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Management information system - AGRIUNIS: experiences and issues in an Indian context

Identifieur interne : 000155 ( Istex/Corpus ); précédent : 000154; suivant : 000156

Management information system - AGRIUNIS: experiences and issues in an Indian context

Auteurs : U. Muralidhar ; D. Rama Rao

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RBID : ISTEX:CF4990D3E3F036AA1400D6D3359DD8111B27961E

Abstract

An information system related to the various activities of State agricultural universities in India, concerning such information as personal, academic, manpower, research and budget, has been developed. Issues and problems in data collection, compilation, analysis and software devel opment are discussed. A number of recommendations have been made for providing uniform and reliable data and also for future research.

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DOI: 10.1177/016555159602200405

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<meta-value>277 Management information system - AGRIUNIS: experiences and issues in an Indian context SAGE Publications, Inc.1996DOI: 10.1177/016555159602200405 U. Muralidhar National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad, India D. Rama Rao National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad, India Received 6 September 1995 Revised 27 November 1995 10 February 1996 21 March 1996 Abstract. An information system related to the various activities of State agricultural universities in India, concerning such information as personal, academic, manpower, research and budget, has been developed. Issues and problems in data collection, compilation, analysis and software devel opment are discussed. A number of recommendations have been made for providing uniform and reliable data and also for future research. Introduction In India, State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) are strong centres for agricultural research, education and extension. Information about the various activities of the SAUs is essential for planning and policy formulation of the country's scientific and technological needs in general and of agricultural research and education in particular. In recent years, the activities of SAUs have increased tremendously to meet the challenge of the agriculture sector. For effective planning of the various activities like education, research, etc, a good management information system on these activities helps the decision makers. Though the information on SAUs is available from different sources, the decision makers are not getting this information at the right time. An information system based on computers can be best used to keep the information on different activities in an integrated way. A step towards this has been initiated by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, New Delhi, with the coordination of the National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), Hyderabad, by developing such a system through the 'AGRIUNIS' project. Since the SAUs, by and large, have a certain degree of homogeneity in structure and organisation, this project was initiated to provide a uniform information system for the SAUs which also paves the way for them to connect with the national network. Agricultural research and education in India India is a federal union of 25 States and seven union territories. Agriculture is a State subject and about 90% of the State governments' research and development (R&D) budget goes to the agriculture sector [3]. Though the central government supports agricultural development activities, the share of State governments outweighs that of the central government. There are 28 SAUs in India, with a total of 1,092 units, comprising 162 colleges, 603 research units, 271 extension units and 56 other units, including 31 agricultural schools and support units. Correspondence to: U. Muralidhar, National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500 030, India. Fax: +91 40 245948. E-mail: naarm@x400.nicgw.nic.in 54278 Fig. 1. Agricultural research systems in India. Agricultural research system Based on the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Agriculture in 1926, the Imperial (now Indian) Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) was established in 1929 to promote, guide and coordinate agricultural research and education in the country. The Council was entrusted with the administration of funds to supplement research and education in its institutions and SAUs in the States. The Council has been reorganised from time to time to ensure efficient utilisation of resources, better coordination of research and the integration of different scientific disciplines. The reorganisation in 1965 was the first landmark, as all the research institutes under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, as well as those with commodity committees, were transferred to the ICAR. The Council was headed by a Director-General and it remained attached to the Department of Agriculture in central government. In the next step of reorganisation, the research farms in State and central control were transferred to SAUs within the respective States. Thus, the SAUs and the ICAR became two leading partners for agricultural research in the country [6]. The ICAR now has 42 central institutes, four national bureaux, nine project directorates, 22 national research centres and 71 all-India coordinated research projects. The organisational structure of agricultural research systems in India is shown in Fig. 1. Agricultural education system Agricultural education in India is available in three different systems: e State Agricultural Universities (SAUs); e general universities; and o central universities/deemed universities. State agricultural universities At