INDUSTRIAL ATTACHMENT CARRIED OUT AT MIGORI

COUNTY GOVERNMENT, ICT DEPARTMENT.

ATTACHMENT REPORT

NAME :NDIRA VERA ADHIAMBO|

ADM NO R/DICTS22/1574

DEPARTMENT :COMPUTER STUDIES

COURSE :INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

ASSESOR :MR.HOSEA

DURATION :3 MONTHS

SUPERVISOR :MR JABEEZ OWITI

ORGANIZTION : MIGORI COUNTY GOVERNMENT

 DECLARATION

I do hereby declare without any reasonable doubt that the work presented in this attachment

training report is my original and independent work and it has not been submitted before any

academic award either in this or other institutions of higher learning for academic publication

or any other purpose.

NAME ……………………………………………... REG NO………………………

SIGNATURE………………………………………… DATE ……………………….

DEPARTMENT OF ICT

INDUSTRIAL SUPERVISOR NAME: …………………………….…………………

SIGNATURE………………………. DATE. …………….......STAMP…………….

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Almighty God who gave me strength and
wisdom at all times throughout the attachment period. I would like to thank all those who
have assisted and guided me during my attachment, especially my supervisor for his good
heart during this moment of attachment and for the knowledge he impacted on me.

I am sincerely grateful to the ICT Department for accepting my application to undertake

attachment which enabled me to obtain the relevant information about the career field,
leadership and acquaintance with the physical, technical, academic, and environmental
requirements and skills of a new and possible future position.

Thanks to my fellow colleagues with whom I worked with, for being so co-operative, and this
has enabled us to gain experience, share ideas and learn from each other encouraging us to
work. Lastly I am heart fully thankful to my tutor, my supervisor in school and the computer
department for encouragement and guidance and also finding the time to assess me during
my attachment.

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 DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to Almighty God who gives strength in everything, my supervisor for
the unwavering support and encouragement during the entire industrial process and my future
endeavors, my tutors, my beloved parents for their support more so financially as well as
moral encouragement, and for being a source of spiritual mentor throughout my education.

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 ABSTRACT

This report explains in detail what I did and learnt during my attachment period in the County
Government ICT department for 3months. The main purpose of the attachment was to learn
by working on more practical environment and to apply the classroom knowledge to a real
world scenario in order to solve problems faced in day to day activities. The report is divided
into five sections. Section one will discuss the background information of the Information
Communication and Technology department, its general overview and its hierarchical
organizational structure. Section two entails departments in the establishments and their
functions and duties of the staff. Section three gives the overall attachment experience, my
day to day activities and observations. An overview of the problems encountered and the
values I acquired from the office and the lessons I learnt both as a student and as an
individual from the attachment program. The fourth section contains the recommendations I
think will improve the office and lastly contains my conclusion which sums it all.

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Migori county government is one of the 47 devolved Governments in Kenya courtesy of the
new constitution of Kenya 2010. In awarding of attachment, interested students apply for the
Industrial attachment at ICT Department in Migori County Headquarters. At the ICT
Department office, attachment application is processed and awards for the opportunities to
the students who meet all the requirements and are posted to various branches.

These requirements include;

a) Personal insurance cover

b) Letter from respective learning institution
c) Student’s copy of national ID card
d) Student’s copy of school ID card
e) Application cover letter that specifies the department one wishes to be attached in.

Usually according to the terms and conditions from the ICT Department office, the attaches
are not paid any money but at the end of their attachment period they are given presents as a
token of appreciation of the Office for the good work performed by the attaché during the
time of attachment.

Attaches are assigned an office supervisor who directs them and they report to him/her in
case of any problem they encounter. During this period of attachment, the office supervisor
daily assigns duty to the attaches and signs student log book at the end of every week.

The main objectives of industrial attachment is to acquire new knowledge and practical
experiences, to improve my confidence in problem solving, to get an Opportunity to relate to
different categories of people likely to be met in the real-life situation, to gain exposure to the
demands and challenges of the work place and to improve appreciation of the profession and
therefore better work experience.

