Resumo:
We present research conducted for the development of an Intervention Project (PI - Projeto de Intervenção ) at the Federal Institute of Education, Science, and Technology of Espírito Santo (Ifes). The focus is on the work carried out in the Academic Secretariats (SA - Secretarias Acadêmicas ) of the various Ifes campuses, distributed throughout the state of Espírito Santo. The SAs are responsible for managing a significant amount of data, accompanied by a growing number of systems to be managed. Thus, the main issue that drove the research was the lack of interoperability between the record-keeping systems and databases that need to be maintained by these secretariats. There are eight systems that need to be updated/maintained, but they do not communicate with each other. This generates duplicated efforts and makes the daily routine tiring, in order to handle everything that needs to be done. Therefore, this research aimed to understand how the Ifes professionals working in the SAs have been coping with the daily work amidst the lack of integration of these systems. Methodologically, seeking to explore ways of innovation through improvements in work processes, supported by free digital technologies, we invested in a prototyping model. To this end, we explored the realities of the Ifes SA staff through a qualitative lens, seeking the engagement of the research participants: the 78 employees working in the SAs of the 22 Ifes campuses, who were called upon to reflect on their daily practices and suggest alternatives that bring improvements to their work environment. As data collection tools, we used questionnaires and conversation circles, supported by a field diary. The data were analyzed following the Discursive Textual Analysis theory of Moraes and Galiazzi. The undertaken analysis demonstrates that the absence of system integration has caused staff turnover in the sector, illness, and complaints.
One of the main complaints identified is the amount of rework, having to manually input the same data into the various platforms. We can say that the lack of interoperability between systems is an artificial factor, created by technologies from different private companies, which have no interest in customizing services, but rather in selling ready-made solutions. Although maintaining these platforms is essential for monitoring and creating public policies, the current model fragments and exhausts the work activities of the SA staff, in addition to alienating them from the technology they use daily. To address this situation, we believe that the potential for innovation in the field of free solution development, through co-creation within the academic community, is promising. The research results provided us with a
comprehensive overview of the scenario and supplied us with requirements for building the intervention project, which includes a prototype for implementing an integrated academic management system for Ifes, using free technologies, to mitigate the absence of interoperability. It is concluded that the best option for putting the project into practice would be through hackathons, as these collaborative processes promote co-creation, collective intelligence, local culture and technological development, in addition to our digital sovereignty.
