Consultant – Design and Implementation of an On-line Reporting and Data Repository Tool 154 views0 applications

The International Potato Center (CIP) is seeking a consultant with experience in software development to design and implement an online reporting and data repository tool for the Building Nutritious Food Baskets (BNFB) project.

The Center: CIP (www.cipotato.org) is a not-for-profit international agricultural research-for-development organization with a focus on potato, sweetpotato, and other Andean roots and tubers. Its vision is of roots and tubers improving the lives of the poor. CIP works with partners to contribute high quality science, technology, and capacity strengthening for sustainable science-based solutions. CIP is headquartered in Lima, Peru, with staff and activities in over 30 locations across Asia, Africa, and Latin America

The Project: The BNFB project is a three-year project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project seeks to reduce hidden hunger by catalyzing sustainable investment for the utilization of biofortified crops (vitamin A cassava, vitamin A maize, vitamin A sweetpotato and iron rich beans) at scale. The project is implemented in Nigeria and Tanzania and is led by CIP in partnership with six core partners – the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the International Potato Center (CIP), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), HarvestPlus and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA).

The Position: CIP is seeking a consultant to design, pilot and roll-out an automated online reporting and data repository tool. The current reporting tools (activity and output) are manual and require someone to consolidate the different reports into main project progress reports. Moreover, the manual reporting tools neither provide a logical cascading aggregation of results nor a historical repository for both the progress reports and indicator data. The online tool will address these weaknesses by linking activity reporting to outputs and project objectives. This tool will be used by BNFB staff.

The following are the different reporting levels the automated tools will address and the specific activities the consultant is expected to execute under each:

Objective 1: Activity Level

Expected output: A fully automated bi-weekly report template that links inputs with activities.

Specific Activities:

• Review the current bi-weekly report template to understand the functional and operational mechanism and data collection requirements.
• Prepare case scenarios.
• Prepare Software Requirement Specifications (SRS) and Software Design Description (SDD) based on the captured business, functional and technological requirements of the tool.
• Prepare the application components and solutions including a functionality that automatically consolidates the bi-weekly reports by the various writers into a single master project bi-weekly report.

Objective 2: Output Level Reporting

Expected output: A fully automated quarterly report template that links activities and deliverables/outputs.

Specific Activities:

• Review the current quarterly report template to understand the functional and operational mechanism and data collection requirements and repeat steps 2-4 above, but focusing on the quarterly reporting template.

Objective 3: Outcome Level Reporting

Expected output: A fully automated BNFB outcome indicator data entry and reporting dashboard

Specific Activities:

• Review the current indicator data management factsheet to understand the functional and operational mechanism.
• Prepare an automated outcome indicator data dashboard that enables data entry and graphical visualization of the outcome progress data by country, partner, gender and reporting period. The dashboard should link the outputs to the outcomes.

After completing the above-mentioned activities, the consultant will perform the following tasks:

Follow-up tasks

• Test the application mostly covering unit, performance, security, load and integration testing.
• Deploy and configure the application on the production server in co-ordination with CIP.
• Perform user training and operational helpdesk support, hand holding training to the end-users and system personnel.
• Perform tuning and code changes regularly to increase the efficiency of the application. A detailed report of proposed changes and risks involved along with the implications will be handed over to BNFB for approval before making changes.
• Document all the changes incorporated in the application software and improve the documentation of existing user / system reference manuals of different modules wherever it is necessary and possible.
• Support the maintenance, and modification (if need be) of the reporting and data repository tools in specifications set forth and mutually agreed between him/her and CIP.

Requirements:

1. a) Skillsets and Experience

• The consultant should have experience with and commitment to key development practices inherent to effective agile development, including:
  • Unit testing, such as use of testing tools and testing with mock objects.
  • Continuous integration, including use of integration tools.
  • Refactoring.
• The consultant should have experience working with agile software development processes with rapid iteration cycles (of 1–2 weeks).
• The consultant should be familiar with object-oriented design and development, including design patterns and effective use of interfaces.

1. b) Technical Knowledge

• The consultant should have experience in developing web based applications in PHP and LAMP and any PHP framework, preferably Code Igniter/ Laravel.
• The consultant should be experienced in MySQL, PostgreSQL, or other RDBMSs, Database design and SQL queries, query optimization a plus.
• The consultant should have a clear design concept with experience in web technologies such as HTML5, JavaScript, CSS, AJAX.
• The consultant should have experience with creating and consuming RESTful APIs.
• The consultant should have strong Object Oriented Programming skills in languages such as Java, Python, C# or NET.

How to apply:

Only digital applications will be accepted. Please apply by emailing the following materials to the following e-mail address: [email protected]

The expression of interest should include but not limited to:

• A one-page technical proposal illustrating your understanding of the task;
• A tentative work plan for entire consultancy exercise (including logistics required);
• A financial proposal for the entire consultancy;
• Curriculum vitae.

Duration of Contract:

This consultancy contract is for 20 working days spread over the period April to May 2017. Deadline for application is 24 March 2017. The assignment will kick-off mid-April, 2017.