NoPublic, bureaucrat, administrator
6,632
edits
Changes
no edit summary
{{TOC right}}
==Data Types==__NOEDITSECTION__
===Core Data===__NOEDITSECTION__
In the {{IMSMANG}} information model, items are the containers for core data, such as mine action data. An item is an area, activity or event that a programme records information about and stores in {{IMSMANG}}. There are six categories of items, which are described in the table below. Each category can be characterised by a type that reflects whether the item is designed to track process or activity information or the object or product of an activity.
{| class="wikitable"
! Item
! Description
! Type
|-
| HazardLand| Information about an area affected by a hazard
| Object/Product
|-
| Hazard reduction activityActivity| 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 involving a hazard
| Object/Product
|-
| Victim
| Information about a person injured or affected by a hazardan 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 about hazards(e.g. Risk Education or Victim rights)| ObjectProcess/ProductActivity
|-
| 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 land or hazard reduction activities| ObjectProcess/ProductActivity
|-
|}
Items are entered into {{IMSMANG}} by means of a Data Entry Form. Typically, each category of items has its own Data Entry Form template for recording information specific to that category. When entered into {{IMSMANG}}, all Data Entry Form 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 hazardous areas within a particular province.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Item Subcategories
! Item
! Subcategory Category Examples
|-
| HazardLand
|
* Battle area* Dangerous area* MinefieldSHA
* CHA
* UXO spotEOD Spot Task* Ammunition Storage
|-
| Hazard reduction activityActivity
|
* Non-Technical survey
* Technical survey
* Clearance
* Completion survey
|-
| Accident
* Demining accident
* Mine accident
|-
|}
</center>
Part of defining and documenting an information model includes defining the useful information attributes for each {{IMSMANG}} item. {{IMSMANG}} comes with 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 those 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.
Each of the items can be divided into categories or types so users can collect information for each category/type. For example, Land are normally divided into different categories/types and each category of land are managed differently. Using categories/types, information managers can:
Additionally, information managers can customise the categories so that unused categories can be inactivated and other categories added. The same is true for all top-level items within {{IMSMANG}}, which lets information managers specify their exact information model, including the relationships among item categories, and adjust the model as their needs change over time. To accurately map the information model for a Mine Action Programme, it’s helpful to evaluate the available item categories and determine if changes to the information model in {{IMSMANG}} are required. While these values can be customised after system setup, understanding the types of information for each item is critical to implementing an effective workflow in {{IMSMANG}}.
{{Documentnote|<b>Document the following decisions about items:</b> * data elements to be collected and managed in IMSMA<sup>NG</sup>{{IMSMANG}}* data elements fields that are not predefined in IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> {{IMSMANG}} and should be created as CDFs* particularly important, or key, data elements for the programme* relevant subcategories categories/types for each item
* status values for each item
}}
<div align="center">
''Example of Documented Hazarddocumentation''
</div>
===Auxiliary Data===__NOEDITSECTION__In addition to defining the required information for IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> {{IMSMANG}} items, it is important to define the relevant information to be collected about auxiliary Auxiliary data. This includes defining and documenting the [[Standardising_Auxiliary_Data#Country_Structure|Country Structure]], [[Explosive Standardising_Auxiliary_Data#OrdnanceClassification | Ordnance classification]], [[Standardising_Auxiliary_Data#Organisations |Organisation]] and [[Standardising_Auxiliary_Data#Places|Place]], such as military bases, hospitals and cultural sites; any additional CDFs that should be created; and any subcategories for each of the auxiliary Auxiliary data types.
{{New_6.0 | In version 6.0 two classifications used for Victim; Cause and Needs assessment, and Assistance classification used for Assistance have been added. All three are hierarchy tree-structures using levels.}}
{{Documentnote|<b>Document the following decisions about auxiliary Auxiliary data:</b>
* data elements to be collected and managed in IMSMA<sup>NG</sup>{{IMSMANG}}* data elements fields that are not already configured in IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> {{IMSMANG}} and can be created as CDFs
* relevant subcategories for each data type
}}
<div align="center">
''Understanding IMSMA Information Model - Example of Documented Auxiliary Data''
</div>
==Field Reports Data Entry Forms and Current ViewsSummary items==__NOEDITSECTION__A <b>field report</b> '''Data Entry Form''' is a template used for data entry form used to record and store of information e.g. about an itema victim.
