The document discusses the Company Issue Tracker, a software created by MINICOM to document and monitor problems faced by companies in Rwanda. The tracker allows all government departments to access and update issues as well as monitor MOUs between companies and the government. It aims to improve information sharing between ministries to better assist companies. So far, over 150 people from 15 government organizations are using the tracker, which contains information on almost 400 issues and 300 MOU commitments relating to over 270 companies. MINICOM provides training and support to help other groups utilize the system.

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Company Issue Tracker: Background Information
MINICOM
1 Summary
The Company Issue Tracker is a piece of software that allows users to document and
monitor problems faced by individual companies. It can be accessed and updated by
all government departments. The Issue Tracker can also be used to monitor MOUs
signed between government and individual companies and can produce regular
reports if required.
2 Background
Part of MINICOM’s mandate is to support and provide the enabling environment for
industrial growth. As part of this work, and similar to other ministries, MINICOM
spends a great deal of time and effort engaging with the private sector to learn
about the challenges they face. The ministry is also therefore responsible for
managing and sharing that information so that it can help to resolve companies’
production problems. However, the methods that MINICOM and other ministries
have been using up until now have often not been as efficient as they could be.
One of the key challenges is that many different members of staff, often across
different ministries, discover information about companies’ problems, but there has
never been an effective way to share that information inside MINICOM or with
partner ministries, or to monitor who is responsible for resolving these issues and
any progress made.
MINICOM has therefore developed in-house the Company Issue Tracker which will
help to resolve the information sharing and monitoring problems.
3 Company Issue Tracker
The Issue Tracker is an online software application that stores information about
Rwandan companies and the challenges they face. It uses a web interface to access a
database that contains information about companies, issues and MOU commitments
they have made with the government.
A user of the Issue Tracker can access it through a web browser such as Firefox or
Internet Explorer. The user would create an account with a password, sign in, then be
able to view and update information about companies and their problems. It can be
accessed at http://tracker.minicom.gov.rw/ from any location with internet access.

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3.1 Uses
The Issue Tracker is a single central collection of information about the problems
individual firms face, that can be accessed and updated by anybody in the Rwandan
government. The aim is to improve information sharing and streamline collaboration
in the resolution of companies’ problems. If all ministries collaborate by entering the
information they have access to, then the data available to everyone across
government will be rich and up-to-date.
3.2 Reporting
The Issue Tracker is able to display information in a variety of ways, and can be
further customised for specific uses. For instance, it is able to provide reports to
oversight forums such as IDEC and Economic Cluster Meetings regarding issues or
MOUs that they oversee. This makes it easier for multiple ministries to collate and
update the necessary information for such committees to view, and enables
ministries to ensure their projects are on track ahead of such meetings.
3.3 Progress to date
The Tracker is currently in use. So far, 158 people have established accounts, from 15
government ministries and agencies. Training has been provided to a number of
staff within MINICOM, MINAGRI,NIRDA,PMO, NAEB, MININFRA, RDB,RCA,RSB….. and
is currently being expanded. It currently contains information on almost 393 issues
and almost 300 MOU commitments, relating to more than 270 companies.
3.4 Support for users
MINICOM is able to provide training sessions to employees of other ministries who
want to use the Tracker. Training is normally provided to small groups (1–4 people
at a time) who have access to a computer and the internet. This training normally
takes no more than one hour. Online assistance is also available at
http://tracker.minicom.gov.rw/help/
You can request training or ask questions relating to the Issue Tracker by emailing
minicom.tracker@gmail.com
3.5 Company–government MOUs
The Issue Tracker has been specifically designed to allow commitments made
through MOUs to be added to the other data contained on each company.
MINICOM has entered this data for the 36 MOUs that it is aware of.

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3.6 Challenges
The main barrier to government-wide adoption of the Issues Tracker is persuading
government employees to share the information that they have by entering it into
the system. The Issue Tracker will become a valuable resource for all ministries only
if this investment is made in keeping its information up to date. For some staff
members in relevant ministries, it may make sense to include providing regular
updates to the Issue Tracker in their performance contract. The Issue Tracker is able
to report to managers on a regular basis how much information individual staff
members have contributed.