Makerere University Internship Report by

MAKERERE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SCIENCES (CoCIS)
(SCHOOL OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATICS TECHNOLOGY)
A REPORT ON
FIELD ATTACHMENT / INTERNSHIP AT
IT Plus Solutions Limited, Kampala.
1st June – 15th Aug 2015
(11 Weeks)
BY
MUKALELE ROGERS
REG No: 13/U/21067/EVE
STUDENT No: 213024492
A field attachment report submitted to Makerere University – Jinja Campus, in

partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Information
Technology, of Makerere University Kampala.
Rogers Mukalele: ……………..……………… …………………..

(Student) (Signature) (Date)
Komugisha Lilian: ……………..……………… …………………..

(University Academic Supervisor) (Signature) (Date)
Martin Gordon Mubangizi: ……………..……………… …………………..

(Field Supervisor) (Signature) (Stamp & Date)
DECLARATION
I, Mukalele Rogers, hereby declare that this report, written in partial fulfillment of the requirements
of the award of a Bachelor of Information Technology degree at Makerere University, is my very
own authentic work and the content of this document has never been submitted to any institution.
Note however, that Citations, Quotations and References to other peoples work or sources of
information where used have been duly made.
Signature ………………………………………………. Date …………………………..
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge the mighty hand of the Almighty God that I have
seen at work, not only during this Field Attachment period, but also throughout my degree
program.
Special heartfelt appreciation goes to My Aunties, Nanzala Christine Magoola and Nakamya
Catherine Magoola, and my Cousin, Richard Opolot Magoola, for providing me with
accommodation and sponsoring me throughout the course.
I feel greatly indebted to IT Plus Solutions Limited staff, Mr. Mubangizi Martin, Mr. Bitwire
George Albert, and Madam Ekyoshabire Charity for the technical and administrative assistance
rendered to me during my stay at IT Plus.
Finally, I would like to thank my University Supervisor, Madam Komugisha Lilian for the
professional guidance and direction rendered to me to achieve this success. Also, I cannot forget
my fellow interns, with whom I spent long hours daily, accomplishing various tasks and making
innovations together; Mr. Jjemba Kenneth, Ms. Aber Proscovia, Ms. Kyomugisha Joseline, and
Mr. Kwesiga Allan Geofrey, you surely created a great, supportive TEAM and Together Everyone
Achieved More.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This document is a report about field attachment (internship) done at IT Plus Solutions Limited
Kampala, by the student between 1st June and 15th Aug 2015.
Chapter one, contains details of the profile of IT Plus, whose mission is to be the ultimate one-stop
point of reference on all aspects that relate to IT capacity, web systems design and hosting, GIS
Solutions, Data Science, public relations, IT Career Development training as well as provision of
computer hardware and software solutions countrywide.
Chapter two includes details of the student’s experiences; the position occupied as a web systems
developer, the duties and responsibilities such as website design, python programming, software
installations, hardware troubleshooting, system requirements specification and analysis. The intern
had a great relationship with the field supervisor characterized by independent working, trust, time
management, feedback and support. Although he was just a student, the intern was permitted an
equitable level of authority at the workplace.
Chapter three contains an evaluation of the entire field attachment period, including details of
activities accomplished, benefits derived, skills gained, and challenges encountered. The intern
accomplished over 80% of the assigned tasks, especially the ABRAIL HONEY website, using
HTML, css, bootstrap, JavaScript, jQuery, SVG, and D3.js web technologies. Incompatibility of
software, limited time and finances were some of the challenges, while new troubleshooting skills
and acquisition of new knowledge about the latest web development technologies were some of
the derived benefits.
Chapter four has the conclusion and recommendations. On the side of the intern, key strength was
his possession of a wide range of computer literacy skills while the key weakness was his little
awareness about office etiquette. In the recommendations, future interns are advised to get into the
practice of habitual documentation and good record keeping while doing field attachment, the
organization is advised to focus on giving interns strict deadline-based tasks in order to achieve
more outputs in the short time, while the university is advised to shift the course BIT 2302 Field
Attachment to the third year of study and allocate it more time in order to fully achieve its aims
and objectives.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ............................................................................................................................ ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................................. iii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................... iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................ v
LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vii
LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... viii
LIST OF ACRONYMS / ABBREVIATIONS USED .................................................................. ix
CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................................. 1
1.0. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1
1.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Background of the field attachment ..................................................................................... 1
1.3. Objectives of IT Plus ............................................................................................................ 2
1.4. Organizational culture .......................................................................................................... 3
1.5. Gender in the organization ................................................................................................... 3
1.6. The structure of the organization.......................................................................................... 4
1.7. The main activities of the organization ................................................................................ 5
CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................................ 9

2.0. STUDENT’S EXPERIENCES ............................................................................................ 9
2.1. Title or position occupied in an organization ....................................................................... 9
2.2. Duties and responsibilities.................................................................................................... 9
2.3. Supervision levels and relationship with supervisor .......................................................... 11
2.4. Working team and its composition ..................................................................................... 12
2.5. Working relationship among team members / other staff .................................................. 12
2.6. Authority levels to the student............................................................................................ 13
CHAPTER THREE ...................................................................................................................... 14

3.0. EVALUATION ON FIELD ATTACHMENT .................................................................. 14
3.1. Level of accomplishment of duties and responsibilities assigned ...................................... 14
3.2. New knowledge and skills gained in each of the duties and responsibilities ..................... 14
3.3. Most interesting experiences. ............................................................................................. 17
3.4. Relatedness of university’s taught programs to the field of work ...................................... 20
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3.5. Challenges faced and how managed .................................................................................. 21
3.6. Benefits derived from field attachment .............................................................................. 22
3.7. Adequacy in university’s preparation of students for field attachment .............................. 23
3.8. Preparedness of the agency to receive and manage students for field attachment ............. 23
CHAPTER FOUR......................................................................................................................... 24
4.0. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................ 24
4.1. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 24
4.2. Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 25
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 26
APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................. 27
Appendix 1 (a): IT Plus internship offer letter ......................................................................... 27
Appendix 1 (b): IT Plus flyer with internship schedule ........................................................... 28
Appendix 2: Screenshots of some internship projects done at IT Plus ..................................... 29
Appendix 3: Daily activities done as recorded in student weekly workbook ........................... 32
Appendix 4: Gallery of the key highlights of the field attachment ........................................... 39
Appendix 5: Procedures for installing python Django on windows ......................................... 41
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1-1: Gender distribution at IT Plus Solutions Limited ........................................................ 4

Figure 1-2: Organizational structure for IT Plus Solutions Limited ............................................... 4
Figure 1-3: Responsive websites adapt and display well on different sized devices. ..................... 5
Figure 1-4: Webpage at http://IT Plus uganda.com/testimonies.php. Retrieved on 7/08/2015. ..... 7
Figure 3-1: The first post install Django-powered page displaying at localhost port 8000 .......... 15
Figure 3-2: Screenshot taken during the installation of Linux Mint to dual boot alongside Windows
7 operating system. .................................................................................................... 16
Figure 3-3: Photo taken when the student was upgrading a laptop’s operating system to Windows
10, the latest operating system from Microsoft. ........................................................ 16
Figure 3-4: Left: The student dismantled a laptop that had hardware NMI errors and fixed it. Right:
On 24th July he did a toner refill of the office printer cartridge................................ 17
Figure 3-5: H.E. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (with hat) poses for a photo with the intern
(circled) and other innovation exhibitors at the Mozilla Festival, Friday 17th July,
2015. .......................................................................................................................... 18
Figure 3-6: The intern (extreme right) together with other team mates joyfully holding tins of
Abrail Honey ............................................................................................................. 19
Figure 3-7: The intern (extreme left) with his team mates aboard a vehicle during one of the field
visits........................................................................................................................... 19
Figure 3-8: The intern (left) delivers a wide screen presentation and discusses on a whiteboard his
progress with D3.js visualisations as other team mates and the field supervisor (right)
observe ....................................................................................................................... 20
Figure 3-9: Technical challenge of installing python pandas library in windows 8, due to mt.exe
failure and absence of .NET Framework 3.5 in windows 8. ..................................... 22
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1: Schedule of the On-going finishing school program at IT Plus .................................... 8
Table 2.1: Work Plan for Internship at IT Plus............................................................................. 10
Table 2.2: Working team composition.......................................................................................... 12
Table 3.1: Relevance of selected university taught courses in field of work................................ 20
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LIST OF ACRONYMS / ABBREVIATIONS USED
AJAX Asynchronous JavaScript and XML

