By Glenn F. Eriksson (glenn.f.eriksson@gmail.com) Crisis Response Lab, Department of Applied IT, University of Gothenburg & Chalmers This paper aims to uncover some of the problems of gathering consolidated data in humanitarian aid projects and crises. The focus is on routines and tools used in information management. Based on the insights from four professional information managers, key problems of information management in fieldwork has been identified and analysed. The paper outlines implications for design for future tools striving to better support information management. These implications are based on the need for improved standardisation on information exchange and better interoperability between tools and applications.

1.
Department
of
Applied
IT
:
University
of
Gothenburg
&
Chalmers
1
System
Support
for
Information
Management
in
Humanitarian
operations
Unpublished
manuscript,
version
-­‐
18
Mars
2011
By
Glenn
F.
Eriksson
(glenn.f.eriksson@gmail.com)
Crisis
Response
Lab,
Department
of
Applied
IT,
University
of
Gothenburg
&
Chalmers
Abstract
This
paper
aims
to
uncover
some
of
the
problems
of
gathering
consolidated
data
in
humanitarian
aid
projects
and
crises.
The
focus
is
on
routines
and
tools
used
in
information
management.
Based
on
the
insights
from
four
professional
information
managers,
key
problems
of
information
management
in
fieldwork
has
been
identified
and
analysed.
The
paper
outlines
implications
for
design
for
future
tools
striving
to
better
support
information
management.
These
implications
are
based
on
the
need
for
improved
standardisation
on
information
exchange
and
better
interoperability
between
tools
and
applications.
Introduction
Humanitarian
operations
triggered
by
the
immediate
need
of
a
sudden
crisis
pose
significant
operational
and
management
challenges
on
the
involved
aid
organizations
(Muhren,
Eede,
&
Walle,
2008).
During
the
last
few
years,
aid
effectiveness
in
the
perspective
of
fact
based
results
and
accountability
has
emerged
as
an
important
topic.
It
has
been
addressed
by
high
level
forums
like
the
OECD
Paris
declaration
(2005)
and
the
Accra
agenda
for
action
forum
(OECD,
2010).
Media
(The
Sydney
Morning
Herald,
2010)
is
also
reporting
on
how
tax
payer’s
money
is
used
in
aid
programs
and
the
need
for
better
accountability
and
fact
based
results.
The
debate
concerns
also
the
audit
process
and
that
aid
should
be
audited
as
any
other
governmental
spending.
On
top
of
that,
several
major
disasters
have
occurred
in
the
last
years
underlining
the
importance
of
aid
effectiveness.
One
important
key
area
to
come
to
terms
with
measuring
result
and
accountability,
is
the
access
to
reliable
and
accurate
information.
The
process
of
inquiring
qualitative
information
has
never
been
an
easy
task,
since
there
are
many
actors
and
organisations
that
are
loosely
coupled
together
in
humanitarian
operations.
A
good
starting
point
is
to
investigate
how
the
current
information
system1
support
the
process
of
gathering
reliable
information
for
fact
based
results.
It
is
also
important
to
examine
how
well
the
information
system
facilitates
coordination
between
the
different
actors
in
the
humanitarian
community,
in
order
to
avoid
duplication
of
work
and
the
ability
to
more
efficiently
collaborate
and
learn.
A
symposium
on
information
exchange
(UN,
2002),
reported
a
set
of
high
level
problems
and
recommendations
2002,
and
was
revised
2007
(UN,
2007).
Many
of
these
problems
still
persist
1
In
broad
terms
and
accross
organisational
boundaries
1

2.
Department
of
Applied
IT
:
University
of
Gothenburg
&
Chalmers
2
today.
Scientific
articles,
field
reports
and
experience
have
shown
that
the
humanitarian
community
have
not
taken
full
advantage
of
the
information
technology
shift2
and
its
collaborative
capabilities.
The
objective
of
the
study
is
to
examine
how
well
the
current
system
support
is
in
the
field
of
information
management
(IM).
The
study
has
the
perspective
of
professional
information
managers3,
and
what
challenges
they
experience
with
the
current
information
system
and
routines.
The
study
continues
with
a
discussion
on
the
consequences
with
the
current
design
and
concludes
with
a
set
of
implications,
necessary
to
address
when
designing
future
information
system
support
for
IM.
The
overall
research
question
guiding
the
work
for
this
study
is:
How
can
information
systems
better
support
operative
information
management
in
humanitarian
aid
work?
Information
Management
in
an
humanitarian
context
Information
management
is
the
act
of
collecting
and
managing
information
around
a
specific
topic.
This
is
done
in
humanitarian
aid
programs
and
projects,
where
the
collected
information
feeds
the
reporting
process
of
the
organisation.
IM
in
humanitarian
context
is
often
integrated
into
the
reporting
process
to
produce
statistics,
graphs
and
to
present
information
in
tabular
format.
There
is
normally
a
one
to
one
relation
between
the
data
collection
process
and
the
reporting
standard
for
the
specific
organisation.
The
reporting
process
is
the
tool
that
normally
drives
the
project.
So
they
can
report
back
to
the
project
stakeholders.
