achieving compliance to the
NMIR, some salient points will be raised from the detailed audit process conducted by the PERSAL unit within National Treasury on three national departments.

Compliance levels from the perspective of Departments
In terms of reports received from departments at provincial and national level, the majority has introduced programmes aimed at achieving compliance to the NMIR. At least two provinces, Eastern Cape and Northern Province, have introduced high profile provincially coordinated programmes of action.

The Eastern Cape experience
It is useful to briefly consider the Eastern Cape experience (where some quantitative information is available) as it is representative of the general pattern of compliance in the rest of the public service.

The Eastern Cape introduced a project known as 'Getting the Records Straight' to achieve compliance to the NMIR. A central task team in the Office of the Premier is responsible for the project. The project was launch in late 2000 on the basis of the draft NMIR issued for comment. Departments are required to submit weekly reports to the central task team indicating the level of compliance that has been achieved. Departmental reports are then consolidated into a provincial report.

The last report from the Eastern Cape (dated 5 October 2001) as well as a subsequent discussion with a member of the central task team highlighted the following: -
· In terms of establishment information (including the loading of the approved
establishment on PERSAL as well as person to post matching), 2 of the 13
departments are fully compliant. The vast majority (7 of the 13 are more than 50%
compliant). Only 4 departments are less than 50% compliant. However, the
province as a whole is less than 25% compliant. This is because the biggest
department within the province, i.e. the education department is only 5% compliant. Similar trends exist with respect to the level of compliance of biographical details, leave, qualifications and service records.

· Notwithstanding the concerted programme of the Province, it is expected that the majority of small departments (i.e. all departments excluding health and education) would require until the end of March 2002 to be fully compliant. It is difficult to estimate when the bigger departments in the province would be compliant but full compliance is not expected before the end of 2002. However, substantial progress will be made on the majority of elements by this time.

· Due to limited capacity, the central: task team is not able to verify the correctness of the reports submitted by departments. Diagnostic work undertaken by the PERSAL unit within National Treasury on selected national departments highlighted quality problems including improper capturing of information on personnel files and the lack of procedures to ensure ongoing updating of information, for example, residential address information (discussed in more detail below).

· The approach of the Eastern Cape government has been to first ensure that information on personnel files correspond to that captured on the PERSAL system. The last phase of the project (which has not yet begun) is designed to get individual employees to update and validate their information. This process will be labour-intensive and will demand considerable effort to ensure high rates of return of corrected information from employees

· Factors limiting rapid progress in the large departments include the well-established paradox where service delivery institutions (schools and hospitals) are crucial for the success of such a project but are least able to deliver. This is due to a wide-range of problems including limited communication and information, their primary emphasis on service delivery, capacity problems, and resource constraints (including lack of PERSAL points), etc. This finding confirms the need for continuous programmes aimed at building the capacity of service delivery institutions.

· Most departments in the province are experiencing difficulties in finalising the process of auditing leave taken before 30 June 2000 and determining the number of capped leave days available to each employee. As such, the province requested assistance in this regard. This is being provided through the DPSA as part of its Integrated Provincial Support Programme (IPSP).

Interactions between the DPSA and HR officials from the Eastern Cape have served to confirm the increasing importance being placed by departments and provinces on getting proper information in place as a pre-requisite for effective management and planning.

Department of Defence
Defence comprises approximately 7% of the total public service and was included in the scope of the NMIR. However, since they manage the human resources and payroll on a separate system (PERSOL instead of PERSAL), the DPSA was informed that they could not achieve full compliance since their system did not make provision for certain elements. In some instances, for example, disciplinary information is designed around current public service processes and does not apply to Defence. In some instances, there was a need to undertake programmatic changes on the system. These changes are being built into the system development plans for the next financial period. At a high level, Defence has indicated that they are more than 80% compliant.

Education Sector
Education is the largest sector within the public service comprising more than one-third (35%) of the public service. The majority of employees located at provincial level. As highlighted in the Eastern Cape experience, the sheer size of the department, the distributed nature in terms of offices and institutions, and the lack of capacity imposes significant constraints on the ability to comply with NMIR and other requirements.

On this basis, the National Cabinet supported a proposal by the National Department of Education to render support to provincial departments in transformation initiatives and efforts to improve their functioning. To implement this support, the National Department of Education established a support unit known as the Education Departments Support Unit (EDSU) in April 1998.