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

REPORT OVERVIEW...............................................................................................................i
DECLARATION.......................................................................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT........................................................................................................iii
DEDICATION..........................................................................................................................iv
ABSTRACT...............................................................................................................................v
TABLE OF CONTENT............................................................................................................vi
CHAPTER ONE........................................................................................................................8
1.0 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................8
1.1 PURPOSE........................................................................................................................8
1.2 SCOPE AND LIMITATION.........................................................................................9
1.3. Sky Net Interactive - Oyugis...........................................................................................9
1.3.1 History of Sky Net Interactive...................................................................................9
1.3.2. Main Functions.........................................................................................................9
1.3.3. Mission, Vision and mandate.................................................................................10
Key Objectives.....................................................................................................................10
SKY NET ORGANOGRAM...............................................................................................11
CHAPTER TWO.....................................................................................................................12
2.0 Details of the placement departments............................................................................12
ATTACHMENT EXPERIENCES..........................................................................................13
2.1 General activities undertaken.........................................................................................13
2.2 Specific activities undertaken.........................................................................................13
2.3. An analysis of learned knowledge and applied skills...................................................15
2.3.1 Applied skills...........................................................................................................15
2.3.2 Learnt knowledge....................................................................................................15
2.4 A profile of skills and competencies gained/acquired...................................................16
2.5 Observation and critique................................................................................................17
2.5.1 Strengths of the firm’s IT department.....................................................................17
2.5.2.Weaknessofthe firm’s IT department......................................................................17
2.5.3 Relevance of attachment to training........................................................................17
2.5.4 Challenges Encountered During the Attachment....................................................18
2.5.5 How the Challenges were solved.............................................................................18
CHAPTER 3............................................................................................................................19
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3.1 Summaries......................................................................................................................19
3.2 Conclusions....................................................................................................................19
3.3 Recommendation............................................................................................................20

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 CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Industrial Attachment was introduced to inspire the students with practical and technical skills,

as a partial fulfillment for the award of a Certificate, Diploma or a Degree and to introduce the

students into real working life.

The training time allows the students to link the theoretical principles learnt in the higher

learning institutions and the real life professional and technical application. It gives the

students the practical skills and the work environment philosophy, to use their skills and

principles learned in class to serve the institutions and the society in general.

Due to the above reasons, Kisii National Polytechnic had organized three months of training in

any institution of students’ choice to give every student an opportunity to apply the skills and

knowledge achieved during the course of study and to acquire new skills in managing

relationship and carrying out the jobs assigned.

Now this is the reason why I joined the Department of ICT, which is one of the best

performing department in the county government of Migori and had to be trained in order to

get practical skills and cut a niche for myself in the ICT industry.

1.1 PURPOSE

The industrial attachment program fulfils part of the requirement for the award of a Diploma in

Information Communication and Technology of Kisii National Polytechnic.

This report therefore provides a summary of the activities and duties carried out, as well as

experience gained during my attachment period.

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1.2 SCOPE AND LIMITATION

The industrial attachment training is an essential component of the curriculum of Kisii

National Polytechnic for the development of studies. Diploma in Information Communication
and Technology course will not be completed without industrial attachment. The attachment
period is usually 12 weeks whereby additional practical experience is acquired to supplement
the course of study in the institution. It also brings exposure to real world of work and its
challenges which prepare one for future work. This is the outcome of the 12weeks I had at
Migori County Government ICT office.

1.3. Department of ICT - Migori

Which is abbreviated as D.I.M

1.3.1 History of Migori County

About Migori County

Migori County Government is one of the 47 county governments in Kenya. It’s headed by an
elected governor who is assisted by a deputy governor and a cabinet minister. Information
Communication & Technology Department is one the most essential department of all. The
department is tasked with rationalizing and streamlining of all Government of Migori ICT
functions. The department mandate entails creating ICT infrastructural conditions that will act
as a bridge between the residents and the county government, provide an ICT framework that
will promote creativity and use of platforms as developmental tool all the residents in Migori
county. Also promote ICT literacy, capacity innovation and enterprise. The department serves
across the entire county offering ICT support in all sub county offices.

county is influenced by such factors as physical, historical, Patterns of economic development

policies pertaining to land settlement.

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Population densities are high in areas with large proportions of arable lands such as Nyatike

Suna West,Suna East ,Kuria west,kuria East, Awendo and Rongo respectively.The county is

characterised by hilly topography with several ridges and valleys and it is endowed with

several permanent rivers which flows from east to west in lake Victoria .Soils in the county

are generally good and fertile allowing agricultural activities .The county has a highland

equatorial climate resulting into a binomial rainfall pattern with two rainy seasons ,the long

rains occurring between February and June and the short rains occurring between September

and early December,the adequate rainfall,coupled with moderate temperatures is suitable for

growing of crops like coffee,tea ,maize ,beans and finger millet.

1.3.2. Main Functions

The Department of ICT has IT offices that offers;

 IT support services

 Networking services

 Help Desk operations

 Computer based operations

 And a little bit of computer repair troubleshooting and servicing

1.3.3. Vision, Mission, Integrity, Professionalism,

Vision :A prosperous county with high quality of life for its citizens.

