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OCHA Information Management Toolbox

OCHA Information Management Toolbox

OCHA’s Information Management Toolbox is an online space for OCHA’s Information Management staff to access current and curated information tools, services, and systems to support humanitarian response and preparedness coordination. The Toolbox is the authoritative reference for OCHA information management tools and systems. The IM Toolbox is an essential part of every Information Management Officer’s packing list – for all phases of humanitarian response and preparedness work. A quick url that will get you here is imtoolbox.unocha.org.

If you are new to humanitarian information management (IM) the pages in this section are a good place to start. Here you will find links to key documents and introductions to basic IM concepts. More content will be added. Suggestions and examples are welcome, please see the FIS team.

IM Unit Management – People

Principles of Humanitarian IM

By Janet

1 min
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Overview

These 10 guiding principles were established in 2002 by participants in the Symposium on Best Practices in Humanitarian Information Management and Exchange and are included in the operational guidance documents for humanitarian information management.

Accessibility: Humanitarian information should be made accessible by applying easy-to-use formats and tools and by translating information into common or local languages when necessary.

Inclusiveness: Information exchange should be based on a system of partnership with a high degree of ownership by multiple stakeholders, especially representatives of the affected population and Government.

Inter-operability: All shareable data and information should be made available in formats that can be easily retrieved, shared and used by humanitarian organizations.

Accountability: Users must be able to evaluate the reliability and credibility of information by knowing its source and having access to methods of collection, transformation, and analysis.

Verifiability: Information should be relevant, accurate, consistent and based on sound methodologies, validated by external sources, and analyzed within the proper contextual framework.

Relevance: Information should be practical, flexible, responsive, and driven by operational needs in support of decision-making throughout all phases of a crisis.

Objectivity: A variety of sources should be used when collecting and analyzing information so as to provide varied and balanced perspectives for addressing problems and recommending solutions.

Neutral: Information should be free of political interference that distorts a situation or the response.

Humanity: Information should never be used to distort, to mislead or to cause harm to affected or at-risk populations and should respect the dignity of those affected.

Timeliness: Humanitarian information must be kept current and made available in a timely manner.

Sustainability: Humanitarian information should be open sourced, preserved, cataloged and archived, so that it can be retrieved for future use, such as for preparedness, analysis, lessons learned and evaluation.

Confidentiality: Sensitive data and information that are not to be shared publicly should be managed accordingly and clearly marked as such.

Essential Reading for OCHA IMOs

Familiarity with these five pieces of guidance will provide an IMO with a solid foundation of the role of information management in an OCHA office and how IM fits within the larger humanitarian context. Collectively, these documents outline a list of IM responsibilities that individual IMOs and IM teams are responsible for in every OCHA office.

  1. Policy Instruction: The Roles and Responsibilities of Country Offices (2010) – If you only read one, read this one!  Although this policy instruction needs to be updated it provides a genuinely useful framework of an OCHA office’s five operational priorities (situational awareness, a common approach, a common strategy, monitoring, lessons learned) and the role of IM.  It also includes office size and structure, cost-plans, supervision and internal reporting.

  2. IASC: Operational Guidance on Responsibilities of Clusters/Sectors Leads & OCHA in Information Management (2008) – Perhaps the most important IM-focused guidance document, describing the relationship between OCHA and the clusters, as well as many of the individual tasks IMOs are responsible for.

  3. IASC: Emergency Response Preparedness (ERP) (2015) – Basic framework for county-level preparedness.

  4. IASC: Humanitarian Programme Cycle (HPC) reference module (2014) – Describes how agencies work together to provide humanitarian relief.

  5. IASC: Common Operational Datasets (COD) – Describes the most important baseline datasets with special emphasis on administrative boundaries and baseline population statistics.

  6. IMWG Guidance on Common Operational Datasets (CODs) in Emergency Preparedness and Response –

Can you answer these questions?  If not, read the documents slightly smiling face

What are the 5 operational priorities of an OCHA country office?

