Introduction Importance Target Group Content Outcomes Methodology Fees Venue Convenor To register

IKMPS: Certificate in Information And Knowledge Management In The Public Sector

Introduction

This course seeks to provide public managers and service delivery project teams with the skills and expertise they need to ensure better use of information resources.

Importance

A number of factors and developments account for the importance of this course. Firstly, the South African public service is at an advanced stage of transformation to make it responsive to the new democratic era. The role of information and knowledge to translate policy into practical outcomes cannot be overemphasized.

To this end, the course seeks to provide participants with the analytical skills and expertise they need to leverage information and knowledge resources to enhance the institutional capacity of government to implement service delivery policies and programmes.

Second, the twenty-first century public management environment is increasingly becoming too complex and dynamic for bureaucratic models of public management to cope. Information and knowledge thus become essential and critical to the understanding of these complexities and to the formulation of appropriate strategies for their effective management. Organisational information and knowledge resources thus assume strategic value in organisations that must be effectively managed.

This course seeks to provide skills and expertise in managing information and knowledge as strategic resources.

Third, governments experience increasing pressure from the public for more accountability, transparency, responsiveness, and value for money. At the same, governments are experiencing shrinking budgetary and other resources. To accomplish more with less as they are expected, public managers and project teams require the right information and knowledge at the right time. In other words, these resources become strategic and must therefore be managed.

This course seeks to provide basic skills in managing the development and use of information and knowledge resources in 21st century public sector.

Finally, the South African public service has not shown as much strength in the implementation of service delivery policies as they have shown in their formulation. This fact has been blamed on a number of factors, of which organizational inertia stands most prominent. Information and knowledge are essential to bridge the gap between formulation and implementation.

This course seeks to provide public managers with the skills needed to use information and knowledge to overcome inertial impediments to effective implementation of policies and strategies.

Target Group

The course targets three categories of participants. Firstly, the course targets senior public managers (manager in government, parastatal organizations, non-governmental and civic organizations). Secondly, it targets managers in private sector organizations that do business with government. These managers need a better understanding of the public sector environment in the light of increasing partnerships and collaborative ventures between government and the private sector, with reference to a wide range of public service responsibilities. Third, the course targets managers of trade union organizations and other development agencies who need to acquire more information and knowledge on the changing government environment given the increasing value of information and deployment of ICTs in the public sector.

Content

Module 1: Managing the Procurement of Information Resources and Services

• An overview of strategic planning and management in the public sector;

• Strategic planning for employing ICTs in the public sector;

• Managing ICT projects in government;

• Managing ICT procurement in government;

• Managing ICT contracts in government.

Module 2: Electronic Government, Information & Knowledge Management

• The Internet and related technologies in government;

• Electronic government – concepts, applications and challenges;

• Data, information and knowledge concepts and their relationships to business activities;

• Selected themes in Information Management (including design of IM projects) ;

• Selected themes in Knowledge Management.

Module 3: Critical Issues In Managing Information Resources and Services in Government

• The information society and economy – challenges and issues;

• Quality management issues;

• Security and business continuity issues;

• ICT policy and strategy issues;

• Legal issues in electronic government;

• Integration, interoperability and scalability issues;

• Organisation, management and co-ordination.

Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, the participants will:

• Have relevant conceptual and analytical skills required for effective management of the procurement of information services and resources;

• Be sufficiently exposed to a range of issues and their implications and impact on effective management of organisational information services and resources;

• Understand the basic principles and practice of electronic government and information and knowledge management in the 21st century public sector organisation;

• Be able to analyse the impact of information and knowledge systems on the current strategies and structure of public organisations.

Methodology

Facilitated professional presentations and interactive and participatory learning processes and approaches will be used in course delivery. The facilitators are drawn from amongst academics, professionals and practitioners so as to provide a suitable blend of theory and practice. Teaching/learning tools include a combination of cases, classroom exercises, group projects and individual projects, course readings, individual and group presentations. This approach enables participants to learn not only from the facilitators but also from their own experience and that of their colleagues. This approach draws leaning experiences from the real life challenges to which both the facilitators and participants have been exposed and how the application of ICTs can address these challenges.

Fees

R 10 00O inclusive of VAT per participant.

Venue

All modules will be conducted at the LINK Centre, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, St David's Place. Parktown, Johannesburg.

Convenor

Gordon Oyomno + 27 + 11 + 717-3945

Note that subject to performance and university rules, this certificate may be recognised as an elective towards a Masters of Management.

To register

To register for the course, simply download and print the registration form provided. Then fill in the form in full, and fax it back to the LINK Centre on + 27 + 11 + 717-3910. Please ensure that the original is subsequently handed in on the first day of the first module.

Click here to download the registration form
(Note: this requires Acrobat Reader - click here if you need to install Acrobat Reader.)

Contact the LINK Centre for more information.

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