present, there are 28 SAUs in the country, the 28th now being established and likely to be functional soon. The SAUs receive funds from their respective State governments, the ICAR, central government and other agencies. During the seventh plan period (1985-90), central plan allocation for the ICAR was 4,250 million rupees. The SAUs received 56% of this 4,250 million rupees from the ICAR and this was 55279 Fig. 2. Organisational structure of the State Agricultural Universities in India. largely to support project-based research and for infrastructure facilities at advanced centres of teaching, research and extension [5]. As the SAUs were established following the model as developed by the ICAR [5, 6], there is considerable uniformity in organisation and structure in India. Typical organisational structure of the SAUs in India is illustrated in Fig. 2. General universities Before the establishment of SAUs, agricultural education was provided in colleges within the general universities. Subsequently, many of these colleges were affiliated to SAUs within the respective States. However, only a few universities have continued with their programmes, mainly in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan States. There are 43 such colleges now, dispersed in 20 different universities in the country. Central universities and deemed universities Besides the SAUs and general universities, central universities (fully supported by central government) have faculties for agricultural sciences involved in both teaching and research. Five national institutions have deemed university status and offer programmes in agricultural sciences. Both the central universities and the national institutions/deemed universities have an all-India character with regard to student admission and faculty selection. Scope of the study/project Agricultural research and education is the primary concern/activity of the SAUs, whereas, in the other two systems (general and central/deemed universities), it is one of the associated activities. Therefore, the present study was focused on detailed data of SAUs and the data of the other two systems were restricted to their agricultural-related activities. With the above perspective, the project was formulated, with the emphasis en providing a unified information system to all SAUs. To achieve this goal, the study was planned with the following objectives. Objectives of the project (1) To develop an information system related to the various activities of SAUs, with the emphasis on manpower, academic, research and financial data. (2) To help the SAUs to use AGRIUNIS software and databases for effective utilisation of the above. 56280 Expected outcome of the project (1) A comprehensive information directory on SAUs' activities. As many agencies are seeking information from SAUs, computerised data will be useful in catering for all such needs. (2) Identification of needs, in terms of academic and research activities. (3) Information on activities related to the region's agricultural development. (4) Resource allocation to various activities. (5) Comparison of different universities and units within a university, in terms of resources, student cost and student-teacher ratio, etc. (6) Manpower planning. (7) Information on women's participation in agricultural R&D. Methodology Sequence of steps The project work covered data collection from the 28 SAUs in India. The data were broadly collected in two sets. One set of data was personal information from the faculty and scientific staff and the second was activity information from university sources. A pilot project was carried out to identify the data needed and to prepare appropriate schedules. This information was found to be useful for identifying the questions for which the universities needed answers. The sequence of steps followed was: (1) vice-chancellors/heads of institutions were approached for participation in the project, to nominate local coordinators who would be associated with the project work, from designing the schedules to implementing the project in the respective universities; (2) setting up of Project Advisory Committees (PAC); (3) identification of information needs and design of related schedules in consultation with PAC and local coordinators; (4) collection of personal information from the individual faculty (faculty refers to teaching and scientific personnel at the lecturer grade and above); (5) collection of information from university head offices and key officials through local coordinators. Initially data for five years were collected. The local coordinators were provided with assistance for collecting the data and the expenditure for this was covered by the project funds; (6) software development; (7) orientation training for university employees on the usage of the databases and software; (8) data codification, entry, verification, analysis; (9) preparation of project report. Schedules Five schedules were designed, keeping in view the following: ~ objectives of the study; ~ reports needed by the universities and the DST; ~ observations made by the PAC members and local coordinators; e earlier experiences in such data collection; e interviews and informal discussions; o review of the literature. Schedule-I was designed to seek personal data from the faculty. During 1992, there were 17,678 faculty staff working in SAUs. Schedule-I was provided to all the faculty through the local coordinators and about 30% of them responded. Schedules II-V were designed to seek the data from university head offices and key officials. The broad outlines of these five schedules are listed in Table 1. Pilot project The schedules were pre-tested at the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University, Hyderabad, and the revised schedules were sent to all coordinators