Who is responsible for establishing Information Management Network at the country level?

List the two IM minimum preparedness actions.

List the two “essential enablers” in the humanitarian programme cycle.

What is the definition of a COD?

  1. OCHA 2018-21 Strategic Plan – OCHA office and IM units should align their strategy to the OCHA strategy.

  2. GA Resolution 46/182 – GA Resolution 46/182 directly established many cornerstones of humanitarian action including DHA, which became OCHA in 1998.

  3. Emergency Response in OCHA_2017.pdf – The policy instruction on response describes how OCHA responds to sudden-onset or rapidly deteriorating crises. It includes a timeline of the first hours, days, weeks and months. More recent than the policy instruction on country offices, so more in-line with HPC

  4. IASC Operational Guidance on Data Responsibility in Humanitarian Action – It is intended to help humanitarian staff, organizations, and their partners practice data responsibility in different response contexts. Partners across the system will implement this Operational Guidance in accordance with their respective mandates and the decisions of their governing bodies.

CODs

  • are authoritative reference datasets needed to support operations and decision-making for all actors in a humanitarian response.

  • pertain to a recognized country or territory1.

  • are standardized datasets that are commonly used and referenced by all operations.

  • are of four types2:

  • reflect the local hierarchical administrative structure,2 are annotated with place names and P-codes, and are generally accompanied by a tabular gazetteer.

  • are best available datasets that ensure consistency and simplify the management of key data.

  • are accepted in country3 or in their region by the relevant Information Management Working Group.

  • are catalogued at the COD Portal [LINK SUBJECT TO CHANGE SOON].

  • are disseminated at the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX); COD-AB and COD-EM datasets are also available as live GIS geoservices.

  • enable consistency and harmonization among actors working on humanitarian preparedness and response by providing:

    • a common operational picture of the crisis

    • a geographic framework (P-codes) for data collection, analysis, and visualization.

  • are available in two quality classifications (see COD-AB quality and COD-PS quality):

    • ‘enhanced CODs’ with full quality control, compatibility, and reliability

    • ‘standard CODs’ not yet fully quality controlled.

  • facilitate informed decision making both pre- and post-crisis.

  • reduce duplication of work on baseline data by partnering organizations.

  • strengthen valuable humanitarian networks and relationships.

  • drive API look-up information

1 CODs are generally prepared for sovereign states recognized by the UN Secretariat, but in some cases reflect sub-national territories. For example, there are CODs for Sint Maarten, which is a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but not for Taiwan, which is not a recognized member state.

2 Previously a ‘Humanitarian Profile’ COD-HP type existed, which presented tabular People-in-Need information derived from Humanitarian Needs Overviews. This information is now provided in country-specific ‘Humanitarian Needs’ (non-COD) datasets disseminated in HDX by OCHA Humanitarian Programme Cycle Tools (HPC Tools). For further information see HPC Tools.

1 Except some COD-CS datasets [????]

IM Process

By Janet

2 min
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Overview

This is where data elements are transformed into information and knowledge and then into action.  The recommended information management process has six steps:

Plan

The identification of the core information set that is needed for effective decision-making starts here. This stage should involve strategic decision makers setting the direction and identifying exactly what information is needed. Available resources and time are critical elements, in a sudden onset the information needs might be very different than in a complex emergency.

Collect

Using the strategic direction given in the planning stage collection involves review the time and resources and determining the appropriate methodology.  Secondary data often is a good starting point with primary data collection efforts taking the longest and requiring more resources. Normally (but not always!) OCHA IMOs engage in the collection of secondary data and cluster IMOs are responsible for primary data collection.

Process

Consists primarily of transforming raw data into a format that can be used for analysis. It is a time-intensive activity involving cleaning and organizing the collected data.  The true quality of the data often becomes apparent in this step.  Information management officers are often the first people to scrutinize the data and can help in the determination of quality and usability.

