NATIONAL WATER AND SEWERAGE CORPORATION

BACKGROUND:
National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) was established under Decree No. 34
of 1972, following an earlier study which recommended the corporatized national model
as the most efficient option for the delivery of water and sewerage services in the large
urban centers of Uganda. The corporation was re-established by the NWSC Act (1995)
with the primary aim of revising the objectives, powers and structure of the corporation
and to enable the corporation to operate on a commercial and viable basis. This statute
gave the corporation a fresh mandate to provide water and sewerage services in urban
areas in Uganda under its mandate.
The corporation is mandated to provide services in 23 key towns across the country, these
are Kampala, Jinja, Mbarara, Mbale, Soroti, Masaka, Gulu, Arua, Kabale, Bushenyi,
Kasese, Fortportal, Hoima, Mukono, Tororo, Kaberamaido, Masindi, Mubende, Iganga,
Lugazi, Malaba, Lira and Entebbe, representing a market of about 2.7 million people. The
present water service coverage within the service areas averages 72%.
The purpose of the customer charter is to enlighten esteemed customers on the services
provided by National Water and Sewerage Corporation, and it is a commitment on the
part of National Water and Sewerage Corporation to deliver high quality service and
create good relations with our customers.
This charter also spells out the standard of service delivery the customers should expect
from the corporation and how to seek remedy when they fall below these standards.

The Vision:
We aspire, “To be one of the leading water utilities in the world.”

The Mission:
“To provide efficient and cost effective water and sewerage services, applying innovative
managerial solutions to the satisfaction of our customers.”

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 COMMERCIAL SECTION:
This is the most important section in Kampala Water because it deals with the reason
why the corporation exists – the customer. It deals with customer complaints and
enquiries, statements, reconnections and new connections.
However smiles, knowledge about the corporation are an essential requirement in order
for the customers to receive maximum satisfaction.
New connections is a key sector under this section.. A procedure has to be followed by
the applicant in order to be satisfied. New connection forms are offered free of charge at
the front desk of which employees are there to guide the customer as they fill in the
forms. The customer will ensure the following:
• Provide documentary proof of ownership of the property where the service is
required.
• Obtain a signature of the land lord if the applicant is a tenant or of a trustee if the
applicant is minor.
• Attach a pass port size photograph or a stamp on the forms I case of individual
persons and corporate bodies respectively.
• Obtain written permission from the local authority if the connection will involve
excavating a road.
• Obtain written permission from the owner if the connection pipes are to pass
through another person’s property.
The customer shall then return dully filled application forms with the required
attachments to our offices. Kampala water provides connections free of labor and
material costs for water and sewerage services for distances up to of 50 meters and 60
meters respectively. The cost of any extra length will be borne by the customer in
accordance to the existing NWSC tariff. Every new service connection will attract a fee
which is in accordance with the existing tariff. The new connection comes with a, fifty
meters of pipe and connection materials free of charge and, the customer only pays for
the meter.

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Commercial section commits to connect all applicants for service connections who meet
the standard requirements. All paid up new connections shall be effected with in seven
days and in circumstances where we are unable, we notify the customer with the reason
and name time when the work will be done.
Facilitation of customers in the process of paying for services is also done. They strive to
make this process as convient and comfortable to the customer as possible by providing a
variety of payment options and as many payment points as is economically possible.
They include:
• Direct Debit.
• Nwsc-kw cash offices.
• Over the counter payments in selected banks.
• Electronic funds transfer.
• Automatic teller machine payments.
• SMS payments.
Kampala water never intends to disconnect their customers but they do so if they get
proof of illegal use, a customer fails to pay for our services thirty days after the billing
date, and upon the customer’s request. Disconnections for non payment shall be preceded
with a disconnection warning notice, text messages before the disconnection is effected.

BILLING SECTION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SECTION:

The billing section is under the information technology section and deals with the billing
system of the national water and Kampala water customers, during billing a 30 day
billing cycle is done for all customers, the water and sewerage billing shall be based on
the consumption as recorded from the meter. If a meter is not read an estimate which is
based on the three correct previous readings is used.
Previously the meter readers would read customers’ meters and then report back to office
and then information would be input into the system and meters would be printed and
then distributed to the customers. The computerized application which was used at the
time was known as CUSTIMA in that, the system was designed to manage the basic

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functions of an organization which included among others, opening of customer accounts
and properties, assigning services to properties among other things.
But now spot billing has been introduced where by meter readers go into the field with
hand held gadgets and mini printers and as soon as they read the meter they are able to
print out the bill and give it to the customer straight away so as to prevent any delays in
distribution making it cost effective both for national water and the customer. In addition
to the above with the new spot billing method it becomes easier for customers to acquire
hands down information and knowledge about the way they are billed thus emphasizing
the technological advancement in National Water And Sewerage Corporation.

