1.     Introduction:

The National Poverty Graduation Programme (NPGP) is an International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Government of Pakistan (GoP) funded programme to be implemented over a period of six years. The programme aims to assist the ultra-poor and very poor in graduating out of poverty on a sustainable basis while simultaneously improving their overall food security, nutritional status, and resilience to climate change. The development objective of the project is to enable the rural poor and especially women and youth to realize their development potential and attain a higher level of social and economic wellbeing through a proven, flexible, and responsive menu of assistance.

The poverty graduation approach in the NPGP combines elements of three distinct approaches – social mobilization, livelihoods development, and financial inclusion — and draws on the most relevant aspects of these to deliver results by combining support for immediate needs with longer-term human capital and asset investments to move households out of extreme poverty and into sustainable livelihoods. In this process, the capacity-building of community organizations through strong social mobilization support is key to support individual households to access multiple opportunities (from markets, private sector, and government). 

2.     Background:

NPGP-PMU being the Project Executing Unit is responsible for providing appropriate, sufficient, timely and reliable progress data that is periodically shared with the donor. Keeping in view the requirements, the management information system has been developed and deployed. This is operational software and used by NPGP-PMU staff and partner organizations for the financial and physical updates of their project.

3.     Objective & Scope:

To hire a skilled and experienced software developer to enhance the existing Management Information System (MIS) by adding a new program component that facilitates data upload and entry. The consultant will utilize Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft .NET for development and deployment. The position involves developing a new interface for programme component into existing MIS by uploading the previous data and developing new ICON for new data entering.

4.     Scope of Assignment:

Primary responsibilities and duties are:

• Collaborate with stakeholders to gather and document detailed requirements for the new program component.
• Identify existing data structures and determine how to integrate new data entry functionalities.
• Design and develop any necessary modifications to the existing database schema in Microsoft SQL Server and develop applications to accommodate the new program component.
• Ensure data integrity and security in the database during the integration process.
• Develop a user-friendly interface for the program component within the existing MIS.
• Create a new icon for data entry that allows users to easily access the new functionalities.
• Ensure that the interface is intuitive and aligns with the overall design of the existing MIS.
• Develop scripts or tools to upload existing data into the new program component.
• Test the data upload process to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the migrated data.
• Integrate the new program component data with the existing program data in the MIS.
• Ensure that the new component functions seamlessly with the existing system, maintaining performance and reliability.
• Consultant will integrate the applications with main NPGP-MIS
• Conduct thorough testing of the new program component, including unit testing, integration testing, and user acceptance testing.
• Provide comprehensive documentation for the new program component, including technical specifications, user guides, and maintenance procedures.
• Offer training sessions for end-users to familiarize them with the new functionalities.
• Provide ongoing support and troubleshooting assistance during the initial implementation phase.
• Uploading and testing the published app of the updated application on Cloud servers (NTC or any other)

5.     Deliverables:

The consultant has to submit a weekly monthly report mentioning the detail of work done against the following deliverables

• Deep Analysis of the existing system and new required components.  
• Data Flow Diagram (DFD) and Entity Relationship diagram (ERD)
• Follow the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) upgrade the existing application based on the programme requirement. the requirements
• Develop new web forms and dynamic reports. Resolve and fix the issues in the existing application if there is any.
• Customization of newly developed web forms standards
• User acceptance training (UAT)
• Customization of overall MIS web forms as per requirements
• Implementation of new concepts and ideas

6.     Qualification & Experience:

• Masters’ in Computer Science from HEC recognized university or equivalent
• Microsoft certification(s) in VB.NET and related tools / technologies for database applications will be preferred
• Minimum 10 years’ post education development of experience in development of MIS application and  Microsoft SQL Server (Latest) in Microsoft  technologies (Visual Studio. NET and SQL Server)
• Experience of design and development using HTML5, Bootstrap, Javascript, JQuery and CSS, devexpress, crystal reports etc.
• Experience of using tools/libraries for reports and dashboards
• Understanding of business application development processes
• Ability to communicate effectively with peer developers and business process owners.
• Large scale project experience is desirable.
• MS SQL Server for database development and maintenance
• MS .NET (4.x/5.0 framework) development technologies & platform (C#, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, LINQ), Reporting Services and others)
• Advanced relational database (Tables, views, stored procedures, functions etc.)
• UML modeling and ER Diagram development
• Analyze Business Requirements and assess impact with existing database architecture
• Web APIs
• Time & Project management skills

7.     Skills Required:

• MS SQL Server for database development and maintenance
• MS .NET (4.x/5.0 framework) development technologies & platform (C#, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, LINQ), Reporting Services and others)
• Advanced relational database (Tables, views, stored procedures, functions etc.)
• UML modeling and ER Diagram development
• Analyze Business Requirements and assess impact with existing database architecture
• Web APIs
• Time & Project management skills

8.     Payment Schedule:

The payment schedule is divided into 2 equal installments based on completion of each deliverable mentioned above.

9.     Reporting

The consultant will be reporting to the MER unit Head and MIS Officer

 10. Duration of Assignment:

The duration of consultancy is (22 working days)

11. Application Deadline:

Any request for clarification should be sent via e-mail to the address below no later than 12 PM, November 13, 2024, NPGP will provide responses to all clarification requests by 4:30 PM, November 15, 2024.

Interested individuals / consultants submit their Curriculum Vitae (CV) by 12 PM, November 18, 2024.