About e-Project

• Why e-Project?
• What is e-Project?
• What are some of the uses of e-Project?
• What are the benefits of e-Project?
• Who qualifies for e-Project?

Why e-Project?

The e-Project has been developed to assist municipalities to manage key IDP information and to respond to the ongoing difficulty of accessing planning and project-based information throughout government.

The majority of key planning and project-based information throughout government is stored either as documents or stand-alone spreadsheets resulting in the following problems:

• project actions are not linked to the priority issues and objectives of specific areas throughout South Africa;
• municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) do not have proper implementation programmes;
• scarce resources are not linked to the implementation needs of different areas;
• insufficient implementation management and monitoring; 
• multiple stakeholders can't access key IDP planning and project-based information. This limits the extent whereto different stakeholders can plan and coordinate different actions required for the same municipal area; At the same time, the municipality can't access key national and provincial planning and project-based information that might be applicable to their area;
• updates and revisions of key municipal IDP information are difficult; 
• limits the extent whereto the IDP can be monitored;
• limits the extent whereto outputs of the IDP process can be aligned with the resources of other departments, or incorporated into other systems and processes. For example it is difficult for line departments to align their resources in support of municipal IDPs, since they have no access to key aspects of the IDP in a format that's useful to them.

What is e-Project?

The “e-Project” tool provides a mechanism to maintain key strategic planning and project-based information and to manage the flow of this information within and between organisations. This information is critical as it enables political leaders, executives, managers and planners to oversee effective service delivery.

What are some of the uses of e-Project?

Some of the general uses of the e-Project tool are the ability to: 

• Define a portfolio of priority issues, objectives, programmes and projects with the option of specifying the relationships (linkages) between them;
• Manage project detail such as the location, duration, budget, key responsibilities, deliverables and progress;
• Specify performance indicators and link them to objectives, programmes and projects; 
• Specify resources (internal and external) and link them to your programme or project;
• Manage your own information;
• Export information to office tools such MS Word, MS PowerPoint and MS Excel;
• View current and future activities of various government stakeholders in your area; and
• Inform other stakeholders why, with what, when, how much and where their support are required. 

e-Project enables integrated reporting in a variety of formats (tables, graphs and maps) and ways. For instance, reporting is done by grouping information by:

• My Projects;
• Organisation,
• Sector, Cluster or Functional Area;
• Priority issue or Objective;
• Key Performance Indicator;
• Programme and Project types;
• Province, District (Metro) Municipalities, Local Municipalities and Ward;
• Funding (Budget) Source;
• Financial year;
• Responsible organisation / Person; and
• Status.

Simply stated, the e-Project provides a powerful tool to source information on:

• "WHAT (Priorities, Objectives, Performance Indicators, Programmes, Projects and Deliverables);
• "WHERE" (Location);
• "WHEN" (Start and End Dates);
• "WHO" (Responsibility and Involvement);
• "HOW MUCH" (Budget); and
• "HOW FAR" (Financial and Physical Progress).

What are the benefits of e-Project?

• The current version of the e-Project is Internet-based. This means that you only need a web browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer to access and use e-Project. No complex installation procedures are required;
• Captured planning and project-based information is safe and secure. You don't need to be concerned about losing your data or to make regular backups. This is already been looked after by the IDPNC as part of the service to you;
• The user has control. The organisation (e.g. department or municipality) manages user access and permissions to their planning and project-based information. This provides the flexibility to manage access and share key planning and project-based information with your colleagues and external organisations, such as national and provincial line departments, who require this information to align their priorities and resources. It also provides a potential medium to keep your constituents and councillors up to date, thereby empowering them to help themselves with the information that they are looking for; and
• The basic version of e-Project is free.

Who qualifies for e-Project?

The e-Project was developed as a tool to enable municipalities across South Africa to manage key IDP planning and project-based information. All government organisations are eligible to receive access to e-Project, however the organisation has to be a registered entity on the IDPNC web site with an accredited Organisational administrator.  The IDPNC is currently being implemented in the Provinces (January 2005 - March 2006).  Please check the time tables early in January for the implementation schedule.