Analyse

Normally carried out on two levels;

  1.  basic statistical or spatial analysis using charts, graphs or maps to display basic information and

  2. adding background, contextual or technical expertise.

In addition to information management officers, subject matter experts should be involved in the analysis step. Going back to the planning step ask if the collected data can provide the needed answers.  Be clear on the limitations of the data.

Communicate

Depending on the intended audience communication of the analyzed data (now information) can take the form of reports, maps, or charts. It can be shared via the web or on paper and the underlying data can be shared as tables.  Take care to consider the sensitivity of the data.

Feedback

An often forgotten step.  After completing the process stop and review, did decision-makers have the information needed to make critical decisions? If repeated how could the process be improved on streamlined?

IM Team Size

By Janet

2 min
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Overview

The OCHA Policy Instruction on Country Offices includes several pre-approved cost plans and organigrams for different sized offices. These should be seen as the minimum size and composition of an IM unit. In practice, IM units vary enormously. The table below compares the number of IMOs in pre-approved cost plans with actual IM staffing in 2017/8.   It is up to the Head of an IMU to make a case to a HoO to provide adequate capacity.

# of IMOs

          Small / Sub-office

Medium office

Large office

Guidance

1 (P3)

2 (P3 NOA)

3 (P4, P3, NOA)

Range (actual)

1-3

4-6

7-9

Many offices will supplement the international and national IMOs in an office cost plan with local consultants and by using other organizations such as iMMAP and REACH to enhance the IM capacity.  For example, in 2017 for Yemen there were six IMOs in the OCHA cost plan plus 12 staff from iMMAP and 2 from REACH, therefore overall IM capacity was actually 20.  iMMAP also provide IM support to the clusters bringing the number of IMOs working on the humanitarian response to over 40!

Process

  • Discuss IM expectations with HoO and translate into an IM strategy and work plan based on office size

    • Determine short term vs long term needs (often more staff is needed to scale up a response and fewer to maintain)

  • Identify potential IM capacity in the country (strong capacity would allow for more national staff)

  • Identify potential partners willingness to support.

  • Develop short-term IM staff plan

  • Develop longer term IM staff plan – keep in mind that recruitment of a fixed term international staff will take at least 6 months)

Outputs/Resources

Guidance

Performance Management

By Janet

1 min
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Overview

The purpose of the Performance Management and Development System is to improve the delivery of programmes by optimizing performance at all levels, which it will achieve by:
(a) Promoting a culture of high performance, personal development, and continuous learning;
(b) Empowering managers and holding them responsible and accountable for managing their staff;
(c) Encouraging a high level of staff participation in the planning, delivery, and evaluation of work;
(d) Recognizing successful performance and addressing underperformance in a fair and equitable manner.

All staff are responsible for:
(a) Understanding the larger organizational goals;
(b) Soliciting clarification on individual performance expectations;
(c) Participating in discussions with the first reporting officer to facilitate the development and finalization of the individual work plan and maintaining discussions during the reporting period;
(d) Taking steps to complete each stage of the process for which they are responsible without delay.

Process

  1. The head of the IM unit should work closely with their HoO and direct supervisor to discuss the work plan of the office.

  2. Translate the unit work plan to individual staff work plans

  3. Meet regularly with the IM team (ideally weekly) to discuss issues and weekly priorities

  4. Use the mid-year review process to modify individual work plans as necessary

  5. Complete mid-year and end of year review process on time.

National Staff Recruitment

By Janet

1 min
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Overview

Recruitments of national staff for OCHA field offices have to go through UNDP, and are advertised using UNDP formats and procedures. For OCHA headquarter positions, hiring managers can use Inspira, and in some cases have the option of going through UNDP (eg. in Istanbul, the hiring manager can choose between Inspira and UNDP).

