Presentation at 2009 Inform Ontario Symposium on making changes in data to align with InformOntario Style Guide
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Transcript
1. Now what the hell do we do?
2. Go from Overwhelmed to Armed and Ready May 2008
InformOntario Symposium
3. Workshop Objectives Begin to identify existing data not in
compliance with InformOntario Style Guide Provide a variety of
search strategies to locate some offending data Demonstrate use of
Distribution Codes in relation to making data changes (suggested
strategy) Demonstrate use of saved searches, advanced search and
other search strategies for gathering records Demonstrate use of
Find and Replace Tools to make changes to live data Provide
participants with a variety of pre-prepared searches to use in CIOC
software in local communities.
4. The Basic Process Identify Creation of Use of Making
Reviewing Problem Searches to Distribution Global Global Areas
Gather Codes for Changes to Changes & Review Records Tracking
Data Made Existing Data
5. Naming Standard Style Guide and Naming Standard are intended
to be used together Naming related issues can be addressed with
similar searching strategies and global data changes as style
related changes Look in other CIC databases to get a sense of how
others are naming orgs and programs Aim for consistency with other
geographic areas, not just internally
6. Style Guide Some Considerations All data elements considered
mandatory by InformOntario are covered in Style Guide but many CIOC
fields are not described Importance of application of Style Guide
to French language Implementation is a process, not an event This
workshop will not cover all areas where data changes may be
required
7. Use of Distribution Codes Distribution codes should be
created that provide a flag so data sets collected with searches
and modified with global operations can be later retrieved AFTER
find and replace operations have been performed Distribution codes
provide a means of excluding records from searches so previously
flagged records do not need to be reviewed again
8. Legal Status (now Service Level) Key Points Major structural
change suggested for software including field name change,
reduction of existing Service Level selections to six Review of
existing data in this field is necessary to prepare to re-assign
values when this section implemented in software Some confusion
evident between Funding and Legal Status Core United Way Funding
should be described in Funding, not in Legal Status
9. Phone Fields (General) Key Points Hyphen - between area code
and number, not parentheses ( ) Text before phone number, extension
after Remove existing unnecessary punctuation Replace semicolons
and other identified punctuation between phone numbers with
asterisk Avoid repeating phone numbers across various phone fields
without very good reason to do so
10. TTY, Fax Key Points Type of access more important than toll
free status Do not put in Toll Free Toll free TTY or Fax numbers
should be preceded by Toll Free If Fax is the same as Office Phone,
ensure Call first precedes the number & fix any inconsistencies
in Call first wording
11. Executive and Contact Fields Key Points Avoid acronyms in
Titles (CEO, ED, CFO, etc) Toll free TTY or Fax numbers should be
preceded by Toll Free If Fax is the same as Office Phone, ensure
Call first precedes the number & fix any inconsistencies in
Call first wording All duplication across Executive/Contact fields
in terms of Contact names, titles, organization names, phone , fax,
email etc. should be reduced as much as possible.
12. Site and Mail Addresses Key Points Try to remove all
unnecessary duplication between these two fields Remove unnecessary
punctuation from these fields including colons, semicolons, hyphens
Site Address is used in geo-coding so make sure all component
fields are as fully and accurately filled in as possible Ensure
that ORG 1 name is not repeated in either Mail c/o field or Site
Building field
13. Boundaries Key Points Discretionary, free text entry Style
Guide: Be as wordy as necessary as this information should be exact
and thorough, within reason. Information in this field IS displayed
though not searchable for users on 211Ontario.ca Information
currently contained in Areas Served General Notes should be moved
to this field, if applicable
14. Boundaries Key Points Continued Style Guide recommends
structural changes to CIOC where Areas Served General Notes data
would move to Boundaries (if appropriate) and that Areas Served
General Notes field would be removed from software * a thorough
review of existing Areas Served General Notes data is recommended
with an eye to reassigning in Boundaries field if appropriate
15. Hours Key Points Do not abbreviate months Do not enter all
year unless theres reason to think it might not be Always use am
& pm Format to be entered like: 8 am-4:30 pm 12 noon-10:30 pm
Abbreviate days of the week Include hours even if it seems
obvious
16. Accessibility Key Points Do not abbreviate months
Structural change recommended in CIOC by style guide where Not
accessible removed and fewer accessibility choices are available
This field should be filled in whenever possible
17. Fees Key Points Always populate this field, even when
obvious Indicate Free for services such as food banks, information
lines, distress lines, etc Suggested CIOC software change Change
name None to Free
18. Funding Key Points Style Guide: it is only mandatory to
indicate core United Way funding now contained mostly in Service
Level Style Guide recommends it best to concentrate on core and
stable funding (that is regular year-by- year contributions from
major funders) Anything maintained beyond core United Way funding
is discretionary and up to individual centres
19. Descriptions Key Points A great deal of the time spent in
the process of bringing databases into line with Style Guide
recommendations will have to focus on descriptions Clean up all
unprofessional, wordy, flowery adjectives and first person
references. Get rid of all references to we our your us Data
editing will need to occur on a record by record basis for many
existing records Begin new data entry practices around description
as soon as possible
20. Languages Key Points This is a mandatory field Never leave
blank This likely has significant implications across CIOC as many
records will have no languages information at present Only include
French language where it has been verified that an adequate level
of service would be available to a client and indicate those
services officially designated bilingual
21. Languages Key Points This is a mandatory field Never leave
blank This likely has significant implications across CIOC as many
records will have no languages information at present Only include
French language where it has been verified that an adequate level
of service would be available to a client and indicate those
services officially designated bilingual
22. Anyone feel like this yet?
23. To Conclude Key Points Style Guide impacts not only on
existing data but also on current data entry Database
administrators should begin the task of re-training any
staff/volunteers in specific data entry changes NOW otherwise the
data will be bad from the start Consider putting together some
single page reference sheets for staff around some of the specific
data entry changes required in your area
24. Questions & Hands On Any specific issues that were not
discussed? Any questions about any of what was? If time permits,
now would be the time to try a few of these saved searches (but
dont do any data manipulation until youve set up Distribution
codes!