INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, KOZHIKODE

Business Information Systems Management

FINAL PROJECT REPORT

TITLE: WORLD BANK

SECTION: D
GROUP 8:
AmritPaul Singh (PGP/19/188)
Barbie Jain (PGP/19/198)
Mohd Talha (PGP/19/208)
Ram Garg (PGP/19/218)
Vipin Sharan (PGP/19/238)

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A) INTRODUCTION (Company background)

The World Bank is an international financial organization which offers loans to developing
countries for capital programs. The World Banks motto is to work for a world free of poverty.
The World Bank has dual goals of ending abject poverty within one generation and also to
improve shared prosperity.
However, its Articles of Agreement mention that all its decisions shall be steered by an
obligation to the promotion of foreign investment and international trade and to the facilitation of
Capital investment.
History:
The World Bank Group is headquartered in Washington, D.C and was established in the year
1944. Presently its strength is more than 10,000 employees in more than 120 offices worldwide.
The current president is Jim Yong Kim, who is the 12th president of the World Bank Group.
Progress:
Since inception in 1944, the World Bank has expanded from a single institution to a closely
associated group of five development institutions. The World Bank is a component of the World
Bank Group; comprising of two institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (IBRD), and the International Development Association (IDA).
Collaborators and partners:
Their mission evolved from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)
as facilitator of post-war reconstruction and development to the present-day mandate of
worldwide poverty alleviation in close coordination with their affiliate, the International
Development Association, and other members of the World Bank Group, the International
Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International
Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
Organization:
The World Bank operates day-to-day under the leadership and direction of the president,
management and senior staff, and the vice presidents in charge of Global Practices, CrossCutting Solutions Areas, regions, and functions.
Functioning:
They provide low-interest loans, zero to low-interest credits, and grants to developing countries.
These support a myriad of investments in such areas as health, public administration, education,
infrastructure, financial and private sector development, agriculture, and environmental and
natural resource management. Some of the projects are co-financed with governments, other
multilateral institutions, commercial banks, export credit agencies, and private sector investors.
The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries
around the world. It is not a bank in the ordinary sense but a unique partnership to reduce
poverty and support development.

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B) CASE FACTS
With the help of Information Systems international institutions like World Bank have managed
to allocate the resources in accordance to the needs of various nations. And in achieving this,
Information Systems has helped in making the entire process quicker, more simplistic and highly
reliable. The software and hardware has been designed to support a project and also to manage
the disbursement of donor funds to community-based subprojects.
Management Information Systems- The management arm of Information Systems, MIS
facilitates decision-making at all levels and improve decentralized operations at the same time
retaining data security and integrity. In nutshell below are the functions that the IS is able to
achieve for this international body:

Functions achieved using IS

Reporting and Analysis The MIS allows for easy periodic reporting (monthly,
quarterly, annually) as well as occasional specific reporting. The export of data to other
programs (such as Excel and Access) allows users to further analyze data according to
their specific requirements.

Targeting - A Global Information System (GIS) facilitates the assessment of social,

demographic and other indicators related to poverty, and provides the project a means to
prioritize applications to the poorest areas with the least access to service delivery. The
GIS hosts information from various censuses and social surveys.

Monitoring, Management and Decision Making - The MIS assists management in

tracking the subproject operations, identifying bottlenecks and measuring performance. It
is also essential for evaluation and impact assessment.

Financial Management - The MIS allows comparison between allocations,

commitments and disbursements and the budget, and can assist in forecasting financial
requirements.

Procurement Management The system monitors, and reports on, procurement and
tenders processes. The MIS also maintains a data base of contractors, suppliers and
consultants.

Financial Management Information Systems:

Financial Management Information Systems -FMIS performs the function of supporting the
automation and integration of public financial management processes like budget formulation,
execution (commitment control, cash/debt management, and treasury operations), reporting and
accounting. These solutions can significantly improve the efficiency and equity of government
operations. It also offers a great potential for increasing participation, transparency and
accountability.

