Towards developing an evaluation tool for business management information systems' success at public further education and training (FET) colleges in South Africa

Abstract

The effective and efficient functioning of Further Education and Training (FET) colleges is pertinent to the development of critical, scarce and intermediate skills for the South African labour market. To this end, business management information systems are pivotal in the efficient and effective running of such institutions. From a pragmatic, interpretive and post-positivist philosophical paradigm, a mixed-method framework was used to investigate what is necessary in designing an evaluation tool to assist in the evaluation of the success of business management information systems at public FET colleges in South Africa. The study produced a success evaluation model and tool that was empirically tested at one FET college. The findings linked the success of the business management information system to the quality of the information contained in the system and the level of service provided by the system’s service provider. The results also revealed that the computer proficiency levels of users and the provisioning of quality training can greatly contribute to the success of a business management information system.