AVD Android Virtual Device
BIOS Basic Input Output System
BIT Bachelor of Information Technology
CLI Command Line Interface
COBES Community Based Education Services
CS6 Creative Suite Six
CSS Cascading Style Sheets
CSV Comma Separated Values
D3 Data Driven Documents
DOM Document Object Model
DVD Digital Versatile Disk
ERD Entity Relationship Diagram
GIS Geographic Information System
GUI Graphical User Interface
HP Hewlett Packard
HR Human Resource
HTML Hyper Text Mark Up Language
ICT Information and Communication Technology
IMO Indigenous Micro Organisms
interns Internship (field attachment) students
IT Information Technology
IT Plus IT Plus Solutions Limited
Js JavaScript
JSON JavaScript Object Notation
KML Keyhole Markup Language
LAN Local Area Network
MAC Media Access Control
MB Mega Bytes
MICTS Makerere ICT Solutions Limited
MS-DOS Microsoft Disk Operating System
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MSI Microsoft Installer
NCHE National Council For Higher Education
NMI Non-Maskable Interrupt
PCs Personal Computers
PDF Portable Document Format
PHP PHP Hypertext Processor
PIP Pip Installs Python
PNG Portable Network Graphic
PPAs Personal Package Archives
QGIS Quantum Geographic Information System
RSD Requirements Specification Document
SDLC System Development Life Cycle
SMS Short Message Service
SQL Standard Query Language
SVG Scalable Vector Graphics
UEFI Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
UN United Nations
UPS Un interruptible power Supply
VLC VideoLAN Client
XHTML Extensible Markup Language
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CHAPTER ONE
1.0. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Introduction
This document reports about the field attachment period the student underwent at IT Plus,
including the working experiences, challenges encountered during the filed attachment period,
analysis and evaluation of the field attachment program, its benefits and relevance. In the final
chapter, there is a conclusion and recommendations for the betterment of field attachment
programs to be carried out in future at such organizations as IT Plus.
This introductory chapter starts by giving a background of Field Attachment in the perspective of
Makerere University, followed by the profile of IT Plus, the organization of field attachment.
1.2. Background of the field attachment

Several studies done elsewhere have indicated and concluded that a gap really exists between the
quality of graduates produced and what the market demands (Mpairwe & Bukaliya, 2012). For
this and other reasons, training institutions and employers have accepted the need to seek
mitigation steps to bridge the gap. Among other steps, institutions of learning have introduced
internship programs also referred to as field attachment in some of their degree and non-degree
programs. There has also been the realization that imparting the relevant practical skills is a
partnership between the training institution and the prospective employers through student
internships.
1.2.1. Definition of Field Attachment
According to the adopted Makerere University Polices at policies.mak.ac.ug website, field

attachment is a field-based practical training experience that prepares trainees for the tasks they
are expected to perform on completion of their training. Currently, field attachment in Makerere
University is known by several names in different faculties and/or disciplines. The other names
for it include: internship, school practice, community Based Education and Services (COBES),
and industrial training. However, for avoidance of confusion, the term “Field Attachment” was
adopted for all teaching units to mean any approved field based practical work carried out by staff
and students for the purpose of teaching and/or research in places outside the University control
but where the University is responsible for the safety of its staff, students and others exposed to
their activities (Makerere University Council, 2011).
1.2.2. Intentions / purpose of field attachment
The purpose of field attachment at Makerere University is to produce practically oriented graduates
that meet the required job-related competences of their future employers. Additionally, it serves
as a linkage between the University and various partners who consume services and/or products
of the University. The specific objectives of the field attachment program are as follows:-
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 To enable students get hands-on/real life experience they are expected to work in when they
graduate.
 To provide an opportunity for students to apply the principles and techniques theoretically
learnt into real-life problem solving situations.
 To provide an opportunity for students and academic staff to interact with the stakeholders
and potential employers and thus appreciate field situations that will also generate
information for curricula review and improvement
 To develop student understanding of work ethics, employment demands, responsibilities and
opportunities.
 To enhance and strengthen linkages between Makerere University and various stakeholders.
1.3. Objectives of IT Plus

IT PLUS is an IT firm that has provided premium ICT products and services since 2007, with
projects throughout the country. The company works under the motto, “Powering ICT
Innovations”.
1.3.1 Mission
To be the ultimate one-stop point of reference on all aspects that relate to IT capacity,
knowledge processing, and public relations, IT training as well as provision of computer
hardware and software solutions countrywide.
1.3.2 Objectives
To contribute to overall efficiency and effectiveness in the use of appropriate information

technologies by enabling access to vital IT knowledge and tools, essential for any
development and undertakings;
To become a market leader in the provision of IT solutions and services, through

continuous innovation, customer focus and provide IT products and services of the highest
quality;
To enhance the exploitation of the numerous capabilities that accrue to individual

/organizations resulting from optimum utilization of information and communications
technology (ICTs) through effective reporting and corporate capacity building.
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1.4. Organizational culture
According to (Needle, 2004), organizational culture represents the collective values, beliefs and
principles of organizational members and is a product of such factors as history, product, market,
technology, strategy, type of employees, management style, and national culture. Culture includes
the organization's vision, values, norms, systems, symbols, language, assumptions, beliefs, and
habits (Wikipedia Editors, 2015).
1.4.1 Vision of IT Plus Solutions Limited
IT Plus Solutions limited seeks to attain a high standard of performance in IT operations with the
aims to further enhance long-term benefits to its shareholders, stakeholders, customers and society
in which it operates.
1.4.2 Organizational Core Values
The following are the core values of IT Plus Solutions limited.

Integrity: To act with honesty and integrity without compromising the truth.
Respect: Giving due respect to self and others and maintain the environment of team work
and growth.
Innovation: To come out with new creative ideas that have the potential to change the world.
Passion: Putting the heart and mind in the work to get the best.
Quality: Giving the best and unmatched results for all round satisfaction.
1.5. Gender in the organization

According to (Fall & Zhang, Y., 2012), Benchmark 14 of the UN recommends that, “The principle
of 50/50 gender balance is embedded in organizational culture, staff regulations and recruitment
strategies, policies, guidelines, procedures and practices, bearing in mind that the paramount
consideration in the employment of the staff and the determination of the conditions of service
shall be the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity.”
IT Plus strives to realize the above UN Benchmark when recruiting staff, ensuring a balanced
Gender distribution as much as possible. However, the kind of products, services and work offered
at IT Plus naturally attracts more males than females, even when equal opportunities are offered
by IT Plus. Figure 1.1 shows the current gender distribution at IT Plus.
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Pie chart showing the gender distribution at IT Plus
Female staff
38%
Male staff
62%
Figure 1-1: Gender distribution at IT Plus Solutions Limited
1.6. The structure of the organization

The top level decision making organ of IT plus solutions limited is the board of directors, which
is represented by the managing director during day to day operations of the company. The
managing director is assisted by the technical director to oversee the activities of the company
including the consultancy, systems and websites development. The company administrator assists
the managing director to handle issues to do with HR, accounts, finance, sales and marketing, as
illustrated in figure 1.2.
Board of
Directors
Managing
Director
Technical
Director Administrator
Systems HR
Accounts
Websites
and Finance
Sales and
Consultancy
Marketing
Figure 1-2: Organizational structure for IT Plus Solutions Limited
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1.7. The main activities of the organization
IT Plus carries out a number of activities, with great focus on areas of Websites Development,
Training, Application Development, GIS Solutions, Data Science and Consultancy. They also
offer a number of Career Development opportunities and projects such as Internship and Finishing
School Training. The sections below, provide brief descriptions of some of the services offered,
as listed on the IT Plus Solutions Limited Website, (ITPlus | About Us, 2015).
1.7.1. Web design and hosting
IT Plus Professional Web Services Team uses industry-specific technologies to build effective,
eye-catching websites for their clients and put them up in a matter of days. If the clients already
have a website, having it professionally redesigned into a responsive website provides businesses
with a professional image which inspires even greater confidence as it is neatly displayed on the
different sized devices of the various website visitors (See figure 1.3).
Figure 1-3: Responsive websites adapt and display well on different sized devices.
Web hosting involves configuring a server with an internet connection to serve websites at given
domain names. IT Plus has different hosting plans (C-lite, C-Basic, C-Pro and C-Ultra) each
prearranged to be a complete solution depending on the web hosting requirements. Maintenance
of network connections, configurations and server upkeeps are all provided by the hosting
company. Details of these hosting plans are available on IT Plus’ center4webpresence.com website
(Hosting plans, 2014).
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1.7.2. IT consultancy
Implementation of Information Technology (IT) in an organization is an investment, and like any

other investment, returns are expected. Though, to maximize these returns, one has to strategically
place IT so as to exploit its full potential and this requires experience and knowledge. IT Plus
provides professional advice to organizations harnessing the use of IT in their business.
1.7.3. Graphic design
IT Plus believes in the Chinese proverb, "A Picture's meaning can express ten thousand words",
and so the following services in Graphics Design are offered: Logo Design, Newsletters, Posters,
Calendars, Flyers, business cards, Wedding cards, Brochures, and Electronic brochures.
1.7.4. IT training
To improve skills and marketability, everyone needs to be prepared for the future with specialized
IT Training. IT Plus has a pool of skilled personnel who do training of various latest technologies
at the convenience of the customers – this is subject to discussion. For example, training in
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is normally done in two parts at IT Plus: introduction to
GIS, and Advanced GIS, using Quantum GIS (QGIS) to work with the GIS data.
1.7.5. Application development
IT Plus’s Application development team do develop custom software uniquely tailored to need the
needs of particular organizations. Custom software reduces on tiresome and routine work, provides
timely information for decision making, and accelerates achievement of organization goals and
objectives.
1.7.6. Activities and ongoing IT projects
IT Plus is currently undertaking several activities, including the Internship and Finishing school
programs.
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1.7.6.1. Internship
IT Plus offers a great internship program and has enough space and resources to accommodate up
to 30 internship students (interns). This year, interns split into two tracks with some focusing on
data visualization with D3.js and others on web based application development with Django. This
was after 4 weeks of mentorship in web based technologies of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SVG,
JSON, and bootstrap.
All the interns were very happy with the internship program and figure 1.4 shows a screenshot
from the testimonies page on the IT Plus website (ITPlus | Testimonies, 2015).
Figure 1-4: Webpage at http://IT Plus uganda.com/testimonies.php. Retrieved on 7/08/2015.
1.7.6.2. Finishing school
IT Plus is dedicated to carrier developments through mentorship at the IT Plus Finishing School
for graduates seeking to be professionals.
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This year’s On-going finishing school schedule is shown in table 1.1.
Table 1.1: Schedule of the On-going finishing school program at IT Plus
Period Areas to be Explored Scope