When
coordination
is
needed
amongst
organisations
working
in
the
same
line
of
work,
they
normally
share
their
existing
reports
(that
follows
a
organisational
format).
If
more
granular
information
needs
to
be
shared,
they
do
so
by
exchanging
spreadsheets
documents
with
data.
Often
the
problem
with
the
spreadsheets,
are
that
they
have
data
organised
in
different
ways
and
are
not
in
the
same
format.
This
results
in
a
tedious
harmonisation
process
when
trying
to
cross-­‐reference
data
between
organisations.
The
IM
routines
consist
of
three
primary
tasks,
forming
a
cycle
that
is
repeated;
collecting,
analysing,
and
disseminating
information.
The
application
normally
used,
are
general
applications
that
everybody
has
access
and
knowledge
about
(office
applications).
During
crisis
there
are
different
coordination’s
cells,
depending
on
size
and
magnitude.
Organisations
(NGOs)
are
normally
grouped
into
different
sectors,
depending
what
the
organisations
are
specialised
in
(health,
food
distribution,
shelter
&
protection,
etc).
These
are
called
clusters
in
the
humanitarian
community,
and
inside
each
cluster
there
is
a
coordinating
body.
A
cluster
coordinator
has
the
responsibility
that
the
cluster
is
operational
and
chairs
the
cluster.
IM
is
part
of
the
cluster
coordinator's
responsibilities.
The
cluster
lays
out
the
objectives
and
priorities.
It
is
not
compulsory
for
organisations
to
participate
in
the
cluster
and
its
coordination,
but
it
is
seen
as
a
good
practice.
Related
studies
In
a
study
on
Open
Source
Software
(Currion,
Silva,
&
Walle,
2007),
it
is
suggested
that
the
humanitarian
community
has
not
taken
full
advantage
of
the
potential
in
the
information
revolution,
2
Cloud
computing,
web
2.0
and
other
technologies
that
forms
a
collaborative
online
experience
3
Personell
working
with
IM
2

3.
Department
of
Applied
IT
:
University
of
Gothenburg
&
Chalmers
3
due
to
different
constraint
(human
resources,
financial
resources,
etc).
Further,
the
study
also
points
out
that
the
business
processes
around
information
system
for
the
humanitarian
community
is
not
unique,
but
probably
more
challenging.
A
paper
on
information
frameworks
for
the
humanitarian
community
(Bui,
Cho,
Sankaran,
&
Sovereign,
2000),
articulate
the
need
of
better
information
exchange,
through
standardise
information
to
ensure
interoperability.
It
is
also
suggested
that
new
media
(web-­‐based
application
and
tools)
can
provide
quick
information,
but
falls
short
on
providing
analysis
and
manage
relevant
information
to
execute
decision.
Another
approach
for
gathering
information
and
predicative
analysis,
is
through
data
mining.
Taha
(Taha
&
Kass-­‐Hout,
2008)
presents
a
platform
that
automatically
scans
several
data
sources
and
classifies
the
information
to
predict
diseases.
The
earthquake
in
Haiti
January
2010
resulted
in
a
substantial
need
for
information
products
such
as,
graphs,
information
matrixes
and
maps
covering
the
damages
and
aid
requests.
The
first
couple
of
days
into
the
crisis,
were
characterized
by
limited
access
to
reliable
data
and
lack
of
standards
on
how
information
exchange
should
be
supported
between
the
clusters.
A
draft
was
presented
3-­‐4
week
into
the
crisis
(UN,
2010)
on
how
to
make
a
geographic
comparison
of
locations
(grid
system).
Some
clusters
had
by
that
time
produced
their
own
standard
of
camp-­‐sites
with
geographic
position
and
basic
information
related
to
the
camps.
Because
there
were
no
promoted
standard,
there
were
multiple
names
for
the
same
camp
sites
and
geographical
positions
where
often
referring
to
fatly
positions.
Some
sites
where
already
registered,
with
different
names
and
position.
The
figures
amongst
the
clusters
of
the
number
of
people
living
in
each
camp
site
(changed
constantly,
since
people
moved
around)
varied.
So
a
harmonisation
process
had
to
be
conducted,
to
clean
and
align
the
different
cluster
data.
This
could
have
been
avoided
if
there
was
a
clear
directive
and
standards
on
information
sharing
from
the
beginning.
This
is
also
one
of
the
conclusions
from
the
report
from
the
Humanitarian
Information
Unit
(HIU,
July
2010)
in
Haiti.
The
Disaster
Accountability
Project
(DAP)
issued
a
report
on
organisation
transparency
for
the
aid
response
in
Haiti
(Disaster
Accountability
Project,
2011).
The
report
express
a
concerning
lake
of
transparency
amongst
the
actor
involved.
Only
1
of
196
organisations
solicited
for
Haiti
relief
funds,
provide
acceptable
information
for
public
scrutiny
online,
and
only
20
percent
of
the
196
organisation
in
total
completed
the
transparency
survey
issued
by
DAP,
showing
a
significant
lack
of
transparency.
The
report
also
articulates
the
need
for
improved
daily
information
updates
that
are
made
available
to
the
public
concerning
the
activities
and
programs
in
order
to
achieve
better
transparency.
