Changes

*[[Data Types]]{{TOC right}}*[[Field Reports Understanding the {{IMSMANG}} information model is a prerequisite for an information manager to adapt the system to their country specific mine action requirements. Some sections will include a list of requirements that can be used by information managers to define and Current Views]]*[[Reconciliation Process]]document the information model for a programme.

{| class===Business Rules Updating Structure==="wikitable"! Item! Description! Type|-| Land| Information about an area| Object/Product|-| Activity| Information about an activity, such as efforts to survey, clear, or reduce the threat of a hazard| Process/Activity|-| Accident| Information about an accidental event| Object/Product|-| Victim| Information about a person injured or affected by an accident| Object/Product|-| Assistance| Information about assistance for a person injured or affected by an accident| Process/Activity|-| Education activity| Information about an activity designed to inform or educate people (e.g. Risk Education or Victim rights)| Process/Activity|-| Quality Management (QM) activity| Information about an quality-improvement activity, such as an effort to control and monitor the clearance and/or reduction of land or activities| Process/Activity|-====Status Changes====|}

Along with a workflow map that describes the relationship between the various types Items are entered into {{IMSMANG}} by means of objects and processes in a workflowData Entry Form. Typically, the status changes or outputs from the process are critical in adequately mapping the hazard clearance process. IMSMA^NG uses the status value each category of items has its own Data Entry Form template for recording information specific to track where the object or process is in its workflowthat category. Objects and processes in IMSMA^NG can have different status values. For exampleWhen entered into {{IMSMANG}}, hazards can all Data Entry Form items must be defined as "Active"assigned to a Location, "Worked Onwhich is tied to the country’s gazetteer," or "Closed," while hazard reduction activities political or administrative structure. The items can then be traced back to the Country Structure so that are more process-oriented users can be "Planned," "Ongoing," "Completed," "Suspended," or "Abortedeasily report data such as the number and size of hazardous areas within a particular province." Defining a set of status values for each item provides the capability to:

<center>{| class="wikitable"|+ ! Item! Category Examples|-| Land|* SHA* CHA* EOD Spot Task* Ammunition Storage|-| Activity|* Non-Technical survey* Technical survey* Clearance* manage workflows according to statusCompletion survey|-| Accident|* search and report on items based on a particular statusDemining accident* display items on Mine accident|-|}</center>Part of defining and documenting an information model includes defining the map useful information attributes for each {{IMSMANG}} item. {{IMSMANG}} comes with different symbols based more than 1,000 [[Data Dictionary| data fields already defined]] as well as the capability to create additional custom-defined fields (CDFs). This makes it important to critically assess which data fields are useful to a programme for decision-making, analysis and reporting and to focus on their statusthose while ignoring data fields 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 fields may be collected for each {{IMSMANG}} item, some fields 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.

Some IMSMA<sup>NG<Each of the items can be divided into categories or types so users can collect information for each category/sup> items may have many status valuestype. For example, process-oriented items such as hazard reductions and quality management likely have many status values, but hazards and other object- or output-oriented items typically have only the three status values listed above. Some items like victims Land are normally divided into different categories/types and accidents may not need status values depending on how information is used. Defining the possible status values for each object in the workflow as outputs category of the processes conducted on them provides a set of business rules for information management that govern how land are managed differently. Using categories/types, information should be entered and analysed.managers can:

The following figures show how each programme Additionally, information managers can tailor customise the system to support a specific hazard clearance/reduction workflow process categories so that unused categories can be inactivated and other categories added. The same is true for each type of hazardall top-level items within {{IMSMANG}}, which lets information managers specify their exact information model, including the relationships among item categories, from a traditional process and adjust the model as their needs change over time. To accurately map the information model for minefield clearance with multiple steps including a technical surveyMine Action Programme, clearance it’s helpful to evaluate the available item categories and completion survey determine if changes to a simplified process for UXO clearance that includes only a clearance. Each example involves a single hazard on which one or more hazard reduction activities the information model in {{IMSMANG}} are conductedrequired. At each stepWhile these values can be customised after system setup, understanding the types of information about the hazard’s status and type for each item is updated as a result of the hazard reduction processcritical to implementing an effective workflow in {{IMSMANG}}.

In {{note|<b>Document the figure below, a CHA is created following decisions about items:</b>* data to be collected and its status is set to "Active." A technical survey process is then conducted on the hazard which results managed in {{IMSMANG}}* data fields that are not predefined in changing the subcategory of the hazard from "CHA" to "Minefield" {{IMSMANG}} and defining the hazard’s perimeter. Nextshould be created as CDFs* particularly important, a clearance process is conducted on the minefield that results in updating the status of the hazard to "Worked On." Finallyor key, a completion survey is submitted that updates data for the programme* relevant categories/types for each item* status of the hazard to "Closed."values for each item}}

 [[Image:Understanding Mine Action IMSMA Information Management Model - Example Workflowof Documented Land.png|center|''Example of a Traditional Workflow''300px]]

''Example of a Traditional Workflowdocumentation''

