Track Record

A Bridge to the Future

e-SEK worked with partners (VWV), to provide the bridge linking Transnet from its past to its envisaged future. From sheer magnitude, Transnet is the largest and most critical part of the freight logistics chain for delivering goods to South Africans. Daily, Transnet moves thousands of tons of goods around South Africa, through its pipelines and ports. Transnet is wholly owned by the South African government and operates as a corporate with the aim of developing the South African industry, reducing the cost of doing business, by increasing efficiencies and becoming profitable it imposes no extra cost burden on tax payers.

e-SEK’s role in the national multi-division re-branding project at Transnet provided programme portfolio management support and leadership to contract a bridge between the old and the new Transnet. The branding project was part of the greater transformation to turn Transnet into a focused Freight and logistics company.

About R78 Billion was spent renewing infrastructure, therefore the branding expressed the new image of the company with its new attitude towards its customers expressed in a new logo. e-SEK, working with other partners, delivered the project on schedule and within budget.

Captain on the Bridge

e-SEK was brought in to captain the restructuring project at the South African Maritime Authority (SAMSA). SAMSA is accountable to the Minister of Transport, and it was established on 1 April 1998 as the South African Maritime Safety Authority, in accordance with Act 5 of 1998. Its governing Board is appointed by the Minister.

SAMSA’s objective is to champion South Africa’s maritime interests. The organisation is the custodian and steward of maritime policy.

SAMSA delivers four main outputs consistent with its mandate and responsibilities:

• Standards setting, for safety and environment protection governing maritime transport operations;
• Compliance monitoring and enforcement of safety and environment protection standards;
• Emergencies response capability, including marine pollution incidents and other maritime emergencies; and
• Distress responsive capability to detect, locate and rescue people in maritime crisis situations.

Based on the strategic goals of SAMSA e-SEK performed a situational analysis and described the situation of SAMSA as is, designed the future and highlighted the gaps between the current situation and the envisaged future, examined best practice by identifying benchmarking research areas for comparing SAMSA with other Maritime Agencies in the world. From this emerged the new organization and recommendations for implementation at SAMSA.

A Pilot in the House

e-SEK took the pilot’s seat and charted the way forward for the establishment of Companies and Intellectual Property Office (CIPRO), which was launched on 4 March 2002, amalgamating the former South African Companies Registration Office (SACRO) and the South African Patents and Trade Marks Office (SAPTO), to form a new trading entity called CIPRO. Merging two entities is never an easy assignment, e-SEK led a project team of more than 60 professionals to complete the project.

The goal was to help establish CIPRO as a trading entity, in terms of the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). This was achieved and CIPRO was established as a self-sustaining business agency, to increase efficiency in the registration of companies, close corporations, cooperatives and intellectual property rights i.e. patents, trademarks, copyrights and designs, in line with CIPRO’s mandate. Related services included the disclosure of information on registered corporate entities and intellectual property rights, the protection of intellectual property and corporate entities’ rights and dispute resolution on cases arising out of infringements to these rights.

e-SEK provided strategic management support to the advisory board, office of the Chief Executive Officer, Executive Committee and assisted with the establishment and alignment of the new functions within the new organisation. e-SEK’s role was critical to the successful establishment and launch of CIPRO in line with the legislation and as a self-sustainable entity.

A Finger on the Pulse

e-SEK assisted the KwaZulu Natal Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Rural Development put its finger on the pulse of its performance by developing a framework for performance monitoring. The Department executes a concurrent national and provincial legislative mandate in terms of Schedule 4 of the Constitution. To this end, the administrative mandate of the Department is obtained from both the National and Provincial Executive Authority. Furthermore, the Department is responsible for the implementation of national strategies applicable to its core business and it responds directly to policy enunciations and policy positions adopted at national level.

Mandate Statement

• To ensure effective implementation of agriculture, land reform, environment, veterinary services and conservation policies, laws and programmes
• To comply with all laws related to the abovementioned functions so as to ensure and promote food security, economic development, sustainable environment, control of animal diseases and protection of the public from zoonotic diseases
• To ensure the growth of agricultural capability, adherence to international standards and representative of the South African society

At the time the Department lacked a comprehensive information system to monitor and evaluate the output, outcome and impact of the its interventions. More significantly, there was no baseline information from which to monitor as well as to evaluate on a regular basis. Information available at the disposal of the Department was scattered in various Departmental Units or between various Stakeholders. The framework was developed within the legislative context and public sector monitoring guidelines. It entailed developing strategic mapping of policy directions and performance indicators measuring implementation and progress.

An eye in the sky

e-SEK provided an “eye in the sky” view of changes in the world of content generation and management. The Film and Publication Board (FPB) is a public entity, mandated to regulate the distribution of films, to inform the public about the content and age ratings of movies, games and publications and to protect children from sexual exploitation and exposure to harmful material in films, publications and games.

