The IBIS Community of Practice

Lois M. Haggard, PhDUtah Department of Health

Purpose

Our purpose with this section is introduce the notion of a Community of Practice for those of use using the IBIS-PH software.

Problem

Software is expensive to develop. The industry changes so quickly. Utah cannot maintain IBIS into the future without the generous federal funding we have been so fortunate to have received.

Proposed Solution

Systems that were supported by federal $$ are essentially “open source,” although not technically part of the Open Source Initiative.

Partial Definition of Open Source:Free RedistributionNo royalties or fees

Source CodeMust include source code

Derived WorksAllow modifications, derived works, and

distribution of such

. . .From Open Source Initiative website: http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php

NCHS

Community of Practice

“The current environment for organizations is one that is characterized by uncertainty and continuous change. This rapid and dynamic pace of change is forcing organizations that were accustomed to structure and routine to become ones that must improvise solutions quickly and correctly…

Knowledge Networks: Innovation through Communities of Practice. Paul Hildreth and Chris Kimble (Eds.) (2004) <http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/mis/knicop.html>

Community of Practice

“…To respond to this changed environment organizations are moving away from the structures of the past that are based on hierarchies, discrete groups and teams and moving towards those based on more fluid and emergent organizational forms such as networks and communities.”

Community of Practice

How does it function?People become members of a CoP through shared practices; they are linked to each other through their involvement in certain common activities. It is mutual engagement that binds members of a CoP together as a social entity (Wenger, 1998).

Community of Practice

Common Purpose / MotivationThe CoP members will have some sort of common goal or common purpose and it is often the case that the CoP is internally motivated i.e. driven by the members themselves as opposed to some external driver.

Community of Practice

RelationshipsRelationships are a key part of a CoP and is what makes it possible for a team to become a CoP - as the informal relationships develop the source of legitimation in the group shifts in emphasis. These relationships are key to the issues of trust and identity in a CoP.

Community of Practice

Formal or Informal?In many cases, a CoP is not a formally constituted group and membership is entirely voluntary. In some cases, the organization might not even be aware of its existence.

Community of Practice

What is produced?The members of a CoP build up an agreed set of communal resources over time. This "shared repertoire" of resources represents the material traces of the community. Written files can constitute a more explicit aspect of this common repository although more intangible aspects such as procedures, policies, and specific idioms may also be included (Wenger, 1998).

IBIS Community of Practice

Maintain source code (use staff talent or share contractual talent)Develop features, functionalityShare ideas, developmentsProvide mutual technical assistance

Benefits

Share strength, development resources

E.g., Average .5 FTE in each of 18 states: 9 FTEs working on developing and maintaining the software.

Share ideas for use, trainingProvide mutual technical support

Community of Practice Website

www.ibisph.orgSource code repositoryWeb forum

Overview of IBIS-PH

Lois M. Haggard, PhDUtah Department of Health

Purpose

Our purpose with this section is to provide a brief but thorough overview of the IBIS system, from an end user’s point of view. In other words, what can IBIS offer to your organization and constituents?

Utah’s IBIS-PH homepage provides access to all areas of the website and information on new features. This is a standard home page template, but states adopting IBIS can either modify the content only, or the whole page.

http://ibis.health.utah.gov

IBIS Information Dissemination Model: Most frequently-asked questions are answered in paper (.pdf) publications and in our Indicator Profile reports. Users who’d like more detailed analysis or sub-populations can use the interactive query system. If none of those systems answer their question, they must go to the “old” system of calling us on the phone.

Web Basics

web

Client / Internet User…

…sends request (URL)…

… to Web server.

…to Client / Internet User.

…sends response (HTML)…

Web server

http://ibis.health.utah.gov

<html> <head> <META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> <title> IBIS-PH Welcome to IBIS-PH; Utah's Public Health Data Resource</title> . . .

IBIS Indicator Reports System html

IBIS-Admin

IBIS-View

IBIS-Q

Custom Data Query

Allows users to query health data sets directlyGeneral audience

User-friendly GUI interfaceSound epidemiologyHelp descriptions & instructionsBullet-proof – can’t confuse or give misleading answers, can’t allow users to do “stupid” things

The IBIS Query system allows members of the general public to access several public health data sets and generate query results based on their specifications.

1. Select a dataset.

2. Select a measure.

3. Use “QueryBuilder” page to select query parameters and submit query.

IBIS-Q Custom Query System

html

IBIS-Admin

IBIS-View

IBIS-Q

Results include query filter criteria, a data table...

And query meta-data.

The user can also produce a graph of the data in the table.

The IBIS query system can also produce map views of data. Maps provide mouse-over information and zooming if the user has Adobe’s SVG viewer installed.

IBIS-Q Custom Query System htmlhtmlhtmlhtml

IBIS-Admin

IBIS-View

IBIS-Q

IBIS Indicator Reports

Allows users to view a report of data that have already been tabulated.For more novice users, easier, more user-friendly.Web content management system, not a query system.

IBIS has over 100 indicator profiles currently published. They are indexed in an alphabetical index (pictured here) and also in a categorical index that allows indicators to be placed in any of several categorization schemes, such as by program, by data source, or HP2010 focus area, etc.

Each indicator has a default graph that comes up on the indicator main page and a message on why it is an important construct in public health.

The main page also allows navigation to a table of numbers for the current graph, as well as access to additional graphs (if they exist). We also include the measure definition.

How Are We Doing?

Utah Versus U.S.

What Is Being Done?

Other Program Information

Definition*

Numerator*

Denominator*

Data Interpretation IssuesWhy Is This Important?*

HP 2010 Objectives*

Other Objectives

Important facts about each measure include a number of fields. Not all fields are mandatory – mandatory fields are shown here with an asterisk.

The IBIS indicator profiles allow users to see how the current measure might be related to other measures.

Programs can use IBIS to inform the general public of services and resources.

IBIS Indicator Reports System html

IBIS-Admin

IBIS-View

IBIS-Q

This is the indicator main page, where we have provided text boxes to maintain some of the fields at the indicator level.

Indicator developers can add as many graph views as desired.

Numeric graph values may be hand-entered or plugged-in by the query system.

Files Maintained by PH Staff

IBIS-Admin

IBIS-View

IBIS-Q