Simpler processes can be defined {{New_6.0 | In version 6.0 two classifications used for other types of hazards. For exampleVictim; Cause and Needs assessment, a spot UXO task would likely not go through this complete workflow and instead start with a subcategory of "UXO" and a status of "OpenAssistance classification used for Assistance have been added." A clearance could then be conducted and the UXO spot status updated to "Closed," without requiring a completion surveyAll three are hierarchy tree-structures using levels.}}

* data to be collected and managed in {{IMSMANG}}* data fields that are not already configured in {{IMSMANG}} and can be created as CDFs* relevant subcategories for each data type}}  [[Image:Understanding Mine Action IMSMA Information Management Model - Example Workflow 2of Documented Auxiliary Data ver2.png|center|''Example of a Spot UXO Workflow''300px]]

''Example of a Spot UXO WorkflowDocumented Auxiliary Data''

By documenting the entire process conducted on each type of hazard, including the changes in status and type that result from the hazard reduction activities, information managers create The Data Entry Form(s) for a complete map of specific object (e.g. the hazard/hazard reduction workflow that informs how linking Victim ''Jane Doe'') are summarised and reconciliation decisions should be made and provide displayed in a guide to data entry personnel'''Summary'''.

Once the hazard and hazard reduction relationships and workflow are defined and documented for each type of hazardOr with other words, the next step when a Data Entry process is to define how progress data for started the hazard clearance processes is collected. Traditionally, incremental progress data first decision is collected using progress reports. These reports are typically linked to choose which of the overall clearance operation and are used to collect the incremental progress several different methods/actions for a reporting period, usually, the number of mines/UXO cleared, area cleared and hours worked. In IMSMA^NG, each progress report is stored as a new hazard reduction activity and linked to the clearance. As a result, individual progress reports can be queried Data Entry to determine how much progress was made during a given reporting period. In addition, aggregate progress information can be queried for each clearance (for example, the total mines that have been reported cleared for a given clearance operation)use.

An alternative With this approach to storing progress information is to , users can collect incremental progress reports and reconcile them as updates to store multiple Data Entry Forms about the same item over time so that the clearance using entire history of the combine option during reconciliation. Using this method, progress reports do not create independent hazard reduction items; rather, their information item is combined with, and added to, preserved in the clearance information collected to that pointsystem. This The approach simplifies the reconciliation step for progress reports as well as also provides a simple summary complete [[Audit log | audit trail]] of clearance data on each hazard in the current view. It may, however, become slightly more complicated all changes made to determine progress during individual reporting periods. Information any information so that information managers should assess which approach better meets can answer the needs of their programs question, "What did we know and when selecting an approach to tracking progress.did we know it?"

In the example below, progress reports were As subsequent information is collected for three separate reporting periods during about a clearance operationspecific attribute of an item, {{IMSMANG}} updates the item’s Summary on an attribute-by-attribute basis. Collecting The calculation of the Summary is done based on '''Date of Information''' and linking information in this way makes therefore it easy to determine is important that in Period 2 (PR-2), 4,500 sqm were cleared and 25 AP mines were found and that, overall, 15,000 sqm were cleared and 61 AP mines were found. A defined, standardized approach to collecting and storing progress Date of information simplifies querying and reporting is reflecting the age of statistical the information and is a critical element to supporting operational mine action information management needsnot the date of entry into {{IMSMANG}}.

 [[Image:Understanding Mine Action Information Management Understanding_IMSMA_Information_Model_- Progress Report Workflow_Updating_CVs ver2.png|center|''Progress Report Workflow''400px]]

''Progress Report WorkflowExample of Updating Summary items''

===Location Folder===__NOEDITSECTION__A country's official administrative structure, also known as Gazetteer, should be the base for the Country Structure used in {{IMSMANG}}. Sometimes the official administrative structure has not been updated for a long time or it is not detailed enough using it for a geographical placeholder, worksite, for the Mine Action programme and that is why the item Location has been introduced in {{IMSMANG}}. Two fundamental decisions to make when customising {{IMSMANG}} 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 location in IMSMA^NG is *a work area (where activities are taking place)*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 community (a group, including facilitating data entry, searching and running reports. To do this, locations must link of people affected by the mine action data to /UXO/IED threat)*the country’s political or administrative structure nearest town (existing gazetteer), whether at the province, district or town level. This method also provides geographical context closest to where the data. As shown in the figure below, locations in IMSMA^NG are governed by two simple rules:activity is taking place)

*all mine action Using Locations, users can group data must be linked to that belongs together or is associated with each other and in that way get a location*all locations must be linked to better overview, facilitate searching and creating reports. The Locations is the country structurelink between the Country Structure, whether at the province, district or town level and the Mine Action data. As shown in the figure below, data in {{IMSMANG}} are governed by two simple rules:

[[Image:Understanding IMSMA Information Model - Using Locations to Link Mine Action Data to the Country Structure.png|center|''Using Locations to Link Mine Action Data to the Country Structure'']]

Two fundamental decisions to make when customizing IMSMA^NG 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)*a community (a group of people affected by the mine/UXO threat)*the nearest town (the town closest to where the activity is taking place)  <b>Document the following decisions about locations:</b> * what concept locations will represent* what country structure level locations will be linked to  ===Assigning and Linking===__NOEDITSECTION__<b>Assigning</b> refers to the assignment of an item to a location Location for the purposes of grouping information. All items must be assigned a locationLocation. <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^NG 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^NG 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^NG. See [[Maintaining IMSMA]] for more on this topic. 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. 