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FMIS data mapper & FMIS world map

The FMIS Data Mapper created by World bank provides quick access to 133 Bank funded
projects in 74 countries in Google Maps. The FMIS World Map presents fundamental
information about 194 FMIS solutions in 198 economies worldwide again using Google Maps.
Other IS creations of World Bank have been:
1. Crisis Monitor: This technology compares a number of indicators, thresholds and
triggers associated with the World Banks Food Price Index. Based on the analysis, the
preferred trigger is observed when a crisis is likely to unfold & when prices exceed an
abnormally high threshold that is defined using mean of the Banks Food Price Index.
2. Food Riot radar: The reason to have this kind of technology is that dozens of violent
episodes during the food price hikes like in 2007 shocked the world, & many similar
events since then have made worldwide news and highlighted the close relationship
between food insecurity and conflict. As a result, there is an increasing interest on how
and also to what extent food price shocks are responsible for the origination and
continuation of political conflict and instability.
This interactive map displays/ visualises the incidence of food riot episodes in each
country worldwide. Two types of riots are mentioned: Type 1 riots are mainly motivated
by food inflation, whereas type 2 riots are mainly motivated by severe shortages.

FMIS Data Mapper & World Map

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Food Riot Radar

Crisis Monitor

Integrated Framework

3. Policy Monitor: In order to monitor food price crises, it is very critical that we
understand how the policies play a role in different scenarios. Commodity-related policy
changes can re-inforce food price crises, while food price shocks may lead to drastic
policy reforms. Copious panic policies have resulted in food price hikes, while the
avoidance of these policies can often deter food price escalation.
Policy makers at both national and international levels need access to reliable and
transparent information on commodity-related policy developments in order to
effectively respond to unfolding food price crises. This interactive map outlines
commodity-related policy changes initiated in each country worldwide.
C) EFFECTIVENESS OF IS USING THE FOUR LENSES
Lens 1: Decision Making System using Information Systems
The decision making can be analysed through the below mentioned broad dimensions:
1. Knowledge management
a. Knowledge Management is an initiative of the World Bank Institute that aims to
enhance the capacity of development oriented organizations in World Bank client
countries to achieve high impact through the application of knowledge
management tools and practices. This is an initiative that is supported by the
World Bank Institutes Knowledge for Development (K4D) Program
b. The Knowledge Bank page has been established as a main repository for some of
the key documents related to the World Bank's- Knowledge Bank strategy. These
documents primarily describe the main KM activities/ knowledge management
activities of the World Bank over the past decade, since the strategy was launched
in 1996.

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2. Business Intelligence:
a. Big Data: World Bank launched a new program called Innovations in Big Data
& Analytics for Development in partnership with its development economics,
enterprise technology groups and Transport and ICT
i. To start the program, it launched the first WBG Big Data Innovation
Challenge. This challenge was a huge success and also received an
overwhelmingly positive response wherein 130 proposals were submitted
from across the World Bank Group and $1.5 m investment was made.
ii. World Bank has been using Big data analytics in variety of fields likeIn India-using satellite imagery to monitor rural electrification, in
Gautemala-forecasting poverty & shared prosperity using cell phone data,
improving the financial inclusion and targeting of the poor using call
detail records, facilitating climate smart agriculture for enhancing and
sustaining rice system using big data analytics, reduced congestion using
GPS data from Uber, improved emergency traffic management and plan
for public transportation and road infrastructure needs.

b. Energy access: World bank has expanded energy access using advanced
analytics and by offering more flexible means of payment, using pay-as-you-go or
pre-paid systems enabled by extensive mobile phone penetration in Eastern
Africa, payment schedules like off-grid solar home systems, also empowering
price-sensitive customers to shift their load to times where power is quite cheaper
(off-peak).
c. Energy efficiency: World Bank has also taken initiatives towards improving
energy efficiency. Investments have been constrained by difficulty in measuring
efficiency potential and efficiency gains. Energy analytics has helped to identify
efficiency opportunity, predict probable savings, estimate gross and net savings,
and test technical and behavioral interventions for relative cost effectiveness.
d. Renewable energy: It is technically and financially feasible to Integrate increased
renewable energy in the grid. In the future, primary challenges will become
operational challenges where data science will be very instrumental. It will be
imperative for the utilities to predict solar and wind exposure on different parts of
the grid in real-time, and also anticipate consumer responses to price signals. It
will enable a responsive grid with similar challenges for distributed storage
models.