1st Introduction to Basic  HTML
Month Web Development  CSS
(Aug Technologies  JSON
2015)  SVG
 BOOTSTRAP
 JAVASCRIPT
2nd Exposition of the Data Visualization & D3js
Month popular new Mobile app Development & Jquery mobile
(Sep technologies Application Development & django
2015)
3rd Web GIS Applications GIS
Month (Extjs & openlayers)  Introduction to GIS – General overview
(Oct  Introduction to some GIS Systems – Maybe QGIS –
2015) Web GIS Applications Basic Functionality
(Geo-django)  Data management and manipulation – To enable them
develop data that can be used in the applications to be
Introduction to Data developed later in the course.
Science  Data export and storage in a GIS – Probably PostGIS
database – Formats such as JSON, GeoJSON and KML
Geo-django
 Assembling a Django application in Ubuntu/windows
 GIS Database creation
 Data loading in GeoDjango using python
 Handling templates and views in django
 Map creation using LeafletJS
 Information extraction in leaflet data
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CHAPTER TWO
2.0. STUDENT’S EXPERIENCES
2.1. Title or position occupied in the organization

For the two months of internship, the student occupied the position of a full time Web Systems
developer. The work schedule was Monday to Friday 8:00am – 5:00pm, as indicated in Appendix
1(a), “IT Plus Internship Offer Letter”. Additionally, the intern worked with other staff occupying
other positions at the company, thereby doing a wide range of roles.
2.2. Duties and responsibilities

The following are the main duties and responsibilities that the student undertook during the field
attachment at IT Plus.
 Website development and publishing. The student worked on the Abrail Honey website,
using bootstrap web development tools to come up with a fully responsive website. The
website was published online at www.mukalele.net/abrail for review.
 Web programming with python. The student was required to learn and employ python
programming during the development of the python-Django powered system for Piggery
Uganda.
 System Analysis and Design. Before starting on the programming of the Piggery Uganda
system, the student had to analyse the current manual system and come up with
requirements specification document, data flow diagrams and ERDs for the required
system.
 Software installations and configurations. The student installed and configured software
programs on both Linux and Windows platforms for client computers at IT Plus.
 Computer Hardware Troubleshooting. The student worked on three laptops which had
hardware problems and fixed them to work as required. One computer with a failed power
jack was returned to the client because there was no replacement jack available.
 Marketing Web and ICT Services to prospective clients. The student went to the field,
designed flyers for advertising IT Plus services. He managed to bring more than 10 people
to the company office in Makerere Kavule, Kampala.
Additionally, as a student leader at the university, the student had the responsibility of
coordinating other BIT students on field attachment. This was done through sending bulk sms,
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emails, making calls, visiting them at their companies of field attachment and chairing general
meetings. See Appendix 4 for photos showing key highlights of these activities.
Table 2.1 shows the intern’s custom work plan containing duties did on a weekly basis.
Table 2.1: Work Plan for Internship at IT Plus.
W O R K P L A N
Overall To learn the leading technologies employed in the field of responsive dynamic web
goal: systems development and be able to use the knowledge and skills acquired to make a
complete web based information management system, ready to be deployed or
marketed.
WEEK  Review and practice of the basic technologies of web development: HTML,
1 CSS, and JavaScript.
WEEK  Exposure to new technologies including Bootstrap and python.
2  Begin on a project for creating a website for marketing Abrail Honey.
WEEK  Apply more of the bootstrap concepts in developing a responsive website for
3 Abrail Honey.
 Integrate Google maps, scalable vector graphic background and social media.
WEEK  Special focus on the use of ipython notebook to explore the python programming
4 language, plus and introduction to JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) and
jQuery in dynamic web development.
WEEK  Specialize in either data visualization with D3.js or use of django python
5 framework.
 Go to the field to collect data from a client for whom we are to develop a farm
management information system.
WEEK  Evaluate the Mobile development technologies: jQuery Mobile and Python for
6 Android and choose one to focus on for developing mobile applications to
interact with the web systems.
 Exposure to new technologies: angular.js and AppML.
WEEK  Systems Requirements determination, analysis and design.
7  Work with specialists in other fields such as the business / accounting and
agriculturalists / scientists to come up with necessary information to be used in
systems development.
WEEK  Systems development and testing
8 -10  Launching developed systems to run online via the World Wide Web, use of
FTP tools.
Details of levels of accomplishment of these duties are discussed in chapter three section 3.1,
‘Level of accomplishment of duties and responsibilities assigned’.
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2.3. Supervision levels and relationship with supervisor
2.3.1 Supervision levels
Section 2.3 of the Makerere University field attachment policy states that, “There will be two
distinct levels of supervision: site level day-to-day supervision by the field supervisor and the
visiting academic supervisor from the University. During the visit, the academic supervisor will
interact with the student on field attachment, field supervisor /other relevant officials and also visit
the attachment sites to acquaint himself/herself with the activities of the student.” (Makerere
University Council, 2011, p. 8).
The intern fully underwent both levels of supervision. The onsite field supervisor was a person
with relevant practical experience, showed willingness to have regular contact with the intern, was
willing to engage in a learning experience and exhibited great ethical and professional conduct.
The Academic supervisor communicated to the student about the supervision schedule early
enough and the so the student was given enough time to prepare for supervision. When the
Academic Supervisor came, she interacted with the student concerning his progress with the field
attachment. She also met the company administrative supervisor and they evaluated the intern’s
performance.
2.3.2. Relationship with supervisor
The relationship with the field supervisor was generally based on the following:
Getting the job done—independently. The field supervisor gave the intern clear direction and
expectations. The intern’s responsibility was to carry out assigned tasks, without a lot of direct
management. Although there was time and opportunities for learning and processing ideas, the
supervisor expected outcomes.
Giving Communication and Feedback. The intern always freely talked to his field supervisor.
He could express his needs, challenges, and intentions. On a regular basis he used to write out
what he was doing and any difficulties encountered in the work book, and later he gave it to his
field supervisor for evaluation and advice.
Being a good time manager. On a daily basis the intern had to ensure that he is at office by
8:00am ready for work. There was an arrival book at the reception where staff recorded arrival
time details, which were later entered into a tracking system for review by the field supervisor.
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The field supervisor usually gave time-bound tasks and the intern had to ensure that he beats the
deadlines.
Being sensitive to the supervisor’s schedule. At times the field supervisor got a very busy
schedule and so the onus was on the intern to initiate tasks, show enthusiasm and seek input. He
had to give his field supervisor time to work according to his schedule, and also believe in the
supervisor’s judgment.
Trust, support, and understanding. The field supervisor showed the intern great levels of
understanding while working at IT Plus. At times, company property was left under his care. Even
times when the intern was going astray, he was given the necessary support to get back on track.
2.4. Working team and its composition
The working team was composed of eight members holding positions as shown in table 2.2.
Table 2.2: Working team composition
# Position Number of Team Members

1. Managing Director 1
2. Technical Director 1
3. Administrator 1
4. Finance and Accounts Assistant 1
5 Web Systems Developer (Python and Linux systems) 2
6. Web Systems Developer (Data Visualizations) 2
TOTAL 8
2.5. Working relationship among team members / other staff

In one of the first staff meetings, the technical director presented an animation video on the screen
showing a story of the rabbit and the turtle. This story was about the importance of a TEAM at
work. After this, the interns exhibited high levels of team work and frequently worked on the same
projects, each person working on a smaller module which would then be merged with modules
done by other staff to make the whole complete system in the end. Dropbox technology was used
by the intern to share files with other staff members.
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The intern was working full day and this gave him an opportunity to interact with other staff for
longer periods, especially during tea and lunch breaks. Because of this close work relationship, the
intern was approached a number of times to help the other staff such as the accountant and the
administrator when they had hardware, software, or internet connectivity problems.
The IT Plus family was so hospitable, staff members were so concerned about each other, in that
when one delayed to report to office, others were quick to call on phone to inquire whether there
was something wrong.
2.6. Authority levels to the student

