ANALYZING INFORMATION SYSTEM NEEDS IN IMPLEMENTING INTERNAL QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEM: A STUDY ON HIGHER VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN WEST SUMATERA, INDONESIA

摘要

The increasing demand of qualified skilled labor encouraged Indonesian government to improve the number and quality of vocational education in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), in the form of diploma study programmes. However, the overall qualities of diploma study programs are still low, even though quality assurance (QA) system has been an imperative to all HEIs. It can be seen from 1) the number of accredited diploma study programs with “A” marks which is small (only 5.67%, nationally; and 3.85% within West Sumatera Province) and 2) the accreditation marks have not continually improved year to year as expected. Several studies about QA in Indonesia show that Internal Quality Assurance System (IQAS) has not been implemented properly by most of HEIs. Some other literatures encouraged IS utilization to support IQAS implementation, but have not indentified the specific requirement of IQAS information system (IQAS-IS) for proper IQAS implementation. This study aimed to perform information system needs analysis in IQAS implementation and IQAS-IS requirement specification. Surveys and interviews were conducted to collect data about the problems in implementing IQAS, and the solutions purposed by respondents. Then, the data analysis is conducted using fault tree analysis followed by five whys technique. From this study, it is concluded that the root causes of the IQAS improper implementation are 1) lack of leader’s commitment; and 2) lack of well designed information systems. Those two factors should be developed simultaneously. This study gives contribution in IT research by identifying needs for IQAS-IS, and its requirement specifications, they are namely: supporting IQAS implementation as an integrated process management (a continous full cycle of processes that consist of IQAS planning, implementing, evaluating, controlling and improving), enabling interoperability between different system, and facilitating real time data processing and information retrieval. Thus, by proper IQAS implementation hopefully HEI’s will gain quality improvements.