The billing system is one of the various information systems used at National Water And
Sewerage Corporation. In that it lies under the Hi-Affinity system which is used to track
customer usage of services thus capturing customer details.

In the billing section the following activities are carried out:

1. Batching cash.
2. Carrying out dockets.
3. Inputting data into the database.
4. Putting new connections into the database.
5. Updating the HI-Affinity system.
6. Ensuring that the computers are working and updated.
7. Trouble shooting if any problems arise with in the work place.

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INFORMATION SYSTEMS USED AT NATIONAL WATER AND SEWERAGE
CORPORATION:

An information system is a system consisting of the network of all communication

channels used within an organization. The systems that are used at National Water and
Sewerage Corporation are all located at the main head quarters in Industrial Area 6th
Street, and are remotely accessed by the various branches and sub branches of NWSC.
These systems and devices comprise of a Database, Servers, Routers and Switches
among others.
At National Water and Sewerage Corporation, various systems are being used and
these are;
i.) Hi-Affinity system.

ii.)Single Database system (Progress).

iii.) Billing system.
iv.) Mailing system (Lotus).
v.) Domain name server (Domain controller).
vi.) Public address branch exchange system (P.A.B.X).
vii.) Reading manager system.
viii.) Cisco systems.

ix.)Acceleration
Operating systems (Windows server 2003 and Internet security and
server 2006).

Previously, National Water and Sewerage Corporation was using a database system
known as Custima and this was a Unix system implying that it performed under the basis
of a single user interface making it abit rigid and incompatible with some functionalities
that where needed by National Water and Sewerage Corporation in terms of good
customer services. Thus the introduction of a better version known as Hi-Affinity which
is a Graphical User Interface that carries out similar functions as Custima but in a more
improved, compatible and flexible manner.
The Hi-Affinity system is a U.K based system that was created and designed by a
company called DSTI company, giving it the functions that are needed by National
Water and Sewerage Corporation to be able to track customer usage of the various
services provided for by NWSC towards the customer, For example; capturing customer
details.
Under the Hi-Affinity system we have the Billing system which was earlier on explained
within the details of the billing process.

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PROGRESS DATABASE SYSTEM:
A database is a single organized collection of structured data stored with minimum
duplication of data items to provide consistent and controlled poll of data. There are
various types of databases for example; MySQL databases, PhP databases and also
Progress Databases among others.
The Progress Database system is a single database which is used with the Hi-Affinity
system to store data and information about the customers on a daily basis with in the
National Water and Sewerage Corporation. This database is compatible with Hi-Affinity
and the Operating system that is used on the servers (Windows Server 2003). The
Database is remotely accessed by the various branches due to the reasons that were
mentioned earlier.
The system has various advantages and Disadvantages respectively and these are;
i.) The system is compatible with the crystal report writer thus enabling automatic
communication.
ii.) Due to its flexibility customers can pay their water bills in the various banks
which work hand in hand with the system thus giving them flexibility and
ease in their payments.
iii.)The Database cannot be easily hacked into or attacked by the various people or
viruses for example hackers. In that, it is very rigid and has very many
restrictions thus protecting the customer’s information.

However there are a few disadvantages with the Database and these are;

i.) It cannot allow more than 120 users at the same time, in that when there are too
many users the system tends to become slow and ineffective. This problems
comes about in such a way that because it is a new system that was bought by
NWSC the company was at the time able to pay for only one hundred twenty

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 users but as time goes on it can be improved and some of these discrepancies
can and will be rectified by improving on the system so as to increase on the
capacity of the database.