Method
This
paper
is
based
on
interviews
with
IM-­‐professional
within
the
area
of
humanitarian
response
work.
Structured
interviews
have
been
conducted
via
e-­‐mail
with
four
respondents.
The
collected
data
has
been
analysed
through
a
thematic
study,
to
find
commonality
amongst
the
respondents.
The
participants
in
study
have
a
background
and
education
in
computer
science,
informatics
and
geographic
information
system
(GIS).
Most
of
them
are
working
for
Swedish
organisations
and
companies
(private
and
governmental)
when
not
working
for
Swedish
Contingencies
Agency
Service
3

4.
Department
of
Applied
IT
:
University
of
Gothenburg
&
Chalmers
4
(MSB)
internationally.
They
are
recruited
through
a
selection
process,
where
also
the
international
partners
to
Swedish
Civil
Contingencies
Agency
(MSB)
have
approved
their
profiles
(through
interview
and
matching
against
terms
of
references).
The
four
persons
all
have
background
in
working
with
information
management,
and
are
named
as
following
thought
the
study.
The
persons
interviewed
in
the
study,
were
selected
from
the
MSB
international
roster.
Respondent
1
4
long
term
missions
as
Information
manager
officer
Respondent
2
2
long
term
missions
as
Information
manager
officer
Respondent
3
3
long
term
missions
as
Information
manager
officer
Respondent
4
Shorter
missions
during
2009,
working
with
Geographic
Information
System
(GIS)
The
respondents
have
significant
knowledge
and
experience
of
the
IM
routines
and
the
objectives
of
their
specific
roles.
They
are
normally
working
beside
the
cluster
coordinator
to
gather
and
analyse
information
from
the
cluster.
Some
of
the
respondents
work
on
collecting
information
from
multiple
clusters
(depending
on
the
assignment),
to
facilitate
the
coordination
of
several
cluster,
and
to
create
an
overall
picture
of
the
humanitarian
situation.
Analysis
and
results
The
analysis
of
the
interview
data
resulted
in
two
key
areas
of
concern;
Lack
of
IM
routines
and
Fragmented
toolbox.
The
term
“standardised
toolbox”
is
used
in
this
study,
and
is
equivalent
to
information
system.
The
standardised
toolbox
refers
to
a
collection
of
tools
and
applications
where
data
seamlessly
move
between
the
tool
boundaries,
and
resembles
an
information
system.
Lack
of
IM
routines
The
respondents
express
that
the
awareness
of
the
IM
routines
is
not
always
clear
amongst
the
organisations
and
persons
connected
to
the
cluster.
What
requirements
that
are
needed
to
setup
and
maintain
a
reliable
information
system.
This
can
lead
to
that
proper
IM
routines
are
not
prioritised
in
the
onset
of
a
crisis
and
are
established
at
a
later
stage.
The
uncertainty
of
what
the
IM
routines
are,
leads
to
that
people
that
are
not
trained
in
IM,
do
ad-­‐
hoc
solution
in
the
beginning
of
a
crisis,
since
there
are
no
dedicated
or
trained
IM
person
available.
The
first
information
is
often
retrieved
by
e-­‐mails,
posting
note
on
the
walls,
and
word
of
mouth.
Normally
in
this
stage
there
are
no
thoughts
about
the
structure
and
traceable
of
the
information
gathered.
People
share
what
information
they
have
to
create
a
picture
of
the
situation,
and
most
of
that
information
is
unstructured
and
exist
in
people's
minds.
When
this
solution
is
no
longer
viable
due
to
the
amount
of
information
from
the
increasing
of
people
and
organisations,
another
ad-­‐hoc
solution
is
often
put
in
place.
Where
the
information
is
put
into
a
spreadsheet,
without
thinking
through
how
to
structure
the
data
for
traceability
and
decision
support.
4

5.
Department
of
Applied
IT
:
University
of
Gothenburg
&
Chalmers
5
"My
experience
in
Indonesia
was
that
data
that
had
been
collected
before
I
arrived
was
difficult
to
use,
the
excel
document
used
was
not
thought
through
and
there
was
no
tracking
of
the
data
sources."
-­‐
Respondent
2
"As
I
am
often
coming
out
as
3'rd
wave
(after
3-­‐6
weeks),
some
tools
have
often
been
introduced
as
emergency
masseurs
with
less
emphasis
on
quality
and
detailed
data
(needed
for
efficient
coordination).
As
introducing
new
tools,
still
in
simple
format
-­‐
often
excel
-­‐
I
am
always
met
with
the
question
-­‐
why
wasn't
this
introduced
earlier?"
-­‐
Respondent
1
In
many
cases
there
is
misconceived
idea
of
what
is
needed
to
establish
proper
IM
routines,
and
to
often
there
seems
to
be
a
synonym
between
IM
and
the
use
of
Excel.
Because
this
is
what
people
has
access
to
on
their
computers
and
are
commonly
known
(explained
more
in
detail
later).
Even
amongst
cluster
coordinators
there
is
sometimes
a
vague
idea
how
to
establish
working
IM
routines.
