Sharing database resources is not a mirage…

Peter Bishop – United Way of America904-285-0408, peterbishop@comcast.net

Marianne Galleon – Info Line of Los Angeles(626) 350-1841 2122, marianne@infoline-la.org

Nancy Shank - University of Nebraska Public Policy Center402-472-5687, nshank@nebraska.edu

Today…

Why it’s been hard to share resource information

What’s the alphabet soup? What does it mean to me?

Goal and Objective

Comprehensive databases that take advantage of the expertise of multiple database “owners” to more efficiently deliver referrals to those who need them

Enable routine sharing of information between I&Rs regardless of the software product each use

Current Practice

In our communities and across our regions and states, there are many organizations keeping information about resources. Organizations maintain information to serve their clients: Geographic Age group Type of service

For example, in Nebraska: 141 agencies 31,000 hours Spending well over $4 million

annually among the 57 agencies that disclosed expenses.

(University of Nebraska Public Policy Center, 2000)

The Conundrum

I&Rs have specific expertise

But, clients may have needs beyond precise information that any one I&R can reasonably maintain…

Examples…

A client of the Area Agency on Aging may need child care information for a grandchild…

A First Call for Help© caller may need resources for a sibling in another county…

A 2-1-1 caller may want to know about Meals on Wheels for their aging parent who lives in a different area of their state…

And…

Those agencies who want to be known as a resource are faced with continually updating information to many I&Rs!

And…

Despite our best efforts at promotion, our target audiences still don’t know where to go to find information and services!

Duplication of effort?

Many I&Rs collecting information from many agencies

Many agencies providing information to many I&Rs

Groups of I&Rs working together Recognizes expertise Reduces duplication Joint promotion More responsive referrals

Alliance of Information and Referral Systems Accreditation…I&R services within the system shall endeavor to

participate in local database collaboratives as a means of avoiding duplication of database maintenance activities and achieving broader coverage of different types of community resources. The I&R services within the system shall: Appropriately divide information gathering tasks and oversee the regular and systematic exchange of resource database information; and Maintain comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date information on the community resources for which they have maintenance responsibility. (p. 18)

Sounds easy…Interoperability!

“the ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged.”Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (1990).

Oh, but…

Electronic Does your database “look” like my database?

Starts easy, but then starts to look pretty complicated…

Agency name, address, phone, services, service area

Missing data, data that can’t/must be entered certain ways because of the software product

Two tiers? Three tiers? Huh? What version of taxonomy?

How to get this information out of my software? How to import someone else’s without overwriting my

own?

Will probably require “customized mapping” Updated software versions may require re-

mapping Still may be lots of issues that will require

manual correction Vendors often anxious to do this once to

move you from another vendor’s product to their own

Interoperability

Square peg in a square hole so that each data element means the same thing to each organization and is captured in the same way

Instead of lots of I&Rs having to do over and over with different “solutions” a standard!

AIRS XML Schema

XML - users create their own tagging names and definitions (eXtensible Markup Language)

The “dictionary and grammar” of any particular group’s tagging conventions is called their XML Schema

AIRS Board has approved the AIRS XML Schema A hardy and committed group of AIRS members have

worked on this over the past 2 years!

AIRS XML Schema

Three levels of data Definition of types of information

Agency

Site

Services

Site Site

Services Services Services Services Services Services Services Services Services

Defining What I&Rs Want to be Able to Share What information

Easy pickings: Agency name and contact information Agency type, Eligibility requirements/exclusions,

Application process, Hours of service, Languages, Licenses/Accreditations, Service type, Geographic service area, Funding, Resource-keeping details

How important to be able to uniquely identify what types of information?

Text? Pick list?

Types of information

Making it easy by creating pick lists Language availability: Over 450 specified

available via pick list Imposing some standardization where it’s

important but hard Hours of operation: Each day of week and

“from” to “to” Deciding free text is sufficient

License/Accreditation text field

It’s all about easy exporting and importing Data.

What does this mean to you?

It may or may not change the way you maintain your information

Depends whether: Your software vendor is working to incorporate

ability to create compliant exports into your software product

How “far away” from standard your product currently is

Vendors That Are Actively Involved

Have sent data exports Bowman Systems (ServicePoint) Community Tech Suncoast (IRIS) Synergy

At least have attended meetings Metsys Tapestry WebInform

Have indicated they are making progress RTM (Refer) Data Systems

CURRENTLY, NO CERTIFICATION PROCESS

AIRS Commitment

Standing Subcommittee of AIRS Technology Committee Annual updates to the XML Schema Working on a “Best Practices” guide

Continuing to look at additional ways to promote interoperability through certifications and standards

Two Additional Important Steps

Standardizing beyond the AIRS XML Schema Actually merging databases

Two Additional Important Steps

Standardizing beyond the AIRS XML Schema Minimum level of taxonomy coding (and observance of

target groups, modalities, and facility types) and version of the taxonomy

For specificity and usefulness among your partners Geographic service areas may be coded as ZIP codes,

counties, neighborhoods, census tracks and so on. Ages served Physical accessibility, to name a few

Kinds of resources you want to share Inclusion/exclusion policies, so that collaborating partners are

receiving only the kind of resources they want. How to address duplication Frequency and means of maintaining resource information

Two Additional Important Steps Actually merging databases

Use automated processes and minimimal manual interventions.

Missing and mismatched data Missing data because different software programs contain

different data elements, indexing systems, and ways of structuring their data.

Mismatched because vendors, even with compliant exports, may continue to offer divergent selection choices within fields.

Quality checks (compliance with the XSD) De-duplication (creates hierarchies for accepting changes) Confirm addresses and create precise geographical coding

(through a Web service) to enable geographically-based searching

Perform basic formatting and spelling checks. Create new dataset

Tool in Development

U.S. Department of Commerce Technology Opportunities Program grant (#31-60-I03013) to develop a technological tool that will prepare data and create a new consolidated data set.

Expected completion date: June 2006 Open Source, except for web services

XML

XML

XMLXML

Server

Integrated database

Public web-site

XML

A.I.R.S Xml Schema

compliant XML

Databases of service providers

Validation, Update computation, Address Geo-coding, Taxonomy checking …

XML

Intermediate DB

Mapping tool

Nebraska Website – ne211.org

Setting Search Criteria Miles radius Entire Database

Searching Keyword Taxonomy Alphabetical

Move between Agency and Service

Resources AIRS XML Schema

http://airs.org/ - current information is available at http://www.airs.org/pub/pub_library.asp

Current XML Schema is at http://www.ne211.nebraska.edu/vendorinformation.htm, take the “Current XSD” link

Interoperability and Information and Referral Shank, N. (2004) Database interoperability: Technology and process

for sharing resource information. Information & Referral, 26, 45-54. AIRS/INFOLINE Taxonomy

Bruni, M.G. (2000). Indexing with the AIRS/INFO LINE Taxonomy of Human Services. Information and Referral, 22, 83-109.

Sales, G. (2003). An orientation to the structure and contents of the AIRS/INFO LINE Taxonomy. Information and Referral, 26, 1-26.

XML XML - A good resource about XML is the XML Schema Primer at

www.w3c.org/TR/xmlschema-0/