Although the intern was just a student on internship, staff at IT Plus treated him more like a junior
colleague at the work place. He was permitted an equitable level of Authority.
On a number of projects, he was left to make decisions on behalf of the company, especially when
it came to making preferences for designs of graphics such as logos that were deployed on
company websites. Also, he was at times given custody of office keys and left in the office with
all assets under his care, and on occasions he was the one who closed the office at the end of the
day.
Among the students on field attachment, he was given the role of chairperson, in charge of
scheduling, organizing and leading discussions (See appendix 2 highlight 5). After some time,
some of the students nicknamed him ‘instructor’, because of this role.
However, even with that level of authority, he was cautioned by his field supervisor to always
ensure that he communicates in time and asks for approval before making decisions, especially
those that could affect other workmates at the office.
13
CHAPTER THREE
3.0. EVALUATION ON FIELD ATTACHMENT
3.1. Level of accomplishment of duties and responsibilities assigned

To a high level (over 80%), the intern successfully accomplished the duties and responsibilities
which were assigned, listed in section 2.2.
Note that the intern did not accomplish all the duties and responsibilities due to a number of
challenges, some of which are discussed in Section 3.5 of this chapter. Appendix 3 shows a daily
record of duties, responsibilities and work accomplished throughout the internship period.
When you compare the internship schedule flyer in appendix 1 (b), with the duties accomplished
in appendix 3, you realize that some of the tracks earlier assigned were not accomplished, but at
least the intern was introduced to 83.3% (10 out of the 12 tracks, assigned to group 2). The next
section 3.2, presents a summary of new knowledge and skills gained in each of the duties and
responsibilities undertaken.
3.2. New knowledge and skills gained in each of the duties and responsibilities
The intern accumulated a lot of knowledge and skills during the field attachment. Each of the
duties and responsibilities as listed in section 2.2 empowered and greatly impacted on his career.
Presented below is a summary of the key new skills and knowledge gained.
Website Development and Publishing. At the beginning of the field attachment, the intern only
knew some basic HTML, CSS and PHP. New skills and knowledge acquired included:
 Using Bootstrap to create responsive websites,
 SVG to create scalable vector graphics,
 New knowledge about the DOM and skills on how to manipulate it,
 Using D3.js to create data driven visualizations,
 Using jQuery to write less and do more JavaScript programing web functionalities.
 Skills of how to easily embed Google maps in a website.
 How to use the PHPMailer class and how to suppress PHP errors using the
error_reporting(E_ALL ^ E_DEPRECATED); statement.
Some of the work the student did was uploaded online at the addresses www.mukalele.net,
www.mukalele.net/abrail, www.mukalele.net/D3, and www.rmukalele.bitmakjinja.com.
Some screenshots are shown in appendix 2.
14
Web Programming with Python. At the beginning of the field attachment, the student hardly
had any idea about python programming.
 He learnt how to install python and python libraries like ipython, matplotlib, numpy,
pandas using the pip installer.
 He acquired python programming skills and knowledge about its strict indentation syntax
by using ipython notebook to run code.
 He learnt about the Django python framework, how to set it up both on Windows and
Linux environment, and he created his first app. After starting a project, and successfully
doing the setup, the first Django powered page was displayed as shown in figure 3.1.
Figure 3-1: The first post install Django-powered page displaying at localhost port 8000
System Analysis and Design. At the beginning of the field attachment, the student only had
theoretical knowledge about the system analysis and design process. The student:
 Learnt how to generate requirements of a real system and how to write a requirements
specification document (RSD) for a system to be developed.
 Got fact-finding skills through on-site observation, interview and focused group
discussion methods.
 Got practical skills on the SDLC, how to design ERDs and how to map the ERDs to
actual Database tables with attributes, primary keys and foreign keys. This was mainly
during the design of the system for Piggery Uganda.
 Also learnt how to use Microsoft Visio to create standard system diagrams, such as the
one shown in appendix 2.
15
Software installations and configurations. At the beginning of the field attachment, the student
generally had software installation skills in a GUI-based windows environment. The student:
 Had access to high speed Vodafone 4G internet, which was used to download and install
up-to-date versions of all required necessary software for web development.
 Learnt how to install Linux alongside windows on PCs with the restricted UEFI secure
boot as shown in figure 3.2.
Figure 3-2: Screenshot taken during the installation of Linux Mint to dual boot alongside Windows 7 operating
system.
 Acquired skills of how to install

and configure software applications
via CLI-based terminals in Linux.
 The student also learnt how to
upgrade windows 8.1 to the newly
released windows 10 operating
system as shown in figure 3.3.
Computer Hardware Troubleshooting.

During the internship period, the intern
worked on various computer hardware
tasks. News skills and knowledge acquired
include:
 Learnt how to solve the problem of
blue screen of death resulting from Figure 3-3: Photo taken when the student was upgrading
NMI Errors caused by a laptop’s operating system to Windows 10, the latest
operating system from Microsoft.
malfunctioning adapter cards.
16
 Got more skills in troubleshooting laptops with startup problems caused by failed power
jacks.
 Also discovered how to do powdered toner refill in LaserJet HP printers as shown in
figure 3.4.
Figure 3-4: Left: The student dismantled a laptop that had hardware NMI errors and fixed it. Right: On 24th July
he did a toner refill of the office printer cartridge.
Marketing Web and ICT Services to prospective clients. The intern learnt how to do social
media marketing by embedding social media plugins into websites. He learnt how to plan,
organize and design marketing materials such as fliers before going to the field to meet potential
customers. Microsoft Office Publisher program and Adobe Creative Suite CS6 programs such as
Adobe Fireworks and Adobe Illustrator were used to design the graphics on the fliers.
3.3. Most interesting experiences.

During this Field Attachment period, the intern really enjoyed the experience of working at IT Plus
including the comfortable working atmosphere, the technical guidance on the latest web
technologies and the friendly relationship among the staff exhibited. Out of all these interesting
moments, four extremely interesting experiences are highlighted below.
3.3.1. Exhibition at the Mozilla Festival East Africa 2015
One of the very interesting experiences during this field attachment period was the Mozilla Festival
East Africa, an annual event that brings together 800+ creative individuals, thinkers, business
innovators, educators, students, animation designers and web makers from all over the world to
17
inspire each other, develop new ideas and build solutions that directly respond to the challenges in
Africa. The festival was graced and officially opened by the President of Uganda at Victoria
University Kampala, as shown in figure 3.5.
Figure 3-5: H.E. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (with hat) poses for a photo with the intern (circled) and other
innovation exhibitors at the Mozilla Festival, Friday 17th July, 2015.
3.3.2. Working on real-life projects such as the Abrail Honey website project
It was really a great experience to work on this project because of the great knowledge, skills and
insight about how to market a product, collect information and advertise the product to the public
through the web. Figure 3.6 shows the excitement the working team had when marketing the
product through a website advert.
18
Figure 3-6: The intern (extreme right) together with other team mates joyfully holding tins of Abrail Honey.
3.3.3. Field visits, interaction with people in the problem areas
During this field attachment, the student was not confined to one place doing office work alone.
He occasionally visited the field
and interacted with people in the
problem areas. Figure 3.7 shows
a photo taken during a trip to
Matugga, Wakiso District, on a
visit to the farm for Piggery
Uganda, for which a
computerized farm management
system was to be developed. See
more photos in appendix 4.
Figure 3-7: The intern (extreme left) with his team mates aboard a vehicle
during one of the field visits.
3.3.4. Weekly presentations aided by a wide screen and white board.
At IT Plus, it was not only about doing personal work. The interns were tasked to stand before
other staff members to discuss the work done, aided by a wide screen and a white board as shown
in figure 3.8. This was a very interesting experience because it aided the student to understand the
new technologies to a deeper level.
19
Figure 3-8: The intern (left) delivers a wide screen presentation and discusses on a whiteboard his progress with
D3.js visualisations as other team mates and the field supervisor (right) observe.
3.4. Relatedness of university’s taught programs to the field of work

The current curriculum for Bachelor of Information technology program by NCHE, Revised
December 2012, which Makerere University is using, is really spot-on. The curriculum was
designed with emphasis on having the student acquire the business, media, computing and
communication skills necessary for employment and career opportunities in today’s ICT industries
and business organizations (NCHE, 2012, p. 5).
Table 3.1 shows selected courses taught at the university as part of the BIT program curriculum,
and how the student used the knowledge acquired in those courses in the field of work.
Table 3.1: Relevance of selected university taught courses in field of work
UNIVERSITY HOW THE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS TAUGHT AT