for one more round for feedback before they were finalised. The responsibility for data collection at the universities was given to the respective local coordinators. Codification To develop a database for storage and retrieval of information, proper codification is the first prerequisite. In this project, two types of codification were followed. The first set was for multiple choice with no more than five options. Such options were directly codified at the time of data entry. The second set was codified and based on content analysis relating to keywords for research projects, specialisations, etc, with a long list of choices. Though the latter was a lengthy process, it was adopted for the following reasons: (1) to reduce the schedule completion time by the respondents by avoiding the need to search through a large number of codes relevant to the item; 57281 Table 1 Outline of the five project schedules (2) to facilitate uniform codification for the entire database. During the designing of the file structure, all these codes of six digits were maintained in a single database. The first digit represents the major head and the next five digits represent the actual code. The first digit is allocated by the package automatically. The user only needs to define the last five digits. The major headings used were: Specialisations, Universities, Degrees, Funding agencies, Languages, States/Union territories, Commodity groups and Keywords. For the sake of uniformity, internationally accepted codes were used. The keywords and the commodity groups for research projects were taken from [4]. Hardware " Most of the universities were relatively familiar with the PC environment, but were novices in the use of computers for information systems. Because of this, PC-based hardware was selected for the project. The selected configuration was PC-AT 386, 120Mbyte hard disk, 4Mbyte RAM and 33 MHz clock speed. Software The application software of AGRIUNIS was developed under FOXPRO. The main reasons for selecting this software were: o its reasonable cost; 9 its provision of executable modules; o its provision of structured query language (SQL)/fourth generation language (4GL) to generate ad hoc reports easily; o its provision of a business graphic facility. Structured programming was effected for data entry and editing. The schedules were split into a number of database files as per the normalisation requirement. Programmes were developed to analyse the data and to provide tables for display on screen and as printouts. The package provides easy updating and usage by semi-skilled personnel without a software background. It can be used to generate different reports. The package was tested for user-friendliness and made available to all the universities. In the package, the following special features were provided for data entry, editing and validation of the data: (1) Help screens: screen and field helps were provided to improve the effective use of the package. (2) Message: a message is displayed at the bottom of the screen for each of the options in all cases. It contains information about the particular option/operation. (3) Highlighted menu: in this menu, highlighted characters (called highlighted buttons) are available for each of the options and desired options can be activated by pressing the highlighted button. (4) Popup menu: for a list of options less than five in number, popup menus are provided. These are indicated by rectangular boxes displaying the list of options. (5) Window option: for items with a long list of options, such as keywords, disciplines, etc, the options are displayed in a window. (6) System maintenance: this feature is provided to rebuild the index files, to process the report files and to perform the backups. 58282 (7) Data dictionary: all fields used in the different database files are explained, viz. field description, width, type and relation among the fields. This helps the user to generate ad hoc reports not provided in the package, by using SQL/4GL. Reports/Outputs The formats of the reports needed were finalised in consultation with the local coordinators. A menu is provided to generate different reports on personal, academic, manpower, R&D and budget information. Some illustrations are: e Faculty background; e Faculty age distribution; e Faculty career; e Faculty academic record; ~ Faculty activity time; ~ Faculty training; ~ Faculty origin by domicile; e Students admitted and passed; e Cost per student; o Manpower by function; e Manpower by gender; e Manpower by activity; o Commodity research projects; e Technologies developed; e SAU's achievements; e SAU's publications; ~ University receipts; ~ Expenditure by activity; ~ Expenditure by head of account; ~ Physical facilities; ~ Hostel facilities; ~ Admission criteria. Manpower The manpower employed in the project is described in Table 2. Documentation The following documents were used in the project: (1) a leaflet containing guidelines to filling in the different items in the schedules; (2) a user manual for the AGRIUNIS package, which was prepared to help the university personnel to use the package; (3) a system manual containing the programming logic and the flow of the data. This is to help later modification. Table 2 Manpower employed in the project * For codification, postgraduate students were trained and used on a part-time basis as and when needed. Issues and experiences Contents of schedules The first schedule on personal information contained direct questions seeking less personal and more professional information, i.e. about designation, specialisation, background, academic record, career details, activity time spent, training and details on research, teaching and extension activities. The average time required for completing this schedule was about ten minutes. The following