Process

For recruitments administered by UNDP, hiring managers or their HR focal points, should liaise with their UNDP focal points, as procedures may vary somewhat from country to country. If an office is advertising an entirely new position and has the possibility to develop new ToRs, a good starting point would be the P2 and P3 job profiles. A few examples of national ToRs developed on the basis of those are available below. For Inspira announcements, the process is administered with support from OCHA human resources in HQ. An example at NOA level is provided below. The P2 and P3 job profiles can also serve as a guide for the ToRs (again, see examples below).

Outputs/Resources

Examples based on P2 and P3 ToRs (OCHA Field offices or HQ):

Examples of UNDP formats (OCHA Field offices or HQ):

ICT

Examples of Inspira formats (OCHA HQ positions):

Guidance

You would like to hire an OCHA IMO

Step 1: advertise the position

You should first determine what skillsets you would like the IMO to have, and whether the IMO should be a specialist or a generalist. There are several pages of the IM Unit Management – People section of the IM Toolbox can help you with that.

When advertising the position, depending on the skillsets that you would like to focus on, use one of the job descriptions that were developed by the Global IM Functional Team (GIFT) and cleared by human resources:

Step 2: select your candidate

Feel free to contact Field Information Services (FIS) to help you with screening, testing and interviews. Remember that if you are recruiting against a JO (as opposed to a TJO), all candidates recommended for the position will be added to the IMO roster.

IM Unit Skills and Expertise

By Janet

2 min
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Overview

In order to accomplish the work plan of an IM unit within an OCHA office, the IM team needs to

have a wide variety of skills and expertise.

Guidance

Required Skills

At a minimum, an OCHA Country Office IM team should include staff with advanced skills in key software and platforms. They should use these skills every day, know most advanced features and be able to work quickly and to a high-quality standard without needing help from others.

  • Microsoft Excel

  • GIS software: ArcGIS, QGIS

  • Graphic design: InDesign, Illustrator

  • Data visualization: Tableau, Power BI

The team should also include staff who are advanced users of key OCHA platforms and tools. They should be able to setup and manage these platforms, advocate for their use and train users.

Other tool:

The team should also include staff who are experienced in producing and managing key OCHA products. They should be familiar with their purpose, audience, templates, and workflows and be able to produce them to a high-quality standard.

Nice to have Skills

Outputs/Resources

Compétences et expertises de l’unité IM

Description

In order to achieve the objectives of an IMU’s work plan in an OCHA office, the IM team must possess a wide variety of skills and expertise.

Guidelines

Required Skills

It is important that the OCHA IM country team has advanced skills in the management of key software and platforms . IMOs should use these skills on a daily basis, be familiar with the most advanced features, and be able to work quickly, with great rendering, without needing to ask other team members for help.

  • Microsoft Excel

  • GIS software: ArcGIS, QGIS

  • Graphic Design: InDesign, Illustrator

  • Data visualization: Tableau, Power BI

The team should also include members with advanced skills in using OCHA’s key platforms and tools . They must be able to organize and manage these platforms, advocate for their use, as well as train their users.

Other tools:

The team should also include members experienced in the production and management of OCHA flagship products. They must know its goals, target audiences, models (templates) and workflow; as well as being able to produce a high quality rendering.

Useful skills

Resources

OCHA IM Skillsets and Roles

By Janet

2 min
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Overview

The OCHA policy instruction on country offices lists 10 different skillsets for Humanitarian Affairs Officers (including Head of Office, Inter-Cluster Coordinator, and Protection), but only one skillset for IMOs: IM!

In reality, IM requires a diverse set of different technical and non-technical skill sets. OCHA currently recognizes five skillsets, which each map to specific skills and IM activities. A strong IM team needs members that each have one or more of these skillsets.

Skillsets

Coordination: This is primarily a ‘soft-skill’ specialization. Coordination includes management of an IM team, coordination with partners through an IM Working Group, advising the Head of Office on IM issues, recruitment, planning and day-to-day management of products and people.

