00:00:00 Introduction

Thanks so much, Faye, and it's really a pleasure to be in the same office again post-COVID, or mostly post-COVID, even though we're on separate screens. Today we're going to do a quick presentation about ActivityInfo. This is really geared towards those of you who might be considering using ActivityInfo. We will talk about the product itself, look through a demo, talk about some of the onboarding and support services that our company can provide, and wrap up with any questions that you might have.

00:00:45 Overview of ActivityInfo

I want to frame this by introducing ActivityInfo as an end-to-end solution for data management, whether in humanitarian relief or in development programs. Our goal over the last 12 years has been to develop a single platform that can manage data collection through data management, validating, cleaning data, all the way through analysis. I think there's a lot of value in bringing all of these things together in one place. It certainly seems to save a lot of frustration and time, especially when you have scarce resources in the field.

It's a formula that seems to be working. We've deployed ActivityInfo in more than 70 countries with NGOs, local NGOs, international NGOs, governments, and the United Nations. We've got lots of case studies on our website that you can read about other organizations that have adopted ActivityInfo and the benefits that it's brought them. What's really exciting is that we've seen a growth in the types of data and the use cases that people are using ActivityInfo to address. This ranges from beneficiary databases tracking at an individual level, through case management, all the way up to tracking indicators against log frames that may be at a national or global level, or coordination looking across many different organizations.

00:03:17 Getting started with templates

ActivityInfo gives you a lot of power and, because of its flexibility, sometimes it's easier to start with a template. On the ActivityInfo website, under Support, there is a templates section. This section has a series of ready-to-use templates that will give you a jump start on whatever you're trying to do.

Let's start with a field-level use case and work our way up from there. I'm going to start with this IDP site assessment and response database template. If you click on the "Get started with this template" button, it will help you create a copy of this template so that you can customize it and play with it in your own sandbox. If you don't have an ActivityInfo account, it's actually going to take you through the sign-up page where you can create a new account and try everything out for 30 days at no cost.

Now you can see that I've got a brand new database. I'm the owner, only I can access it, and I've got several data collection forms as well as a dashboard that highlights some of the key results from this database. The idea behind this template is that you are collecting assessments about IDP sites—internally displaced people—in this case, set in the Central African Republic.

00:05:20 Data collection methods

ActivityInfo helps you to collect the data, and we give you quite a few options for bringing data into the system. You can use the web-based data entry form. If you have paper forms and you need to enter them in the website, just click on "Add record." This will take you through a data entry form to fill out the results of this assessment, capturing location, dates, and other data. You can also attach files, photos, capture signatures if you're on a mobile device, and leave notes.

Bringing data in through the data entry form is definitely not the only way. ActivityInfo has a built-in mobile data collection app. We have an Android app available from the Play Store and an iOS version. Something that's quite different about ActivityInfo compared to a standalone mobile data collection tool is that I can also see the data in the database that I have access to. If I work offline, I can download the database for offline use. It makes a local copy on my mobile phone so that when I'm out in the field, I can go back to any of these entries and review what the previous team collected. I can update assessments or enter new results.

The offline mode works not only on your mobile phone, but it works really well in your web browser as well. If you're working on your laptop and the internet connectivity is not great, you still have this offline copy of your database available. As soon as the connection becomes available, this will synchronize to the server.

00:11:08 Importing data

ActivityInfo also has a great importer, which means that you can bring data in bulk from a bulk data source. When you bring data into ActivityInfo through the importer, the system is going to help you to clean this up a bit. Even if the data that you're bringing in doesn't exactly match the structure in your database, you can map columns during the import process.

If there are data entry errors, these records are going to be highlighted for you. You can download those separately to correct them. ActivityInfo also flags if records match existing records, so they can be updated in place rather than adding duplicates. It is a really powerful tool for not only bringing data in but for cleaning up data that might be living right now in Excel spreadsheets or in some other system.

00:14:11 Customizing forms

As the administrator of the database, I can make changes at any time. In the Form Settings, I can see all the fields and make additional changes. For example, if I need to add another status option like "Cancelled," I can do that easily. You can also set calculated fields and relevance rules, which act like skip logic. For example, asking about the number of families that received an NFI kit is only relevant if the distribution status is "Completed."

00:15:26 Data management and permissions

ActivityInfo gives you the full history of any changes that are made to the data. You can always see exactly who made a change and when that change occurred. The system also makes it really easy to share your data and manage access. In the Database Settings under User Management, I can grant access to others and define roles.

You can customize these roles to change what permissions users have. I can make someone an administrator, or I can give them a "Field office staff" role and limit their visibility to a specific field office. You can filter roles based on incident type, project type, country, or other criteria. You can lock the structure down so that field staff can view, edit, and delete records but cannot change the structure of the forms. The database also comes with full audit logs, so you can see all of the activity in your database, including permission changes.

00:18:42 Translation features

One of the new features that we've added is the translation feature. This allows you to open up your database to people of many different languages. I can start with this database in English and add additional translations in French or Arabic. We have an integration with Google Translate for a quick translation. When I switch the language to French, not only are my system messages in French, but my form names and questions have been translated as well. We are also rolling out a new interface that will allow you to manually correct these translations.

00:20:50 Relational database features

Something I really want to underscore that sets ActivityInfo apart from a lot of other tools used in the humanitarian world is that ActivityInfo is a relational database at heart. That means that when I collect my list of site assessments, I can relate other data to it. For example, if I want to do a voucher fair in some of these sites, I can link this voucher fair back to the original assessment.