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Challenges:
There are couple of challenges in going forward with the analytics approach:
Data is easily available and technical challenges are being overcome and the key fact remains
that what is actually the problem to be solved or ask the right question
Cost of upgrading infrastructure that includes technological and capacity constraints,
integration of analytics with existing technology infrastructure, and lack of capacity to
manage and infuse data analytics programs.
Limitation on Political and government fronts, including lack of awareness of potential of Big
Data in energy regulation, Privacy of data, Inaccessibility of data, improved sector
governance.
Lens 2 : Enabling Technologies for Digitisation
1) Infrastructure : World Bank is made of two development institutions:

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD): It reduces

poverty in average-income and creditworthy poor countries by promoting
sustainable development via loans.
International Development Association (IDA): It helps poor countries of world.

World Bank has about 10,000 employees in 185 member countries. World Bank changed from a
centralized headquarter driven organization to a matrix-network type decentralised operation that
depends on member countries to carry out their project development and make their own
decisions.
World Bank Enterprise Content Infrastructure

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Content Integration Services

Metadata harvest, rationalization and harmonization
Access to metadata entries, content maps and content

Repository Services
Defined storage strategy for content over time
High performance, accessible and scalable metadata and content stores

Content Access Services

Bank-wide search and retrieval
Access control for all bank records
Syndication of content to partners institutions

Content Management Services

Content management function oriented services including version, work flow,
check-in/check-out, collaboration

Security services and Metadata Management

Services manage reference data, data dictionaries, thesaurus, taxonomies rules
of business (security, access, disposition) which cut across all services
2) Information and communication technologies (ICT) :

World Bank undertook Information and communication technologies (ICT) Strategy in 2012,
which intends to help developing countries utilize information and communication technologies
to transform public services, productivity and innovations delivery, and improve competitive
factor. The strategy showcases large changes in sector over the last decade with increase in use
of mobile phones and internet, decline in the prices of computing and mobile internet devices,
and the increasing influence of social media.
World Bank under this strategy in collaboration with International Finance Corporation (IFC)
together with the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) concentrates on three
priority areas:
Transformation: Development is made more open and accountable, and service delivery is
improved by helping citizen give feedback to governments and service providers.

Connectivity: Affordable access to broadband is scaled up, including for women, disabled
citizens, disadvantaged communities, and population of rural areas.

Innovation: Competitive IT-based service industries are developed and ICT innovation across
the economy is fostered focusing on job creation, especially for women and youth.
The Bank with ICT aims to empower people socially, economically, and politically to decrease
poverty and enhance shared prosperity. Projects empowered by ICT have decreased barriers to
mobile and internet reach, enhanced jobs, and increased government effectiveness and
transparency.

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Lens 3: IS Strategy and Ethical consideration

1) IS Strategy
The IS strategy for an organization is formed of complex factors including structure, business
processes, politics, culture, environment and management decisions. These are known as the
mediating factors between IT and organizations. A successful IS strategy requires a change in
individual routines and business processes. These together make a business process. Several
business processes make up a business firm. An important part of strategy is culture which
encompasses a set of assumptions that define goals and products.
In 1997 bank selected SAP as its primary medium for IT improvement. With the SAP ERP
system the bank changed disparate administrative systems and created unified IT environment,
enabling same business processes to be used in Washington and in the 100 or so field offices.
Eight SAP components were brought in to streamline procurement, management of material,
project-systems and financial reporting.
SAP Fund Management, SAP Controlling, SAP Financial, SAP Materials Management, SAP
Project System, SAP Human Resources SAP Project Management, and SAP Enterprise Buyer.
Potters five-force analysis of banking industry in general