Content Management: This skillset is about making information easy to find and manage. Content management includes overseeing information sharing platforms like ReliefWeb Response to make sure the content is up-to-date and easy to find, overseeing document management systems and doing data entry and basic processing. Content management also includes working with partners to make sure they contribute data and information to common systems like FTS and OPS.

Data Analysis: This skillset is about working with data and information to improve situational awareness and support evidence-based planning and operations. Data analysts need to work with decision-makers and subject-matter experts to do effective analysis on impact, severity, needs, response and gaps. Data analysis is used to calculate populations in need and develop Humanitarian Needs Overviews.

Mapping: The mapping skillset is about using geographical information systems (GIS) and other tools to analyze and present spatial data. Mapping includes working on spatial common operational datasets (CODs), creating reference and operational maps, and using GIS to perform spatial analysis.

Visualization: The visualization skillset is used to turn information in insight and knowledge. It involves taking often complex data and presenting in a format that’s easy to understand and tailored for a specific audience. Visualization is used to create products such as snapshots, dashboard and infographics.

Roles

Every IMO will usually have strengths in more than one skillset. They might be an expert in Mapping, but also be comfortable doing basic visualization and also coordinating an IM Working Group meeting on CODs. We call these IMOs ‘Generalists’, because they have multiple skillsets. Other IMOs are ‘specialists’ because they spend almost all of their time working in a single skillset. The head of an IM team, for example, might not have very strong technical IM skills, but be very experienced in the ‘coordination’ skillset. We call this IMO at ‘specialist’, because they are particularly strong in one skillset (coordination) but not in the others.

A small team, especially offices that have only one or two IMOs, will need to have generalists, so they can still perform all of the activities of an office. A large office, meanwhile, can afford to have multiple specialists. When building a team, it’s vital to choose staff in a way that ensures the team includes all of the skillsets, regardless of team size.

Technology: Tools, Software, Platform

By FIS

1 min
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Overview

All IMOs need to use a wide array of tools to complete the many tasks in an IM unit.  In the following pages you will find the most used tools.  If you would like to add content, make a suggestion, or tell us what we are missing please contact FIS

Typical IMU Tools

The following list identifies the types of software and platforms commonly used in IMUs. Their specific use, how to obtain the software, procurement, trainings and resources is available on the respective pages.

Data Collection

Data Processing

  • Excel– is the primary tool of IMOs

    • Intermediate – list of skills with links

    • Advanced – list of skills with links

  • Access

Data Management

Mapping

Visualization

Business Intelligence

Data/File Sharing

Platforms

Social Media

  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • YouTube

Messaging Apps

Data Processing: Excel

By Janet

1 min
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Excel

Excel is an incredibly powerful tool and basic proficiency is critical for all OCHA IMOs, regardless of profile.  Excel is used by IMOs for data collection, processing, analysis and in the creation of graphics for the dissemination of information. There are many videos and websites from basic to advanced Excel, it is recommended that all IMOs take the time to become proficient in Excel

Guidance

  • 231473361

Outputs/Resources

  • Excel is fun! – YouTube channel with 2,500 how-to videos with a wide range of excel tutorials from beginner to advanced

  • Excel Training 101 – Simple easy to follow instructions and videos on a wide range of Excel basic functions

  • EXCELJET – with 500 formulas and 101 functions

    Map visualization in Power BI

    By FIS

    3 min
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    Overview

    Power BI is a business analysis service offered by Microsoft and comes with an extensive range of data visualization options and business intelligence capabilities. With its simple and intuitive user interface, users of all levels are able to build their own reports and dashboards from one or more datasets. 

    Currently, there are five different tools for creating map-based data visualizations on Power BI.

    Guidance

    Process

    There are five standard map visualization options in Power BI Desktop. Click on the bullet points to find out more information about each tool:

    • Basic Map (powered by Bing)

      • Simple or sliced points

    • Filled Map (powered by Bing)

      • Polygons, requires known location names

    • Shape Map

      • Polygons, possible to use your own TopoJSON file

    • Mapbox

      • Simple points, heatmap, cluster map, cloropleth map (limited geographic locations)

    Comparison

    The table below brings together the main features, requirements and pros and cons of each map tool. For further information, take a look at the document Summary of the options for map visual in Power BI. 

