00:00:04 Introduction

All right, well thanks everyone for joining us today. We have a lot of great content organized for you. You are going to be hearing from both Alex and myself today. I thought we could start off by introducing you to BeDataDriven, our organization. Then we can dig into ActivityInfo, the tool that's developed by BeDataDriven. Then I'll hand it over to Alex who will give us a bit more of a hands-on showcase of how ActivityInfo is actually implemented to support M&E information management systems. Hopefully, we'll have some time at the end of the session to answer some of your questions.

00:00:52 About BeDataDriven

BeDataDriven is the company that builds ActivityInfo. We're based in the Hague in the Netherlands. Our mission is really to provide the UN and NGOs with easy-to-use tools to help manage their data. That's not really the end goal; hopefully, we'll see that these tools can empower these organizations to really further their impact through data-driven approaches.

We have a long list of customers that we've been supporting over the years. These are conservation, civil society organizations, health organizations, and those supporting refugees. They span all aspects of humanitarian development and conservation work. There are very large UN organizations that have tens of thousands of employees or very small nonprofits working locally that might just have five people and not even really a dedicated M&E team. We love them all the same, and the tools are powerful for all of them.

00:02:14 Overview of ActivityInfo

Let's start with an overview conceptually of what ActivityInfo is, and then I'll work through some of the advantages of why you might want to use it for your M&E purposes. ActivityInfo is a complete data management solution helping you design databases, collect data through web and mobile apps, store data in our hosted cloud environment, collaborate with staff and partner organizations, analyze data to gain insights, and design and share information products for decision makers and partners.

A lot of the organizations that I've come across have made that transition from analog to digital systems for their M&E work. But these systems are often fragmented. Individually these tools are amazing—I use Excel every day—but when you start to piece them together there can be some challenges. Moving data from one system to another can often lead to errors in the data. The data can be siloed, stuck on someone's laptop somewhere, or insecure. Unless you have really strong workflow processes in place, which are often hard to enforce, the system can become chaotic pretty quickly. What we've done at BeDataDriven is to present an alternative to the digital fragmented system, which is the digital integrated system known as ActivityInfo.

ActivityInfo incorporates functionality from all of these individual tools into one system so that you can manage data across the entire data lifecycle. It provides web and mobile applications for data collection in the field or in the office in a connected or disconnected environment. There are intuitive built-in tools and expression languages that help you validate data at the point of entry and clean datasets that might be ingested from other systems. It is implemented in a robust cloud-based system architecture that ensures that the data stored in the system is always available, and you don't have any need to manage hardware yourself. There are data management capabilities to help you organize the data and provide access to those who are permitted, and lastly, powerful analytic and data visualization capabilities that help extract value from data for better decision making.

00:05:20 Key advantages

There are a number of advantages, but I like to divide them up into those that are relevant to data itself and then the system more generally. To summarize on the data side of things, your data is going to be more secure, more accessible, more accurate, and more timely. On the system side of things, your system is going to be more scalable and flexible.

Regarding security, this is really important for those of you working with sensitive data. With ActivityInfo, you can provide identity-based access to colleagues and partners that prevents unauthorized persons from accessing data in your system. We can use user roles to define the access and permissions at a really granular level. You can even integrate with your identity stores like Active Directory or Okta to implement single sign-on. There is an audit log that tracks every transaction in the database, which can be reviewed for unauthorized activity, and you can roll back any unwanted changes. The data is stored in the cloud with backups across multiple geographic zones and everything is encrypted in transit and at rest. If you want to manage your own security, there is a self-managed version that allows you to implement ActivityInfo on your own on-premise or cloud environments.

In terms of accessibility, once the database is set up, anyone who has been granted access to it can work simultaneously through the ActivityInfo web app or the mobile app. You don't have to share spreadsheets through email or shared drives and risk being on a different version from someone else. ActivityInfo provides that single source of truth for everyone involved in the data management cycle.

Built-in validation tools ensure that the data entered into the system is accurate. Field types prevent incorrect data types from being entered and validation rules mitigate risks of misentry. There is also a handy data importer tool that makes sure that data coming in from other systems is clean and valid using field mapping and deduplication tools. This creates better data integrity and instills more trust in the accuracy of the data in your system.

The data is also more timely. All the data entered into the system through the web app or the mobile app is instantly accessible across the system. There is two-way synchronization between the cloud environment and the mobile app, so there is real-time awareness of the data managed in the system right on your phone or tablet. Any of the dashboards or data visualizations that you generate in the system are automatically updated when new data is added.

