Information Management - Data Processing

European
Civil Protection
Data Processing
Gisli Olafsson – Consultant
Sources:
UNDAC Methodology
OCHA IM Strategy

Outline
• Principles of data processing
• Plan of Action (PoA) and IM
• Internal information flow within
team/OSOCC – practical examples
• IM strategies
• Group exercise

The IM chain
Input Throughput Output
Collect Analyse DisseminateProcess

Why we need information
noise becomes data when it has a cognitive pattern
data becomes information when its assembled into a coherent whole
which can be related to other information
information becomes knowledge when its integrated with other
information in a form that is useful for making decisions and determining
actions,
knowledge becomes understanding when related to other knowledge in a
manner useful in anticipating, judging and acting,
understanding becomes wisdom when its informed by purpose, ethics,
principals, memory and projection
Dee Hock, 1996

Well organized information
Incoming
data
Incoming
phone
calls
Incoming
emails
Data Processing

What are some issues you can
foresee?
• Information coming from multiple sources
• Information coming through multiple
paths
• Information coming in multiple formats
• Some information digital, other analog
• Reliability of information
• Conflicting information
• Information Gaps
• Getting information to everyone is hard

Format
• Enter data
• Reformat
• Clean
Collate
• Compile
• Collate
Verify
quality
• Cross-
reference
• Request
information
• Triangulate
Storage
• Track
• Store
• Assign
metadata
Archiving
• Back-up
• Retrieval
Data Processing Framework

Format
• Structured vs. Unstructured
• Electronic vs. Paper vs. Word of Mouth
• Spelling
• Number format
• Date format
• Currency format
• Database vs. Spreadsheet
• Geo-tagging

Group Exercise
• You have been assigned to the PAHO
Emergency Operation Center
• Your task is to go through reports coming
in of a Cholera outbreak in Haiti
• Your task is to clean up the data
• Think about what data you would like to
capture about each report

Cholera OutbreakSOURCE of INFORMATION (LINK) SUMMARY OF EVENT
http://twitter.com/vidipblip de #cholera en puerto principe
http://twitter.com/firesideint Death confirmed near Cite Soleil
alertnet.org 1500 cases in Haiti with
http://alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N2216021
5.htm
Haiti's government and its aid partners fought on Friday to contain a cholera epidemic that has killed at least 140 people in the nation's
worst medical emergency since the Jan. 12 earthquake.
http://twitter.com/mediahacker 6 suspected cases
http://twitter.com/mediahacker Report of child dying
http://twitter.com/gaetantguevara
Sant hospitalier lafiteau,gen posiblite pou gen yon moun ki gen #cholera ki ap pran swen.(Center Hospital lafiteauare likely to have a person
with cholera # will take care.
http://twitter.com/mediahacker Just been told of another death in Lafito, not far from the huge Canaraan camp - man who came from St. Marc. #haiti
http://twitter.com/melindayiti Just witnessed a death from #cholera in Lafito/Lafiteau #Haiti only a few minutes from camps Kanaran and Corail, not far from Cite Soleil
http://biosurveillance.typepad.com/haiti_operatio
nal_biosurv/2010/10/confirmed-cholera-in-
arcahaie-ouest-haiti.html Confirmed Cholera in Arcahaie, Ouest
http://twitter.com/MissionMANNA cholera reported in Archai and Lagonave
http://twitter.com/dodof2 40 people infected in Akaye
http://twitter.com/renewal4haiti In other news... 6 cows reported dead of Anthrax in #Leogane. Confirmed by several doctors @iceaxe5 @biosurveillance #whatsgoingon
http://twitter.com/realhope4haiti 6 cases reported--First heard it on radio and then a family member from that area came to our village
http://twitter.com/biosurveillance Discovery of suspect cholera in Lafito/Lafiteau places the lead edge of the epidemic in direct proximity to Cite Soliel.
cholera reported in Archai and Lagonave
http://twitter.com/Just_my2cents
15 in Lagonave are at the clinic, very sick, all say they ate fish yesterday! #Cholera
International Medical Corps California-based aid group, International Medical Corps, said they had confirmed cases in Croix-des-Bouquet.
http://twitter.com/Shayners78
42 now dead in Mirebalais! 28 more than yesterday. I heard from someone who works in our hospital here just up the street from our
compound!
PAHO
http://twitter.com/tonycece 17 dead in remote village of Dauphin. Tried to go further to Grande-Saline but couldn't get there
http://twitter.com/newhopehaiti The cholera outbreak has claimed the lives of two of Jean-Claubert's cousins.Artibonite (Gonaives)
http://community.ob.org/site/PageServer water purification system installed in Babou Laporte near St Marc on Oct 23
http://twitter.com/CharlesHBaker Petite Riviere is hard Hit. Just left St Michel,it has 2 communal sections w problems; Plantana & Another w 15 dead 26 sick(6 babies)
HealthMap 2 cases of cholera in Bel-Air
http://twitter.com/pih 10 cases reported in Gonaives
http://twitter.com/biosurveillance Two Suspect Cases of #Cholera Seen at HUEH / PAP General Hospital From Artibonite Valley
http://twitter.com/biosurveillance
Confirmation of Cholera at Multiple Sites in Port au Prince, We now have confirmation of multiple cholera cases inside Port-au-Prince in the
Petionville area

