The Capacity Project has released an online demonstration of its free, open-source software designed to help countries strengthen and sustain human resources information systems (HRIS) for workforce planning, tracking and management, available at www.capacityproject.org/hris.

The Project has successfully applied its HRIS strengthening approach in Namibia, Rwanda, Swaziland and Uganda, and has ongoing HRIS activities in Kenya, Lesotho, Southern Sudan and Tanzania.

The Project’s new HRIS Strengthening website feature also includes an explanation of the HRIS strengthening process and technology along with information about successful implementations of the software and the capacity-building it enables. The software and documentation will be available for free downloading in July.

"The iHRIS Suite of software and the associated HRIS strengthening information are the first freely available tools to help countries answer important questions about their health workforce in a routine and timely fashion," says Dykki Settle, head of the Project’s HRIS team. "These answers will directly lead to improved decision making and service delivery."

Before a country's leaders can make informed decisions about their health care system they need to know what human resources are currently available and project what their country's health care needs will be in the future. The Project’s comprehensive HRIS strengthening process assesses the human resources information systems already in use, enhances infrastructure to support a more advanced HRIS and customizes software solutions to answer key health workforce policy and management questions. The HRIS process supports managers in interpreting and using the data gathered to make informed and confident decisions and ensures that the system is sustainable and expandable to meet future needs.

The Capacity Project has successfully applied this HRIS strengthening process in Uganda, Rwanda, Swaziland and Namibia. In Uganda, the HRIS established the number of nurses being trained, taking licensing exams, passing the exams and entering the workforce. The country's Ministry of Health has been able to make policy decisions based on this data. In Rwanda, the Project built an electronic HRIS from the ground up and in the process strengthened the Ministry of Health's hardware, computer network and staff. After reviewing its current system with Project staff, Namibia's Ministry of Health and Social Services quickly began transferring from a strong but labor-intensive paper system to a computerized HRIS. Processes that once took up to a month, such as determining the number of retirees, will become instantaneous. The Project also has ongoing HRIS strengthening activities in Kenya, Lesotho, Southern Sudan and Tanzania.

The Project chose open-source software to develop HRIS solutions because it is non-proprietary—there are no licensing or upgrade fees. Stakeholders can freely customize this software to meet the different requirements in each country. A global development community can answer questions, fix bugs and otherwise support the software on a volunteer basis. As a country's needs change, the software can be tailored to meet these needs for a relatively low cost. Best of all, the software is available on this website for free.

May 2007