KEWI Strengthens Human Resource Management, Completes Migration of Staff Records to HRIS-Ke

The Kenya Water Institute (KEWI) has successfully migrated all staff records to the Government of Kenya Human Resource Information System (HRIS-Ke), marking a significant milestone in strengthening human resource and payroll management. The migration is in compliance with a directive by the Ministry of Public Service that places HRIS compliance at the centre of Government efforts to tighten payroll management, eliminate fraud, enhance accountability and improve efficiency across the public sector.

The process followed a training workshop for Heads of Human Resource Departments in State agencies, held at The Nest Boutique Hotel, Naivasha, and organized by the State Department for Public Service. The workshop focused on onboarding agencies onto the HRIS-Ke/UHR Payroll Module and equipped officers with skills required for accurate migration and management of employee information.

During the workshop, the KEWI Human Resource and Administration Department, led by CHRP Winnie Chebet, was taken through training on the requirements of the new system. This followed guidance from the Director/CEO, Dr. Leiro Letangule, EBS, who tasked the Department with ensuring full migration of staff records in compliance with the Government directive.

The training covered verification of key HR instruments, including organizational structures, career guidelines and salary structures, as well as creation of budgetary units in accordance with approved organizational structures and staffing levels. Officers were also trained on verifying designations, salary structures and allowances, customizing designation codes to approved career guidelines, and aligning salary scales and allowances with approved salary structures.

Further training focused on staff data management, including completion of the Staff Register and third-party deductions templates, verification and validation of staff information, issuance and reactivation of Unique Personal Numbers (UPNs), and merging UPN data with the Staff Register. The team also verified basic salaries, allowances, earnings and deductions to ensure accuracy before migration.

Subsequent stages involved data migration into HRIS-Ke, validation, orientation on the Payroll Module and resolution of emerging issues. The process also covered migration of third-party organization data, issuance of user rights to Human Resource officers, test runs, collection of feedback and preparation of the workshop report.

At KEWI, the migration involved capturing, updating, processing and cleansing staff data to improve employee records. The HR team was further trained on managing staff information, user access rights and generating reports. Staff members will also be granted access to enable them to print their payslips.

The development of HRIS-Ke builds on the Government Human Resource Information System (GHRIS), which was developed from 2011 to address gaps identified in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD). In 2023, an inter-agency team assessed Government payroll systems and re-engineered them into HRIS-Ke. The system was piloted in April 2024 before being rolled out to 199 payroll sites in December 2024.

The system is expected to facilitate real-time monitoring of payroll activities across national and county governments, enabling authorities to identify unauthorized changes and suspicious transactions more quickly. Designed to accommodate Government institutions, including county governments, HRIS-Ke provides a centralized platform for managing public sector employee information and payroll processes.

The milestone comes as KEWI continues to implement Public Service Commission-approved human resource instruments and fast-tracks engagement with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission towards an approved new salary structure.