MAILING SYSTEM (LOTUS NOTES VERSION 8.5):

The mailing system is a system that deals with mailing services, and communication
between staff. For example; call centre, Information Technology help desk, Information
Technology Inventory among others.
Under the call centre there are customer complaints whereby, we input customer
complaints and assign them to the various people who are to work on them and state the
solution that has been acquired for the pending problem.
The IT help desk is a place where by the IT personnel keep records of the various IT
problems that are occurring within the system and corporation and the solutions that have
been carried out so as to correct the problems, for example when a C.P.U has a fault and
is taken to the head office to be fixed, troubleshooting is carried out to find out about the
problem and then a solution is derived and after fixing it the information is input into the
system verifying that the problem was worked on.

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AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE LOTUS IT HELP DESK.

DOMAIN CONTROLLER (DOMAIN NAME SERVICE):

The domain name service can be categorized in the following way;

i.) The Name Server- It stores domain name information on the Internet, and stores
them temporarily in caches.
ii.) The Resolver- This is a DNS client that queries the name server to resolve an
Internet hostname (domain name).
iii.)Domain- This is the DNS content which is held in a hierarchical tree structure for
translation of names to network addresses and mail routing.

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Within the Domain controller of NWSC there are ISAs which are made up of the Internet
and the Proxy Server (Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2006) which act as
firewalls thus preventing the database from being infiltrated by unwanted viruses.

National Water and Sewerage Corporation’s DNS works both as a LAN (Local Area
Network) and WAN (Wide Area Network). This can be noted in its use of the Public
Address Branch Exchange system (PABX) which is integration between the voice and
LAN, thus emphasizing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The PABX has; both the
digital and analogue interfaces. This enables communication between the various
branches this is connected through the Internet Service Provider in this case National
Water and Sewerage corporation uses Uganda Telecom Limited as its service provider.

In the PABX system various hardware is used for example; routers which vary from 3800
series to 1800 series and these routers are under the Cisco systems which are the basis of
networking.

READING MANAGER SYSTEM:

The reading manager system is a system that has its own server and automatically
interacts with Hi-Affinity. It enables the downloading and uploading of blocks into and
from the PDAs which are used by the marketing assistants (M.As) as explained below in
the field work.
Readings manager also enables assigning and un assigning of blocks and loading of the
USBs so as to update the system of the daily billing by the M.As.

In conclusion to the above the Information Systems used at NWSC are user friendly and
easy to understand making it easy for both the customers and the users so as to reduce on
the work load.

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FIELD WORK:
During field work the field staff go into the field to carry out their respective activities for
example;
i.) Reconnections.
During reconnections customers who were disconnected prior to having not paid
their water bills are reconnected.
ii.) Disconnections.
iii.) Reading meters.
This is done by the marketing assistants (M.As) who read the readings on the
customer’s meters and, bill the customer on spot currently (on spot billing).

iv.) Working on leakages.

Leakages are repaired by the plumbers who also carry out reconnections and
disconnections.
iv.) New connections.
During the process of new connections customers come to national water
asking for new connections and they are given a document to fill in and they
are told in addition to the document they are expected to bring a land title
showing proof of ownership so as to be connected.
v.) Surveying.
During the surveying process the surveyor goes with the customer to the specified
area where the customer would like the water to be connected and in the process sees
whether the area is suitable and whether National water is in that area.

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PROBLEMS / SHORTCOMINGS OF NATIONAL WATER AND SEWERAGE
CORPORATION:

I.) The system sometimes lags a lot in that it tends to hung and becomes slow,
especially when there are too many users who are logged on at the same time.
II.) The billing and Information Technology office in Kansanga branch has few
personnel, is very small and has limited computers and one computer
currently has a problem.
III.) The Central Processing Units (C.P.Us) are extremely old in that they are not
so compatible for example the Acer C.P.Us usually have problems.
IV.) In addition to the above there is a lot of work and few personnel in Kansanga
branch for example; Kansanga branch deals with work from Bunga and
Salaama and due to these areas having too many territories and customers the
work tends to pile and is normally not completed on time.

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 UGANDA MARTYRS UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF SCIENCE

CASE STUDY: NATIONAL WATER AND SEWERAGE

CORPORATION (KANSANGA BRANCH).

SUBMITED BY: BUSINGYE ELIZABETH

REG NO: 2008-BO71-10047

A REPORT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIRMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY OF UGANDA MARTYRS UNIVERSITY.

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Good afternoon I will probably not be around when you finish reading this but I would
greatly appreciate it if you send me your feed back through my email.
e.busingye@umu.ac.ug or elizabethbusingye@yahoo.co.uk. Thank you and God bless.
Yours sincerely

Busingye Elizabeth.

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