EDSU has established a number of projects in the past year that is supporting 5 of the 9 provincial education departments to implement sections of the NMIR. Some of the more notable and successful projects in provincial education departments include: -
· Capturing of the establishment information, biographical information and job descriptions in Mpumalanga (complete with an evaluation process beginning on the value of the assistance provided)
· Assisted with sorting of leave information in Eastern Cape (approximately 30%
complete)
· Assisted with sorting of leave information, biographical information and job
descriptions in KwaZulu Natal (more than 50% complete on all three elements)
· Confirmation of biographical details and job descriptions in North West (new)
· Capturing of 25 000 leave forms in Free State (new) and assistance with job
descriptions (70% complete)

Health Sector
The National Department of Health is also involved in provincial support including assistance with the improvement of HR information. However, this programme does not have access to the same level of resources as Education. Some of the assistance rendered by the National Department include: -
· Assisting Free State to rationalise into one the many establishments that exist on
PERSAL
· Assisting Eastern Cape to match employees additional to establishment to
approved posts
· Embarking on an outreach programme to highlight the importance of good
information within the context of the NMIR

Section-by-section evaluation of compliance
Biographical Information
From available information, most of the elements within this section are correct. The three elements that are inadequate are citizenship, disability, and residential address.

The key factor hindering achievement of compliance with respect to disability is uncertainty around classification. To overcome this problem, the NMIR has made this field self-defined and only require an employee to indicate whether a disability exists or not without specifying the nature of the disability. This information is now available on the revised application form of the public service (Z83) and it is expected that this information is correct for new employees. However, getting information on existing staff will require submission of this information from large numbers of employees. Citizenship information faces similar difficulties.

Accurate information on residential address information poses a significant problem to all major information databases including private sector players. This is caused by employees not keeping the employer informed on changes in this regard as they do not regard it as important or alternatively, because of the undue administrative burden in submitting such information. This information element is useful for studies on the geographical distribution of employees. However, not many policies have been developed with this knowledge and therefore it would remain relatively inaccurate.


Occupation and salary information
The quality of information in this area of the NMIR is sufficient for the kind of analysis to be undertaken. This is mainly because the information required 5 compulsory for purposes of processing salary payments. In addition, due to the financial implications of mistakes in this regard, the PERSAL system has well-established and robust checks and balances.

Education, Training and development
This area has two major sub-divisions: - individually based training and development and bursary information. Currently the NMIR only require departments to capture information undertaken in the personnel file until this functionality is available in an electronic system. As a result, it is difficult to evaluate whether departments are keeping information in this regard in the form required by the NMIR. This will only become clearer when an appropriate electronic system is available.

As part of the PSETA processes, efforts are underway to create a database of competencies and training of public service employees. These processes will also need to deal with definitional issues to ensure consistency of this information with the information collected for the rest of the labour market.

The bursary function continues to be under-utilised. We have not fully investigated the reasons for this but it can be assumed that it is to a large degree a result of user ignorance on the existence of this functionality combined with the lack of an training on the use of the function. Furthermore, compliance is hampered by the absence of an interface between PERSAL and the financial system (where the payment of bursaries is processed). This reduces utilisation of the PERSAL system for bursaries.

Career and other incidents within the public service
Similar to occupational and salary information, the larger portion of the information required is also compulsory for salary payment purposes. As a result the information is sufficiently accurate and reliable

However, the quality of the information decreases as you go back into time and this hampers effective trend analysis at this point in time. New information is sufficient as departments are forced to capture this information when implementing pay adjustments. However, the ability to do trend analysis will be sufficiently enhanced over the next few years as the information base is more complete.

Although it was not fully assessed, it is likely that the quality is not as good for information on injury at work and performance rewards.

Disciplinary matters
The establishment of minimum information requirements on disciplinary matters was coupled by the creation of a new facility on PERSAL for departments to capture the information generated as a result of a disciplinary processes. The creation of the new facility needed to be built into the PERSAL system. As a result, the facility was only activated for departments to use since April 2001.

Awareness of the new facility is fairly low at the moment despite the efforts of the labour relations unit within the DPSA in marketing this facility. As at the end of Dune 2001, approximately 12 departments were making use of the system. In terms of more current information, this situation has improved since Dune but not substantially. Latest indications are that approximately 15 departments are now making use of the facility. Please note that since not all departments would have disciplinary cases, it is not possible to indicate what percentage of departments are using the system.

A more detailed assessment is currently being carried out by the labour relations unit of the DPSA to determine the reasons for the low level of utilisation. This investigation will be completed before the end of 2001. A superficial assessment indicates that there would need to be further efforts at marketing the facility and training departments to use the system properly. Departments will also be more inclined to use the system once the available information is analysed and made public.