Mission:

To create wealth for our citizens, enhance value addition, entrepreneurship, public

participation and decision making.

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Integrity

Migori county is committed to acting at all times with honesty, Fairness, Accountability, and

transparency in all our operations.

Professionalism

The corporation’s employees off all cadres strive to uphold high standards of professionalism

in everything they do . They will stand ethical scrutiny by being committed to excellence.

Teamwork

We are a team that promotes respect and unity of purpose among staff members, as well as

promoting the mutual exchange of information and experiences, We learn from each other so

as to serve our customers better.

To be the best in all it does, all year round, while providing customers with unrivaled quality

services regionally, nationally and internationally.

Key Objectives

1. To bring about new and innovative business opportunities which results from the

agricultural sector.

2. To be competitive on the regional, national and international levels.

3. To be accessible and provide quality services to Migori residents.

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MIGORI COUNTY ORGANOGRAM

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 CHAPTER TWO

2.0 Details of the placement departments

During the attachment, I was placed in a Key area situated within the department and

performed the roles of the following persons as they are to be.

1. ICT support officer

The ICT support officer is responsible for making crucial decisions within the cyber to

ensure that the activities are run smoothly. ICT support officer is in charge of managing

emergencies, which may involve complex technical hardware or software problems and

evaluating user needs and system functionality and ensuring that ICT facilities meet these

needs for all the users.

2. Ass ICT support officer

The Assistant AITSO reports to the ITSO. He is responsible for overseeing the

implementation of the ideas that are suggested and sees them through to completion through

extra supervision at every stage of development of the mentioned implementations.

Activities in ICT support docket at the department of agriculture included:

3. Computer Networking Services.

This section deals with telecommunications that include; network cabinets, servers (mail

and internet/domain) internet network access and other communication channels within

the organization. Here, the configuration of routers, switches, Modems and assigning of

employees' user names and passwords is done

4. Network distribution

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 This section plays a major role in ensuring that all areas within the department have got an

access to internet all day each day.

5. Repairs Section.

This section dealt with preventive maintenance; repair of damaged hardware devices,

allocation of all hardware devices including printers, monitors CPUs to their respective desks.

ATTACHMENT EXPERIENCES

2.1 General activities undertaken

• Ensuring the security of computer systems through installation, updating,

and configuration of anti-viruses.

• Computer hardware and software updates

• Local area network management.

• Resolution of hardware and software issues.

• Providing onsite support to users in matters of ICT.

• Data Entry and management.

2.2 Specific activities undertaken

Installation and customization of software

I was taken through the processes of:

• Installation of antivirus software i.e. (Avast) and updating it.

• Installation of Windows Operating system (Windows 7, 8 and 10) configured with

different office and knowing partition tables for each OS.

• Installation of the Microsoft Office suite application program.

• Installing and configuration of Browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Brave e.t.c)

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 Hardware

• Upgrading computers, for example, replacing CMOS battery and adding RAM

• Blowing of PC’s and Printers and cleaning them.

• Installing and resolving issues within the CPUs

• Replacing faulty peripherals e.g. keyboard, mouse, monitors, etc.

• Setting up a computer and printers in a new location.

Computer operations

• Daily data entry process.

• Helping users at the reception to access the shared printer and use it to print.

• Resolving user login conflicts and help users in changing access rights

Networking

• Identifying problems in the network, for example, loose cables

• Troubleshooting the problems of network cables

• Crimping and testing Cat 5 and Cat 6 Ethernet cables using RJ45

• Configuring Ethernet cables connections

• Monitoring users to ensure every user has access to the internet.

2.3. An analysis of learned knowledge and applied skills

2.3.1 Applied skills

• Networking skills, in managing the ICT department’s local area network.

• Software installation and customization skills (installation of windows operating

systems, management of the application software etc.

• Computer organizational skills.

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 • Management skills.

• Communication skills and public relation while solving customers and

during intercommunication with the staff

• Business (Accounting and Entrepreneurship) in knowing how cyber operates and

in data entry when dealing with variances, reconcilement and suspense accounts.

• Computer hardware &peripheral skills while cleaning and troubleshooting

computer workstation issues.

• Basic programming and database skills.

2.3.2 Learnt knowledge

The industrial attachment at the Department of ICT built my confidence, skills on how to

be responsible, to be ethical, and to work under pressure, accountable as well as

appreciation of the importance of embracing team spirit, commitment, paying attention to

details, dedication, and a giving mentality while working in any organization. I was able to

learn more about thin client computing and how the thin clients are deployed.

