In December 2019, KenTrade commenced upgrading the Single Window System (Kenya TradeNet System) to enhance system productivity, avoid technological obsolescence, and improve user experience.
The current system has been operational for the past six years and is currently being used extensively by the trading community owing to its benefits in simplifying trade processes in Kenya.
KenTrade CEO Amos Wangora says that the Agency has been working tirelessly to ensure that the Kenya TradeNet is efficient and serves the intended purpose, adding that it currently serves over 12,000 Users and with over 600,000 transactions processed annually with the numbers expected to grow.
‘‘To accommodate the growth and to ensure that our stakeholders continue receiving efficient services, it is necessary that the Kenya TradeNet System be upgraded for enhanced user experience.’’ He added that the Kenya TradeNet upgrade will be a seamless process with minimum disruptions and once completed, the system will provide a much better experience for users.
To this end, the Agency has undertaken a number of activities such as stakeholder sensitizations which is an ongoing process meant to prepare as well as inform the stakeholders of the upgrade progress. The Agency has also undertaken a gap analysis that involved reviewing the business process, business rules validation, and coming up with a customization requirements specification based on the gaps identified.
Stakeholder involvement and gap analysis have been successful and will enable the upgrade of the Kenya TradeNet upgrade process to move to the level known as User Acceptance Testing (UAT). UAT is a crucial process that will give stakeholders or users the opportunity to interact with the system, observe its actual behavior, compare to their expectations, test and validate that the upgraded Kenya TradeNet meets their business needs and requirements. This process is considered as one of the most critical phases in the upgrade process and it requires proper planning, execution, and evaluation of the UAT results.
Based on the results from the UAT, the Agency will establish the level of confidence that the stakeholders have in the System and the ability to deliver the intended business value. This phase will commence in October 2020, and stakeholders who will be involved in this process include those who are already using the Kenya TradeNet System as well as potential users. UAT will assist in determining if the system will support the desired Kenya TradeNet environment.
