Proposed Business Information System Design (BISD) for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Northern Uganda

The article reports the study conducted in northern Uganda to design a Business Information System (BIS) for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). A study by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (2005, 30) established that the majority of business enterprises depend on "word of mouth". There is no meaningful mechanism for accessing relevant information on business resources, a considerable amount of which is available in Uganda. Based on this documented fact, there is a need to establish the requirements for a BIS and to propose one. By using descriptive research design this study establishes the business information system requirements and recommends the appropriate BIS for the SMEs in northern Uganda. The study establishes, among other things: the preferred business information processing formats, most appropriate location of the proposed BIS centre in northern Uganda and views on BIS for efficient business information provision. The study recommends that as part of the strategy to facilitate access to the BIS, there should be the adoption of Internet-based services with the integration of an interactive business planner, an online small business workshop, the business start-up assistant; telephone services; fax services and in-person services. There should also be a feedback mechanism coordinated from the Gulu district; the coordinating centre and the system interface should be flexible allowing the acquisition of business information from both the micro and macro levels.