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A Modern Web Solution for Improving Reporting

SMS Reference #: CS00061

Client Problem

The client engaged SMS to design the information architecture for a new system – one to support the statistical analysis of reports on health related activity. The existing processes measured the success of health improvement activities by their stakeholders but relied upon the manual and subjective assessment of the contents of the reports, resulting in unreliable descriptive statistics from one year to the next. To further complicate the situation, the client and stakeholder culture was very different, with English often being a second language for the stakeholders.

These were issues that could not be satisfied by traditional information management means.

SMS Approach

SMS’s used the Garrett Methodology, a user-centred design process, to discover the business drivers and articulate the needs of those working within the reporting framework. SMS mapped and documented information flow to understand the existing knowledge processes. SMS also produced profiles of typical users of the system to help the client communicate the existing needs, wants and issues of the reporting framework to others. This assisted change management – building an awareness and understanding of the project’s objectives.
 
These products contributed to an Information Architecture Report designed to improve the efficiency of the client’s reporting framework by delivering supporting tools and system.

Recommendation

To create a systematic and cultural understanding of the tags used by stakeholders, SMS recommended the tags, and the definitions of their use, and the links between these and the client’s corporate taxonomy, be captured in a topic map: a bridge between the bureaucratic language of the client and the language of its stakeholders.

Outcome

SMS produced a report that recommended a number of modern Web 2.0-styled approaches. These approaches were the classification of reports by using tagging and folksonomies and bridging the culture gap by using the topic maps ISO standard.
The approach allowed the client’s stakeholders to continue with free-text storytelling approach by supporting the users to describe their reports in their own terms by using keywords, or tags.
These recommendations allowed a supporting system to:
  • Capture both reports and their associated tags; and
  • Objectively generate descriptive statistics on the frequency of tags or clusters of like-tags with minimal manual effort on the part of the client.

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