Analysis of the requirements of information technology infrastructure (ITI) for THA: an extended enterprise perspective.

The purpose of this research has been to analyse the requirement of Information Technology Infrastructure (ITI) at the Tanzania Harbours Authority (THA) in the perspective of an extended enterprise. The perception of a group of networked enterprises in this perspective has become very important because of the global market competition that has brought about the need for enterprises to provide focused production and services. Nowadays most of the enterprises outsource most of their inputs so as to concentrate on the more value adding activities and higher quality production. Because of this trend enterprises ought to form a production or service network with a specific requirement of ITI. This research has identified the problems faced by THA in the perspective of an extended enterprise and their relation to the requirements of ITI. The main objective of this research has also been to identify the enterprises forming an extended enterprise with THA and thereafter to define the requirement of ITI among these enterprises. From the data analysis, it has been concluded that the extended enterprise does exist between THA and the other enterprises it does business with. There are more than nine enterprises included in the extended enterprise. The flaw of information between these enterprises does not satisfy the required speed of the processing of the documents and cargo flowing through or from them. Most of the customers are not satisfied with the service rendered by this extended enterprise due to the delays which occur at its various work stations. There is much unnecessary data entry since the media of information transfer and processing is by paper and pencil. A variety of discrepancies of the ITI at THA have been described in this research. In this dissertation the requirements of the authorities ITI have been given and recommendation for improvement are also given. If these recommendations are implemented the performance and competence of THA is likely to rise. The enterprises should from now onwards adopt short and long term joint strategies for future ITI matching advantages.