Cholera Outbreak (cont‘d)
Dr Marie-Carmel Charles First human death of Anthrax ("Charbon" in french") is confirmed in Leogane
http://twitter.com/renewal4haiti Hep A, ten cases this week, 1 already treated, 9 at CAMEJO as of Oct 23
http://twitter.com/CharlesHBaker We are Hopital de Secours des Gonaives, One Dead from #cholera #Haiti 70 infected http://twitpic.com/308as4
Samaritans Purse First water filtration system is installed. Word is out&many people have come w/buckets to fill up
http://twitter.com/lionelstpierre Report NON CONFIRMED from source of mine!! Kolerat has been detected in "les nippes" South of Haiti From a journalist working for ABC
http://twitter.com/KarlJeanJeune @KarlJeanJeune Just witnessed the 10th death today at Petite Rivière
http://twitter.com/sovelaviorg we have had no deaths. many on IV's. (Sove Lavi Clinic)
lcyarrington@email.wm.edu Justinian Hospital
lcyarrington@email.wm.edu Sacre Coeur Hospital
lcyarrington@email.wm.edu Planned Health Facility
http://twitter.com/stevehelling Four cases of cholera detected overnight in a tent city near Delmas 33
http://twitter.com/louis_press Oxfam will provide clean h2o to 25k today
http://twitter.com/Renewal4haiti 2 suspect cases at #MSF in #Leogane. Docs working on confirmation now.
http://twitter.com/operationbless We've distributed LifeSaver Jerrycans in Dauphin and Luben, as well as water purification unit in St. Marc. Hope this helps!
http://twitter.com/operationbless Jerrycans in Luben
http://twitter.com/operationbless Purification unit

Collation
• Identify different sources of data to compile from
• Agree methodology with ALL team members
• Identify Priorities EARLY
• Capture information about people and organizations into
3W
• Collect information into charts, matrixes on walls etc
• Ensure enough human resources to process
• Establish a reporting systems / forms
• Enter ONLINE if possible
• Document what you are collating
• Try to compile information into one repository

Consumer
social
networks
E-mail Fax
Face-to-face
File shares Paper-based
Messaging
Phone
Different sources of data

OPERATIONAL
IMPORTANCE
TIME / EFFORT INVOLVED TO PROCESS DATA
High
Low
Easy Medium Hard
PRIORITY #1
PRIORITY #2
PRIORITY #3
Prioritization Graph

Group Exercise
• Identify a process to collate and compile
information that comes from
– Meetings
– Phone calls
– Reports via radio
– Email
• How do you deal with important
information