In terms of the system, ActivityInfo has a cloud-based system architecture that allows you to scale as your data management needs grow. It can accommodate thousands of users, hundreds of data tables, and millions of records. One of the features that our users really appreciate is that there are no storage limits in ActivityInfo. Once you have your subscription, you can store as many records or file attachments as you need without incurring any additional costs.

Finally, ActivityInfo is super flexible. At its core, the system is a relational database and can accommodate pretty much any data model that you want to implement, whether you're tracking indicators from your logframe, coordinating humanitarian supply distributions, or monitoring conservation programs. Once the data is in the system, you can perform analysis based on the questions you want to ask of your data and create custom reports.

00:12:15 Live demonstration: Beneficiary tracking

I'm going to try and cover four main use cases. The first thing that we're going to look at is beneficiary tracking. We deal with two kinds of data at ActivityInfo: primary data (lists of names, locations of health centers) and secondary data (aggregate numbers from partners). Usually, what we do before we get into the application is to look at the program and think through the data model. We often use software like Miro to visualize these connections. For example, a beneficiary registration form might be linked to partners, governorates, and districts. Then we have related information about those beneficiaries like a verification form, baseline survey, or post-distribution monitoring.

Let's look at what it looks like to log into ActivityInfo and actually get started. The first thing we're going to do is create a new database for our program. I'll start with a blank template. Let's get started with that central beneficiary registration form. If you've used a form builder before, this is going to look pretty familiar. I'm just going to add the fields we need about beneficiaries, such as a text field for the full name and a date field for the date of birth. I'm going to add some validation rules; for example, the date of birth has to be less than today. I'll also add gender and education level.

You might not be starting from scratch; you might have data sitting around in Excel sheets. You can just copy that data and paste it into our importer. We support validation and data integrity at every stage. If I have errors in my data, such as a column labeled "sex" instead of "gender," I can match that. If there are invalid records, like a date in the future or missing phone numbers, I can download those as a CSV file to correct or skip them for now.

Next, let's add a form that's connected to those beneficiaries. A common scenario is providing training to a group of beneficiaries. I'm going to add a couple of basic fields about the training, like a date and a training theme. Then I'm going to add a participant list using the subform feature. I want to enforce the link between the training participants and the beneficiaries I already registered, so I'm going to use a reference field for that. Now I've got a simple system of tracking beneficiaries and the trainings that we're providing.

At this stage, I'm going to navigate to database settings and start inviting some of my field team because I want to start collecting data from the field directly. I'm going to fill in a dummy account, choose the language, and assign the role of field worker.

00:24:06 Mobile data collection

Now let's look at the collection from the perspective of a field worker. I've got the ActivityInfo mobile app running here. It works on Android and iOS. You can see the same two forms that I added in my database. As soon as you define your structure, your mobile app is ready to go. I can open up the beneficiary registration and see all of the data that is already in the system. If I'm headed to the field and need to update details, I've got that information synchronized and available offline. I can register people on the fly.

When I go to do my training, I can say, "Okay, I've got a training today," choose the theme, and directly add my participants. I'm not going to just type in text; I'm going to search for the list of people that I've already registered. I can select somebody from my list and then submit. Synchronization happens automatically as soon as your surveyor is online.

00:27:51 Data cleaning

Once that data has come in, we can review it. I can look at an individual record, see exactly who collected it, and see if it's been changed. If there have been any changes made, those are going to be visible in the audit log.

We can also manage duplicates. ActivityInfo will enforce uniqueness if you set rules, but sometimes typos leak into the data. That's why we've built a duplicate scanner that will help you identify these duplicates. For example, if I have "Adora William Sund" and "Adora William Soon" with mostly the same birthday, I can judge this as a duplicate and delete or merge it to keep my data clean.

00:31:56 Analysis and visualization

Now let's look at analysis. Just like the structure of your data, the reports that you're going to need are going to be different for every project. There is no one single dashboard for ActivityInfo; it's up to you to create the dashboards and indicator tracking tables that you need.

I've created an indicator tracking table here that captures some of my key indicators. In ActivityInfo, if you're working with primary data, your indicators are actually going to end up in a report because you can calculate those from your primary data. For example, if I want to know the average income from my baseline survey, I can just drag and drop the baseline income field, change it to an average, and I've got a new indicator on my tracking table.

