Nigeria Rollout Discussion

Date: April23, 2021

Participants: @Wesley Brown @Brian Taliesin @Rebecca Alban (Unlicensed) Ibrahim Mohammed imohammed@gavi.org, Sidney Sampson <sidney.sampson@sydani.org>; Moshood Audu (Sydani, support supply chain processes in Nigeria), Obiamaka Enwezor (support NPHCD from Sydani), Craig Beyernick (Gavi), Onome Dibosa (Gavi HSIS Team)

Context:

Sidney is from Sydani, a firm in Nigeria who is supporting the MoH in the planning of this project and providing TA to Gavi.

Objectives for NPHCDA expressed interest to move forward with OpenLMIS and want to make sure that the process doesnt lag in any way; want to cut through beurocracies. Sydani and team have understanding of what is required. Objectives of the conversation is to get understanding of the requirements. EOI has been made by both sides (Govt and Gavi)

With the COVID edition scope, how does this change the partner mobilization at the start?

Shared slides 43 and 44 from https://openlmis.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/OpenLMIS-COVID-Edition-Vaccine-Update-March-2021.pdf and slides 28 and 29 review of the free launch package.

Unique identification will be important. Metadata includes: code, name, description, geographicZone, facilityType, and facilityOperator. Description is optional. Sidney Sampson & Moshood Audu means getting NPHCDA ready on MDA will be a very crucial next step.

We'll also want to catalog the products you will want at launch. A product represents any item that may be ordered. For example, an item may be ordered on a Requisition form by a storeroom manager in a medical facility. A product in OpenLMIS must have a product category and an associated packing information.OpenLMIS utilizes the Product Catalog Management Tool to manage product lists and all the relevant attributes. Attributes may include product category, mapping to other product catalogs (e.g. WHO, GS1, etc.), funding sources and others. These attributes do not affect OpenLMIS work flow and can be freely modified as required.The sample data is preloaded from the WHO Product list found here: https://www.who.int/publications-detail/emergency-global-supply-chain-system-(covid-19)-catalogue
You can replace the WHO list with country specific list, if the WHO list is not relevant.

Regarding the roll-out approach, usually not all at once. Like to take things step-by-step and start at higher levels of the system and then move down (e.g., LGA, and over time and able to assess level of readiness of health facilities and then roll-out to larger scale. We have done training through a tiered approach and wouldn’t need much support to do training cascade. Super users and master trainers can be done gradually at a pace that makes sense in the future.

The four-week timeline would be when we have a plan and team in place and decided and agree on scope of work. Mobilizing the partners and funding can often take longer than actual roll-out. Getting the pieces in place is the priority for OpenLMIS.

Questions regarding application, offline, and browser-based system. When it comes to the devices, OpenLMIS will work on any desktop, laptop, or tablet. It is tailored for a web-based, browser system. The offline supports stock management, although need to be online for the initial authentication. Plan to have mobile application by the end of July.

COVID module is standalone. It is still compliant with the target software minimum standards from Gavi. Displayed slide 6 that shows the progression from the COVID edition to the larger feature set.

Have some vendors that have been working with, CHAI, VR, etc. Is there anyone best suited for best supporting operationalizing and transitioning for a country like Nigeria starting with the COVID module? We have been in touch with CHAI, VR, and JSI to contribute to this. Our next step was to go through the scope and map out skillsets and requirements, resources, track record, presence, capabilities (e.g., digital training platform). Recommend a set of partners to meet the needs of the scope of work. VillageReach’s presence in Nigeria is small. Likely be CHAI or JSI with offices and larger staff in Nigeria.

What is the general costs for hosting after the six months is up? We have ways of estimating based on clients. Number of users and number of facilities and number of programs. Can come up with numbers for AWS. Hosting in country will be driven by local costs and often doubles from cloud hosting.

Costs of training? - they have a preference for a digital training; with a possible simulation. If vendors have a training platform/module they would like to be able to track learning and Costs of training? - they have a preference for a digital training; with a possible simulation. If vendors have a training platform/module they would like to be able to track learning and “Learn While Doing”- would like to simulate. Gavi interested in digital training. We have done specific demo instances for training; and recorded the sessions

Question from Onome: Previous stock mgmt tools have failed to look at People, Process, Training- How do we address change mgmt needed before the deployment? Brian response re: flexibility of the tool

Goal for today is to answer Sidney’s Questions:

What are the steps that the country needs to take to kick-off the OpenLMIS roll-out?
What resources (HR, technology, etc) are needed at this inception phase, especially as the initial focus will be on the COVID19 module?
What are the tentative timelines (all other things being equal) to completely rollout the COVID19 module?

Next Steps:

@Rebecca Alban (Unlicensed) Share template to collect master data
Share enterprise support overview?
Go through scope with Trusted Partners and map out skillsets and requirements, resources, track record, presence, capabilities