This
will
lead
to
missed
opportunities
to
set
up
working
IM
routines
early
in
the
crisis.
"...
her
view
on
IM,
was
someone
that
wrote
protocols
and
copied
papers.
To
analyse
data
and
how
we
collected
it,
was
not
of
importance
to
her."
-­‐Respondent
2
The
organisations
(NGOs)
working
in
the
field
(implementing
the
humanitarian
response)
are
asked
by
the
cluster
to
report
their
whereabouts
and
activities.
This
is
information
that
the
organisations
already
have
and
updates
continuously,
for
their
internal
reporting.
But
this
information
is
not
likely
in
the
format
that
the
cluster
is
requiring.
When
share
this
information,
they
have
to
reproduce
this
information
into
a
cluster
specific
format
(probably
one
for
every
cluster
that
the
organisation
is
participating
in).
"One
big
problem
us
getting
the
information.
Agencies
are
very
busy
with
limited
capacity
to
provide
the
information.
Also,
they
may
not
be
used
to
using
structured
formats
and
misunderstand
what
is
needed."
-­‐
Respondent
3
All
this
requests
of
information
from
various
cluster
and
partner
organisations
leads
to
reporting
fatigueness
and
increased
workload,
when
asked
to
repeat
the
same
information
several
times.
Most
of
the
time
information
is
flowing
in
one
direction
(bottom-­‐up),
and
organisations
have
no
easy
access
to
all
the
gathered
information
online.
That
could
facilitate
the
process
for
organisations
to
collaborate
together
and
organise
themselves.
Fragmented
toolbox
There
are
variety
of
system
and
applications
used
to
perform
the
task
related
to
IM.
The
interviewed
persons
have
answered
what
applications
they
use
and
what
they
used
it
for.
The
graph
presented
below,
represent
the
most
used
applications.
5

6.
Department
of
Applied
IT
:
University
of
Gothenburg
&
Chalmers
6
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
Disseminaion
1
Analysis
0
Collecion
Excel
ArcGIS
Misc
Websites
E-­‐mail
Handouts
PowerPoint
Word
Google
Groups
Google
Doc
CMS
GPS
Camera
InDesign
Photoshop
Applica'ons
and
thier
main
use
Figure:
Use
of
different
application
Data
Collection
All
respondents
use
Microsoft
Excel
for
collecting
data.
They
use
Excel
to
design
a
report
format
with
fixed
fields
and
tables
for
the
organisations
(NGOs)
to
fill.
This
is
done
quickly
by
the
IM-­‐person,
when
he
or
she
knows
what
information
is
need.
The
span
of
information
normally
increases
when
the
crisis
unfolds,
and
when
the
complexity
of
the
situation
is
escalated.
So
the
report
tools
(the
spreadsheet)
that
are
used,
often
undergoes
changes
and
different
versions
are
created
over
a
short
time.
Normally
the
collected
reports
are
also
stored
in
a
spreadsheet
document,
which
rapidly
increases
in
size
(depending
on
the
number
of
organisations
reporting).
This
leads
to
problems
sooner
or
later,
when
using
spreadsheet
applications
for
collecting,
analysing,
storing
and
reporting
information.
Some
of
these
problems
are;
• multiple
version
of
the
spreadsheet
file,
when
the
document
is
shared,
and
more
than
one
person
is
working
on
the
data
at
once
• inconsistency
of
data
units
and
quantity
(no
programmatic
constraints
for
input)
• submission
of
outdated
reporting
formats
(early
version
of
the
reporting
tool
are
submitted)
• data
is
not
normalised
and
persisted
in
a
database4
• copy
and
paste
errors
• faulty
geographic
position
or
format,
numerous
names
for
the
same
place
or
town
(no
automatic
error
checking)
• organisation
send
their
own
spreadsheets
formats,
instead
of
following
the
promoted
format
• data
is
lost
when
computers
break
or
when
the
person
who
collected
all
data
is
not
present
Excel
is
a
powerful
tool
for
analysing
information
where
real-­‐time
or
online
collaboration
is
not
needed.
But
when
more
than
one
organisation
and
one
person
needs
to
access
to
the
data
at
the
same
time,
problem
like
the
above
are
likely
to
happen.
When
trying
to
use
general
office
application,
to
address
the
functionality
of
a
wider
information
system.
4
Server
base,
with
DBMS
6

7.
Department
of
Applied
IT
:
University
of
Gothenburg
&
Chalmers
7
"For
collection
of
data
of
response
activities,
a
standardised
on-­‐line
database
with
distributed
user
rights
would
be
needed
that
is
tracking
cluster-­‐specific
activities
(not
projects
-­‐as
the
OCHAs
3W
standard
product)
..."
-­‐
Respondent
1
Amongst
the
respondents
there
is
an
expressed
need
for
an
online,
collaborative
information
system
that
can
support
the
business
process
of
the
IM
routines.
One
person
is
referring
to
an
OCHA
3W
(who
is
doing
what,
where)
tool,
but
none
of
the
respondents
are
reported
to
use
it.
When
creating
reporting
formats
for
the
cluster,
the
knowledge
amongst
the
organisations
on
how
to
fill
these
cluster
reports
seems
to
be
problematic.