    Basic Map

    Filled Map

    Shape Map

    ArcGIS Maps

    Mapbox

    Visualization type

    Simple or sliced points.

    Filled polygons.

    Filled polygons.

    All visualizations supported by ArcGIS Online.

    Points, heatmap, cluster map, cloropleth map (for certain locations).

    Basemap options

    Bing

    Bing

    No basemap.

    Anything from the ArcGIS Online collection.

    Standard or custom basemaps hosted on Mapbox.

    Data pre-requisites

    GPS points or known location names.

    Known location names.

    TopoJSON file of the location in question.

    Publically available map on ArcGIS Online.

    GPS points or known location names.

    Can be used in any location?

    Yes

    No

    Yes

    Yes

    Yes (with points)

    No (with polygons)

    Main advantage(s)

    Easy to use with GPS-tagged data.

    Easy to use when dealing with known location names.

    Allows using your own TopoJSON file.

    Versatile visualization options provided by ArcGIS Online. Many map control options, such as possibility to control the zoom level.

    Additional visualizations and possibility to use your own custom basemaps created on Mapbox.

    Main disadvantage(s)

    Supports points only, background maps limited to Bing (not aligned with the UN mapping standards).

    Not compatible with the majority of OCHA operations countries. Background maps limited to Bing (not aligned with the UN mapping standards).

    Requires preparation of the TopoJSON file and matching the location names, PCodes or other unique identifiers with those in the other datasets. No background map.

    Not possible to use in dashboards published or embedded online. No access to private ArcGIS Online content.

    Polygon display possible for limited locations only (Global level maps, states of the USA). Limited map control options, such as no possibility to control the zoom level.

    Ideal use case

    When a simple point map is sufficient.

    When a simple polygon map is sufficient.

    Need to use polygons for a single area.

    When sophisticated, multi-layer maps are required and the dashboard will not be published or embedded online for public consumption.

    When custom basemaps are necessary. Default option for the OCHA dashboards.

    Tips

    • The FIS team strongly recommends using Mapbox Visual as the principal mapping tool for point data. Unlike the default map application driven by Bing, Mapbox allows use of custom basemaps for the visualizations. The use of custom basemaps ensures a maximum alignment both with the UN mapping standards and the OCHA visual guidelines.

    • The Shape Map tool is effective for creating choropleth maps with your own vector file in a TopoJSON format. Use Mapshaper to convert your Shapefile or GeoJSON file into TopoJSON. This tool also allows simplifying the map, thus reducing the file size. Make sure that your map data file has at least one common attribute with the rest of the data in your dashboard. This will allow connecting the map to the other datasets and thus, enable full interaction between the map and the other visuals.

    • Sometimes you may want to disable the zoom, pan or other interactions in your map element. However, out of the five mapping tools, only ArcGIS Maps for Power BI offers a built-in feature to restrict the interactions. However, one way to disable the map interaction is to use the “Shapes” tool to create a transparent square on the top of the map. This way, the map will become a “view only” feature, with no possibility to control the rest of the dashboard from the map.

    Outputs/Resources

    • Options for Map Visual in Power BI

    • Introduction to ArcGIS Maps for Power BI

    • PowerBI Training package with Mapbox visual.zip

    • OCHA Brand Portal: Creating Online Maps with Mapbox and Use Mapbox with custom maps

    • Default OCHA Mapbox style (originally created by ROWCA)

    • Mapbox 101 for PowerBI

    • OCHA trainings

    • ArcGIS for PowerBI:

    • Satellite Imagery

      By FIS (Unlicensed)

      3 min
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      Overview

      Over the last few years, the increase in the number of commercial satellite constellations at higher spatial and temporal resolution along with innovation in image-analysis techniques and the increase access to open data platforms has made satellite derived analysis a key asset to support operational planning and decision making during sudden-onset disasters, as well as humanitarian crisis situations.

