Dynamic COMPAS at ISCRAM 2009
- 1. Building a humanitarian information system: the Experience of the Dynamic COMPAS Olivier Sarrat, Information System Engineer, Groupe URD Proceedings of the 6th International ISCRAM Conference – Gothenburg, Sweden, May 2009 J. Landgren and S. Jul, eds. The humanitarian sector began to look at the issue of Quality in the mid-nineties. The Quality COMPAS framework was developed in 2004 to provide humanitarian actors with a Quality assurance method, which could be adapted for use in any intervention context. In 2006, the first version of the Dynamic COMPAS free software was released. Its core idea was to provide both a dynamic implementation of the Quality COMPAS and a knowledge management tool to build and share the institutional memory of an organization. For two years, the development of this Humanitarian Information Management System has continuously moved in three parallel directions: * the software has become increasingly adaptable to the requirements of each specific organisation * the content of the software has grown to encompass more and more "down-to-earth" project management features such as report generation, indicator follow-up or field-headquarters communication * the software development process has become increasingly collaborative: a free software model is being implemented and a needs assessment for new software aimed at headquarters is just finished.
- 2. Olivier Sarrat, Groupe URD Building a humanitarian information system: the experience of the Dynamic COMPAS
- 3. Historical background The Dynamic COMPAS project Evaluation and Lessons Future developments Contents
- 4. The mission of the Groupe URD : “ IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF HUMANITARIAN PRACTICES THROUGH DEBATE, EVALUATION, OPERATIONAL RESEARCH, CAPITALIZATION, TRAINING, ADVOCACY” Created in 1993. Headquarters: South of France Offices: Paris Abéché (Chad) www.urd.org 1. Historical background
- 5. Sharing our findings Publishing the results of our work (books, reviews, Internet) Facilitating the exchange of lessons and experiences through debates and conferences (Autumn School on Humanitarian Aid) Learning from previous experiences Carrying out evaluations on programme design and implementation Conducting cross-sector and thematic research studies Advocacy on humanitarian practice Advising and influencing donors, decision makers, NGOs and UN agencies Capacity development Providing training for aid workers based on lessons learnt in the field Developing new methods and tools Quality COMPAS© (CD-ROM and Companion Book) Dynamic COMPAS® (software) Practitioners’ Handbook on Participation AFFECTED POPULATIONS & CONTEXT
- 6. 1996: Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda 1997: Launch of the SPHERE project 1999: Launch of the “Projet Qualité”, by Groupe URD 2004: Release of the Quality COMPAS method, result of the “Projet Qualité” 2006: Release of the first version of the Dynamic COMPAS 2009: Release of version 1.4.2 of the Dynamic COMPAS, which has been downloaded by more than 1500 people from more than 90 different countries since 2006. 1. Historical background
- 7. What is the Dynamic COMPAS? 2. The Dynamic COMPAS project
- 8. 2. The Dynamic COMPAS project
- 9. 2. The Dynamic COMPAS project
- 10. 2. The Dynamic COMPAS project
- 11. Quality management software which systematically handles all the critical points of a project and builds the institutional memory of an organization ; Project management software which helps the decision-making process. 2. The Dynamic COMPAS project
- 12. Challenges: software designed by and specifically developed for humanitarian actors ; software released in 3 languages with a full set of manuals, online support and training which is freely available to any organisation regardless of its size. (support from public funds - notably ECHO) 2. The Dynamic COMPAS project
- 13. What have we learned from the Dynamic COMPAS experience? 3. Evaluation and Lessons
- 14. Sources of information used to monitor the project: Users must register before downloading (it has been downloaded by 1500 people) 17 user feedback articles since September 2007 in the quarterly newsletter “Aiming for Quality” Oral feedback from users during training sessions (250 people trained so far) Research into the possibility of developing open source software involving online surveys, interviews and a literature review 3. Evaluation and Lessons
- 15. Positive points: A wide range of users ( 1500 people from 90 countries, 250 people trained) Positive feedback on features which match users’ needs Free and easily available Groupe URD has established a reputation as an organization which is able to develop software 3. Evaluation and Lessons
- 16. Remaining challenges: Making the necessary changes so that the software is adopted more widely at an organisational level Guaranteeing that technical support is provided and the software continues to evolve in the future Finding a solution to the time constraints of public funding 3. Evaluation and Lessons
- 17. So, we need to… Get closer to the specific characteristics of different users Respect users’ priorities Make the software ‘Open source’ so that it remains free and continues to evolve in the long term (example of Sahana) 3. Evaluation and Lessons
- 18. What’s next? 4. Future developments
- 19. Demand from NGOs for a new version / new software: Software with tools to manage and monitor all an organisation’s projects. Free software and its development community. A set of training modules, including training of trainers to disseminate the software more broadly. 4. Future developments
- 20. Questions? Comments? Contributions? More information and software available at: www.qualitycompas.org Thank you !