Since
the
nature
of
office
applications
and
spreadsheets
does
not
restricts
the
users
on
double
reporting
the
same
data
twice
or
mixing
units
and
formats.
This
leads
to
inconsistency
and
tedious
harmonisation
process
of
the
collected
data
for
the
persons
working
with
IM.
"Also
better
training
in
data
collection
routines,
who
a
correct
collection
of
data
should
be
preformed
(standardisations
needed)
to
get
usable
data."
-­‐
Respondent
4
What
is
expressed
by
the
IM
persons
interviewed,
is
there
seems
to
be
a
better
understanding
on
what
kind
of
information
products
the
cluster
coordinator
wants
to
be
produced
(maps,
statistics,
graphs,
etc).
But
less
so
on
what
is
needed
to
obtain
a
reliable
information
systems,
which
can
support
the
making
of
these
products.
"Standardising
will
facilitate
the
process
handover
between
IM
persons,
and
too
explain
for
those
we
collaborate
with,
what
we
do
and
don't
do."
-­‐
Respondent
2
A
standardisation
for
information
exchange
would
not
only
enable
tools
to
be
interoperable,
but
also
facilitate
the
hand-­‐over
process
of
information.
Hand-­‐over
is
an
important
aspect,
since
turnover
and
replacement
of
personal
are
frequent
in
crisis.
There
is
also
an
expressed
need
for
training
and
raising
awareness
around
information
systems
(in
broad
terms)
and
explaining
the
routines
that
is
required
for
qualitative
data
gathering.
Not
only
to
the
people
already
working
with
IM,
but
to
all
personnel
in
the
organisations
that
are
not
specialised
in
IM
and
GIS.
This
is
also
articulated
in
the
report
by
HIU
(HIU,
July
2010).
"Better
trained
staff,
i.e.
that
doesn't
work
with
GIS,
can
get
a
understanding
for
how
the
system
works
and
what
products,
analysis,
etc,
that
can
be
produced.
Even
training
in
how
to
perform
an
accurate
data
gathering
process
(standards
needed)
to
retrieve
usable
information."
-­‐
Respondent
4
Analysis
and
dissemination
The
respondents
in
the
study
all
use
geographic
information
systems
(GIS)
to
analyse
data
and
producing
maps
to
facilitate
the
decision
making
process.
GIS
was
adopted
quickly
by
the
humanitarian
community
for
its
ability
to
visualise
data,
and
graphically
present
a
snapshoot
over
the
situation.
"I
use
Google
groups
to
administrate
contacts
lists
and
to
distribute
documents"
–
Respondent
2
7

8.
Department
of
Applied
IT
:
University
of
Gothenburg
&
Chalmers
8
Since
the
data
collection
phase
takes
a
lot
of
time
and
effort
for
the
IM
person.
There
is
less
time
over
for
analysing
and
produce
information
products.
These
information
products
are
distributed
widely
(via
print-­‐outs,
webpage's
and
email),
and
often
they
present
a
several
days
old
picture
of
the
situation.
This
can
be
a
problem
if
timely
information
is
needed.
A
collaborative
tool
would
on-­‐
demand
produce
this
maps
for
each
user,
depending
on
what
he
or
she
is
interested
to
look
at.
Building
an
interoperable
toolbox
that
can
support
and
automate
parts
of
the
business
processes
in
IM,
would
be
desirable
amongst
the
respondents.
Together
with
the
need
to
move
away
from
the
significant
use
of
office
applications.
That
does
not
promote
interoperability
and
sound
meta-­‐data
standards.
Below
one
respondent
is
referring
to
the
need
for
a
standardised
toolbox.
"The
lack
of
standardised
tools
that
are
used
in
all
emergencies
and
that
the
humanitarian
actors
will
recognise
and
improve
the
usage
of
them."
-­‐
Respondent
1
Standardisation
and
accessible
information
networks
was
reported
as
important
(UN,
2005),
to
improve
the
effectiveness
in
response
and
planning.
The
respondents
in
this
study
express
unmistakably
that
the
standardisation
of
information,
is
still
the
major
concern
for
the
personnel
working
in
the
field
with
IM.
Implication
for
design
These
implications
are
based
on
the
previous
analysis,
and
server
as
guidance
for
some
of
the
requirements
that
need
to
be
considered.
When
designing
an
information
system
that
supports
the
IM
routines.
First
is
to
define
a
meta-­‐data
standard
that
is
used
by
all
organisations
and
actors.
So
all
data
that
is
collected
or
exchange
in
one
way
or
the
other
contains
meta-­‐data,
and
it
is
important
to
see
the
meta-­‐data
as
an
integrated
part
of
the
information.
The
same
is
required
for
the
information
gathered
in
early
stages
of
the
crisis.
Classify
information
in
the
same
way
all
over
the
humanitarian
community
is
also
important,
i.e.
to
use
the
same
terminology.
"Standardised
tools
for
collecting
data.
Optimal
is
an
online
based
tool,
with
good
possibility
to
capture
forms
that
has
been
filled
online."