PROGRAM COURSE UNIVERSITY WERE USED IN THE FIELD OF WORK.
BIS 1104 : Used effective speaking and listening skills that were taught at
Communication Skills university during communications, meetings and presentation
for IT sessions.
CSC 1100: Computer Used skills learnt in computer literacy such as Microsoft Word
Literacy and Excel to prepare professionally looking and standard
documents at work, including this report
BIS 1206: Systems The knowledge got in this course was very vital especially during
Analysis and Design the design of the system for Piggery Uganda.
BIS 1204: Data and Knowledge about databases, and ERDs was used during the session
Information for designing a database for Piggery Uganda. Check out the ERDs
Management I that we came up with in Appendix 2.
BIT 2111 : Web Systems The knowledge learnt in this course was the core of all the web
and Technologies I development work done at IT Plus, because without the background
knowledge on HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP, It would be very
hard to use the new web development technologies that the intern
was exposed to.
20
BIT 2208: Systems The skills got in this course helped the intern a lot, especially during
Administration tasks regarding Hardware and Software troubleshooting and
maintenance.
BIT 2201 Marketing in When developing flyers and going out to the field to market IT Plus
the IT Sector services, and when developing the website for Abrail Honey, the
intern utilized the concepts of marketing in order to target the
potential customers.
These are just a few selected courses showing how the taught university programs are indeed
relevant in the field of work. Even other courses not mentioned here, such as those in the field of
networking are relevant, only that the intern never undertook tasks in that field during this period.
3.5. Challenges faced and how managed

The field attachment period was too shot. The intern could at times work overtime extensions in
order to accomplish particular tasks, but still time was not enough to accomplish the Piggery
Uganda system development as earlier planned.
Allocation of academic supervisors was done late. University policies state that each site/student
has to be visited at least three times by the academic supervisors (Makerere University Council,
2011, p. 8) but most students were visited only once, after 8 weeks in the field! This was generally
a weakness on the side of the university.
Technically, there were challenges of incompatibility of software for running the new web
development technologies like the python pandas library with windows 8 operating system. During
installation, the operating system could return an error as displayed in figure 3.9.
21
Figure 3-9: Technical challenge of installing python pandas library in windows 8, due to mt.exe failure and
absence of .NET Framework 3.5 in windows 8.
On Thursday 2nd July, 2015, the intern removed windows 8 and installed windows 7 and then
used the procedures compiled in appendix 5 to install python, its libraries and Django successfully.
Apart from the above and other minor challenges such as limited finances to cater for lunch for
the student, the field attachment went on smoothly.
3.6. Benefits derived from field attachment

The intern benefitted a lot from his field Attachment at IT Plus. Some of the benefits are outlined
below:
 Acquired new knowledge and practical experiences especially in the field of web
development technologies.
 Got improved confidence in troubleshooting and problem solving, in terms of debugging
JavaScripts and fixing common hardware errors.
 Gained exposure to the demands and challenges of the work place, for example when
working on the ABRAIL honey website which required him to learn new technologies within
a short time before applying them during development.
 Got opportunities to meet and work with potential employers such as the managing director
of IT Plus and Piggery Uganda.
22
3.7. Adequacy in university’s preparation of students for field attachment
The University prepared the students well before field attachment. The students were given enough
time to look out for any organization of their choice, which avoided cases of being posted in areas
where they wouldn’t be comfortable. Also the students were briefed and advised about how to
conduct themselves while in the field.
However there was a delay on the side of the university when it came to supervisor allocation.
This delay kept the students uncertain and unaware of the supervision schedule.
3.8. Preparedness of the agency to receive and manage students for field attachment
IT Plus Solutions Limited was very prepared to receive and manage students for field attachment.
There was enough room and the necessary facilities were all provided, including full time high
speed internet powered by Vodafone. This enabled the students to do enough research and carry
on their work without any limitations.
Occasionally, resourceful persons and experts in particular fields were invited to IT Plus to answer
any queries and also give tips and share experiences with the students. This greatly inspired the
interns.
23
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
4.1. Conclusion
Makerere University sends out students for field attachment with the main objective of enabling
the students to get hands-on real life experiences in environments they are expected to work in
when they graduate. IT Plus Solutions Limited, Kampala was well prepared to take on the student
for field attachment in the position of a web systems developer.
The student was exposed to new technologies in web development, including CSS, bootstrap,
JavaScript, jQuery, D3.js and python Django. He used these technologies to work on projects such
as the Abrail Honey website and the Piggery Uganda farm management system. Other activities
the student engaged in included hardware and software configurations and marketing of the
company’s products to potential customers.
Summarized below were the general strengths and weaknesses noted during the field attachment.
Strengths: The student had a wide range of computer skills, and possessed knowledge about most
computer related tasks. The field attachment helped the student to apply the knowledge taught at
university to the field of work by working on real life projects such as the Abrail Honey and
Piggery Uganda projects. The field supervisors were very helpful and offered great guidance. This
helped the student to learn a lot of new knowledge and skills as indicated throughout this report.
Weaknesses: The student had little awareness about office etiquette, especially times when he
could get over excited after solving a challenge of accomplishing a particular task. By shouting in
excitement, he could disrupt other staff in the office, but he was cautioned about the habit and he
stopped it. On the side of the university, there was a weakness of late academic supervisor
allocation that in turn delayed the supervision schedules. The internship period was quite small,
cutting short the great experiences at their climax. Because of this, some project work was not
completed during the field attachment period.
24
4.2. Recommendations
The following are the intern’s recommendations for improvement of field attachment.
4.2.1. Recommendation for future interns

As student, a good supervisory relationship is pivotal to successful completion of your degree. If
the relationship is not solid or turns sour, there can be serious consequences. A good supervisor
provides expert guidance in your research. The support of a good supervisor after graduation can
also provide you with good connections and references to bootstrap your career. Read more about
supervisory relationships in the reference cited here: (How to Make the Most out of Your
Supervisory Relationship: Advice from Supervisors & Graduate Students, 2010).
Also get into the habit of documenting whatever task you do on a daily basis. The records made
are not only important and useful when writing your final report, but also very important as a
reference in future when faced with similar tasks.
4.2.2. Recommendation for the field attachment organization
The recommendation for IT Plus is that in future, the organization should not dwell a lot on the
basic technologies like HTML in the first weeks, since the interns are expected to have knowledge
about these basics. Instead, a simple review of those technologies is enough and then deadline-
based tasks focusing more on delivering outputs showcasing competences in advanced
technologies, would be a better time saving strategy.
4.2.3. Recommendations for the University

The university should not wait until the end of the semester before allocating students to their
supervisors. All planning should be done early enough so that the students can get the contacts of
their supervisors even before going to the field. If this is done, it will solve the challenge of late
supervision that was experienced.
This course, BIT 2302: Field Attachment, should be shifted to the third year of study, such that it
is given more time, at least six months. Many studies have concluded that two months internships
are too small (Mihail, 2006). Shifting the field attachment to the final year will further increase the
chances for interns to be retained by the employers, and just continue with their jobs officially
upon graduation. Many of the interns were offered places at their internship companies, but since
they were still in second year and they had to go back to the University for third year to complete
the degree program, their opportunities of being retained were forfeited.
25
REFERENCES
Fall, P. L., & Zhang, Y. (2012). Staff recruitment in United Nations system organizations: a
comparative analysis and benchmarking framework: Gender balance and geographical
distribution. Retrieved August 3, 2015, from UN Joint Inspection Unit Website:
https://www.unjiu.org/en/reports-
notes/JIU%20Products/JIU_NOTE_2012_3_English.pdf
Hosting plans. (2014). Retrieved August 07, 2015, from Center for Web Presence itplus website:
http://center4webpresence.com/hosting.php
How to Make the Most out of Your Supervisory Relationship: Advice from Supervisors & Graduate
Students. (2010). Retrieved August 11, 2015, from Queen's University Website:
http://www.queensu.ca/hcds/documents/STUDENT%20booklet%20Supervisory%20Rels
hips.pdf
Itplus | About Us. (2015). Retrieved Aug 07, 2015, from itplus Website:
http://itplusuganda.com/testimonies.php
Itplus | Testimonies. (2015). Retrieved August 07, 2015, from itplus Website:
http://itplusuganda.com/testimonies.php
Makerere University Council. (2011). Guidelines For Field Attachment. Retrieved 03 2015,
August, from Makerere University Policies Website:
http://policies.mak.ac.ug/sites/default/files/policies/GUIDELINES_FOR_FIELD_ATTA
CHMENT.pdf
Mihail, D. (2006). Internship at Greek Universities: An exploratory study. Journal of Workplace
Learning.
Mpairwe, D., & Bukaliya, R. (2012, January). The potential benefits and challenges of internship
programmes in an ODL institution: a case for the Zimbabwe Open University, in
International Journal on New Trends in Education and Their Implications. International
Journal on New Trends in Education and Their Implications, Article 13, 3(1), 1. Retrieved
August 03, 2015, from http://www.ijonte.org/fileupload/ks63207/File/13.bukaliya.pdf
NCHE. (2012, December). Curriculum For Bachelor Of Information Technology (BIT) Degree
Program. Retrieved August 14, 2015, from BIT MAK Jinja Website:
http://bitmakjinja.com/Downloads/bitcurriculum.pdf
Needle, D. (2004). Business in Context: An Introduction to Business and Its Environment. ISBN
978-1861529923.
Wikipedia Contributors. (2015, July 15). Organizational culture. Retrieved August 03, 2015, from
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?Title=Organizational_culture&oldid=671552858
Wikipedia Contributors. (2015, August 13). VLC media player. Retrieved from Wikipedia, The
Free Encyclopedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?Title=VLC_media_player&oldid=675884760
26
APPENDICES
Appendix 1 (a): IT Plus internship offer letter
27
Appendix 1 (b): IT Plus flyer with internship schedule
28
Appendix 2: Screenshots of some internship projects done at IT Plus
Screenshot 1: Home page of ABRAIL HONEY WEBSITE
Developed using Bootstrap, jQuery, HTML, CSS and JavaScript to make it fully
responsive. Integrated social media plugins and svgs. Uploaded for online access
at www.mukalele.net/abrail.