[[Image:Understanding IMSMA Information Model - Example of How Relationships Among Items are Created.png|center|400px|''Example of How Relationships Among Items are Created'']]<div align="center"b>''Example of How Relationships Among Items are Created''Linking</divb>refers to the association between items for the purposes of analysis. Linking is optional, for example, when linking Activities to Accidents but linking is very important to do so effective reporting will be possible.

The next example below shows how users can build a workflow of relationships among items to model the information management process for their Mine Action Programmes. The figure shows how the current view Summary changes with each hazard reduction activity that is linked to the original hazardLand. # The CHA Land starts its life-cycle as ''SHA'' with a status of "Openin this example." # When the technical survey clearance starts and the first Progress report is linked to the hazardLand, it changes the hazard subcategory to "Minefield." Then, linking the clearance updates the hazard’s status should be changed to "''Worked On''." # Finally, after linking the completion survey changes Completion Report the hazard’s land's status should be updated to "''Closed." The result is one hazard whose information is updated over time by the four hazard reductions linked to the hazard. This way to track information can be used to represent the information management process and status rules accurately for a land release, risk management or other process model''.

[[Image:Understanding IMSMA Information Model - Example of How Current View Statuses Change.png|center|400px|''Example of How Current View Statuses Change'']]

''Example of How Current View Summary Statuses Change''

The IMSMA^NG information model is flexible enough for each programme to customise the system to support its needs. For example, programmes that do not conduct MRE activities do not need to complete information about MREs, and they still retain full utility of the system. Similarly, programmes that conduct victim tracking and MRE activities only can disregard hazards and hazard reductions without any loss of utility. This flexibility, however, requires that programmes define the relevant uses of each item. Although any item can be linked to any other item, not all relationships necessarily make sense for every programmeimplementation. The diagrams below describe some of the more common logical relationships among items and can serve as the basis for an information model when implementing IMSMA^NG{{IMSMANG}}.

 [[Image:Understanding IMSMA Information Model - Example Relationships Among Items.png|center|400px|''Example Relationships Among Items''550px]]

''Example Relationships Among ItemsNote: Connections to Country Structure and Location have been omitted from the example''

The rationale for each relationship or link should also be documented so the meaning is understood. For example, a hazard reduction may be conducted on a hazard and an accident may be a result of a hazard or produce a victim. These relationships are used when entering data to ensure that the links between items are available for searching and reporting, like when searching for all hazards that have clearances linked to them. {{note|<b>Document the following business rules about assigning and linking:</b> * which items will have links between them, for example, victims will Victims should always be linked to accidentsAccidents* rationale or logical meaning of the relationships between items, for example, a link between a clearance Clearance and a minefield an Accident means that the clearance was conducted on Accident happened during the minefieldClearance* what effects linking has on the items, for example, a link between a clearance Clearance and hazard Land may indicate that the hazard land status should change from "''Open" '' to "''Worked on"'' ===Workbench=== Items, field reports, current views, assigning and linking come together at the Workbench. The Workbench is a holding area where users enter data into field reports and reconcile each item in the field report either as a new item or as an update to an existing item. Users have the ability to assign field report items to locations and to link items to other items (like linking a technical survey to an existing CHA). They then save the reports in the Workbench pending the appropriate quality checks and approvals. Until a field report is approved, it exists only in the Workbench and does not update any current views. The report can still be modified or deleted. When a field report is approved, however, it becomes part of the current views and cannot be deleted.}}

===The Workbench===__NOEDITSECTION__[[Image:Understanding IMSMA Information Model - Adding Field Report Information to the Current ViewWB_Status.png|175px|center|''Adding Field Report Information to the Current View'']]

''Adding Field Report Information to the Current ViewApproval workflow / Data Entry Form Statuses''

For data quality purposesUntil a Data Entry Form is approved, it is important that the data is adequately checked at this stage. IMSMA^NG allows information managers to control permissions for exists only in the Workbench and other areas does not update any Summary items. The report can still be modified or deleted. The Approval will trigger an update of IMSMA^NG through the management an existing item (Summary) or creating of a new item depending of users and roleschosen Action. With multiple permission levels for If the WorkbenchSummary item has geospatial data, different users can it may 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 visible in the most trusted usersMap Pane.

====Roles and Responsibilities==== {| class="wikitable"! Role! Description|-| Data Entry| Users whose primary function is to enter field reports and other data into the system. This role may or may not include the ability to approve field reports.|-| 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 IMSMA^NG to make operational decisions. Operations users may sometimes be grouped by function (for example, MRE, clearance or victim assistance). These users often perform searches for data, generate reports and analyze the data to support operational needs.|-| Systems 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.|-| Guest| Users with essentially read-only access to browse data.{NavBox Information Management}}|-|}[[Category:NAA]]