-­‐Respondent
2
The
over
represented
tool
used
by
the
interviewed
persons
are
Excel,
as
explained
earlier.
This
is
not
seen
as
an
optimal
solution
amongst
the
interview
person.
But
a
solution
to
the
problem,
that
there
is
no
sufficient
system
support
for
the
IM
processes
(i.e.
a
fragmented
toolbox).
There
are
several
concrete
requirements
in
the
interview
material
for
functions
that
would
be
desired,
of
a
standardised
toolbox
that
can
support
the
IM
routines.
"During
the
emergency
there
is
no
time
to
invent
new
tools,
and
certain
basic
tools
should
be
easily
available
to
the
field
staff
(who
should
receive
training
before
the
mission).
For
example,
there
should
be
an
easily
configurable
online
3W,
assessment
tools,
etc
that
filed
staff
can
use,
rather
than
spending
time
on
excel
sheets,
etc."
-­‐
Respondent
3
"Possibility
to
generate
reports."
-­‐
Respondent
2
8

9.
Department
of
Applied
IT
:
University
of
Gothenburg
&
Chalmers
9
”Possibility
to
export-­‐import
from
excel
and
other
formats"
-­‐
Respondent
2
There
are
plenty
of
online
tools
and
applications
that
can
be
used
to
cover
a
number
of
the
requirements
that
are
needed
for
IM
in
humanitarian
context.
The
design
of
a
standardised
toolbox
should
take
benefit
of
the
variety
of
the
mesh-­‐up
services
already
excising
in
the
cloud,
together
with
specific
tools
that
supports
the
core
IM
routines.
The
boundaries
between
the
different
tools
must
be
seamlessly
for
the
user,
although
the
user
is
working
with
several
different
tools
when
performing
tasks
in
the
IM
process
cycle.
This
will
create
a
homogeneous
system
environment
for
the
user.
Today
the
toolbox
is
fragmented
and
the
user
has
to
manually
move
data
between
the
tools,
and
the
user
environment
(interface)
can
be
very
different.
I
am
not
talking
about
an
all-­‐encompassing
information
system
for
whole
humanitarian
community,
but
tools
that
can
support
the
core
IM
routines.
The
meta-­‐data
standard
will
facilitate
that
data
and
information
can
move
more
easily
between
tools
and
systems.
Without
the
need
for
harmonising
data
every
time
the
user
wants
to
use
functionality
in
other
tools.
Tools
that
support
the
standard
should
apply
constraints
and
automatic
error
checking
on
gathered
data.
Even
data
that
are
exchanged
between
tools,
should
apply
error
checking
to
maintain
and
improve
the
data
quality.
The
toolbox
also
needs
to
provide
the
possibility
to
analyse
more
granular
information
(explained
in
the
discussion
section),
together
with
the
meta-­‐data
standards.
So
cross-­‐reference
of
data
can
be
done
between
different
tools
(that
are
part
of
a
standard
toolbox),
without
the
need
for
manual
labour
of
harmonising
data.
It
is
also
necessary
to
define
what
tools
that
are
included
in
the
standardised
toolbox
and
what
tools
that
are
considered
as
optional.
It
is
a
paramount
that
the
tools
that
are
included
in
the
standard
toolbox,
are
interoperable
and
promote
the
meta-­‐data
standard.
System
science
and
informatics
are
academic
disciplines
and
forms
the
theoretic
framework,
from
which
an
information
system
is
designed.
There
seems
to
be
a
need
to
raise
awareness
around
these
theories,
amongst
the
humanitarian
community.
On
how
these
theories
conveys
into
practice,
when
gathering
information
and
what
requirements
they
impose
on
a
sound
information
system.
These
theories
needs
to
be
considered
when
drafting
a
new
toolbox
that
better
support
the
IM
and
a
wider
information
system
for
the
humanitarian
community.
Many
of
the
tools
used
today
are
likely
to
be
part
of
the
next
generation
of
toolbox,
and
other
tools
need
to
be
replaced
by
new
tools
that
better
support
the
business
processes.
In
the
section
analysing
the
IM
routines,
the
respondents
explains
the
need
to
promote
sound
IM
routines
to
the
community.
These
routines
go
hand
in
hand
with
the
system
or
tools
that
support
these
routines.
So
before
training
the
humanitarian
actors
in
these
routines,
there
needs
to
be
standardised
processes
for
IM
related
work,
and
tools
that
support
those
processes.
Discussion
There
are
several
organisation
working
in
one
cluster
(there
were
267
organisations
in
the
health
cluster
in
Haiti
alone,
Dec
2010
(UN,
2010)),
where
most
of
these
organisations
are
reporting
activities
to
the
cluster.
On
top
of
that,
there
could
be
several
clusters
(12
in
Haiti
(UN,
2010))
active
in
the
country
at
the
same
time.
Then
the
functionality
and
the
intended
use
for
an
office
application,
is
probably
exceeded.
To
be
able
to
move
away
from
such
tools
that
does
not
promote
9

10.
Department
of
Applied
IT
:
University
of
Gothenburg
&
Chalmers
10
interoperability
and
collaboration.