Final Logo Design
Made in SVG, PNG
and PDF formats
using Adobe
Illustrator
29
Screenshot 2: Some of the Data Driven SVG graphics created using D3.js
Using the D3.js library, the student was able to generate a number of
visualizations, screen clips of which are show below. You can also visit
www.mukalele.net/D3 to see them live in your browser.
30
Screenshot 3: Entity Relationship Diagram for Piggery Uganda
After brainstorming about the entities and relationships of the Piggery Uganda
System, the intern used Microsoft Visio to draw the diagram below.
31
Appendix 3: Daily activities done as recorded in student weekly workbook
Detailed Record of work accomplished: The table below contains the records of daily and weekly
activities done during the field attachment. It is referred to in a number of other sections of this report.
Date Activities and time taken on each activity
Thur 4th 8-10am: First day at work, reported at 8:41am. Did registration and got introduced to
June, work environment.
2015 11-1pm: Interacted and discussed with workmates regarding their work progress.
2-5pm: Downloaded necessary software for a web development environment (Sublime
text, Adobe Dreamweaver, browsers and Wamp server).
Friday 8-10am: Had a review of JavaScript technologies of web development: linking external
5th June .js files to a webpage.
2015 11-1pm: Used functions like getElementById() and worked with Javascript objects.
2-5pm: Had a meeting with our field supervisor who explained to us the work plan and
projects to be undertaken during the internship period.
Mon 8th 8-10am: Had a briefing by field supervisor about use of Bootstrap in responsive web
June, development.
2015 11-1pm: Installed Bootstrap and practiced linking it / deploying it to a website
2-5pm: Had a discussion with members about the Bootstrap grid system and classes
Tue 9th NATIONAL PUBLIC HOLIDAY (HERO’s DAY).