With this approach, users can collect and store multiple field reports Data Entry Forms 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 log | 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?"
[[Image:Understanding_IMSMA_Information_Model_-_Updating_CVsver2.png|center|500px|''Example of Updating Current Views''400px]]
<div align="center">
''Example of Updating Current ViewsSummary items''
</div>
Data Entry Form #2 updates information about the 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 land area.
{{Warning| A Data Entry Form that is changing existing information must have a Date of information that is later than the Data Entry Form that it is updating the calculation of the Summary item(s) are based on Date of Information. When the date is earlier or the '''same''', the Summary item will '''not''' be updated.}}
===Location ===__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 customizing IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> customising {{IMSMANG}} is to decide what country structure Country Structure level locations Locations will be consistently linked to and what concept locations Locations will represent, . Typical concepts that a location Location is used to represent include:
*a work area (where hazards exist and hazard reductions activities are taking place)*a community (a group of people affected by the mine/UXO /IED threat)
*the nearest town (the town closest to where the activity is taking place)
Using Locations, users can group data that belongs together or is associated with each other and in that way get a better overview, facilitate searching and creating reports. The Locations is the link 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 {{Document|<b>Document the following decisions about locationsIMSMANG}} are governed by two simple rules:</b>
* what concept locations will representall data must be assigned to a Location* what country structure level locations will all Locations must be linked to}} the Country Structure
[[Image:Understanding IMSMA Information Model - Using Locations to Link Mine Action Data to the Country Structure.png|center]]
<div align="center">
''Using Locations to Link Mine Action Data to the Country Structure''
</div>
===Assigning and Linking===__NOEDITSECTION__
<b>Assigning</b> refers to the assignment of an item to a Location for the purposes of grouping information. All items must be assigned a Location.
{{IMSMANG}} 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 Data Entry Form approval process. An item is assigned to one Location, which ties the item to the country structure and allows for reporting data by area. The same item can then be linked to as many other items as necessary. In this way, {{IMSMANG}} supports the idea of linking activities to land, victims to accidents or any item to any other item. When used with item categories, 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 {{IMSMANG}}.
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''.
The result is one Land whose information is updated over time by the three Activities linked to the land. 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'']]
<div align="center">
''Example of How Current View Summary Statuses Change''
</div>
The {{IMSMANG}} information model is flexible enough for each Mine Action Programme to customise the system to support its needs. For example, implementations that do not cover Education activities do not need to complete information about Education activities, and they still retain full utility of the system. Similarly, implementations that only cover Victim tracking and Education activities only can disregard Land and Activities without any loss of utility.
[[Image:Understanding IMSMA Information Model - Example Relationships Among Items.png|center|400px|''Example Relationships Among Items''550px]]
<div align="center">
''Example Relationships Among ItemsNote: Connections to Country Structure and Location have been omitted from the example''
</div>
The rationale for each relationship or link should also be documented so the meaning is understood. 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 Land that have Accidents linked to them.
}}
===The 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. __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'']]
<div align="center">
''Adding Field Report Information to the Current ViewApproval workflow / Data Entry Form Statuses''
</div>
The Workbench is a holding area / import inbox where Data Entry Forms are found until they are approved. There are four possible steps in the Approval process:
# [[Save Data Entry Forms| Save]]
# [[Submit Data Entry Forms | Submit]]
# [[Reject Data Entry Forms | Reject ]]
# [[Approve Data Entry Forms | Approve]]
For data quality purposes, it is important that the data is adequately checked. With multiple permission levels for the Approval, different users can be assigned different permissions, allowing Mine Action Programmes to implement a data-entry workflow that distinguishes between data '''entry''' and data '''verification''' roles.
{{NavBox Information Management}}
[[Category:NAA]]