Data collaboration in Ontario:Some practical issues

March 26, 2007Toronto

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Agenda

1. Taxonomy Conversion – timeline, process, and tools

2. Eliminating duplicate records

3. Working in French and English

4. InformOntario's new Naming Standard

5. Next steps in Ontario data standards

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Why the Canadian Taxonomy of Human Services?

• Based on AIRS/INFO LINE Taxonomy of Human Services

• Foundation for 211 and database collaboration• Pan-Canadian and bilingual• Detailed definitions for precise searching• 8600 terms help bridge gaps between service

sectors, encouraging collaboration• Hierarchical structure facilitates comparison of

referral statistics for reporting purposes• Existing Canadian (and some Ontario) users,

ongoing editorial and administrative support

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Taxonomy Project to date

• English language Canadian version of the Taxonomy completed in 2006 with pan-Canadian input

• French language work has begun and will be completed end of 2007

• Sublicensing agreement between 211LA County (INFO LINE) and InformCanada signed

• 211Ontario.ca project supporting conversion in Ontario (40 local data partners with 60,000 programs)

• Interface in CIOC completed to handle both English and French Taxonomy versions

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Ongoing maintenance

• InformCanada will be official custodian and steward for the Canadian Taxonomy

• Ongoing English and French editors working with editorial groups and the 211LA editor

• Eventual goal of 211LA is to create endowment to support Taxonomy and make it available free to any subscriber

• Estimated annual cost in Canada $80,000 ($ from subscriptions, special projects, in-kind donation of staff)

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Next steps

• Complete French language version in 2007

• Manage Ontario conversion process by March 2008

• Encourage adoption in other parts of Canada

• Will become a standard for 211 in Canada as in the U.S.

• Explore interest expressed by various parts of municipal, provincial and federal governments

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Conversion in Ontario

• RFP process complete, recipients notified, funds out in May

• Taxonomy business plan approved by InformCanada, allowing for bulk subscriptions to be covered for Ontario subscribers for 2007, low introductory subscription rate bundled with AIRS/InformCanada/InformOntario memberships from 2008-2010

• Subscription page at InformCanada website to be completed in April

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Ontario conversion timeline

• Training the trainers – tomorrow!

• Taxonomy “starter set” - April

• Taxonomy data loaded into CIOC: early May

• Regional workshops: mid-May/mid-June

• We begin! mid-June 2007

• We finish! March 2008

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Support during conversion

• AIRS online Taxonomy introduction course (www.airs.org)

• Help to install the Taxonomy xml file into the CIOC interface

• Regional workshops• Ontario starter set of about 1200 terms• Thesaurus to Taxonomy manual crosswalk• Discussion board for posing problems and

finding joint solutions• 9-5 phone helpdesk during conversion (June

2007-March 2008)

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Demonstration of tools

• Taxonomy section on partners web site - demo

• Taxonomy discussion boards - demo

• Ontario Starter Taxonomy - demo

• Crosswalk reference guide - demo

• Help Desk – demo?

• CIOC software - demo

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Taxonomy process

• Once data is loaded into software and people are trained, then . . . – work section by section?– work record by record?– mixture of the above?

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Taxonomy contactsJohn Allec, Manager, Information ResourcesFindhelp Information Services416-392-4572jallec@findhelp.ca

Corinne Gallois, Coordinator, French ServicesFindhelp Information Services416-392-4698cgallois@findhelp.ca

Deb Woods, Taxonomy Project Manager705-721-0736deborahwoods@rogers.ca

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2. Eliminating Duplicates

• 30% of our records duplicate our neighbours’ records

• 211Ontario.ca uses a simple geographic method to choose records

• Taxonomy: only convert your “local” set• Spring 2008: multi-way sharing . . . and

the deletion of the 30%! – via Findhelp? – via regional file sharing?

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Eliminating Duplicates

• Nov 2006: Findhelp exported 14 test records – feedback?

• 2007: exchange among data partners to be two-way (import/export)

• CIOC XML Sharing Format makes it easy

• But CIOC users need an Import Server in Halton!

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Eliminating Duplicates

• CIOC Import allows control over fields – e.g. Findhelp maintains PUB field,

MEMO field and French views for certain partners

• Helps with standardization– Naming Standard– Style Guide– Data partners website

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3. Working in French and English

• Findhelp committed to expanding bilingual capabilities in 2003-2006 strategic plan, has increased French-speaking editors, is translating more copies of partner records, and is exporting translated records back to data partners for partial local maintenance

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French

• The Community Information Centre of Ottawa, in collaboration with FH, has developed a concept paper for a Provincial Language Support Centre, to provide French information and editorial materials, in support of the provincial I&R network

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French

• Request: that all Ontario CIOC data partners turn on bilingual capability

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French

• New section on data partners website - demo

• Glossary of words and phrases in French and English - demo

• Develop collaborative partnerships with French data providers, and provincial language support centre

• FH can provide French capability for partners (at least until March 2009)

• New 211 French interface mixes English and French – demo IPS test site

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4. Ontario Naming Standard

• Developed by Information Resources Working Group, adopted by InformOntario in 2006

• Key change to upper/lower case for agency names implemented 2006

• Timeline for overall implementation being developed

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Naming Standard

• The basics

• Multi-level services

• Government services

• Arm’s length organizations

• Punctuation and style

• Acronyms

• AKAs and Former names

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5. Next steps: InformOntario Standards:

• InformOntario is a project partner, and will assume responsibility for I&R data standards

• Three year plan to review need for Ontario data standards and review InformOntario accreditation with a focus on community data

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Standards: InformOntario• InformOntario will provide chair for

IO Data Standards Committee

• The committee will focus on the 211Ontario.ca project, and broader standards for I&R

• Committee terms of reference will be finalized in April and committee will be convened

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Ontario Style Guide

• AIRS Style Guide released last month, will be template for InformOntario Style Guide

• Volunteers?!

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The End

Thank you

for sharing!