PoE
electronic
Hard
Copy
Phone Person
Data Capture
on Template
Physical
Inbox
-Email
-Websites
-file Transfers
(eg.USB FTP)
TO DO
Data Entry
Defined Categories
Assessment Data Contacts 3W SITREPS
Resources

Quality Assurance
• Verification
• Cross-reference
• Request information
• Triangulate

Verification
• Make sure to record source & other
metadata
• Add a ranking to assess credibility (1-
High; 5 low)
• Different quality control needed on
different types of data

Cross-reference
• Requires baseline data
• Are we all using the same common
baseline data?
• Are we seing similar data from other
sources?

Feedback loop
• If something doesn‘t seem right – can you
reach back to the source?
• If you publish the data to those who
report it they will usually provide you
feedback
• Social media has been shown to be very
self-correcting due to its openess with the
data

Triangulate
• Are there more people affected than live
in that area?
• Do the numbers add up?

Storage
• Where does the data reside?
• Do we share data with others?
• Do we track what data we are keeping?
• Do we track information about the data?
• Technology options

Storage/Tracking
• A good file structure
– If using Groove, there is a standard storage format suggested within UNDAC
– If not using Groove, need to agree upon a structure to use
• Track and share information
– Step 1: How many excel sheets, word docs, pdfs, etc
– Step 2: Excel sheets can be pasted on google docs
– Step 3: Word docs can be pasted on google docs
= Work on own computer as well as internet
• Need to back up original data as well as collated data base
•
• How do we track the data and file/label data so that the right people get it?
– Protocol format for files received, priority, flagging for clusters/units
– Creation of virtual mailboxes for each cluster/sector, multiple copies of each document
to tag it for the correct audience
– Mark each item with: time of receipt, source, who is it for
– Who stores the data – the recipient or the sender?

Archiving
• Do we keep backups of original data and
processed data?
• How can we get back to the original data?
• Do we trace decisions back to information
back to reports?

Archiving
• Follow folder system set up by storage team.
• Compile comprehensive directory structure / catalogue / map of
archive
• Per day
• Per cluster
• Back-up of archive – e.g. secure remote server.
• Changes to archive backed-up automatically to remote server.
• During versus post-mission.
• During mission back-up every document
• After mission – archive original sources and final products.
• During a two week mission – storing, tracking and
archiving/retrieving are the sane thing for a short-duration UNDAC
mission.
• Simple logic important to facilitate handover (e.g. UNDAC mission
software).

When
Processing/Collating…
• Focus on the value added
• Be aware of data volume
• Consider remote processing
• Create (or make use of) standard products and
avoid ad hoc ones
• Consider speed over perfection
• Balance resources and time management

Convince partner to share
Add value to
information
Disseminate
quickly
Partner sees net
benefit
IM as a Value Added Service

Consider the volume of data
DATA VOLUME =
# of Forms Collected x Number/Type of Questions x Periodicity
(Frequency of data collection)

Simple things…
 Mission Log
 Key events flipchart
 Inbox/Outbox
 Assigned ownership of certain tasks
 Deliverables overview (when, how, to whom)
 Meeting schedule overview (where, when, who)
 Scrum (interrupt everyone for 5 minutes every few hours
hours to run very quickly through newest status)
 Situational overview map

Experience from missions
• Information can take hours to get from one
end of an OSOCC tent to the other
• Crucial information often does not get
processed
• Information Management people often get
very overloaded
• Technology often becomes a hurdle –
especially when there is no process in place
• …

Some key things to remember
• Stress the importance of good information
management practices to everyone
– Meeting minutes for all minutes
– Geospatial coding of data collected whenever possible
• Assign ownership – divide and conquer
• Use the tools available in an efficient manner
• But above all
Put in place an Information Management
Process!!!
Remember to keep it simple, stupid!!

Source: xkcd,
http://xkcd.com/386/
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Information Management - Data Processing

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