Real Time Volume Tracking (RTVT) and Harmonised Maps Development Final Report

The central server makes the data available on the RATIN website as well as through SMS data query. The development of RTVT was undertaken concurrently with the harmonization of RATIN maps, which involved sorting and merging 742 warehouse locations from three sources into a single map of 710 locations. During the development of RTVT, 19 warehouses were selected for piloting, and 33 store operators were trained. Immediately after the training, data was received from most of the warehouses in Kenya and Uganda, but those in Tanzania did not send data due to grain unavailability in the warehouse. Further changes and improvements were made to the system based on the operators' feedback after the training, resulting in the merging of RTVT to RATIN. The RTVT system has several key features, including a dynamic map, RTVT trend chart, and RTVT summary product tables. The map has place-marks of existing RTVT warehouses, and clicking on any of the place-marks brings up a pop-up window with real-time volumes, warehouse contact information, and a link to the RTVT warehouse page. The RTVT trend chart is a line graph indicating the total volumes for each commodity in each of the EAC countries over a period of one month. The RTVT product table gives a snapshot of the RTVT system, with each product assigned to a tab with a list of five warehouses displayed based on the volume held and further sorted according to product grades. The warehouses on these tables can be sorted further in an ascending or descending manner by clicking on the table headers. The RTVT product page has a summary page and links to individual product charts and tables, which display real-time volumes of a given product over a duration of one month. The warehouse page has a chart of volume trend and a table of real-time volumes, as well as a description of a given storage facility. The RTVT storage facilities list page lists all the RTVT facilities, with table items that can be sorted according to their RTVT codes or storage capacities. The RTVT search page allows users to search for RTVT facilities according to their location, products stocked, and facility storage capacity in metric tons. The RTVT SMS system has been created based on the suggestions of the RTVT review meeting, with queries that include sending a SMS to query the top five warehouses with a given product volume, sending a SMS to query the top five warehouses with all product volumes combined, and sending a SMS with a storage facility code to get its contact details and prevailing volume. The harmonized map has been published in RATIN, with data derived from three sources: USAID Compete-Eastern Africa Corridors website, USAID Market Linkages Initiative website, and USAID MLI Warehouse Mapping and Study report on Malawi. The map has 710 place-marks, with storage facilities covering the following countries: Kenya (185), Uganda (73), Tanzania (81), Malawi (310), Rwanda (51), Burundi (7), and The Democratic Republic of Congo-DRC (1).