      To ensure the timely delivery of satellite analysis and derived products (maps reports, web services, etc..), It is best to coordinate satellite imagery analysis requests through the IM network to reduce duplicate requests. Please see the best practice section below for more tips on requesting satellite imagery analysis support.

      Resources

      UNOSAT

      The UNOSAT Rapid Mapping Service provides satellite image analysis during humanitarian emergencies, both natural disasters and conflict-situations. With a 24/7 year round availability to process requests, the UNOSAT team ensure timely delivery of satellite imagery derived analysis, maps, situational awareness reports, statistics and GIS-ready data (for example flood extents, damage assessments, etc,)

      UNOSAT benefits from a variety of sources for satellite imagery acquisition: free and open source, commercial vendors, International Charter Space and Major Disasters (natural and technological disasters only), in-kind donations.

      Note that in case of major natural disaster events, UNOSAT can activate the Space Charter and Major Disasters on behalf of the UN agencies and IFRC .

      How to Activate UNOSAT Rapid Mapping Service:

      Satellite imagery requests to UNOSAT related to both complex emergencies and natural disasters are to be sent to emergencymapping@unosat.org,  CC: fis-ocha@un.org (OCHA Field Information Services) and Filiz Yildirim filiz.yildirim@un.org

      The details to be provided in the request include the following:

      1. Geographic Bounds (coordinates, KML, SHP, etc.)

      2. Temporal Bounds

      3. Operation(s) it will support

      4. How will the data be used?

      5. What do you need to see? What Questions are you trying to answer?

      6. List partners, that will use the data. What are their licenses for derived works? (e.g. OSM has a creative commons license this can be discussed)

      7. Who will benefit? (e.g. HCT, affected the population, UN agencies, NGOs, government etc.)

      E-mail with details should be sent first followed by a phone call to the 24/7 hotline +41 75 411 4998 to confirm submission to UNOSAT on-call officer. Requests can also be submitted to 24/7 hotline directly if no internet connection available for e-mail.

      The service is free of charge for UN sister agencies and humanitarian entities operating in line with UN policies.For more information about the process please see: UNOSAT Emergency mapping

      Best Practices

      • Coordinate requests through the IM network to reduce duplicate requests and improve common understanding of operational needs (IMWG members)

      • Once the request has been handled and delivered, please fill in the feedback form which is already attached within the request form. Feedback submission is a mandatory procedur

      • During sudden-onset natural disasters to know Who is doing What and Where by different satellite mapping organizations in terms of satellite analysis you can access the GDACS Satellite Mapping Coordination System (SMCS): http://smcs.unosat.org/

      • Most satellite imagery is licensed and sharing the raw imagery can be restricted. In case of need to access raw satellite images during an activation you can contact UNOSAT and ask advise regarding suitable mechanisms to grant access.

      • Collaborating with other partners that may be able to help such as Open Street Map (OSM), MapAction, REACH etc. so they can use the data and images.

      • Consider the expertise and time involved with satellite imagery analysis, let the experts dot it! Maps and GIS-ready data in different formats (e.g. flood extents, building damage points, etc,) can be downloaded from UNOSAT website.

      • In case the International Space Charter and Major Disasters  is activated you can also check availability of satellite derived maps on the Charter Website Map .

      Resources

Power BI

By Janet

4 min
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Overview

What is Power BI

Microsoft Power BI is a collection of software services, applications, and connectors that work together to turn related and unrelated sources of data into coherent, visually immersive and interactive insights. With its simple user interface and availability as part of the Office 365 package, Power BI has become a standard business intelligence/data visualization tool of OCHA.