Leave
The leave section has two major parts. Firstly, in terms of the new leave management system, departments are required to audit every individuals leave and determine a single number specifying the number of cap days leaves owing to that person as on 30 Dune 2000. Secondly, leave taken under the new leave system

In terms of correspondence received by the DPSA during 2001, a total of 19 departments and 2 provinces provided an indication of compliance in this regard. Of the 19 departments, 13 indicated that they had completed the process of finalising capped leave. As highlighted previously, these tend to mainly small national departments. 4 departments (including 2 health departments) indicated that they required until the end of September 2001 to comply. The remaining two departments requested assistance from the DPSA in order to comply. Both provinces (Eastern Cape and Northern Province) indicated that they required assistance in this regard. Assistance is being provided under the auspices of the Integrated Provincial Support Programme.

Over the next few months, the unit dealing with leave within the DPSA will be embarking on an audit to assess the level of compliance.

Organisational and geographical
At the moment, this section comprises of only two issues: - the province name and department, and union membership. Compliance is high with regard to the first issue as there is relative stability in the determination of departments. In addition, these elements are automatically generated in the design of the PERSAL system. The quality of union membership is sufficiently high for analytical and planning purposes.

Posts on the approved establishment
Capturing posts on the approved establishment on PERSAL is the last step in the process of determining the post structure of a department. In terms of the Public Service regulations, the approved establishments of a department must arise from its strategic and HR plans. With improvements in the finalisation of strategic plans in 2001, the area of information has shown substantial improvement.

In several cases, approved establishments have been developed manually but due to the immense burden involved in capturing the new establishments, departments are currently busy capturing this on PERSAL. Examples in this regard have been highlighted above.

In discussions with PERSAL it has been identified that establishment management needs to be made more user-friendly on the system. Technological solutions have been identified however, due to financial constraints these solutions have not been implemented. However, implementation of such solutions remain a priority of the PERSAL unit within National Treasury.

Results of detailed PERSAL audits (using the Credibility and Compliance Diagnosis)
Over the last few months, the PERSAL unit within National Treasury conducted a detailed audit on the level of compliance to the National Minimum Information Requirements as part of a broader Credibility and Compliance Diagnosis in the following national departments: -
· Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
· Department of Trade and Industry
· Department of land Affairs

This audit revealed a number of underlying and deep-seated problems in relation to the PERSAL system that hamper these departments from attaining and maintaining compliance to the NMIR. In summary, the problems noted by the PERSAL team included the following: -
· The PERSAL system is not being optimally utilised,
· The skills and knowledge levels of regular users of the system is not adequate
(partly as a result of the non-windows based look and feel of PERSAL)
· Management is not aware of the capabilities of PERSAL including awareness
on the information available on the system
· Not all role players have an adequate understanding of the functionality offered by
PERSAL
· The governance and management systems prescribed by National Treasury for
the effective management of the system is not always in place
· The day-to-day control and management of PERSAL is managed by low-level
staff without the requisite level of authority
· Important control measures (for example, exception reports generated by the
system) are not always acted upon.

As highlighted previously, these problems affect the effectiveness of the PERSAL system which contributes to non-compliance to the NMIR.

Way Forward
Based on the findings of the audit process, it is clear that no single strategy would result in higher levels of compliance to the NMIR. As such a three-pronged strategy has been identified which includes: -
· Strengthening mechanisms of control with a specific emphasis on monitoring
· Raising awareness, understanding and the capacities of the chain of people who
impact on the achievement of the NMIR
· Support and assistance to departments by the DPSA and other government
departments.

Strengthening mechanisms of control
To ensure that departments implement the NMIR, the introduction of the NMIR was complemented by a series of deadlines. This was the primary method of control. Based on the findings of this report, it is important to maintain deadlines as a method of control.

However, the design of the NMIR is such that it is not useful to declare that a department has reached compliance. Compliance has to be assessed at a specific point in time since a department status as compliant or not can change as a result of factors such as a relaxation of procedures or capacity weaknesses. As such, there is a need to introduce systematic and periodic monitoring in this regard.

Three major strategies can be adopted to ensure that departments continuously maintain their status as compliant. These are reporting requirements, regular audits and institutionalisation of accountability.

Reporting requirements
Higher levels of compliance can by achieved by imposing reporting requirements which require departments to capture information required by the NMIR. In this case, departments would understand the benefits of compliance with regard to their ability to service essential reporting requirements. Progress has been made in this regard through the creation of Prescribed Formats for an Oversight report which will be a section of departmental annual reports

The Minister for Public Service and Administration issued the first prescribed formats earlier this year for implementation as part of the 2001/ 02 annual reports. Departments have the ability to choose what method they used to generate the information required for these reports. However, the DPSA has indicated to departments that to reduce the burden of generating quality reports, they can take advantage of a centrally driven process of creating these reports. But this will require high levels of compliance to the NMIR.