There
has
to
be
a
framework
in-­‐place
that
describes
the
minimum
of
requirements
for
tools
intended
to
be
included
in
a
future
standardised
toolbox.
Few
people
in
the
humanitarian
community
(expressed
earlier
about
the
awareness
on
IM
routines)
know
what
effort
and
knowledge
it
takes
to
maintain
a
sound
information
system.
Especially
when
all
the
IM
phases
today,
need
to
be
preformed
manually
by
the
IM
person.
On
top
of
the
manual
labour,
there
are
no
promoted
standards
on
information
gathering.
This
makes
the
work
even
more
time
consuming,
when
trying
to
understand
the
ambiguous
collected
data.
"No
sufficient
standards
for
colleting,
storing,
processing,
symbolise,
etc.
exist.
This
convey
to
insufficiency
metadata
when
different
nations/persons
follows
different
standards/rules.
And
lead
to
that
no
reliable
analysis
can
be
made,
and
that
the
interoperability
between
the
system
and
formats
are
insufficient"
-­‐
Respondent
4
This
appears
to
be
symptomatic
in
many
crises
and
is
stressed
by
all
of
the
interviewed
persons.
Currion
(Currion,
Silva,
&
Walle,
2007)
points
out
that
the
humanitarian
community
has
not
taking
full
advantages
of
the
technology
shift
and
what
it
can
provide.
It
is
a
crucial
that
data
within
the
community
follows
a
minimum
of
standards
and
is
gathered
for
mutual
collaboration.
Today
data
is
captured
for
the
purpose
of
making
a
report
by
one
person
or
organisation.
That
gets
communicated
via
email
or
websites.
It
is
important
to
start
capture
data
for
the
whole
community
that
everyone
can
collaborate
on
simultaneously.
But
for
that
become
a
reality,
there
has
to
be
standards
on
collected
data.
Today,
most
of
the
information
is
distributed
through
a
flora
of
PDF
reports
and
excel
matrices
via
email,
CMS
and
internet
sites.
There
is
a
great
risk
that
all
these
reports
hide
some
important
pieces
of
information
that
could
be
a
conclusive
part
that
could
improve
the
sense
making,
or
have
an
impact
on
decision
making.
It
is
important
to
realise
that
data
and
information
trapped
inside
PDF
reports,
does
not
promote
collaboration
and
a
continual
revaluation
of
a
situation.
There
is
no
time
to
sit
down
and
skim
trough
a
mountain
of
PDF
reports
before
understand
the
current
situation,
it
is
not
part
of
a
sound
sense
making
or
promptly
decision
making
environment.
Instead
it
can
become
a
tsunami
of
information
that
is
more
or
less
impossible
to
navigate
trough.
If
you
Google
“haiti
earthquake
pdf”,
you
will
get
more
that
1
220
000
(23
Jan
2011)
references
to
PDF
documents.
This
is
an
achievement
on
its
own,
but
where
do
you
start
to
read,
if
you
intended
to
start
up
an
aid
mission
in
Haiti
(if
you
add
“water”
to
the
search
string,
you
will
only
get
a
reference
to
596
000
documents)?
The
information
systems5
used
today
is
more
of
one-­‐way
directional,
feeding
information
from
a
bottom-­‐up
perspective.
I.e.
the
current
systems
gathering
information
intended
for
management
and
coordination.
Where
NGOs
send-­‐in
requested
data
in
excel
reports
or
other
reporting
formats,
to
someone
that
aggregate
this
data
on
his
or
her
personal
computer.
From
this
"one
man"
information
system,
they
create
a
standard
set
of
information
products
like
excel
matrices,
maps,
and
textual
documents.
These
information
products
are
often
in
PDF
format
and
summarise
what
has
happen
over
the
last
weeks,
depending
on
the
cluster
reporting
cycle.
These
reports
functioning
more
as
communiqués
or
bulletins
and
describes
the
past
situation
instead
of
the
current.
To
better
support
the
IM
routine
providing
a
information
system6
that
all
concerned
parties
can
collaborate
on
5
The
fragmented
toolbox
that
is
a
mixture
of
excel,
e-­‐mail,
group
webpage's
6
Several
interoperable
systems
and
application,
forming
a
wider
information
system
10

11.
Department
of
Applied
IT
:
University
of
Gothenburg
&
Chalmers
11
together,
on-­‐line,
and
from
different
locations.
So
they
can
coordinate
themselves
in
their
local
surroundings,
with
their
local
partners.
Because
the
problem
with
standardisation
and
addressing
the
need
of
a
standardised
toolbox
(explained
earlier).
There
will
probably
be
actors
(private
corporations,
volunteers,
research
institutions,
open-­‐source
community)
outside
the
humanitarian
community
that
will
stepping
in
and
solve
some
of
the
problems
addressed
in
this
study.
Especially
the
open-­‐source
community
that
already
started
to
take-­‐on
this
opportunity
(more
on
this
topic
later).
But
the
technology
itself
will
not
solve
the
problem
of
a
fragmented
toolbox.
There
have
been
several
attempts
to
tackle
the
problems
with
a
standardised
information
system
(like
CRM,
project
management
system,
etc),
or
adopting
general
application
(office
application)
that
you
can
buy
of
the
shelf.