June Stayed at home, never reported for duty.
2015
Wed 10th 8-10am: Helped workmates to download, install and setup their computers ready to run
June, ipython notebooks in a browser
2015 11-1pm: Installed Visual Studio C++ for python and Dot Net Framework 2-3.5 for
windows 8.
2-5pm: Installed python libraries: matplotlib, numpy, and pandas with difficulties,
discovered anaconda.
Thur 11th 8-10am: Introduced dropbox collaboration to workmates, helped them install and setup
June a shared folder online.
2015 11-1pm: Showed members how to use web based bulk sms services.
2-5pm: Used Lynda.com tutorials to learn more about Bootstrap column Nesting
Fri 12th 8-10am: Had challenges with wamp server local host, uninstalled and installed an older
June, version.
2015 11-1pm: Changed the wamp server port number in the configuration file and enabled
LAN access to local host by putting it online.
2-5pm: Took photos for use on ABRAIL HONEY WEBSITE, and started working on
its design.
Mon 15th 8-10am: Researched about how to embed google maps in a website, discovered
June, www.mapembed.com and used it on the Contact page of Abrail Honey
2015 Website.
11-1pm: Continued working on the Abrail Honey Website, added a photo slide show on
the home page.
2-5pm: Had a presentation session, in which I showcased my progress so far to the
company supervisor.
8-10am: Started with a discussion with workmates concerning how to design a website
proposal, and a website structure.
32
Tue 16th 11-1pm: Downloaded and Installed WordPress, a php dynamic website creating content
June management system.
2015 2-5pm: Used wordpress to develop a website for Premier Academy Massajja Senior
Secondary School.
Wed 17th Requested for a day off and I was granted by the Technical Director.
June, Visited St. Mark College - Namagoma, where I was the lead facilitator in a computer
2015 studies seminar for candidates at the school. I also marketed and sold
Computer Textbooks to the school.
Thur 18th 8-10am: Had a briefing about advanced features of XHTML and the bootstrap backend
June dashboard and data tables.
2015 11-1pm: Downloaded and read the ‘Google search optimization’ PDF book as
recommended by our supervisor.
2-5pm: Discussed the recommended search optimization concepts and practices with
colleagues at work.
Fri 19th 8-10am: Used data tables of bootstrap to create the website at intern.bitmakjinja.com,
June, with searchable details of all BIT MAK JINJA students doing internship.
2015 11-1pm: Started doing exercises in the PDF book, “Learn Python the hard way”.
2-5pm: Practiced using Win PowerShell to run python scripts and set environment
variables using commands.
Mon 22nd 8-10am: Helped colleagues to install Adobe Suite CS6 Master Collection and activated
June, it.
2015 11-1pm: Used Adobe Fireworks to edit and crop photos to specific dimensions, did
troubleshooting of wamp server and changed port numbers in the configuration
file.
2-5pm: Discovered icoconvert.com website and used it to for converting a .jpg logo to
.ico format before using it as a favicon.
Tue 23rd 8-10am: Studied Javascript event handling techniques including onMouseOver,
June onClick, onMouseOut, and created rollovers using JavaScript and CSS.
2015 11-1pm: Studied cookie technology and used it to create and read cookies using
JavaScript.
2-5pm: Studied the DOM of webpages and modified DOM elements / objects using
JavaScript.
Wed 24th 8-10am: Configured ipython notebook and started using it to run python exercises.
June, 11-1pm: Used disk genius utility to recover data from a formatted flash disk.
2015 2-5pm: Discussed with colleagues how to typeset an internship / FA report having an
automated table of contents using Microsoft Office Word.
Thur 25th 8-10am: Took time updating my weekly workbook with records of work accomplished.
June 11-1pm: Had a briefing by our supervisor about JSON and CSV data handing.
2015
2-5pm: Tried installing pandas python library in vain, Windows 8 kept displaying errors
that DotNetFramework was missing even after installing it. Helped office
accountant create receipts using Ms. Publisher.
Fri 26th 8-10am:Upgraded my Operating System to Windows 8.1 to as a way of solving the
June, pandas installation errors. Collected webpages developed by colleagues to be
2015 merged into one website for Abrail Honey, Researched on how to use html
includes with javascript.
11-1pm: Implemented a photo gallery for the Abrail Honey website using Bootstrap and
jQuery.
33
2-5pm: Helped colleague create and embed social media plugins and also helped provide
tally accounting software together with its activator for installation on office
computer
Mon 29th 8-10am: Did setup and installed D3.js JavaScript library and created a document
June, structure.
2015 11-1pm: Used D3.js selector method to make DOM element selections plus data
binding.
2-5pm: Worked with SVG graphics and created a simple bar chart with SVGs.
Tue 30th 8-10am: Studied the concepts of scales in the D3.js library, and implemented
June quantitative and qualitative scales.
2015 11-1pm: Did practice on event handling actions in D3.js
2-5pm: Applied transitions, animations, and tool tips on an SVG triggered by events like
onmouseover.
Wed 1st 8-10am: Did data handling, including grouping and sorting data using D3.js methods.
July, 11-1pm: Added horizontal and vertical axes to chart using D3.js axes methods.
2015 2-5pm: Implemented and used external data sources for creating D3.js objects and
graphics.
Thur 2nd 8-10am: Did hard disk partitioning using minitool Partition Wizard v7.6 and created an
July ext4 and a swap linux partition
2015 11-1pm: Installed fresh windows 7 operating system to solve the issue of Windows 8
errors during python numpy and pandas library installations requiring
dotnetframework.
2-5pm: Installed linux mint alongside windows 7, configured and prepared its web
development environment.
Fri 3rd 8-10am: Helped colleague to setup his laptop to run linux mint alongside windows.
July, 11-1pm: Configured linux, added PPAs, installed apps using the sudo apt-get install
2015 terminal command.
2-5pm: Prepared and delivered a presentation to introduce other workmates to D3.js
library.
Mon 6th 8-10am: Designed and printed stickers with the logo for IT Plus solutions limited.
July, 11-1pm: Read about layouts in D3.js and implemented a dashboard with a bar chart and
2015 a pie layout.
2-5pm: Re designed the logo for Abrail Honey as instructed by the managing director.
Tue 7th 8-10am: Did troubleshooting of the office UPS unit that was not functioning properly.
July 11-1pm: Used github network and implemented D3.js gallery projects; the digital clock
2015 and Gantt chart.
2-5pm: Worked on a task of installing PC drivers to a client’s laptop, also attended a
presentation by a colleague about python django.
Wed 8th 8-10am: Created a website using bootstrap and launched it live online at a new personal
July, domain “mukalele.net”.
2015 11-1pm: Downloaded new BIOS firmware for laptop and updated the BIOS using MS-
DOS startup disk.
2-5pm: Created an automated system for analyzing attendance using Microsoft office
excel.
Thur 9th 8-10am: Entered data into Excel system and explained the system to administrative staff.
July 11-1pm: Compiled chapter one of my F.A report and did formal formatting using Ms.
2015 Word 2013.
2-5pm: Started working with, jQuery javascript library in details. Looked at how to do
selections using jQuery.
34
Fri 10th 8-10am: Solved a big challenge of installing Linux alongside windows on a UEFI
July, system, and installed UBUNTU 15.
2015 11-1pm: Went to several companies including MICTS, Sheraton Hotel Kampala, and
Stanbic Bank – Crested towers Kampala to coordinate colleagues regarding
internship meeting and program.
2-5pm: Did more practice jQuery selector activities using and updated my workbook.
Mon 13th 8-10am: Studied jQuery filters and used them to add auto pdf icons to all PDF links.
July,
2015 11-1pm: Used jQuery functions to manipulate page DOM and also generated an
automatic page table of contents.
2-5pm: Accomplished a task of generating and recording MAC address of all PCs at
office using ipconfig /all command.
Tue 14th 8-10am: Used jQuery event functions to create a stripped table which highlights rows
July by toggling css classes.
2015 11-1pm: Used jQuery animation and effects functions to create a simple smooth
slideshow with rotating photos.
2-5pm: Downloaded information about field attachment guidelines from Makerere
University Policies website, policies.mak.ac.ug and updated my report.
Wed 15th 8-10am: Implemented the jQuery accordion and photo selector features on the
July, groundwell website.
2015 11-1pm: Used bootstrap to make images responsively autosize depending on browser
size.
2-5pm: Created a bubble chart, collision chart and collision visualization using D3.js.
Thur 16th 8-10am: On my new windows 7 operating system, I installed and setup python pip,
July ipython, matplotlib, numpy, pandas and django, without previous errors.
2015 11-1pm: Created my first ‘mysite’ app, powered by django and it displayed the first ‘It
Worked!’ page. I later modified it to display the current server date and time.
2-5pm: I installed more python libraries: xlwt, openpyxl, xlsxwriter, xlrd, and used
pandas with xlsx writer to generate the ‘pandas_simple.xlsx’ file.
Fri 17th (EID DAY) – Attended the 2nd Annual Mozilla Festival East Africa, at Victoria
July, University, Kampala. Was part of the mapping Uganda team who exhibited
2015 to the President of Uganda. Learnt about the ‘outernet’ (outernet.is),
humanity’s free public library.
Mon 20th 8-10am: Was given a large 11MB spreadsheet with data to visualize for Umeme.
July, Microsoft Excel was hanging and failing to navigate through the large
2015 spreadsheet, so I downloaded and installed OpenOffice.
11-1pm: Used xlrd python library to import data from the spreadsheet into a mysql
database table.
2-5pm: Had errors connecting to database using depreciated mysql_connect_db
command, suppressed the errors using the error_reporting(E_ALL ^
E_DEPRECATED); statement.
Tue 21th 8-10am: Generated JSON data using mysql and php, and used it as a data source for
July D3.js visualizations.
2015 11-1pm: Created a repository on github and also created an account on bl.ocks.org, and
installed github software for windows.
2-5pm: (HARDWARE WORK) Attended to a client who had a freezing computer with
occasional blue screen of appearance. Did troubleshooting Opened laptop and
found NMI Errors caused by failing adapter cards in the system.
35
Wed 22nd 8-10am: Installed JSON editor add-on for chrome and used it to edit JSON data for a
July, collapsible table with hierarchies.
2015 11-1pm: Used D3.js to create the collapsible table with information concerning the
finishing school data.
2-5pm Added a popup feature that displays an information box on hover and on click it
stays visible.
Thur 23rd 8-10am: Researched on how to send professional template-based emails using Microsoft
July Outlook, discovered Gmail canned responses.
2015 11-1pm: Had a briefing about the use of flags and AJAX when dealing with databases.
2-5pm: Helped accountant design pay slip using Microsoft Publisher.
th
Fri 24 8-10am: Did toner refill in office printer cartridge.
July, 11-1pm: Had a lecture by a resource person, a professional in word press website
2015 development, learnt more about using professional themes.
2-5pm: Had another lecture by our supervisor about the SDLC and later did requirements
analysis for the piggery Uganda system.
Mon 27th 8-10am: Installed Adobe Illustrator on Windows 7 and used it to design a logo for
July, piggery Uganda.
2015 11-1pm: Made a presentation in preparation for m academic supervisor, containing a
report on my progress.
2-5pm: Continued preparations for tomorrow’s supervision by reviewing work done in
earlier weeks.
Tue 28th 8-10am: Received Information Technology books and magazines at office, organized
July them categorically in office bookshelf: Networking books together, database
2015 books together, Linux books together, and so on.
11-1pm: Received my academic supervisor from the university, held a session with her
and showcased my progress, aided by the wide screen.
2-5pm: Received a request from a client with problems in submitting data to MySQL
database via forms, helped debug his code and it worked!
Wed 29th 8-10am: Presented the Piggery Uganda logo designs I had made, supervisor requested
July, me to make adjustments.
2015 11-1pm: Had a meeting with other staff about the requirements of Piggery Uganda
system ahead of a field visit to the farm.
2-5pm: Researched about how to write a System Requirements Specification document
and prepared version 1.0 for Piggery Uganda system.
Thur 30th 8-10am: Upgraded a laptop at the workplace to the newly released windows 10 operating
July system and tried out its great features, like the multiple desktops and Microsoft
2015 Cortana the new digital assistant.
11-1pm: Using Microsoft Word tab features and the internet, I helped prepare an official
document to the academic registrar requesting for a re-advert of MUJC
programs with their listing.
2-5pm: Went with IT Plus staff to Matugga – Wakiso District for a filed visit to Piggery
Uganda Farm, with the objective of fact finding in order to further refine the
requirements of the farm management system we are developing.
Fri 31st 8-10am: Was given a small netbook by IT Plus administrator that had malfunctioned. I
July, backed it up and re installed fresh windows 7 operating system via a bootable
2015 USB flash drive.
36
11-1pm: Installed drivers and applications like VLC media player, browsers and
Microsoft Office 2007 Suite to the netbook, restored backed up data and it was
once again ready for work!
2-5pm: Had a meeting at office in which our supervisor gave us assignments for next
week. I was given the task of making a flyer designed for marketing IT Plus
products and services.
Mon 3rd 8-10am: Received a client with a laptop which could not start up. On opening its casing,
Aug, I discovered a faulty power jack that needed replacement.
2015 11-1pm: Searched the internet for flyer designs, downloaded one design and customized
it using Microsoft Publisher and later Adobe Fireworks.
2-5pm: Chaired the ‘End of Field Attachment’ meeting for Kampala Region field
attachment BIT students, shared widely on how to create automatic Tables of
contents, List of Figures and tables using Microsoft Word.
Tue 4th 8-10am: Installed Android Studio, updated it and all its tools, set up a sample bluetooth
Aug chat app, configured an AVD and used it as an app emulator.
2015 11-1pm: Helped colleague with content for inclusion in his presentation about the use
of websites in schools.
2-5pm: Had a session with a resource person who visited the company as an expert in
IMO piggery management, got content for inclusion on piggery Uganda web
system.
Wed 5th 8-10am: Used github to fork and clone code for the PHPMailer class and studied its
Aug, documentation.
2015 11-1pm: Using the PHPMailer class, I implemented a ‘Coming Soon’ page at
http://rmukalele.bitmakjinja.com, with a subscription form that automatically
sends automatic confirmation email to subscribed website visitors.
2-5pm: Presented the flyer I had designed to supervisor, who gave input and we agreed
on the final design. See Appendix 2 for some logos I designed.
Thur 6th 8-10am: Discussed with colleagues the profile of IT Plus, our organization of field
Aug, attachment, including its structure, gender distribution and culture.
2015 11-1pm: Identified website content suitable for primary schools and made a checklist
for reference.
2-5pm: Attended a presentation involving all web developers about school websites,
their design, importance and content.
Fri 7th 8-10am: Uploaded some of my internship projects and websites to my mukalele.net
Aug, webserver for online access.
2015 11-1pm: Worked on report appendices, added photos and project screenshots.
2-5pm: Had a brain storming session about the ERD of Piggery Uganda system,
Identified Entities and their relationships basing on the requirements.
Mon 10th 8-10am: Worked on chapter 2 of my F. A report, documenting my experiences.
July, 11-1pm: Sent over 500 bulk sms messages for a client having wedding meetings
2015 2-5pm: Helped colleague import spreadsheet data to MySQL database using ipython
notebook.
Tue 11th 8-10am: Worked on Chapter 3 of my F. A report, documenting the evaluation.
Aug 11-1pm: Used Microsoft Word 2013 to manage reference sources and generate an
2015 automatic list of references.
2-5pm: Trained colleagues on how to use advanced document preparation features of
Microsoft Word, like section management and varying numbering
8-10am: Backed up Data from PC to DVD using Ashampoo Burning Studio, for a
colleague, also backed up internship work to drop box and just cloud services.
37
Wed 12th 11-1pm: Extracted photos taken at Piggery Uganda Farm from camera, and shared them
Aug, with other IT Plus staff.
2015 2-5pm: Had another brainstorming session with supervisor in which we mapped the
Piggery Uganda System ERD to database tables, chose primary keys and
foreign keys.
Thu 13th 8-10am: Installed and Used Microsoft Visio 2007 to draw the Piggery Uganda ERD
Aug electronically, clearly indicating the entities, attributes, and relationships using
2015 the diamond Notation. See its output in appendix 2.
11-1pm: Helped Office Accountant to organize data tables using King soft office on
Linux.
2-5pm: Worked on Chapter 4 (Conclusions and recommendations) of my F.A report.
Fri 14th 8-10am: Helped colleague on how to use the grouping feature of auto shapes in
Aug, documents, so that they can always stick together as a whole.
2015 11-1pm: Proof read my report for errors and omissions. Ran a spell checker using F7
function key in Microsoft Word.
2-5pm: Did more editing in before printing and binding my report.
Sat 15th FINAL DAY of Field Attachment / Internship period at IT Plus!
Aug, Reported to office at 8:40am, updated my logbook and this report to include
2015 all activities.
Organized and submitted my records into my office file for supervisor
examination. Signed out at 2:30pm.
38
Appendix 4: Gallery of the key highlights of the field attachment
Highlight 1: Photos taken during a visit to Piggery Uganda Farm in Wakiso District, where the intern
went to do on-site fact finding observation and to further refine the requirements of the Piggery Uganda
Farm Management system under development.
Highlight 2: Photo taken with other students on field attachment at the Mozilla Festival (Left) and
right the intern was listening to another intern at the roof top of one of the buildings of Stanbic
bank at crested towers, were the latter was placed to do field attachment, on Fri 10th July, 2015.
The intern visited several companies during this period of field attachment as a / field attachment
students leader.
39
Highlight 3: Group discussions. On many occasions, the intern and his working team had group
discussions, especially when it came to new technologies that had to be learned through internet
research. At times some students doing internship in nearby organizations could come to IT Plus
for consultation (right).
Highlight 4: Meetings. As a student leader at the University, the intern chaired a number of
coordination meetings at various venues during the period of field attachment.
40
Appendix 5: Procedures for installing python Django on windows
Python Django is commonly used and easily installed on Linux via simple commands. The steps
in this appendix have been tested with Windows 7 and they are the ones followed to have it
successfully after almost two weeks of trying to install it in vain.
Django is a Web development framework that saves time. Using Django, you one can build and
maintain high-quality Web applications with minimal fuss. Django lets you focus on the core of
your Web application — while easing the distress of the repetitive bits. In doing so, it provides
high-level abstractions of common Web development patterns, shortcuts for frequent
programming tasks, and clear conventions for how to solve problems.
Install Python
Django is a Python web framework, thus requiring Python to be installed on your machine.
To install Python on your machine go to https://python.org/download/, and download a Windows