Whether your data is a simple Microsoft Excel workbook, or a collection of cloud-based and on-premises hybrid data warehouses, Power BI lets you easily connect, clean, and model your data without affecting the underlying source. The broad catalogue of built-in and add-on visualization options allows creating neat and easy-read summaries of both simple and complex data. Finally, Power BI allows sharing of the final work with either public or restricted audiences.

The components of Power BI

Power BI consists of a Microsoft Windows desktop application called Power BI Desktop, an online SaaS (Software as a Service) called the Power BI service, and mobile Power BI apps available for phones and tablets.

These three elements — Desktop, the service, andthe Mobile apps — are designed to let people create, share, and consume business insights in the way most convenient for their role and goals.

Workspaces

Workspaces are containers for dashboards, reports, datasets, and dataflows in Power BI. There are two types of workspaces: My workspace and workspaces.

  • My workspace is the personal workspace for any Power BI customer to work with your own content. Only you have access to your My workspace. You can share dashboards and reports from your My Workspace. If you want to collaborate on dashboards and reports, or create an app, then you want to work in a workspace.

  • Workspaces are used to collaborate and share content with colleagues. You can add colleagues to your workspaces and collaborate on dashboards, reports, and datasets. With one exception, all workspace members need Power BI Pro licenses.

Workspaces are also the places where you create, publish, and manage apps for your organization. Think of workspaces as staging areas and containers for the content that will make up a Power BI app. So what is an app? An app is a collection of dashboards and reports built to deliver key metrics to the Power BI consumers in your organization. Apps are interactive, but consumers cannot edit them. App consumers, the colleagues who have access to the apps, do not necessarily need Pro licenses.

Process – OCHA Product Support

PowerBI Pro License and OCHA Workspace

Complete the License and Work Space Request form to request Pro licenses and Premium workspaces. To optimize the efficient use of licenses in OCHA, licenses that are not used for four months or longer will be deactivated if no longer needed.

Tips

  • Use PCodes and ISO codes to connect different datasets. Wherever possible, the most convenient way to connect two or more datasets, is using PCodes. When using other attributes such as name of a country, district or settlement, there is a risk that the spelling is not the same across the datasets, creating a risk of missed links.

  • Pay attention to the column data type. For correct display of numeric data in the visuals, the data type should be set as “Integer” or “Decimal”. If set as “Multiple”, it is not possible to perform mathematical functions (such as SUM, DIVIDE, MULTIPLY) with the data.

  • Use the Power Query tool to create aliases. Ever come across column or attribute names such as HHs_Female_U18_1-3_PWD_Yes or potableWaterPerHhWithIdpStatusBaselineApril2020? While technically necessary when using KoBo or other MDC tool, such names tend to be inconvenient or even unreadable to the end users. Generally speaking, end users prefer to see standard spacing instead of camel cases or underscores used by KoBo or similar tools. Hence, where necessary, you can use Power Query to create duplicate columns with aliases, increasing the overall user experience.

  • Leave an “expansion space” for your visualizations. Especially in large-scale sudden onset disaster situations, the figures tend to grow in a rapid pace. In addition to the absolute figures, the number of categories is likely to increase: more districts, more distinct groups of people affected, more response organizations. The increasing number of figures and categories means further population of the visualization elements, whether in a map, chart or table formats. Do not squeeze your visuals into a too small space, but make sure that the visuals will remain readable and meaningful even with rapid changes of the situation. The same applies to the map elements: check that the zoom level of the map will expand as new geographical areas are being covered.

  • Consider the strengths and weaknesses of each map tool option. Power BI provides several different tools to create maps: the built-in location map, filled map and shapemap along with the add ins from MapBox and ArcGIS. While each tool comes with certain technical and visual advantages, each of them also has certain limitations. Please refer to the Map visualization in Power BI page for full information about the best use cases for each map tool.

  • Practical Power BI tips from ROWCA:

  1. Simplifying Numbers

  2. Get Excel SharePoint data

Got any useful Power BI tips? Please contact us to share your tips on this page.

Outputs/Resources

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