Understanding Mine Action Information Management

The practice of information management in mine action is similar to information management in other fields. Information managers collect, process and analyse information to support operational activities, planning and reporting. Information management is not an end in itself; rather, it is an activity that supports the primary goal of mine action: reducing the impact of hazards on civilian populations.

IMSMA Workflows and Business Rules

Rather than establishing one workflow that all programmes must use, IMSMA^NG allows information managers to establish their own programme-appropriate workflows and business rules to better support their specific needs. To document their programme-specific workflows, information managers describe the processes undertaken on each object in IMSMA^NG and the outputs or products from the processes. Typically, these workflows relate to the various categories of hazards and hazard reductions, but they can also be applied to other IMSMA^NG items as appropriate.

During this step, information managers map the process that each hazard goes through as it is cleared or its impact is otherwise reduced. Using a combination of the relevant hazard types, status values and relationships, information managers design an information workflow that will be implemented as standard operating procedures (SOPs) for data entry and analysis. Some programmes may have only one process for all categories of hazards while other programmes may have three or more processes. See Understanding IMSMA Information Model for more information.

Document the following decisions about information workflows and business rules:

Workflow process for each hazard type including which processes or reductions are done on which types
Outputs or results of hazard reduction processes on hazards including the resulting status and type changes
Progress tracking process