Frequently Asked Questions

User registration is open to verified personnel from designated Road Authorities (RDCs, Urban Councils, Department of Roads, RIDA) and internal ZINARA staff:

1. Navigate to the Registration Page (Register Here).
2. Enter your official government or institutional domain email address, full name, and secure password.
3. Select your assigned Road Authority or indicate internal ZINARA staff status.
4. Verify your email address via the confirmation link sent to your inbox.
5. Once verified, your account must be authorized and assigned appropriate operational roles by a System Administrator.

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) is mandatory for all roles with financial disbursement approval, payment certification, or workplan sign-off privileges to prevent unauthorized transactions.

Step-by-step 2FA Setup:

1. Download an authenticator app (e.g., Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, or Twilio Authy) on your mobile device.
2. Go to Account Security Settings.
3. Scan the displayed QR code using your authenticator application.
4. Enter the generated 6-digit verification code to confirm activation.
5. Safely store the provided backup recovery tokens in an offline, secure location.

The DMS enforces granular Geographic and Role-Based Scoping:

• Road Authority Users: You can only view and interact with data, workplans, and funding requests belonging strictly to your own Road Authority.
• Provincial Engineers / Technicians: You have operational visibility limited to Road Authorities and road projects located within your officially assigned Province.
• Regional Engineers: You have oversight across all provinces encompassed in your assigned Region.
• ZINARA Executive / Directors: National oversight across all provinces and authorities.

To update personal and official details:

1. Click your avatar icon on the top right navigation bar and select My Profile or visit My Account.
2. Click the Edit Profile button.
3. Update phone numbers, job designation, physical address, and upload a professional profile image.
4. For designated signatories, upload certified identity credentials if requested by compliance.

Disbursements are strictly transmitted to verified institutional accounts registered under the Road Authority's name:

1. Access the Road Authority Portal → Banking Details.
2. Provide the Bank Name, Branch Code, Account Name, Account Number, and designated Currency (ZiG or USD).
3. Upload an official Bank Confirmation Letter (stamped within the last 90 days) signed by the Chief Executive Officer / Town Clerk.
4. ZINARA Finance conducts verification against the Treasury register before approving the account for grant disbursements.

Every Road Authority is mandated under statutory guidelines to maintain current contact records for key officers:

• Accounting Officer: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or Town Clerk / Town Secretary.
• Technical Lead: Director of Engineering Services, District Engineer, or Director of Works.
• Financial Lead: Director of Finance, Chief Financial Officer, or Treasurer.
• Monitoring Lead: M&E Officer or Roads Engineer.

These contacts receive critical automated notifications, funding clearance letters, and quarterly allocation notifications.

Road Authorities must submit Quarterly Compliance Reports within 15 calendar days following the conclusion of each quarter (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4). These reports verify:

• Physical road maintenance output (kilometers graded, pothole patched, resealed).
• Grant utilization against approved budget line items.
• Equipment operational availability and fuel log reconciliations.

Historical records in SAP ERP, legacy workplan spreadsheets, and government gazettes often use differing spelling variations for the same council (e.g. "Bikita RDC" vs "Bikita Rural District Council" vs "Bikita Local Authority").

The DMS Aliases system links all known nomenclature variations to a single canonical Road Authority record, ensuring flawless automated mapping during Excel workplan uploads and SAP budget synchronization.

Follow these steps to submit your annual road workplan:

1. Navigate to Annual Workplan Dashboard.
2. Download the official Standard DMS Workplan Excel Template.
3. Populate all mandatory columns: Road Number, Road Name, Work Category (e.g., Routine Maintenance, Periodic, Regravelling), Scope (km), Budget Estimate, and Target Completion Quarter.
4. Do not modify worksheet column headers or data validation formulas.
5. Click Upload Workplan, select the completed spreadsheet, and run the automated validation check.
6. Review the pre-import preview and click Submit for Engineer Review.

A Gazetted Road is an officially recognized public road recorded in the National Road Inventory with statutory classification (Regional Trunk, Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, or Urban Arterial). Linking projects to gazetted road numbers ensures:

• Grants are only disbursed for eligible public infrastructure.
• Prevention of duplicate funding claims across multiple authorities on boundary corridors.
• Accurate geospatial tracking of national road condition indices (IRI / Visual Condition Indices).

As a general policy, all funded projects must originate from an Approved Annual Workplan. However, under special circumstances (e.g., Emergency Flood Disaster Relief or Presidential Directives), designated Engineers can initiate an Emergency Project via the Road Project Wizard.

Physical progress tracking ensures financial disbursements match on-the-ground deliverables:

1. The Road Authority Project Engineer captures weekly/monthly progress (% physical completion, chainage completed from km X to km Y).
2. Upload geotagged, high-resolution site photographs illustrating road formation, drainage, compaction, or surfacing layers.
3. The ZINARA Provincial Technician or Provincial Engineer conducts a physical site inspection.
4. The Engineer reviews laboratory test results (e.g. soil density, asphalt compaction, concrete crushing strength) and digitally signs the Engineer Physical Progress Verification on the portal.

The DMS features interactive quality gate checklists:

• IPC Checklist (Interim Payment Certificate): Verifies contractor measurements, measurement sheets, quality control certificates, and environmental compliance before payment processing.
• Acquittal Checklist: Validates physical project completion, as-built drawings, final handover certificates, and complete expenditure reconciliation before closing out grant tranches.

The Engineer M&E Dashboards provide real-time operational telemetry:

• Physical vs. Financial S-Curves (Planned vs. Actual progress tracking).
• Pending workplans requiring technical reviews.
• Site inspection schedules and weather delay logs.
• Aggregated network maintenance output (kilometers completed by work category across the province).