Sometimes indicators are more complex. I might want to know how many unique people have attended my training. Because I registered them with a reference and done my deduplication, I can rely on a "count distinct" to give me the unique number of participants. In more complex cases, like wanting to know how many people attended at least two training sessions, we can use a calculated measure. We use a language very similar to DAX. This indicator is now saved and versioned as part of your database. You can share this with everybody on your team, and everybody is looking at the right calculation. It's very easy for your colleagues to filter by gender or disaggregate by educational level just by dragging and dropping.

Another important output would be survey analysis. I set up a baseline survey capturing income, linked to the beneficiary. When I do the impact survey later on, I can link that follow-up survey to the individual and pull in information from the baseline. I can calculate a helpfulness score, percentage change in income, and absolute change. I can then create a report showing participant demographics and changes in income by education level. This report is easy to share via a link with anyone on your team or a donor, without them needing to log into the system.

00:39:51 Managing project portfolios

In many cases, you might be working with a portfolio of projects or with partners that have their own data collection systems. In those cases, our indicators actually become the data that we're collecting. I've set up a database here that's tracking a series of projects. For each of these projects, I'm capturing a logical framework, the outcomes, and the indicators.

It's often the case that your project has a large number of project-specific or donor-required indicators, but you want to roll that up to more general indicators across all projects, like the number of direct beneficiaries. You can set targets and frequency, and then invite project managers to collect data. They can log in and add their monthly report, providing a narrative on progress, an overall rating, and adding those key indicators to see the baseline versus the target. By modeling indicators and outcomes as part of your data, you have the freedom to create the structure that fits your program.

00:46:36 Q&A session

Q: Is there any specific training related to ActivityInfo? A: We have a great website at activityinfo.org. Under Support and Training, you can find a library of training courses ranging from introductory to more advanced. There are hours of recorded information available.

Q: Can the app work offline and sync everything later? A: Yes, both the mobile and the web app allow you to work offline. Everything is available on your laptop or mobile phone and will synchronize later.

Q: How do you handle duplicates when variables like names or phone numbers might be legitimately shared or duplicated? A: In the beneficiary form, you can set uniqueness rules. For example, you can set the full name as a key field, or a combination of full name and date of birth. You can also add constraints for email or phone numbers. However, if you don't want hard and fast rules, you can use the duplicate scanner later to make judgments. The scanner allows you to scan based on combinations of fields (e.g., full name and gender) and set the sensitivity to find approximate matches, allowing you to decide whether to merge or discard records.

Q: Is it possible to create our own field that generates a random value or ID? A: Every record is assigned a unique immutable ID internally. You can also add a serial number field which creates a sequential beneficiary ID. You can add a user-friendly prefix, or even set the prefix as a formula that depends on other fields, like a province name.

Q: Is it possible to create custom user roles or profiles? A: Absolutely. All roles are custom. You can add as many roles as you need, such as an M&E manager role, and assign very specific resources and permissions. You can define these roles in a granular way, even specifying record-level conditions (e.g., a user can only view records where the province name is X).

Q: Is it possible to automate repetitive tasks like data entry using third-party apps or Python? A: Yes. ActivityInfo supports automation via webhooks, so you can use tools like Power Automate or Zapier. We also have great support for the API. Anything you can do in the interface, you can do through the API. We also have an R package that makes it easy to query data, create survey forms, and automate actions.

Q: We are looking for a higher-level MIS that centralizes basic static product info and key monitoring data, but not primary data. Would ActivityInfo be a good fit? A: Absolutely. We have templates for this exact scenario—a database of projects and indicators. You can capture indicators related to the project, project status, key documents, and monthly reports. Many organizations start with this project portfolio approach and later expand to collecting primary data at the country level.

Q: Can we host ActivityInfo on our own infrastructure? A: Yes. While most customers use our SaaS version, we offer a self-managed version for those who require data sovereignty or have specific infrastructure needs. It runs on Windows, Ubuntu, or Red Hat, and we also have an offering in the Azure Marketplace for easy installation.

Q: How do you handle narrative reporting and qualitative data? A: ActivityInfo can capture qualitative data through text fields. Using semi-structured questions often works better than large text boxes. You can also attach files and photos. For analysis, you can use "reviewer fields" to have someone classify or code the qualitative responses (e.g., categorizing a response as mentioning "security problems"). This allows you to use the visualization tools to analyze the qualitative data.