MSI installer for Python. Once downloaded, run the MSI installer and follow the on-screen
instructions.
Setting Environment Variables
After installation, open the command prompt and check the Python version by executing python
--version. If you encounter a problem, make sure you have set the PATH variable correctly. You
might need to adjust your PATH environment variable to include paths to the Python executable
and additional scripts. If your Python is installed in C:\Python27\, the following paths need to be
added to PATH:
C:\Python34\;C:\Python27\Scripts;
NB: You can easily use the Windows Power Shell to add a path to System environment variables
instead of using GUI via Start>Control Panel>System>Advanced System Settings>Advanced
Tab>Environment Variables button>System Variables Section>Select ‘Path’>Edit Button> Go to
end of Paths> Add Termination (;)>Paste new path to be added >Click Ok.
For example, to add Python27\Scripts; path to your system environment variables just run the
following command:
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "$env:Path;D:\Python27\Scripts", "User")
As an administrator in windows power shell, that can be accessed via the start menu.
Install Setup tools
To install Python packages on your computer, Setuptools is needed. Download the latest version
of Setuptools for your Python version and follow the installation instructions given there.
41
Install PIP
PIP is a package manager for Python that uses the Python Package Index to install Python
packages. PIP will later be used to install Django from PyPI. If you’ve installed Python 3.4, pip
is included so you may skip this section.
Open a command prompt and execute easy_install pip. This will install pip on your system.
This command will work if you have successfully installed Setuptools.
Alternatively, go to http://www.pip-installer.org/en/latest/installing.html for installing/upgrading

instructions.
Install Django
Django can be installed easily using pip.
In the command prompt, execute the following command: pip install django. This will
download and install Django.
After the installation has completed, you can verify your Django installation by executing django-
admin --version in the command prompt.
Common pitfalls
 If django-admin only displays the help text no matter what arguments it is given, there is
probably a problem with the file association in Windows. Check if there is more than one
environment variable set for running Python scripts in PATH. This usually occurs when
there is more than one Python version installed.
 If you are connecting to the internet behind a proxy, there might be problem in running
the commands easy_install pip and pip install django. Set the environment
variables for proxy configuration in the command prompt as follows:
 set http_proxy=http://username:password@proxyserver:proxyport
 set https_proxy=https://username:password@proxyserver:proxyport
42

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MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SCIENCES (CoCIS)

(SCHOOL OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATICS TECHNOLOGY)

A field attachment report submitted to Makerere University – Jinja Campus, in

Rogers Mukalele: ……………..……………… …………………..

Komugisha Lilian: ……………..……………… …………………..

Martin Gordon Mubangizi: ……………..……………… …………………..

Signature ………………………………………………. Date …………………………..

CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................................ 9

CHAPTER THREE ...................................................................................................................... 14

Figure 1-1: Gender distribution at IT Plus Solutions Limited ........................................................ 4

AJAX Asynchronous JavaScript and XML

1.2. Background of the field attachment

1.2.1. Definition of Field Attachment

According to the adopted Makerere University Polices at policies.mak.ac.ug website, field

1.2.2. Intentions / purpose of field attachment

1.3. Objectives of IT Plus

To contribute to overall efficiency and effectiveness in the use of appropriate information

To become a market leader in the provision of IT solutions and services, through

To enhance the exploitation of the numerous capabilities that accrue to individual

1.4.1 Vision of IT Plus Solutions Limited

1.4.2 Organizational Core Values

The following are the core values of IT Plus Solutions limited.

1.5. Gender in the organization

Figure 1-1: Gender distribution at IT Plus Solutions Limited

1.6. The structure of the organization

Figure 1-2: Organizational structure for IT Plus Solutions Limited

1.7.1. Web design and hosting

Implementation of Information Technology (IT) in an organization is an investment, and like any

1.7.3. Graphic design

1.7.5. Application development

1.7.6. Activities and ongoing IT projects

Figure 1-4: Webpage at http://IT Plus uganda.com/testimonies.php. Retrieved on 7/08/2015.

1.7.6.2. Finishing school

Table 1.1: Schedule of the On-going finishing school program at IT Plus

Period Areas to be Explored Scope

2.1. Title or position occupied in the organization

2.2. Duties and responsibilities

Table 2.1: Work Plan for Internship at IT Plus.

2.3.2. Relationship with supervisor

2.4. Working team and its composition

Table 2.2: Working team composition

# Position Number of Team Members

2.5. Working relationship among team members / other staff

2.6. Authority levels to the student

3.1. Level of accomplishment of duties and responsibilities assigned

 Acquired skills of how to install

Computer Hardware Troubleshooting.

3.3. Most interesting experiences.

3.3.1. Exhibition at the Mozilla Festival East Africa 2015

3.3.3. Field visits, interaction with people in the problem areas

3.3.4. Weekly presentations aided by a wide screen and white board.

3.4. Relatedness of university’s taught programs to the field of work

Table 3.1: Relevance of selected university taught courses in field of work

UNIVERSITY HOW THE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS TAUGHT AT

3.5. Challenges faced and how managed

3.6. Benefits derived from field attachment

4.2.1. Recommendation for future interns

4.2.2. Recommendation for the field attachment organization

4.2.3. Recommendations for the University

Appendix 1 (a): IT Plus internship offer letter

Tue 9th NATIONAL PUBLIC HOLIDAY (HERO’s DAY).

To install Python on your machine go to https://python.org/download/, and download a Windows