IS students tackle the logistics of disaster management

Professor Irwin Brown (Head of Department: Information Systems), Anesu Chaminuka, Shivant Maharaj, Faith Young, ViaData's Alister Main, Jack Shiels and Associate Professor Jacques Ophoff.

This year’s winning team of the ViaData Shield developed a system to tackle some of the challenges faced by a local disaster management organisation.

Awarded to the top software development project in third year, the ViaData Shield is part of the INF3003W Systems Development Project I course in which teams take on a large-scale software project from February to September each year.

This year’s winning team – Anesu Chaminuka, Shivant Maharaj, Jack Shiels and Faith Young – developed a system for the Respond Initiative, a Cape Town based coalition of churches, NGOs and Christian non-profit organisations that aims to provide supportive emergency response to disaster victims in South Africa.

The team’s project, the Respond Logistics System, automates the myriad of tasks associated with disaster management.

Started 26 years ago, ViaData presents the Shield to recognise the excellent work being done and the great concepts being prototyped and developed by students.

“The project is a really big deal for these students. It not only contributes a large portion of their year mark but is also vital for them to learn to work together as a team when designing and implementing complex software. This is what they’ll face when they enter the working environment, above and beyond their academic skills,” says Craig Byren, MD of ViaData. “We have always been impressed how the students throw themselves into this project, with some of them putting in over 2 000 hours of effort. The standard is exceptional, and they should be very proud of their achievement.”

UCT’s Information Systems Department has a longstanding relationship with ViaData - several shield's have been filled with students' names and it is perceived as a prestigious accomplishment  to have one's name appear there.

Each team member receives a Takealot voucher prize and formal letter of recognition from ViaData’s MD.