Threat of New Entrants: (Moderate): The average person can't come along and start up a
bank but services such as internet bill payment could be capitalized by entrepreneurs.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers: (Moderate) Suppliers of capital might not be a big threat
but the threat of suppliers luring away human capital is a significant threat. If a skilfull
individual is working in a smaller regional bank, there is the chance that person will be
attracted towards bigger banks.
Bargaining Power of Buyers: (Low) Individual dont pose much of a threat to the banking
industry, but relatively high switching costs is a major factor. If a person has loan with one
particular bank, it is extremely tough for him to switch to other bank.
Threat of Substitutes: (High) Banks offer lot of services over and above taking deposits and
lending money but be it insurance, fixed income securities or mutual funds there is a chance
that non-banking financial services company that can offer similar services.
Industry Rivalry: (High) The financial services industry has been around for long period
and just about everyone has access to banking services. Thus banks are attempting to lure
clients away from competitor banks.
2) E-Business

The bank also built its own management dashboard, which enabled management to access SAP
and Oracle data on the internet and modify key business metrics. It brought Lotus Notes as its email and collaboration tool. IBM's Domino.doc which is commercial IBM Lotus product, was
bought primarily for content storage.

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In 2003 bank began using Internet Services Program (ISP), a multiple year project to enhance its
Internet capabilities. To bolster this, bank acquired IBM WebSphere Server, Netegrity-Web
security software; WebSphere Portal Servers; iPlanet Directory Server along with Vignette
content management tool.
For online collaboration, bank use Lotus Sametime which is commercial product that provides
collaborative tools and workspaces. Google is used to extract information from the bank's
internal and external Web sites, while Epublish which is home-built Web publishing device
supported by Vignette content management software is used for caching content.
3) Ethics in IT
World bank falls under first quadrant following legal and ethical norms.
Information ethical policies followed by world bank:

Sharing of non-public information only on need to know basis and only with pre-approval.
Information protection rule to follow even after leaving world bank group employment
Respect password management policy and never to share password to electronic systems.
Follow procedures while disclosing confidential information to third party.

Never use non-public information to advance personal interest or others interest.

Information Ethics Plot

Lens 4: Business Processes & IS Development

1. The World Bank Group played an important role in spreading ICT in developing markets.
It provided $4.2 billion to support the ICT sector, 75% of which was to the poorest
countries, including in Africa. World Banks strategy focused on support for sector

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reform, improving access to information infrastructure, developing ICT skills,

applications by giving trainings.
2. The Banks most considerable contributions to ICT development have been through
support to sector reforms, and to private investments for mobile technology in difficult
situations and the poorest countries. One of the successful examples of such initiatives is
an IFC supported mobile operator. It was the first to adapt a mass market strategy and
also established a Village Phone Program.
3. In other priority areas, including ICT applications, the Banks contributions have been
limited. Support to universal access programs was largely overpowered by the roll-out of
telephone services by the private sector and not the bank per se. Also, access for the poor
has more supported through non-targeted interventions, general focused on the enabling
environment and direct support to private investments. The record of world bank in ICT
applications has been modest, despite their significant role in Bank projects. This actually
shows the high risks of IT projects and shortcomings in case of its delivery mechanism.
4. Database Management:
a. Open Data initiative by World Banks is intended to provide all users with access
to the data, according to the Open Data Terms of Use. The data catalog is a listing
of all the available World Bank datasets, including databases, pre-formatted
tables, reports, and other resources.
b. The Joint External Debt Hub is jointly developed by the Bank for International
Settlements the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development and the World Bank. It brings together external
debt data and selected foreign assets from international creditor/market and
national debtor sources.
5. Customer Applications :
a. The open data initiative of world bank made key data sets including the World
Development Indicators, Global Finance Indicators, Africa Development
Indicators and Doing Business Indicators which is free for all.
b. Data Finder Mobile Apps- The new Data Finder app showcases the progress
that's been made at the Bank since the launch of the Open Data Initiative. Its for
the first time that the Bank's data are available to users on any of the three major
mobile platforms - and in four languages with the following features:

Charts and Maps: visually and graphically compare countries and indicators
Advanced Queries: create, edit and save custom tables
Social share what you create on Twitter, Facebook etc.
Current data: data can be pulled directly from the World Bank API
Multilingual: works in English, Chinese, French, Spanish
Cross platform: available on iOS and android

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D) ANALYSIS

Programs ensured alignment and coherence between the design and implementation
stages of the MIS. Smooth transition between the two stages was ensured

All program information was integrated into a single system. A central database which
enabled unique information sharing among institutions

Most of the 17 fully functional FMIS solutions (10T + 7F) had similar characteristics

Analysis of 15 pilot/partially functional FMIS solutions (4T + 11F) reveals longer

preparation periods with less focus on alignment with PFM needs

Table 1 states the success factors of individual components in completed MIS, whereas
Table 2 states the failure factors of individual components in completed MIS projects.

