SAMS in Hong Kong schools: The first evaluative findings of a large-scale implementation of school management information systems

This international collaborative research studied the implementation of the School Administration and Management System (SAMS) project of the Hong Kong Education Department. The Computerisation project began in September 1993 and is to be completed by August 1998 in all the 1,200 primary and secondary schools in the government and aided sector. The scale of the project is unique in the world and provided an excellent opportunity to study the implementation of a computerised management information systems, factors promoting successful implementation, and the impact of SAMS. The first finds from the research are presented this paper. The duration, which SAMS has been in operation, differs strongly between schools. System use is still limited and tends to be an administrative (rather than managerial) nature. There is considerable room for improvement in the quality of SAMS. The user group differs significantly from the non-user group on various independent variables. According to SAMS users, system usage has resulted in positive as well as negative effects.