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'''Understanding Mine Action Information Management''' is a prerequisite to be a good information managerin a Mine Action program. The practice of information management in mine action is similar to information management in any other domain. Information managers oversee the collection, processing and analysis of information to support decision making in operational activities, and planning and reporting. Information management is not an end in itself. Although archiving is one of the roles of information management, it is definitely is not the central role. Rather, information management is an activity that enables evidence-based decision making and increases transparency and accountability. Good information management is a pre-requisite to an effective and efficient mine action organisation.
==Objects and Processes==__NOEDITSECTION__
In mine action information management, the primary object or focus is contaminated [[land]] and the activities or processes undertaken to reduce or eliminate the contamination in a process called [[land release]]. Other important objects and processes include [[Accident Summary Window | Accidents]], [[Victim Summary Window | Victims]], [[Assistance Summary Window | Assistance]], [[QM Summary Window | Quality management]] and [[Education Summary Window | risk education]]. Although it is not the standard situation, these elements may sometimes take the prominent role from the land release process in some mine action programmes.
The process of clearing hazards follows an operational workflow that is reflected in information management as a set of ''business rules''. As each step in the clearance process is completed, attributes the status of the hazard change changes so that the hazard eventually is cleared. It is the role of information management to collect information about each step and accurately report the status and attributes of each hazard as it makes its way through the workflow to assist in operational activities such as planning, tasking and clearance operations. Whether a programme is implementing a land release model for hazard clearance or a risk reduction model, the concepts are the same. Hazards are reduced and changed over time by various processes. To implement this effectively in {{IMSMANG}}, information managers must first fully understand the workflow and business rules in use in their programmes.
==Information management needs assessment==__NOEDITSECTION__