Table 1: Success factors observed in completed MIS projects

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Source: Financial Management Information System, a World Bank Study

Table 2: Failure factors observed in completed MIS projects

Source: Financial Management Information System, a World Bank Study
E) RECOMMENDATIONS
World Bank has had an extensive and rich experience with modern Information Systems for past
25 years. In particular, the Financial Management (FM) unit of the World Bank have witnessed
clear definition of functional and technical requirements and devised the right architecture for
integrated solutions.
The lessons learnt from this project, conducted in the ECA region of the Bank, are recommended
to be replicated across various other projects. The set of recommendations are basically under
three heads, viz.
Design and Implementation
Performance Indicators
Quality and Reliability
Design and Implementation
In the phase of design and implementation of the project answers to six questions is required i.e.
what, why, where, how, when and who?

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1. Identify the reform needs (What and Why)

a. Assess existing capacity and practices to identify strengths and weaknesses
b. Identify priorities and sequence of activities
c. Establish and dispute whether an Information system is needed or not
2. Develop customized solutions (How, Where and When)
a. Develop the System Design to design functional requirements, technology
architecture
b. Needs pertaining to network requirement, infrastructure, central servers,
hardware, security and network management system
c. Prepare realistic cost and time estimates
d. Develop specifications in line with the System Design
3. Manage projects effectively by strengthening institutional capacity (Who)
a. Promote the use of systems for
i. coordination and administration of large-scale investment projects
ii. financial management, accounting, reporting, and auditing
iii. procurement
b. Prepare draft terms of reference
c. Define performance metrics (KPIs and CSFs) to measure success
d. Design key activities for capacity building
Performance Indicators

A review of indicators (quality and quantity) in past projects suggest that development of
more contextually meaningful indicator is necessary
For instance: In financial management projects, measures which measure impact on the
treasury and ability to manage finances must be developed
Assess the enabling environment to evaluate operational status of Information System in
future

In addition to indicators, results framework comprehensively establish clear linkages

between objectives and intermediate results. Further, these corresponding indicators provide
a useful benchmark in measuring progress, and ultimately impact.
Quality and Reliability
The projects must be designed with special focus on quality and security of information. This is
recommended so that risk for corruption and loss of information minimizes. Also, it improves the
reliability of the system. For instance, widespread use of centralized Web-based ICT solutions
available on high-speed countrywide networks has contributed substantially to the performance
of T/F systems since the early 2000s. In addition, simplification of procedures and stable
legislative framework are other key factors.
Some instruments to improve reliability, quality, accountability, cost and effectiveness of
Information System for Financial Management are listed below -

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Use of an integrated and central gateway or server for payments (Ex: Web based T/F
system)
Reap benefits from digital and electronic signatures for all financial transactions
Electronic Records Management
Monthly reviewing and publishing of execution an performance results
Inter-operability and re-usability of Information System
Use of open source software
Development of Project management practices as per Industry standards

F) REFERENCES

http://www.worldbank.org/ ; Accessed on March 3, 2016

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/; Accessed on March 3, 2016
Margaret Bartel, Integrated Financial Management Systems: A Guide to Implementation
Based on The Experience in Latin America, (Washington, DC, Institute For Democratic
Strategies, LATPS Occasional Paper Series, 1996)
Joint Financial Management Improvement Program. Core Financial System Requirement.
JFMIP-SR-02-01. (JFMIP, Washington, D.C., November 2001)
Management Information Systems for CCTs and Social Protection Systems in Latin
America: A Tool for Improved Program Management and Evidence-Based Decision
Making; October 2010
Financial Management Information Systems 25 Years of World Bank Experience on
What Works and What Doesnt; World Bank

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