The Human Capital Management Enterprise System (HCMES) has entered into pre-production stage in the Jamaican government. It is a project of the country’s Public Sector Efficiency Program, and follows a strategic decision in 2013 and a procurement process finalised in December 2015.
It is financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), led by the Ministry of Finance and Public Service, and developed by Quidgest, a consultancy and software engineering company, with headquarters in Lisbon, Portugal.
Quidgest has implemented more than 200 information management systems internationally, working with government entities in Central America, Africa and Asia, as well as Portugal. This is the company’s first major project in the Caribbean.
In this first phase, the system manages 14 pilot agencies, with a total of approximately 25,000 people who have already received training in the use of the tool. It will be extended, in the coming years, to the remaining government agencies, reaching a total of 125,000 officials. Parallel to this implementation, there is also a project to scan the Human Resources files, as part of the existing data migration strategy.
HCMES Software is being developed with Genio, Quidgest’s multi-technology engineering platform. This software is based on MVC .NET technology and Microsoft SQL Server database, and will allow widespread deployment on the web and mobile devices.
It is modeled on Quidgest’s base Human Resources solution which is designed for a monthly cycle. However, according to Hugo Miguel Ribeiro, HCMES project manager,“thanks to the agility and modelling process of Genio, changes to a weekly and bi-weekly logic, as well as language, currency and local legislation are being much easier and faster to implement than other approaches as traditional “package” or custom-made manual development.”
In collaboration with local partner, UHY Dawgen Chartered Accountants, this innovative solution will also drive a technology transfer process, in order to create local means for support and future developments and thus contribute to innovation and increase wealth in the region.
The Government of Jamaica believes that this public sector transformation project is crucial to positioning the country as a place of choice for work, family and doing business.