In the busy crossroads of the world of converging technologies that deliver content, the Film and Publications Board’s (FPB) mandate becomes a dizzying mamoth task. The illegal distribution of unclassified films, publications and games is a major challenge in the country and for the FPB.

Of particular concern to the FPB is the rise in the distribution of unclassified restricted games, publications and films on public platforms and in public areas, including street corners, taxi ranks, etc., where children could potentially be exposed to inappropriate and harmful content at these illegal distribution points. The proliferation of unclassified and illegal content distribution on the internet also poses compliance monitoring challenges.

e-SEK developed a comprehensive Compliance Monitoring Strategy, the “eye in the sky” vision of the market segment to meet the business needs of the FPB and to ensure compliance with the Film and Publication Act, by distributors of film, games and publication throughout South Africa.e-SEK pulled together all the findings and recommendations from various projects that were already

e-SEK pulled together all the findings and recommendations from various projects that were already completed, and constructed an integrated organisational structure and functions that supports the FPB strategy. Along with a comprehensive implementation plan, with sustainable financial models and a framework for improving the performance of all functions. Deliverables were:

• Stakeholder identification and needs analysis report
• South African Film entertainment industry market research
• Research on Online Child Protection
• Research on Broadcasting legislation and regulation
• Strategy mapping
• Value chain analysis
• Business process analysis
• Research on law enforcement activities
• Revenue model
• Service delivery strategy
• Programme prioritisation, selection and budgeting

A Doctor on Call

e-SEK was like a doctor on call, providing a health check on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Secretariat and helped it back to good health. The project’s success had continental impact with consequences on the lives of close to a billion people on the African continent. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) is a programme of the African Union (AU) adopted in Lusaka, Zambia in 2001.

NEPAD is a radically new intervention, spearheaded by African leaders to pursue new priorities and approaches to the political and socio-economic transformation of Africa. NEPAD’s objective is to enhance Africa’s growth, development and participation in the global economy.

e-SEK carried out a situational analysis, highlighted gaps between actual and envisaged organisation, performed organizational design by aligning the business functions to fulfill NEPAD’s mandate, putting the organization on track.

Speaking the Language of Leaders

e-SEK became the interpreter who made the KhulaDirect business case accessible in a languange familiar to Board of Directors of Khula Enterprise Finance Ltd, the Department of Trade and Industry, National Treasury and Cabinet. e-SEK’s contribution entailed proof reading, editing and packaging the report to communicate Khula’s intentions effectively.

Khula Enterprise Finance Ltd is dedicated to the development and sustainability of small businesses in South Africa. A leader in its field, it has a proud history of more than 13 years’ service of involvement in the rapidly growing and economically vital, small and medium enterprise (SME) sector.

The company is a wholesale finance institution which operates across the public and private sectors, through a network of channels to supply much-needed funding to small business. Khula’s channels include South Africa’s leading commercial banks, retail financial institutions, specialist funds and joint ventures. Its primary aim is to bridge the “funding gap” in the SME market not addressed by commercial financial institutions.

Established in 1996 and operating as an independent agency under the auspices of the Department of Trade and Industry, Khula is recognised for its reputation as a major force in the development of the SME sector – a status it has achieved through its ability to adapt to the ever-changing challenges presented by the SME sector.

Strategic Planning unit National Treasury

In 2015 February, the National Treasury appointed e-SEK as the preferred service provider for the implementation of a hosted and fully supported portal on a rental basis. The National Treasury is responsible for managing South Africa’s national government finances. Supporting efficient and sustainable public financial management is fundamental to the promotion of economic development, good governance, social progress and a rising standard of living for all South Africans. The Constitution of the Republic (Chapter 13) mandates the National Treasury to ensure transparency, accountability and sound financial controls in the management of public finances.

As the appointed service provider, we were expected to implement a system to enable the department to capture its performance objectives as per the annual performance plan in a manner that would facilitate ease of capturing actual performance and supporting evidence on an ongoing basis from quarter to quarter as well as enable the department to produce complete, accurate and timely reports in terms of the legislation. The project was completed in record time and within budget. The core users of the system were trained over a period of 3 days and were up and running in less than a month.

Department of Mineral Resources

 In 2014, e-SEK was chosen by the Department of Mineral Resources as the preferred service provider to participate in the Implementation of Performance Management System.

The key principal legislation, the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (Act No. 28 of 2002) and the Mine Health and Safety Act (Act No. 29 of 1996), mandates the DMR to provide the regulatory framework for the promotion and regulation of the industry, as well as the equitable access to and the sustainable development of the nation’s mineral resources and related matters.

