Data%20collaboration%20in%20Ontario:%20Some%20practical%20issues

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Data collaboration in OntarioSome practical
issues

• March 26, 2007Toronto

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Agenda

• Taxonomy Conversion timeline, process, and
  tools
• Eliminating duplicate records
• Working in French and English
• InformOntario's new Naming Standard
• 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/I
  nformOntario 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 contacts

• John Allec, Manager, Information Resources
• Findhelp Information Services
• 416-392-4572
• jallec_at_findhelp.ca
• Corinne Gallois, Coordinator, French Services
• Findhelp Information Services
• 416-392-4698
• cgallois_at_findhelp.ca
• Deb Woods, Taxonomy Project Manager
• 705-721-0736
• deborahwoods_at_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 IR
  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
• Arms 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 IR 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 IR
• 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!