Most
lately
the
open-­‐source
community
(such
as
(Sahana,
2010),
(Ushahidi,
2010),
(SwiftRiver,
2010),
etc),
has
seen
the
opportunity
to
aid
the
humanitarian
community.
They
have
an
outside
perspective,
and
bring
experience
in
the
field
of
computer
science,
system
science
and
informatics.
They
are
not
restricted
to
organisational
structures
and
internal
politics,
and
they
should
continue
to
be
agile
and
not
incorporated
into
the
humanitarian
community.
But
the
open-­‐
source
community
can
only
aid,
if
the
humanitarian
community
engage
in
transparency
and
a
willingness
to
undergo
introspection
(revise
internal
processes
and
organisational
structure,
etc)
themselves.
The
open-­‐source
community
(research
institutes,
private
corporations)
have
the
experience
and
knowledge
to
design
the
next
generation
of
information
system7.
But
they
need
the
in-­‐depth
knowledge
of
routines
and
practise
that
the
humanitarian
community
has.
Recent
studies
has
shown
that
crowdsourcing
is
one
way
to
gather
information
that
can
assist
on
triangulate
(HIU,
July
2010)
the
sense
making
of
the
situation,
but
it
will
not
replace
the
need
for
structured
information,
enquired
by
professionals.
The
interview
material
for
this
study
indicates,
that
structured
data
is
still
the
base
to
make
reliable
predictions,
planning
and
sound
decision
making.
Since
crisis
sometimes
restricts
movement
of
people
and
impose
constraints
to
logistics
capacity,
the
significant
amount
of
time
is
it
take
to
attend
to
different
coordination
meetings
should
be
reduced.
An
important
paradigm
for
aid
effectiveness
would
be
to
provide
these
interoperable
tools,
to
let
organisations
at
different
levels
(filed
offices,
regional
offices,
headquarters)
to
coordinate
themselves.
Since
local
organisations
and
actors
properly
know
and
understand
their
surroundings
better
than
outside
experts.
Therefore
it
is
important
to
design
the
next
generation
of
information
system
to
empower
the
local
organisations
and
community
to
make
self-­‐governance
possible.
So
to
understand
why
there
is
no
standardisation
on
information
and
tools
yet,
lies
outside
the
scope
of
this
paper.
But
the
interview
material
and
experience
gives
some
clues
about
some
of
the
problems.
Maitland
(Maitland,
Tchouakeu,
&
Tapia,
2009)
debate
how
hierarchical
organisational
structures
can
hamper
coordination.
Other
reasons
for
the
slow
implementation
of
standardisations
could
be
political
dimensions,
unregulated
market,
ownership
of
problem,
no
real
transparency.
The
DAP
(Disaster
Accountability
Project,
2011)
report
on
transparency
amongst
the
organisations
in
the
aftermath
of
the
earthquake
in
Haiti,
shows
significant
deficiency
of
detailed
information
over
field
work
for
public
scrutiny
on-­‐
7
Standardised
toolbox
11

12.
Department
of
Applied
IT
:
University
of
Gothenburg
&
Chalmers
12
line.
The
lack
of
transparency
that
the
DAP
project
reports
together
with
the
findings
in
this
paper,
suggest
that
there
is
problems
on
more
levels
and
not
only
on
the
art
of
capturing
consolidate
data
itself.
The
DAP
report
hints
that
there
seems
to
be
a
discomfort
for
outside
scrutiny
and
insight
to
actual
performance.
This
suggests
that
even
if
the
humanitarian
community
comes
to
terms
with
the
problem
of
a
fragmented
toolbox
and
lack
of
standardisations.
There
are
other
problem
areas
that
need
to
be
aligned
before
an
open
and
mutual
trustful
information
exchange
can
be
established.
Conclusion
The
study
presents
some
suggestions
to
align
a
toolbox
of
systems
and
applications
that
can
support
the
IM
routines.
The
first
suggestion
that
this
study
propose
is
to
implement
a
meta-­‐data
standard
that
is
part
of
every
data-­‐containers
that
is
exchanged.
There
could
be
sub-­‐sets
of
meta-­‐data
standards,
for
more
specific
use,
for
sectors
that
needs
more
granular
and
detailed
data.
Like
analysing
of
spatial
data,
geology
and
other
high
data
intensity
sectors.
The
study
indicates
that
the
need
for
structured
data
to
make
elaborate
analysis
and
decision
making
is
still
important.
The
second
suggestion
is
to
define
a
standard
toolbox
of
application
and
systems
that
support
the
IM
routines,
and
that
these
tools
endorse
the
meta-­‐data
standard.
The
last
suggestion
is
to
promote
good
IM
practise
to
the
whole
humanitarian
community,
not
only
the
professional
information
managers.
The
interview
material
points
out
that
this
could
have
direct
impact
on
data
quality,
but
even
more
so,
when
there
are
standards
and
policies
on
information
exchange.
This
study
is
an
introduction
to
field
related
problems
that
professional
information
managers
encounter.
There
is
a
need
for
further
studies,
to
formalise
more
direct
implications
for
system
design
and
information
standardisation.
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13