This means that your data quality is going to be much better because you're not relying on people to type in the name of the IDP site or use a code; it's firmly linked to that assessment record. I don't need to re-enter any of that information. If I add families related to the voucher fair, and by extension to the site assessment, I can find that information back from the original site assessment. All of that information stays linked together, ensuring ActivityInfo is your central source of truth.

00:23:15 Analysis and reporting

ActivityInfo helps you keep all of your data in one place, making it easy to quickly do real-time analysis as it is coming in. For example, if I want to know how many sites we have assessed by field office, I can do a quick pivot table and turn that into a bar chart. Once I've designed this report, I can save it as a new dashboard so that others in the database can see it.

I can combine several analyses together. If I want to see a map of these sites and customize the colors, I can take the number of families and show that on the map as a graduated symbol. Once it's saved, this is automatically updated. As new data comes in, you always have the latest results. You can share these reports without giving people access to the underlying data, protecting personal information.

00:25:46 Global M&E database template

Now I'm going to shift gears and look at another use case. Often in the role of an M&E officer, our job is to keep an eye on a portfolio of projects, perhaps managing a country program or at the global level managing hundreds of projects. I'm going to go to the Global M&E database template.

This template is helpful in managing a larger portfolio. It has a list of projects with basic information like title, budget, theme, and country. At the same time, I've got subforms to track more detailed information. For example, a logical framework subform tracks outcomes and impacts. I can identify indicators and link them to higher-level indicators. Often, you have a series of project-level indicators that you want to roll up to a common indicator across all your projects, like "number of direct beneficiaries."

We also have a list of monthly reports so you can ask project teams to report each month with narrative information and indicator results. It pulls in the baseline and target from the metadata as a reference. We see a lot of organizations start by using this central database to centralize information about projects and then slowly roll out ActivityInfo to the project-level information systems.

00:34:33 Q&A: M&E template and comparison to ODK

Question: How is the system different from KoboToolbox or ODK?

Answer: Those are great tools, but ActivityInfo is quite different. First, it is a relational database. It allows you to manage many different forms and the relationships between them, such as linking a site assessment to a voucher fair and then to families. This is not easily possible with many other mobile data collection tools.

Secondly, ActivityInfo is not just a one-way sync. It gives you a two-way sync. When I'm in the mobile app, I have a copy of my database that I can take with me. This is useful for case management because someone can go to the field with all the information they need. They can review data and make updates, and this gets synced automatically. If a colleague back in the office updates the form structure, that new field gets automatically added to the device as soon as it has a connection.

00:38:00 Q&A: HQ visibility and data aggregation

Question: Does the system allow HQ to look at information about different country offices and aggregate data from different activities?

Answer: Yes. A common pattern in larger organizations is to have one database per country or per large program. Within each of these databases, you can define a role for the headquarters. You might grant HQ staff a role where they can view all data and export it, but perhaps not delete data. Some organizations are hierarchical where HQ builds and manages the databases, while others are more bottom-up where field offices build the systems and grant HQ access.

00:40:44 Q&A: Exporting and external analysis

Question: Are the generated tables and charts exportable to Excel and Word?

Answer: You can export to Excel, CSV, and PDF. I am working on a Word export. However, you don't have to do all the analysis in ActivityInfo. We have great integrations with specialized tools. You can use our API to get a JSON endpoint to copy and paste into Power BI. If you have geographic data, you can get the GeoJSON endpoint for QGIS. We also have a great integration with R for statistical analysis, allowing you to pull data, analyze it, and push it back via the API.

00:42:49 Q&A: Data security

Question: What about the safety of the data?

Answer: When you create a database in ActivityInfo, you are the only one able to access that data until you invite others. We have two versions: a hosted version at activityinfo.org and a self-managed version you can run on your own servers.

For the hosted version, we manage the software, updates, and security. We are currently undergoing penetration testing. Our team does not have access to your databases by default; you have to invite us if you want support. We have policies in place to prevent unauthorized access. If you want total control, you can run the self-managed version on your own server, but that means you have total responsibility for the server security.

00:46:25 Q&A: Indicator management

Question: How are project indicators created? Can we use an existing indicator catalog to ensure new indicators are not repetitions?

Answer: ActivityInfo gives you tools to solve this in different ways. In the template I showed, every project has its own indicators entered as text. To aggregate this at a headquarters level, you can require projects to link these specific indicators to a set of strategic indicators in a reference folder. This allows projects freedom while maintaining global reporting capability.

Alternatively, if you want more control, you can define a library of project indicators. You can create a form with the approved indicators and metadata. Then, in the project logical framework, you can replace the free text field with a reference to this library. This forces users to select from the defined list. ActivityInfo allows you to customize this structure based on whether your organization is centralized or decentralized.

00:52:38 Onboarding, support, and pricing

You don't need our help to get started. You can sign up for a trial, use our templates, and access our huge library of documentation, training courses, and webinars. However, we do offer onboarding support. We have a team that can help you define your goals, make a rollout plan, and provide one-on-one training or working sessions. We can help you get your database set up and ready to launch.

Our subscriptions are annual. For a fixed fee every year, we take care of running the software, updates, and support. All subscriptions include access to our help desk for troubleshooting and questions. You can choose between Software as a Service (SaaS) or the self-managed server; both options have the same price. The self-managed version is available for download for Windows, Linux, or Docker.

We work with organizations of all sizes all around the world, and we are ready to help you get started when you are ready. Thanks so much for joining us today.