JSI
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Background:
John Snow, Inc. (JSI), and its staff are dedicated to improving the health of individuals and communities throughout the world. JSI builds local capacity to address critical health problems, collaborating with local partners to assist countries, governments, communities, families, and individuals to develop their skills and identify solutions that meet their public health needs. Through management assistance, research and evaluation, education, and training, JSI works to enable agencies and health professionals to provide appropriate services in an effective and compassionate manner.
Need:
JSI and its subcontractor Initiatives Inc. were recently awarded two large multi-year projects under the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). With these exciting new projects JSI is providing technical assistance to dozens of non-governmental organizations that provide HIV and AIDS prevention, care and support services to local populations. The organizations are funded by USAID, CDC and HRSA under PEPFAR as part of the New Partners Initiative (NPI). These organizations, which are implementing the programs in Haiti and throughout sub-Saharan Africa, use JSI for assistance in building capacity at four levels — system, organization, personnel, and community/individual. JSI’s incoming technical assistance requests can range from staffing queries to advice on proper storage of critical medications. As a result of the quantity and breadth of support requests, JSI approached Verndale with a need for a centralized system for managing technical assistance queries. The new system needed to provide structure around fulfillment of technical assistance requests internally and simplify the creation and tracking of requests by JSI’s client organizations. Key features for the system included ease of use and minimum technological and bandwidth requirements.
Solution:
Due to the unreliability of internet connections in Haiti and sub-Saharan Africa, Verndale recommended the bug tracking system Bugzilla as an effective technical assistance management system. Bugzilla is free open source software that allows users to create ‘tickets’ or open queries that are stored in the system. Each ticket maintains all related communications from stakeholders in one central location, can be assigned to a specific category or department, and is easily tracked throughout the fulfillment process. Best of all, Bugzilla requires very little bandwidth, which would allow JSI’s clients to quickly create and check the status of their technical assistance requests.
Verndale worked with JSI to identify all information they wanted to gather from clients, the optimal process for fulfilling requests, and specific technical requirements for rolling out the Bugzilla tracker to clients. Verndale then engineered Bugzilla’s wide open framework with customized usability, design, and functionality. As a result, JSI’s new technical assistance management system leverages the power of Bugzilla’s tracking system within a branded, streamlined, and easy-to-use platform.
Results:
First released in February 2009 and now actively used by 26 community- and faith-based organizations, JSI’s ticketing system has received extremely positive feedback from both user groups. JSI staff are enthused by the improved organization the system provides, allowing staff to fulfill more requests in less time. Incoming tickets are assigned to one of 8 different categories, and are therefore quickly sourced to the correct technical experts within JSI. This streamlined process utilizing the Bugzilla system allows JSI staff members to provide its services more effectively and efficiently.
JSI’s clients in Haiti and sub-Saharan Africa and their headquarters offices in Europe and the US are excited that the interface is so user friendly and quick. Stripped of all non-essential steps and information, the ticketing system makes it easy for users to create and follow-up on tickets, and the low bandwidth requirements ensure fast, reliable performance.
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The system designed by Verndale has significantly increased JSI’s ability to assist our clients in providing quality HIV and AIDS services. The ‘TA-Ticketing System’ collects, organizes and archives technical assistance requests and all subsequent correspondences between JSI and partner organizations. The system has proven to be a very useful tool both for JSI and our clients.
Michelle Osterman, Project Coordinator
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