2.4 A profile of skills and competencies gained/acquired

• Skills on installation and configuration of new technology (networking, web cams,

wireless and wired cabling, installation and configuration of

• How to do regular maintenance to existing hardware and computer systems.

• Skills on how to assist department staff with technology-related issues:

➢ Understanding the issue and its cause;

➢ Solving the problem;

➢ Explaining the problem to the staff member.

• Knowledge in troubleshooting systems and applications:

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 ➢Running diagnostics on malfunctioning hardware and software;

➢Finding solutions for any issue and implementing it.

➢Replacing damaged or malfunctioning parts on hardware when

necessary:

• Competencies in Implementing and assisting in the roll-out of new software

systems:

➢Learning about the new application;

➢running tests before implementing them in all systems;

➢evaluating new applications; and

➢installing them on all systems in the firm.

• Competencies in Setting up profiles, emails, and issuing access passes to others

within the firm.

• Skills on running security checks on all systems.

• Conducting electrical safety tests on all systems.

• Skills on the use of server, DHCP and DNS servers

• Networking skills; terminating, installation, configuration, and

troubleshooting of networking devices.

• Ability to relate and communicate confidently with the other staff.

2.5 Observation and critique

2.5.1 Strengths of the firm’s IT department

The department of ICT has a highly skilled boss who doubles up as the IT manager who is

more than determined to do his work diligently to improve the performance of the entire

organization.

The department of ICT has enough capacity to upgrade its IT infrastructure at will to enable

efficiency and effectiveness.

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2.5.2 Weakness of the firm’s IT department

The IT department is equipped with the necessary equipment needed for the running of the

organization, but some are old and needs urgent upgrade.

The IT department is understaffed.

2.5.3 Relevance of attachment to training

The attachment exercise had a lot of objectives to achieve like;

✓ Share skills with other attaches that I learnt in school through providing the best and
efficient solution to a problem that I have solved before while at school that may be
new to the staffs and attaches.
✓ Learn managerial skills of running an IT firm through keenly observing the manager’s
practices to achieve organization such as communication with the staff and other
attaches, official meetings and also the way of approaching challenges facing the firm.
✓ Improve on teamwork spirit, through working in unison with the organization staff to
learn new skills and also share my skill where needed.

2.5.4 Challenges Encountered During the Attachment

a. Seeking a place for attachment

It is a challenge to get an attachment especially because of high number of students seeking
for a firm for attachment.
b. Inadequate funds
Since Attache is assured of no payment throughout the three months it brought some sense of
discouragement as one has to carter for up-keep and transport while doing tasks.
c. Less time to familiarize and training.

The very first day I went into the firm I was introduced to other attaches and also some
equipment used in the organization and that marked the end of training although I knew that
self-training in a new place is a form of training but it takes a lot of time compared to a week
of continuous and thorough training improvements to make the attachment program
worthwhile.

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2.5.5 How the Challenges were solved

• I resided to close premises to avoid transportation cost during the

period of attachment.

• I sought guidance from employees on things that I was not aware

of.

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 CHAPTER THREE

3.1 Summaries

During the attachment period I participated in solving a lot of computational problems and
performing several computer related activities. Throughout my attachment period the main
areas of work were networking and software installation. the least or weakest area that was not
involved was software development.
The day-to-day activities included;

✓ Connection of network cables

✓ Maintenance of the computers and laptops
✓ Installation of operating system
✓ Activation of Microsoft office products
✓ Troubleshooting network problems such as Restarting of the routers and server
✓ Installing antivirus software like Kaspersky antivirus and doing research to learn new
things on my own

3.2 Conclusions

The attachment has enabled me to acquire many different skills that my class work could not
adequately cover and also to apply only what I knew in theory. I also had the opportunity of
being exposed to the work environment and experience the challenges that employees face in
their daily activities.

I have therefore learned how to solve the different problems that may come up at the work
place and acquainted myself with the physical, technical, academic and environmental
requirements of similar possible future positions.

Thus attachment is very important as it provides one with the opportunity to learn and
implement as much as possible what you have learned in course work

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3.3 Recommendation

Acquisition of more/modern office equipment and introduction of unique services to bring in

more revenues to the firm.

There should be more opportunities for attaches in various departments to expose them to

real practical work involving departmental work in which they are attached. This will expose

them to more than just office work.

Attaches should be rotated regularly in different departments of their specialization for

maximum exposure.

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