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Most important information management concepts key to understand the IMSMANG IMSMA<sup>NG </sup> information model and their impact on mine action information management are covered here. To help information managers apply the concepts, some sections conclude with a list of requirements to define and document that can be used when establishing the information model for a mine action programme.
==Data Types==
===Core Data===
In the IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> information model, items are the containers for core data, such as mine action core data. An item is an area, activity or event that a mine action programme records information about and stores in IMSMA<sup>NG</sup>. There are six categories of items, which are described in the table below. Each category can be characterized by a type that reflects whether the item is designed to track process or activity information or the object or product of an activity.
|-
| Education activity
| Information about an activity designed to inform or educate people , such as about local hazards
| Object/Product
|-
| Quality Management (QM) activity
| Information about an quality-improvement activity , such as an effort to control and monitor the clearance and/or reduction of hazards or hazard reduction activities
| Object/Product
|-
Items are entered into IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> by means of a field report. Typically, each category of items has its own field report template for recording information specific to that category. When entered into IMSMA<sup>NG</sup>, all field report items must be assigned to a location, which is tied to the country’s gazetteer, or political or administrative structure. The items can then be traced back to the country structure so that users can easily report data such as the number and size of hazards hazardous areas within a particular province.
Part of defining and documenting an information model includes defining the useful information attributes for each IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> item. IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> comes with more than 1,000 data elements already defined as well as the capability to create additional custom-defined fields (CDFs). This makes it important to critically assess which data elements are useful to a programme for decision-making, analysis and reporting and to focus on those while ignoring data elements that don’t provide additional value. Limiting information to only that which is useful to the programme provides long-term benefits including reducing the data collection and data entry burden and improving system performance. And, while many data elements may be collected for each IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> item, some elements may be more important for analysis than others. For example, whether a victim has been injured or killed may be more important for analysis than the victim’s nationality.
Each of the six categories of items can be divided into subcategories or types so users can collect information for each subcategory. For example, users can specify different types of hazards lands such as dangerous areas, confirmed hazardous areas (CHAs), minefields and battle areas and manage each kind of hazard land differently. Using subcategories, information managers can:
* create separate workflows for each type of hazardland
* create and manage separate data entry forms
* differentiate between item categories on the map
<b>Reconciliation</b> is the process of assigning the information in a field report to an existing item or creating a new item/current view.
All mine action information is entered into IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> via a field report, a data entry form used to collect information about an item. When a field report is completed, it is either reconciled to an existing item (that is, it is determined to be information about an item that already exists in IMSMA<sup>NG</sup>) or it is reconciled as new (that is, it is determined to be information about an item that does not already exist in IMSMA<sup>NG</sup>).
With this approach, users can collect and store multiple field reports about the same item over time so that the entire history of the item is preserved in the system. The approach also provides a complete audit trail of all changes made to any mine action information so that information managers can answer the question, "What did we know and when did we know it?"
IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> also provides a constantly updated current view of the item which represents the sum of information about the item at any given time. As subsequent information is collected about a specific attribute of an item, IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> updates the item’s current view on an attribute-by-attribute basis. For example, Field Report #1 collects some initial information about a hazardhazardous land area. It sets the priority to "Medium" and specifies that the hazard land contains AP mines and is 25,000 sqm. Field Report #2 updates information about the hazard land area after a subsequent assessment. The report sets the priority to "High" and specifies the presence of AP and AT mines, but it does not change the size or the status of the hazardland area. Field Report #3 updates the hazard’s land area's size and status after clearance operations are complete. The figure below shows how the hazard’s land area's current view is updated after all three reports are entered into the system.
[[Image:Understanding_IMSMA_Information_Model_-_Updating_CVs.png|center|500px|''Example of Updating Current Views'']]
===Location Folder===
A location in IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> is a grouping of information, whether logical, geographical or sociopolitical. Using locations, users can group data that belongs together or is associated with each other and handle it as a group, including facilitating data entry, searching and running reports. To do this, locations must link the mine action data to the country’s political or administrative structure (existing gazetteer), whether at the province, district or town level. This method also provides geographical context to the data. As shown in the figure below, locations in IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> are governed by two simple rules:
*all mine action data must be linked to a location
*all locations must be linked to the country structure
Two fundamental decisions to make when customizing IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> is to decide what country structure level locations will be consistently linked to and what concept locations will represent, . Typical concepts that a location is used to represent include:
*a work area (where hazards exist and hazard reductions are taking place)
<b>Linking</b> refers to the association between items for the purposes of analysis. Linking is optional, for example, when linking clearances to minefields.
IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> provides the capability to assign items to locations and create links between items, a function that shows the relationships between items and processes and that enriches the data collected. Assignments and links are defined during the field report approval process. An item is assigned to one location, which ties the item to the country structure and allows for reporting mine action data by area. The same item can then be linked to as many other items as necessary. In this way, IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> supports the idea of linking hazard reductions to hazards, victims to accidents or any item to any other item. When used with item subcategories, linking adds a powerful capacity to implement an information workflow and create rich and useful data for decision makers. To ensure the integrity of this data, system administrators must clearly specify the kinds of links to track in IMSMA<sup>NG</sup>.
The example below shows how users can build a workflow of complex relationships among top-level items and item subcategories to model the information management process for their programmes.
For data quality purposes, it is important that the data is adequately checked at this stage. IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> allows information managers to control permissions for the Workbench and other areas of IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> through the management of users and roles. With multiple permission levels for the Workbench, different users can be assigned different permissions, allowing programmes to implement a data-entry workflow that distinguishes between data entry and data verification roles. It is recommended to set up a permission structure that reserves approval authority for field reports for the most trusted users.
For data quality purposes, it is important that the data is adequately checked at this stage. IMSMANG IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> allows information managers to control permissions for the Workbench and other areas of IMSMANG IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> through the management of users and roles. With multiple permission levels for the Workbench, different users can be assigned different permissions, allowing programmes to implement a data-entry workflow that distinguisheses between data entry and data verification roles. It is recommended to set up a permission structure that reserves approval authority for field reports for the most trusted users.
Table 6. Typical IMSMANG Roles
Data Verification Users who typically perform quality checks on the data entered by Data Entry users. This role is often responsible for verifying the accuracy of the data entered and approving field reports.
Operations Users who typically browse for information within IMSMANG IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> to make operational decisions. Operations users may sometimes be grouped by function (for example, education, clearance or victim assistance). These users often perform searches for data, generate reports and analyze the data to support operational needs.
System Administrator Users who perform information management-specific functions such as creating field report templates, designing reports, backing up and restoring data and other technical functions.
