IMPROVING INFORMATION SYSTEM SUPPORTING MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF GREATER MEKONG SUBREGION SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN VIET NAM

IMPROVING INFORMATION SYSTEM SUPPORTING MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF GREATER MEKONG SUBREGION SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN VIET NAM

Website: http://www.docs.vn Email : lienhe@docs.vn Tel : 0918.775.368 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY NEU BUSINESS SCHOOL  - LE NA IMPROVING INFORMATION SYSTEM SUPPORTING MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF GREATER MEKONG SUBREGION SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN VIET NAM MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION THESIS Ha Noi - 2010 Website: http://www.docs.vn Email : lienhe@docs.vn Tel : 0918.775.368 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY NEU BUSINESS SCHOOL  - LE NA IMPROVING INFORMATION SYSTEM SUPPORTING MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF GREATER MEKONG SUBREGION SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN VIET NAM MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION THESIS SUPERVISOR: PHAN THI THUC ANH, PHD 2 Website: http://www.docs.vn Email : lienhe@docs.vn Tel : 0918.775.368 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Final Thesis on “Improving Information System supporting Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of Greater Mekong Subregion Sustainable Tourism Development Project in Viet Nam” has received valuable assistance and cooperation from many people, whom I am sincerely grateful for The first person that I would like to express my gratitude is Dr Phan Thi Thuc And for her valuable guidance that enable me to complete the Thesis The second one I wish to give my thanks is a group of lecturers of the Business School of the National Economic University I would like to particularly acknowledge Dr Le This My Linh, lecturer of the Research Methodology subject for her fundamental research methods and much experience, and the competent instructors and coordinators of this EMBA course for the knowledge they have shared Sincere thanks to Dr Tran Van Ngoi – Director of Project Coordination Unit (PCU) and colleagues at the PCU for sharing their experience and helpful data on the current Information System supporting M&E in the project I also would like to thank the respondents from the Project Implementation Unit (PIUs) at the provincial, district and communal levels and other stakeholders: ADB’s assistants, the GoV and related agencies’ officers for their extensive knowledge and experience shared as well as their concerns on issues of M&E Information System 3 Website: http://www.docs.vn Email : lienhe@docs.vn Tel : 0918.775.368 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATION 7 LIST OF FIGURES 9 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .10 INTRODUCTION 12 1 RATIONALE .12 2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES: .13 3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS: 14 4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .14 4.1 Research phases 14 4.2 Methods of data collection 15 5 RESEARCH SCOPE 16 6 THESIS STRUCTURE 17 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ON INFORMATION SYSTEM (IS) AND INFORMATION SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT METHODS 18 1.1 Theoretical background on Information System 18 1.1.1 Definition of Information System 18 1.1.2 Information system perspectives 18 1.1.3 Functions of IS in organization 20 1.1.4 Impacts of information systems on organizations .21 1.2 Information system development methods 22 1.3 Criteria to evaluate an Information System .25 CHAPTER 2: MONITORING AND EVALUATION (M&E) AND INFORMATION SYSTEM (IS) SUPPORTING M&E IN ODA PROJECTS 29 2.1 Overview of Monitoring & Evaluation 29 2.1.1 Definitions and role of M&E .29 2.1.2 Monitoring & Evaluation classification .32 4 Website: http://www.docs.vn Email : lienhe@docs.vn Tel : 0918.775.368 2.1.3 M&E steps 33 2.2 The supportive relationship between IS and M&E 34 2.3 Principles to build an information system supporting Monitoring & Evaluation 36 2.4 Experience in applications of Information system supporting M&E in some ODA projects in Viet Nam 36 2.4.1 Experience in application of Information system supporting M&E in Road Network Improvement Project (RNIP) funded by the World Bank 37 2.4.2 Experience in application of Information system supporting M&E in Viet Nam Land Administration Project (VLAP) funded by the World Bank 41 CHAPTER 3: CURRENT SITUATION OF IINFORMATION SYSTEM SUPPORTING MONITORING &EVALUATION IN STDPVN .50 3.1 STDPVN introduction .50 3.1.1 The overview of project .50 3.1.2 Project Organizational Chart 51 3.2 Monitoring & Evaluation in the Project .52 3.2.1 M&E system 52 3.2.2 Reporting arrangement .54 3.3 Description of STDPVN’s IS supporting M&E 54 3.3.1 Overview of STPDVN’s IS supporting M&E 54 3.3.2 Description of STDPVN’s IS supporting M&E 56 3.4 Assessment on the current STDPVN’s IS supporting M&E .64 3.4.1 Level of use 64 3.4.2 Users’ satisfaction 65 3.4.3 Attitudes of users toward the current information system 72 3.4.4 The extent to which current IS meet specified objectives 73 3.4.5 Financial payoff in application of the information system 74 CHAPTER 4 RECOMMENDATIOINS FOR IMPROVING INFORMATION SYSTEM SUPPORTING MONITORING AND EVALUATION IN STDPVN 76 5 Website: http://www.docs.vn Email : lienhe@docs.vn Tel : 0918.775.368 4.1 Gaps between key requirements and current situation of IS 76 4.2 Recommendations for improving IS supporting M&E 78 4.3 Implementation plan to improve STDPVN’s IS supporting M&E: 87 4.4 Budget for improving IS supporting M&E 90 CONCLUSION 92 BIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES .93 APPENDICES 94 Appendix 1: Survey questionnaires .95 Appendix 2: List of respondents 104 Appendix 3: Sample key in-depth Interviews guide 105 Appendix 4: List of interviewees 109 Appendix 5: RNIP’s AMT formats 110 Appendix 6: Key elements of RFP to the IS supporting M&E in STDPVN .111 Appendix 7: STDPVN’s IS output – Weighted progress 114 6 Website: http://www.docs.vn Email : lienhe@docs.vn Tel : 0918.775.368 ABBREVIATION ADB Asian Development Bank Tourism CTGs Community Tourism Groups CPCs Communal People Committee GoV The Government of Viet Nam LAN Local Area Network MCTO Mekong Tourism Coordination Office NPSC National Project Steering Committee ODA Official Development Assistance PC Personal Computer PCU Project Coordination Unit PIU Project Implementation Unit PPC Provincial People’ Committee PPSC Provincial Project Steering Committee SPSC Sub regional Project steering Committee STDPVN Greater Mekong Subregion Sustainable Development Project in Viet Nam MCST Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism IS Information System IT Information Technology M&E Monitoring & Evaluation MPI Ministry of Planning and Investment MOF Ministry of Finance MBA Master of Business Administration VLAP Viet Nam Land Administration Project WB World Bank 7 Website: http://www.docs.vn Email : lienhe@docs.vn Tel : 0918.775.368 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Positive and negative impacts of information systems: 22 Table 2 Comparison of Systems-Development Methods .25 Table 3 Differences between Monitoring and Evaluation 30 Table 4 M&E classification 32 Table 5 STDPVN’s reporting arrangement 54 Table 6 Frequency of use of main information sharing methods .63 Table 7 Levels of using various tools and technologies .64 Table 8 Perception of respondents on IS contents’ quality 66 Table 9 Respondents’ assessment on training course 70 Table 10 STDPVN’s IS SWOT .74 Table 11 Gaps between key requirements and current IS situation 76 Table 12 Summary of recommendations for improving STDPVN’s IS .86 Table 13 Action plan to improve STDPVN’s IS 87 Table 14 Cost estimate for building and installing STDPVN_M&E_IS 90 8 Website: http://www.docs.vn Email : lienhe@docs.vn Tel : 0918.775.368 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Research phases 14 Figure 2 The MTO model - Information system perspective .19 Figure 3 The IPO model - Functions of IS in organization 21 Figure 4 M&E data process 34 Figure 5 The model of supportive relationship between IS and M&E 35 Figure 6 RNIP AMT 38 Figure 7 Sample of VLAP_M&E_IS formats 42 Figure 8 Demonstrations on IS facilities 43 Figure 9 Demonstrations on the use of IS as a management tool .44 Figure 10 The overall information architecture 45 Figure 12 Summary of STDPVN’ IS functions supporting PPMS .55 Figure 13 Sheets of STDPVN’ IS 57 Figure 14 Frequency of use of each storage method 61 Figure 15 IS flow from PIUs to PCU 62 Figure 16 User’s satisfaction levels to IS phases and factors 65 Figure 17 Information updating level of the current IS 68 Figure 18 Survey on the organized training courses 69 Figure 19 Respondents’ ideas for IS improvement .73 Figure 20 Support level of IS to M&E 74 9 Website: http://www.docs.vn Email : lienhe@docs.vn Tel : 0918.775.368 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Greater Mekong Subregion Sustainable Tourism Development in Viet Nam (STDPVN) is financed by Asian Development Bank (ADB) with total amount of US $11.792.000 million toward sustainable development and contribution to the country’s eco-socio development, hunger elimination, poverty reduction and tourism infrastructure development It has five components carried out in five provinces (Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Hue) The project’s duration is 5 years (2009-2013) and it is in it’s second year Under ADB and the Government (GoV)’s regulations, the project has set up a Project Performance Monitoring System (PPMS) including Information System (IS) building However, the IS supporting PPMS has not effectively functioned causing delay in project implementation The main objective of this research is to assess the current situation of IS supporting M&E activities in STDPVN Specifically, to determine the problems and recommend solutions for improving it in reference with the experience in successful application of IS in another ODA projects To conduct the research, the author has combined the methods of desk research, observation, in-depth interview to 12 people who are almost leaders, managers, and M&E staffs in STDPVN and other projects which have applied the IS supporting M&E as well as survey 30 STPDN’s offiers The followings are main findings: - Information produced by the current IS are inconsistent, inaccurate and unexhausted; - The current IS has too many sheets with complicated formats and too many items in each sheet leading to difficulties in extracting needed information; - Untimely information aggregation and slowly information updating/disseminating; - Unskillfull M&E staff and unclear cut responsibilities and functions of people involved; 10 ... ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Final Thesis on ? ?Improving Information System supporting Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of Greater Mekong Subregion Sustainable Tourism Development Project in Viet Nam? ?? has received... Sports and Tourism IS Information System IT Information Technology M&E Monitoring & Evaluation MPI Ministry of Planning and Investment MOF Ministry of Finance MBA Master of Business Administration... methods Chapter II: Monitoring & Evaluation and Information System supporting M&E in ODA project Chapter III: Current situation of Information System supporting Monitoring & Evaluation in STDPVN Chapter