The Department of Mineral Resources began looking for a service provider to address the following requirements:

Implementation of a Performance Information Portal

• To clarify and deploy a business strategy that is “execution ready”
• To align DMR around the strategy to drive focus and alignment
• To acquire the performance measurements and data to make faster and better decisions
• To create a permanent and robust process for managing strategy execution
• To provide a scalable technology solution that can be applied to thousands of users.

Strategy Facilitation

• Top down alignment of measures, initiatives and milestones from DDG to sub-directorates
• Top down assignment of responsibilities for measures, initiatives and milestones from DDG to sub-directorates
• Automated tracking and reporting on milestones of initiatives and measures of the APP captured to the electronic performance reporting system (Executive Strategy Manager)
• Prepare ESM tracking and reporting templates based on outputs from facilitated APP review workshops

Refining targets, key activities and measures in line with principles of the Balanced Scorecard

Prior to e-SEK’s intervention, it was difficult to assign responsibility and monitor progress on delivery of milestones at an initiative level that contribute to overall strategy and thus leading to misalignment between DDG performance agreements and those of subordinates that are key to delivering on the objectives in the Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan. Information was extremely difficult to access with reporting a time- consuming manual process. Outputs were extremely difficult to monitor and there was no high-level visibility to manage initiatives and milestones.

e-SEK has provided the Department an effective system, with fully automated dashboards and reporting that looks at the national, regional and provincial perspectives, also allowing the department to closely monitor progress in terms divisional performance plans, check performance against targets, and drill down in reporting done by the Deputy-Director Generals and their sub-directorates.

About Correctional Services

Legislative Mandates

Correctional Services Act (No.111 of 1998) as amended

The Act seeks to provide amongst others, for a correctional system; the establishment, functions and control of the Department of Correctional Services; the custody of all offenders under conditions of human dignity; the rights and obligations of sentenced offenders; the rights and obligations of unsentenced offenders; a system of community corrections; release from correctional centres and placement under correctional supervision, on day parole and parole; a National Council for Correctional Services; a Judicial Inspectorate; Independent Correctional Centre Visitors; repeal and amendment of certain laws; and matters connected therewith.

Criminal Procedure Act (No. 51 of 1977)

The following sections of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 (Act No 51 of 1977) are of particular importance to the DCS, namely, section 63A, Chapter 28 and section 299A. Section 63A of the CPA, provides for a procedure in terms of which the Court may, on application by a Head of a Correctional Centre and if not opposed by the Director of Public Prosecutions concerned, order the release of certain accused on warning in lieu of bail or order the amendment of the bail conditions imposed by that court on the accused.

 

Section 63A also forms the basis of a protocol between JCPS departments to encourage the utilization of this provision to assist accused persons who do not pose a danger to society to be released from detention under circumstances where the bail set by the court cannot be afforded by the accused or his or her family. Chapter 28 of the CPA deals with sentencing and the whole Chapter is applicable to the DCS’s mandate. Offenders must be detained in accordance with the sentences handed down under this Chapter. The granting of parole and the conversion of sentences to correctional supervision is also done in accordance with this Chapter, read together with the Correctional Services Act, 1998 (Act No 111 of 1998).

Finally, section 299A of the CPA regulates victim involvement in the decisions of parole boards.

Project Scope of Work

• Integration of performance information structures and systems within existing management processes and systems
• Definitions and technical
• l standards of all the information collected by the institution.
• Processes for identifying, collecting, collating, verifying and storing information
• Use of information in managing for results
• Publication of performance information

About Council for Geoscience

The Council for Geoscience (CGS) is one of the National Science Councils of South Africa and is the legal successor of the Geological Survey of South Africa, which was formed in 1912 by the amalgamation of 3 former Surveys, the oldest of which – the Geological Commission of the Cape of Good Hope – was founded in 1895. The Geoscience Act, Act 100 of 1993, established the CGS in its present form. The Act was later amended in 2010 to establish the Geoscience Amendment Act (Act No. 16 of 2010).

As a scientific research council, the CGS is mandated to provide for the promotion of research and the extension of knowledge in the field of geoscience as well as the provision of specialised geoscientific services. The Council has a national footprint in the country, with the Head Office located in Silverton, Pretoria and various other Regional Offices located in Polokwane (Limpopo), Cape Town (Western Cape), Pietermaritzburg & Durban (Kwazulu Natal), Port Elizabeth (Eastern Cape) and Upington (Northern Cape). Today, the Council is a modern institution, boasting excellent facilities and expertise, ranking among the best in Africa. The CGS provides the following substantially different professional services:

• Geophysical Airborne and Ground Surveys,
• Geophysical data acquisition, processing and interpretation (Airborne and Ground),
• Engineering Geosciences (including Geotechnical Services),
• Mineral Resources Development including Mining and Minerals Services,
• Water Geoscience/Hydrological Services,
• Environmental Management and Rehabilitation,
• Marine Geology including Port Surveys,
• Spatial Data and GIS Services; and
• Regional Geological Surveys and Map compilations including Core Drilling Services

As the custodian of South Africa’s geoscience data the Council for Geoscience has regional aeromagnetic, radiometric and gravity coverage of the country. The Council for Geoscience is involved in collaborative research projects that form part of its annual programme. These projects keep the Council for Geoscience abreast with developments in the geosciences field.