Every funding request progresses through a strict, tamper-proof 8-step state machine:

1. Draft: Road Authority creates grant claim and attaches project bills of quantities (BOQ).
2. Submitted: Authorized Accounting Officer formally signs and submits the claim.
3. Under Review: ZINARA Finance Clerk checks compliance documents, invoices, and bank details.
4. Controller Recommend: Financial Controller performs budgetary ceiling verification.
5. Manager Recommend: Finance Manager verifies allocation alignment.
6. Approved: Finance Director grants statutory disbursement authorization.
7. Paid: Finance Clerk records electronic fund transfer voucher and transaction reference.
8. Completed: Road Authority submits expenditure acquittal and receipts.

The DMS enforces strict real-time budgetary gates aligned with ZINARA's approved SAP Financial Ledgers. A request is blocked if:

• The requested amount exceeds the uncommitted balance of your annual road allocation.
• Previous disbursement tranches remain unacquitted past the statutory 60-day threshold.
• The selected Commitment Item (e.g. Routine Maintenance) has zero remaining funds, even if other budget heads have balances.

If an error, missing attachment, or calculation mismatch is detected during review:

• Returned for Correction: The reviewer adds specific rejection notes detailing the discrepancy. The status reverts to Draft, allowing the Road Authority to upload corrected invoices, rectify amounts, and resubmit without starting over.
• Formal Rejection: In cases of ineligible claims or severe policy violations, the request is marked Rejected and permanently closed with full audit reason logging.

To avoid review delays, ensure the following PDF attachments are uploaded:

1. Signed Official Request Letter on Road Authority Letterhead.
2. Priced Bill of Quantities (BOQ) / Engineer Cost Estimate.
3. Certified Interim Payment Certificate (IPC) or Contractor Invoices (for contracted works).
4. Fuel & Materials Requisition Schedule (for direct labor / in-house works).
5. Certified Site Progress Photographs from the supervising engineer.

ZINARA's central ERP SAP system is the single source of financial truth:

• Finance administrators trigger automated budget synchronization jobs or manual syncs via the SAP Sync Engine.
• The engine pulls updated Annual Budgets, Fund Centers, and Commitment Items.
• Unmapped budget codes are flagged in the Unmapped Budgets Resolver for instant manual alignment to target Road Authorities.

Invoices from contracted road construction firms must be entered into the Invoicing Engine:

1. Navigate to Invoices & Payments → New Invoice.
2. Select the registered Contractor (or add a new contractor with valid tax clearance / PRAZ credentials).
3. Enter the Invoice Number, Invoice Date, Total Amount, VAT Component, and link it to the relevant Road Project.
4. Upload the scanned Tax Invoice and certified measurement sheet.

Yes. The DMS Invoicing module supports multi-stage Installment Schedules:

• Finance Clerks can split an approved invoice into defined installments (e.g. Installment 1: 40% Mobilization, Installment 2: 40% Intermediate, Installment 3: 20% Retention).
• Each installment generates an independent, verifiable Payment Voucher with automated tracking of total outstanding invoice liabilities.

An Advance Acquittal is the formal reconciliation of grant funds received against actual certified expenditures incurred on road projects:

• Statutory Deadline: Road Authorities must fully acquit advanced grant tranches within 60 calendar days of fund receipt.
• Cost Breakdown: Expenditure must be categorized into standard cost buckets: Fuel & Oils, Plant & Equipment Hire, Labor & Casuals, and Materials (Bitumen, Cement, Gravel).
• Attach fiscalized tax receipts, bank statements showing disbursements, and delivery notes.

A Variation Request is mandatory whenever a road project encounters:

1. Cost Overruns: Unforeseen geotechnical conditions or material price escalations exceeding approved budgets.
2. Scope Changes: Additional drainage culverts, increased road width, or pavement redesign.
3. Time Extensions: Severe weather delays or equipment breakdowns extending the project beyond the fiscal year.

Variations require multi-level approval: Provincial Engineer verification → Regional Engineer review → Technical Director recommendation → Final Finance Director authorization.

The DMS incorporates an automated Due Diligence engine to uphold governance standards:

• Issue Red Flags: ZINARA auditors and engineers can raise red flags for unauthorized expenditure, poor workmanship, or delayed contractor deliveries.
• ESG Compliance: Tracks environmental impact (borrow pit rehabilitation, dust suppression), occupational health and safety (PPE compliance), and fair labor practices on all grant-funded sites.

The portal dispatches instant alerts for milestone events (e.g. Funding Request Approved, Workplan Requires Review, Payment Disbursed):

• Access Notification Preferences to toggle between instant in-app toasts, daily email digests, and SMS alerts.
• Use the built-in Collaboration Chat Rooms to exchange messages and project documents directly with ZINARA engineers.

Yes. In compliance with national public finance management regulations, every sensitive action is logged with an immutable audit timestamp, IP address, user identifier, previous values, and new values.

Audit logs cannot be modified or deleted, providing complete forensic transparency for internal and external auditors (Auditor General of Zimbabwe).

The DMS Grants Management Portal is optimized for modern HTML5 web standards:

• Desktop: Google Chrome (version 100+), Microsoft Edge (Chromium), Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari.
• Mobile / Tablets: Fully responsive for field inspections using modern mobile browsers (iOS Safari, Android Chrome).
• Recommended Display: 1366x768 resolution or higher for optimal data table and analytics viewing.

To regain account access:

1. Click the Forgot Password? link on the sign-in screen.
2. Enter your registered email address to receive a secure, time-limited password reset link.
3. If your account is locked due to multiple invalid 2FA attempts, contact the ZINARA DMS Helpdesk with official identification to reset your 2FA authentication profile.