Enhancing Administrative Accountability in Resource-Constrained Settings: A Case Study of Automated Membership Verification

Abstract

Accurate membership verification is essential for public-sector union governance and compliance with the Human Resource Management and Information System (HRMIS), yet many unions still rely on slow manual processes. The Sabah Medical Services Union (SMSU) case examines an automated verification system introduced to address processing delays, duplicate entries, and data vulnerabilities. Guided by a Design and Development Research (DDR) framework, a web-based system was built using low-code architecture, combining a modular front end with a secure cloud backend to enable real-time verification and automatic annual expiry. A baseline of 2,600 legacy records was migrated, followed by usability testing (n=30) and performance monitoring of 400 new requests. Data were analysed descriptively using SPSS version 27. Certificate issuance time fell from as long as 28 days to immediate real-time retrieval. The automated expiry function ensured annual validity without requiring manual administrative checks. Usability scores indicated high acceptance (Mean=4.43/5.00; 90% satisfaction), and all 400 new requests were processed without recorded verification errors. The SMSU experience shows that low-cost digital innovation can close administrative gaps in resource constrained organisations and offers a practical model for improving governance and accountability without major infrastructure investment.