criteria were observed while preparing the schedules: (1) any question which was not likely to be used for any useful purpose or decision was not to be incorporated ; (2) total length of a schedule not to exceed four pages; (3) they should not reflect any intention to evaluate any individual; (4) they were to be brief and simple; (5) their contents and format were finalised after consultation with the local coordinators nominated by different SAUs. A meeting of the local coordinators was organised to discuss and finalise the contents. After this, the schedules were prepared with proper coding, wherever possible. Data collection For effective data collection, several parallel and systematic efforts were made to collect the data. The local coordinators were given the major responsibility for this. A two-day orientation training course, exclusively for the local coordinators, was organised at NAARM, wherein the definition and purpose of each 59283 and every question was explained. All the schedules were supplied to the local coordinators and the completed schedules were collected only through them, so as to give them first access to the data of their own university. Coordinators were empowered to engage field assistants to collect the information. Besides these efforts, the university faculty was also involved whenever they visited NAARM for participation in different training programmes. As a matter of fact, the AGRIUNIS topic was introduced as a case study in the courses conducted by NAARM to motivate scientists to participate in the project. This generated enthusiasm and improved the responses from the individual faculty members. Most of the local coordinators also provided university publications like annual reports, R&D highlights and budget reports, which helped in cross-checking the data received. Missing data The project covered data for five years. Some universities failed to provide the data for the five years. However, the data for the period 1990-92 were available for all the SAUs. Wherever possible, the missing data were taken from the universities' publications, such as annual and research reports, and from other publications. Manpower and budget data prior to 1989 were taken from [1] and students' out-turn data were taken from [2]. Data codification NAARM's technical staff and postgraduate students in the agricultural and veterinary sciences were used for data codification. All such coded data were cross- checked by different persons. Software development For software development, the mobility of software personnel is a major constraint. To overcome this, a software consultant was engaged to speed up the programming. The design and documentation of the programs is essential for smooth development of the package, especially when it is developed in-house. Otherwise, software development can be given to external consultants. In such cases, access to the source code, the documentation of the systems and user manuals are mandatory for future modifications. Orientation training To have uniformity in the databases across the universities, orientation training was organised to train university employees in the use of AGRIUNIS software for data entry and analysis. The Vice-Chancellors and local coordinators were requested to depute one of their employees for training in the use of the package. The universities were provided with the package and training. The training was to help the participants in the use of the package, i.e. use of various codes, tips on maintaining the database and generating various reports, and also the incorporation of the future data at the respective universities. Moreover, the training programme provided an opportunity to check the user-friendliness of the package. Suggestions made by the participants were helpful in improving the package. Our experience in this project has shown that the university technicians needed at least a week of training to instil confidence in the use of the package. Since computer personnel are mobile, this training needs to be provided periodically. Database maintenance The database will be updated by the respective SAUs for which necessary training was provided. The database for all the SAUs is available at NAARM and this is open to all for academic purposes. At present, no security feature is incorporated. However, this will be essential for access through networks in the future. Access to the AGRIUNIS database is illustrated in Fig. 3. Some issues and experiences emanating from this study on data collection, software development, and implementation are reflected in the recommendations listed below. Recommendations for implementation The present study has primarily been information-related and, on the basis of our experiences and interactions with officials of various SAUs, the following observations/recommendations have evolved. Each recommendation relates to a specific activity or task. Planning and monitoring cell (PMC) For uniformity and periodic updating of data, PMCs need to be established, strengthened and coordinated. Universities without PMCs need to establish one, with the essential resources for manpower and equipment. 