Project Scope of Work

The web-based performance management system to comply with the following specifications; namely:

Strategic Organisational Performance Orientation

A top-down system with the abilities to capture, link and evaluate performance to the organisational vision and strategic objectives;

Performance targets and key indicators

The system must be able to capture, link key performance indicators, performance targets and report implementation progress;

Key implementation action

The system must be able to capture and report on key implementation action as captured by the Divisions and report on the planned vs. the actual performance;

Performance and responsibility

The system must be able to link with and track performance of the Divisions and individual management staff. Performance indicators should be linked to compensation, review for staff and bonus payments for individuals

Microsoft Excel and Access compatible

The system must be able to generate ad-hoc reports, export reports and data to Microsoft Office applications

Reporting features

The system must be able to create reports that can be displayed in various formats e.g. charts and graphs

Performance Indicators and warning system

The system must be able to create up-to-date performance indicators and warnings that alert relevant personnel of any performance progress

System security and data administration

The system must ensure data integrity and security. It must be able to provide “view-only” rights and have strict security features to avoid unauthorised system abuse and manipulation;

Technical Support Helpdesk

About ETDP SETA

The SETA is mandated to promote and facilitate the delivery of education, training and development in order to enhance the skills profile of the Education, Training and Development (ETD) sector and contribute to the creation of employment opportunities especially for those previously disadvantaged.

Project Scope of Work

The software should have the following features:

General

• The system should support an organisational structure view based on the SP and APP.
• The system must provide a flexible graphical capability for strategy mapping and dashboards.
• The system enable dashboards with various combinations of performance indicators data series
• such as actual & targets, in relation to various periods.

Performance Indicators

• The system should support flexible periods i.e. different financial years & quarters &months.
• The system must support custom calculations applied to indicators.
• Support for both qualitative and quantitative indicators.
• The system must lock data once it has been captured so that it cannot be changed again.
• The system must provide alerts and notifications.

Reporting

• The system must support easy analysis of performance data and analysed data must be included in reports generated by users.
• Reports should be scheduled and automatically sent to a selected managers
• Reports be generated to MS word based on the ETDP Reporting Templates (Monthly, Quarterly and Annually)
• The system should be able to export data directly to Excel and PowerPoint from the system.

Security

• The system must implement role based security.
• The system must have an audit trail.

Eskom Strategy & Risk Management Division

In 2013, e-SEK was chosen by Eskom as the preferred service provider to participate in the Establishment of a Strategic Project Management Office.

Eskom is the world’s eleventh-largest power utility in terms of generating capacity, ranks ninth in terms of sales, and boasts the world’s largest dry-cooling power station.Eskom generates approximately 95% of the electricity used in South Africa and approximately 45% of the electricity used in Africa. Eskom generates, transmits and distributes electricity to industrial, mining, commercial, agricultural and residential customers and redistributors. Eskom employs about 45 000 people in South Africa.

Eskom’s rapidly evolving and dynamic business environment has created a climate of uncertainty and dramatic complexity that demands a shift in its day to day strategy execution plans and adapt to mechanisms that enhance creativity and innovation for organizational resilience. Organizational success under turbulent environment is the resultant outcome of strategic responses and broad strategic plans, broken down into specific action steps that can be cascaded to all respective organizational levels and driven to achieve the organizational common goals. Strategic Project Management provides an essential innovative platform for aggressive step change needed in the organizational endeavours geared to achieve organizational breakthroughs. The Strategy and Risk Management Project Office [S&RM PO] capability has been setup to program manage enterprise wide step change initiatives which enables Eskom’s continuous development to be achieved.

S&RM PO manages complex projects by combining business strategy techniques with Eskom approved standard project management practices in order to enable effective implementation of the organization strategy. This function focuses on initiatives which are step change in nature and thus achieving Eskom organizational success. Its key role within S&RM Division’s value chain is to help in the achievement of an equitable balance in focus between the strategy formulation, planning and execution.

e-SEK provided strategic project management support to the Strategy and Risk Management Unit, Business Productivity Programme, S&RM Management Committee and assisted with the conceptualisation and alignment of the strategic initiatives. e-SEK’s role was critical to the successful establishment of the PMO in line with the Corporate Plan of the entity.

e-SEK participated in the following projects at Eskom:

• Long Term Price Path
• Performance Management Model and Incentive Scheme
• Corporate Review
• Leadership alignment
• Integrated strategic planning and execution
• Future Business Model
• Governance, Risk and Compliance
• Change Management