Project Proposal for Ministry of Trade Web Portal
There are tremendous potentials for trade to play a central role in driving and sustaining growth and poverty reduction in Kenya. The Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), cuts across all sectors of the Kenyan economy but face various development challenges like overreliance on agriculture which mainly depends on unpredictable weather, underdevelopment of Information, Communication and Technology and lack of market information of local goods both locally and internationally.
This project will provide a solution to investors and MSMEs by providing information on the various investment opportunities available in Kenya apart from agriculture, know about the various trade policies to avoid unfair trade and also provide a platform where local companies can upload their company profiles and the ministry promotes their products at trade fairs at an international level.
Introduction
The Ministry of Trade’s current mandate is: Trade development policy; Development of micro and small business; Fair trade practices and consumer protection; Private sector development and international trade affairs. The ministry will champion the promotion of both domestic and foreign trade through creation of an enabling business and investment environment as highlighted in this project proposal. The purpose of this proposal is to explain in detail the aim of the project, the methods used in the implementation of the system, scope of the system and budget and time schedule for the implementation of the project.
It begins with the introduction which introduces the system to be developed. The next part is the problem statement, the literature review, the scope of the system and the requirements for the system. In the scope of the system we have the system functionalities and its limitations. Since the system is to be developed within a located time frame and budget constraint, it is imperative that the proposal also contains the budget and time schedule. This explains the time schedule for the system and also the budget for the system.
Problem Statement
Kenya trade industry faces a number of challenges: unsound business regulatory framework leading to multiple licensing and heavy or cumbersome regulations for SMEs which in turn leads to high cost of business transactions; Lack of comprehensive trade information on the existing and emerging markets to investors and SMEs. Lack of sound business managerial skills and exposure to international best business practices has hampered the growth of the MSE sector.
To overcome the problem a system needs to be developed with the springboard objective of providing Kenyans with a centralized location where they can get trade information and thus lead to economic growth and realization of vision 2030.
Objectives
- To develop a successful Ministry of Trade web portal
- To identify conditions for successful implementation of a new improved system.
- To enhance access of trade information to Kenyans.
Literature Review
Having collected information on the ministry of trade I was able to define the main drawbacks associated with the services of the industry. Information sharing between the ministry and the business people is not easy. Enormous opportunities exist in the domestic, regional and international markets. These opportunities should be fully exploited through the systematic promotion of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and providing information to them.
It is crucial to note that as trade becomes free and global, technological innovations will become increasingly important, offering consumers more and more options at cheaper prices in the country and all over the globe. With this system in place all the requests for trade information, will be available to recipients at any given time. Therefore potential users’ are:
- Investors both local and international.
- Consumers.
- Other ministries in the government that work closely with ministry of trade.
- Owners of small and medium sized businesses.
Scope of the system
The web portal will aid in the availing all the details of the trade industry. It will, as its name suggests, be place where the ministry can interact with the general public on matters pertaining its mode of operation. There are several issues about the system’s scope.
Standard Requirement
The requirements include the following:
Computers
System Requirement
Hardware requirements
Processor – Pentium IV with
2. 0 GHz or higher
Memory – 1GB of RAM or more
Hard Disk size – 320 GB for host, 20 GB for client
Application program
Programming: PHP and JavaScript, Database design: MySQL, Interface: Macromedia Dream weaver, Macromedia fireworks, Macromedia Flash, Web browsers: Mozilla Firefox, Internet explorer, Web server: Apache, System: Linux and Windows.
Operating System
Windows XP (32-bit), Vista(32 – 64-bit), or Windows 7 (32 – 64-bit) ? Linux
Development Process
I’ve a number of steps as shown in the flow diagram below:
Project Schedule And Budjet
Project schedule
Ministry of Trade web portal is a large project that can be accomplished in a period of six months which equates to two semesters. The initial loading of the system with data takes place at the commissioning of the system. A complete schedule is as below. Period/TimeActivityDescription November 2011 Acquisition of use¬ful Resources. This involves collecting the useful facts from the ministry of Trade November 2011Databases Design Building individual databases, tables and individual record sets and loading with sample test data. December 2011 o January 2012Defining Record setsInvolves defining relations of data within various databases and means of accessing them February 2012Creating a Graphical User InterfaceInvolves creating user inter¬face that users of the system will use to search for information March 2012TestingInvolves testing the system with sample data and correcting any anomalies especially in the database design if any.
Project Budget
Particular squantity unit Price (Kshs)
Total Cost(Kshs)
Transport 5000 2Storage devices flash drive, CDs2 GB Flash Drive 2 Compact Disks 1,000 252,000 50 3Printing expenses1000 4Stationery2 A4 Books 2 pens 100 25200 50 5Computer Machine and software
Available but limited 6Internet costs 2000 7Airtime6000 TOTALKshs 16,300 Table 2) project budget
References
- Ministry of Trade Strategic Plan 2008-2012.
- Hawryszkiewycz, I. (1998), Introduction to System Analysis and Design, Prentice Hall, Australia.