60284 Fig. 3. Access to AGRIUNIS. For the specific activity of annual updating of the data, the recurring expense will be about 20,000 rupees per year per university. This is needed for three years; after which, this is expected to become regular routine work. Training It is essential to have uniformity in the databases developed across the universities. PMC personnel need to be sensitised to the importance of this and use of the various codes. As the university faculty holding administrative positions like the PMC Coordinator are often transferred to other units, this training needs to be provided periodically. Mode of sending schedules To streamline the data collection, the schedules for personnel information can be sent along with annual assessment forms, which is a regular routine activity. It must be mandatory for all employees to return the completed schedules on time. This will help the universities in streamlining faculty time for different activities, scrutinising nominations for training, etc. National coordination centre The automation of PMCs will become a nucleus for the networking of SAUs in future. Fig. 4 illustrates the proposed use of AGRIUNIS. Before networking, the SAUs need to have local expertise in developing the database. A coordination body is essential to guide and organise this. The AGRIUNIS package should be further developed to be implemented over the proposed network of the ICAR and SAUs. The information can also be made available to all the network users on gopher, e-mail or Telnet. Ultimately, this would become an integral part of the proposed network of the ICAR and SAUs, which is now under development by the International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR). Recommendations for future study Based on the present study, some areas were identified for detailed study. Funding agencies like the ICAR/DST/SAUs may initiate new projects in these areas. Student drop-out The present drop-out rate of 30% is high. As the cost per student (about 200,000 rupees per year per student) is high, to utilise the resources efficiently, it is imperative to study the reasons for drop-out and alternative mechanisms for capacity utilisation. 61285 Fig. 4. AGRIUNIS - proposed network. Professional women in agriculture The number of girls in agricultural education is increasing rapidly. The present level of women employed in SAUs is low (about six per cent). The increasing number of qualified women in the job market demands much structural readjustment to maximise their contribution. A separate study into this area is an immediate need. Faculty training The training opportunities for faculties in SAUs are limited. A detailed study is needed to identify the training needs, the broad areas for training, the institutional support, and the operational and policy issues pertaining to training. Planning agricultural education Planning agricultural education needs to be assessed afresh. Scientific and technical manpower in agriculture, based on the demographic and geographic data of the country, is rather low. The SAUs are conscious of the need for safe and easy employment for their graduates. This is the only sector protected and shielded to a greater extent from outside influences, but this conflicts with the social demand for more qualified manpower and also for the entrepreneurship and agricultural development in the non-governmental sectors. The need for qualified agricultural graduates in the country has to be looked at afresh. A separate study is needed to identify the manpower needs and policy issues pertaining to employment generation. Conclusions A study on a management information system for agricultural education in India has been conducted and detailed data were collected, grouped and analysed on the basis of major activities of SAUs, viz. academic, research, extension and administration. Five different schedules were designed to capture the information about various activities of SAUs; namely, personal, general and academic, manpower, 62286 R&D and budget information. A user-friendly software package was developed to maintain the database and university employees were trained to maintain the database at their own location. The issues and experiences gained in the project are discussed and some issues of importance which emanated from the study are illustrated. Recommendations and suggestions are made for periodic updating and future use of the data. Based on the project experience, the organisational structure of a management information system to provide information on agricultural research and education in India is suggested. The suggested model comprises a network of PMCs as the lowest organisational units at each of the 28 SAUs as the primary data sources, and a national coordination centre to coordinate the activities of those PMCs at national level. Recommendations are also made on the type of schedules, the mode of data collection, the manpower and resources needed to accomplish this. The data suggested a need for future studies on student drop-out in SAUs, training needs of SAU faculties and issues of graduate women in agriculture. Acknowledgments The authors wish to acknowledge the support of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi, for the work reported. References D.K. Agarwal , S.L. Garg and S.R.S. Arya, Information on State Agricultural Universities (ICAR, New Delhi, 1990). Outturn of Scientific and Technical Manpower in India: Vols 1-4 (HRD Group, CSIR, New Delhi , 1993). Research and Development Statistics (Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi, 1993). MIS Manuals for Agricultural Research (ISNAR , The Hague, 1990). K.V. Raman, T. Balaguru and P. Manikandan, National Agricultural Research Education and Extension Education Systems in India (NAARM, Hyderabad, 1988). N.S. Randhawa , Agricultural Research in India (FAO Research and Technology Paper) (FAO, Rome , 1987).</meta-value>
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<abstract lang="en">An information system related to the various activities of State agricultural universities in India, concerning such information as personal, academic, manpower, research and budget, has been developed. Issues and problems in data collection, compilation, analysis and software devel opment are discussed. A number of recommendations have been made for providing uniform and reliable data and also for future research.</abstract>
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