00:00:00 Introduction to management information systems

We are going to spend most of the time today looking at actually building the system, but we will briefly look at grounding the conversation in what is an MIS and introducing ActivityInfo briefly before getting into the nuts and bolts. MIS stands for Management Information System. An important part of that phrase is "system." In our context, it is a process that is defined, repeatable, and consistent. It is not just asking your colleague for information or walking around and looking at how things are; it is a defined process that provides the information required to manage a project.

This does not have to be a computerized system, but it is any kind of process that allows a manager to know the status of the project. It allows your M&E person to know if you are meeting your goals. As programs get larger and projects get more complex, a management information system becomes essential. They can help us make better decisions, allocate resources, provide transparency and accountability, and ultimately achieve better outcomes for our end beneficiaries.

When we think about the technology involved in a management information system, there are three categories that are useful to think of. On one end of the spectrum is an entirely manual process. As technology improves, we can reduce that reliance on human processes. Many organizations are in the category of digital but fragmented tools, where digital systems are connected by manual processes. For example, using a mobile data collection tool where someone has to extract that data, clean it up in Excel, and load it into a database connected to Power BI.

What we are going to look at today is our vision for managing information in the humanitarian and social sector, which is integrated digital systems. The goal is to remove more of those tedious, time-consuming, and expensive human processes by bringing everything together in one automated system. Ideally, we want to produce better quality information at a lower cost.

00:14:13 Planning the database structure

Now let's look at the steps to build a management information system with ActivityInfo. To do that, I am going to use an example program based in Pennsylvania, United States, regarding maple syrup production. There are government programs intended to help increase yields of maple syrup and help people in rural communities make a living by improving their agriculture. This MIS for this fictional program is going to be a system that connects various roles within the project: monitoring and evaluation specialists, project managers, extension agents, domain specialists, and donors.

Each of these stakeholders needs different information. Project managers need to know what trainings are planned. Extension agents need to know where to find the farms. M&E specialists need to know if targets are being met. Domain specialists want to know the relationship between interventions and yields. ActivityInfo is a relational database, so we will take a moment to model this out in a relational database schema.

We have farms and individuals at the center. Those are related to geography—the city, county, and state—but also to the producer associations that we are working with. Then we have our activities, which are related to the farms and individuals that are benefiting from our projects. We have other activities like communication, which do not necessarily relate to farms, and we can connect this to our annual farm surveys used to measure impact. This planning and modeling is a really important part of the process.

00:20:00 Building the database from scratch

We are going to start from scratch to see what this looks like in practice. I am going to add a completely blank database so that you get a sense of how this is built up. First, let's add some reference data. I will organize that into a folder to keep all of my reference data together. I will add a quick form for counties in Pennsylvania and add a name field. Key fields are important in ActivityInfo; they help identify records and act like a primary key.

I can add data one by one, but I have a list prepared in Excel. I can copy that column from Excel, come back into ActivityInfo, click on import, and paste that in. I have to match this to my form structure. ActivityInfo will check for duplicates during this process. Next, let's add the cities. A city will also have a name, but now I am ready to create my first relationship. Every city belongs to a county, so in my city form, I can add a reference field. A reference field creates a relationship between two forms. I will relate this to the county so that each city belongs to one county.

Now let's move on to the registry where I want to register the farms and individuals I am working with. I will add a folder called "Registry." When I add this farm form, I will add a reference to the city master data I already set up. I will add the name of the farm, a geographic position field to capture GPS location, and some details about the farmer, such as whether they are existing farmers or new to the activity. I can also add validation rules, such as ensuring the registration date is after the start of the program, and relevance rules, such as asking about previous yields only if they are an existing farmer.

Finally, I will add a form for tracking activities, specifically distributing equipment. I want to link this back to the farms. I will add a reference field to the farm form so that every time we distribute equipment, I can link that back to the specific farm that received it. I will also track the type of equipment received, such as drills, taps, and boiling churns.

00:33:00 Mobile data collection

Let's look at what this looks like in the field using the mobile app. I can download the database for offline use, which is crucial for areas with poor cell coverage. A big difference between ActivityInfo and standalone mobile data collection tools is two-way synchronization. I can not only submit data but also see data.

I can add a new farm on the mobile app. The basic details default to today. I can select the county and city, capture the location from my GPS device, and enter the farmer details. After I submit, I still have a synchronized replica of this record on my phone, so I can go back and review it or make changes later. As soon as I have a connection, it will synchronize.

I can also relate other data I am collecting. If I do a distribution, I can link this to the farm I just registered. I don't have to rely on typing the name; I can choose from the farms already registered in the system. If I have permissions, I can even add a new record directly while performing the activity.

00:38:00 Creating dashboards and reports

The last part of a basic MIS is analysis. Let's add a simple dashboard to track how much equipment has been distributed and where. I will add a pivot table to count the pieces of equipment and drop the rows to see what type of equipment we have distributed. Because we linked the distribution to the farm, I can automatically pull in related information from that farm.

For example, if I want to know the division between existing and new farmers, I can see that immediately. If I want to look at that geographically, I can drag and drop the county name. This gives me a quick dashboard that I can save as part of my database and share with others.

You can also define roles to determine what different people are allowed to do. For example, I can define a role for extension agents that allows them to view reference data but not change it, while giving them read and write access to the registry to add and edit farmers. I can restrict them from deleting records or exporting data to ensure security.

00:42:25 Using database templates

Instead of starting from zero, you can also use a template. We offer a library of templates for various use cases, from case management to surveys. I will use the "Development Assistance for Projects" template, which is similar to what I started to build. This template comes with a pre-made dashboard, maps, and tracking indicators.

Even when using a template, you can customize it. For example, if I want to move this project from Pennsylvania to Kenya, I can delete the city field and add a reference to our built-in geodatabase for Kenya. I can add or delete questions and load my own reference data.

We also have a translation feature that allows you to translate the database structure. For example, if I am working in a bilingual environment, I can translate the form names and fields into Spanish or another language, allowing users to switch to the language of their choice.

00:48:00 Questions and answers

Is there a way to link existing data collection tools like Excel or paper to this platform? You can link those tools, but our vision is that you do that directly integrated into the system. If you have a questionnaire in an XLSForm, you can import that questionnaire structure directly to design a new survey in ActivityInfo. You would create the structure first and then import the data.

How can we track measurements of the farm, such as land size or materials used? ActivityInfo doesn't make assumptions about how you measure things. You can add quantity fields for things like cultivated area in hectares or water usage in liters. You can also add calculations. For example, if you want to calculate total revenue, you can use the formula editor to multiply the number of gallons sold by the average price per gallon.

Is this platform free or paid? ActivityInfo is a subscription-based service. It is free for humanitarian coordination if you are invited to a database managed by an organization like the UN. If you want to use it for your own organization's programs, there is a subscription fee based on the number of users. We are a social enterprise and do not receive external grants; the platform is entirely user-supported.

How does ActivityInfo compare to Microsoft Access? Microsoft Access is not web-based, so sharing data requires manual file transfers. ActivityInfo is web-based, allowing real-time sharing and collaboration. ActivityInfo also has a mobile app for data collection, works offline, has built-in data visualization, and supports multiple languages. It also offers granular security roles and permissions which are difficult to manage in Access.

What about data protection and security? We offer two versions: a cloud-hosted version managed by us and a self-managed server you can install on your own hardware. For the hosted version, we are ISO 27001 certified for information security. We provide tools like granular roles and permissions and audit logs to help you secure your data. We have never had a data breach on our side, but we provide these tools to help prevent user-side security issues.