Regular audits
The DPSA does not have the capacity nor authority to continuously monitor compliance. On this basis, the DPSA has considered possible other mechanisms that could be able to play this role in a systematic and cost effective manner. Two particular mechanisms have been identified. These are the Public Service Commission and internal auditors that are required in terms of the new Public Finance Management Act.

Preliminary discussions were held with the Public Service Commission. In terms of internal auditors, the key limiting factor is the absence of a organised formation which could take forward the need for such an audit. We have recently identified forum that is attempting to bring internal auditors together. We are currently exploring the possibility of meeting the leadership of this forum in the next few months to raise the need for conducting regular audits on the level of compliance to the NMIR.

Institutionalisation of accountability
A key group of people that impact on the ability of a department to comply with the NMIR are managers. The DPSA has continuously reinforce the need for departments to use the performance agreement instrument to force managers to take these responsibilities seriously. From available evidence, only a handful of departments have considered such a mechanism or have implemented it. Efforts will continue in this regard.

Deadline for initial compliance
Notwithstanding the above, it is important to make proposals regarding the status of the original deadlines that was specified for compliance. From this report, it is clear that despite the existence of dedicated programmes to satisfy the NMIR, the majority of departments have not met the original deadlines.

However, the prevailing culture of not meeting deadlines can also lead to a situation where it can reduce efforts to satisfy national policy requirements. On this basis, it is suggested that we do not create a new deadline.

Instead departments are reminded (by way of a personal letter to the Head of Department) that the original deadline has passed. The correspondence will also acknowledge the current efforts of departments and the difficulties that they are experiencing. However, the correspondence will conclude that after 1 April 2002, the status of departments will be evaluated on a regular basis by the PSC and/ or internal auditors and the results will be made public. This will have the result of creating a shadow deadline of 31 March 2002.

Raising awareness, understanding and appreciation
Since the release of the NMIR, the DPSA has continuously made efforts to educate departments on the need and benefits of the NMIR. This has yielded results as evidenced by the establishment of specific programmes. However, there is still a need for ongoing effort in this regard and the DPSA is always available to make presentations, answer queries, etc.

Support and Assistance
Support and assistance aimed at helping departments reach and maintain compliance is being provided by a number of departments including the DPSA, the PERSAL unit within National Treasury, the National Department of Education, and the National Department of Health. Most of the support being provided has been highlighted earlier in this report and these will continue over the next 12 to 18 months.

PERSAL Support
As a result of the audits conducted by PERSAL, they have launched a numbers of support activities and programmes: -
· Design a one-day training course for senior managers to inform them on there
responsibilities regarding NMIR and PERSAL. Initially the course will be targeted at
senior managers on salary level 13,
· In conjunction with the DPSA, to set guidelines for the inclusion of these
responsibilities into performance agreements,
· Establish a training course on information management and PERSAL control measures,
· Establishment of a Compliance and Quality Control team for National
Departments. This team will comprise of three knowledgeable members of
PERSAL who will conducts audits to establish areas of improvement, offer on-site
training, advice and assistance in a pro-active manner,
· Conversion of the operational support teams in Provincial Administrations with
Compliance and Quality Control teams,
· Conducting regular reviews on compliance to established treasury practices and
instructions as it relates to PERSAL,
· Augmentation of the current PERSAL training team to ensure that training needs
are effectively and speedily addressed including addressing the backlog of
approximately 2 500 people that require training.

Finally, PERSAL in continuously exploring ways of improving the current system within available resources. A key initiative underway currently is to re-design the front-end of PERSAL to make it easier to use by introducing a web-based interface. This will have major benefits with regard to reduced training requirements as well as increase user acceptance of the system. This is a potentially expensive endeavour and PERSAL is currently exploring the mots cost-effective solution that will yield significant benefits in the short- to medium-term.

Ensure that programmes aimed at improving the effectiveness of service delivery institutions facilitates compliance to the NMIR.

Concluding Remarks
To conclude, it is useful to reflect on the budget speech of the Minister for Public Service and Administration made in May 2001.

"After seven years in office we have learnt by now that the public service does not change easily. Indeed this is true for all countries that are busy with public service transformation. Institutional change requires massive investment in transforming systems, culture and operational environment coupled with systemic changes in values and behavior of public servants."

"The other characteristic distinguishing those who succeeds at change and those who fail, is shear, dogged determination and perseverance. It is only those who stick to the bigger game plan and the agreed strategy, those who take the time to do the necessary preparation in terms of the more mundane and those who find ways of working their way through or around obstacles that will over a period of time be able to reap the rewards."

"Those who keeps on changing their strategy in a fundamental way, those who keeps on changing direction and that looses their sight on the final outcome, gets lost in the maze of complexity, never actually arriving at the final destination."

"We need to keep the perspective that we will only see the full benefits of what we have been doing during the past five years, in ten to fifteen years' time