dhis2-users team mailing list archive

[Knut Staring <knutst@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks for the thoughts, Jim. Some comments below.

On Sat, Feb 15, 2014 at 2:49 PM, Jim Grace <jimgrace@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hi Knut,
>
> It sounds to me like a natural for an app (as you mentioned). If we had "Start
> date" and "End date" in a YEARLY dataset, that might preclude two outbreaks
> (by any other name) for the same year and same organisation unit, so that
> might not be the best method for data entry. (And outbreaks that span the
> new year would still have to be entered twice.)
>

Quite right, I was already wondering how to handle things that cross years.
I guess the user should select start and end dates, but these would not be
stored. Tending towards preserving the information as much as possible
through using a daily dataset  - this implies lots of (generated)
datavalues for a long outbreak, but is usually for a limited number of
orgunits (the total number is over 3000). Monthly data will be interpreted
to cover all days in the month.


> Interesting idea about entering through time on the same form. I wonder
> what that would look like. Would the periods be columns? Given that we
> already use columns for disaggregations, that might make the form too wide
> -- so maybe the periods would be rows. I wonder how the number of periods
> would be determined -- perhaps specify the number in the form design (or in
> the data set for an automatically-generated form), or maybe specify a
> longer period type and show all periods within the longer duration.
>

In this particular case there is but one data element and no
disaggregations, so it could go either way. It really depends on how you
get your data - sometimes you have lots of data for just one OrgUnit, and
then it's a hassle to constantly select new periods when the screen could
easily accommodate a matrix grid rather than a one dimensional column.

But of course you would have to somehow specify the number of periods,
preferably on a dataset basis rather than as a global setting. We already
support the choice of horizontal or vertical (row/column) multi-orgunit
data entry, so would not be too far fetched to do something similar for
periods (though they are potentially infinite in number). In fact, the
OpenHealth prototype that was developed for WHO back in 2007 had a data
entry interface quite akin to our Pivot Table.


> Most of all I wonder what other use cases there might be for entry over
> multiple time periods. Is this worth building in, or is it best done by an
> app?
>

I would argue that though our Data Entry is already quite powerful, there
are a lot of enhancements that I would really love to see in the core. It
would be wonderful if most use cases could generate the forms they want
without having to do either a custom form or an app, though always seeking
to avoid complexity both for the programmers and end-users. I think there
are quite a few general form patterns we still don't support very well.

It would be great to be able to "pivot" the autogenerated data entry forms
according to the use case (i.e. the nature of the data). There are also a
couple of other things that naturally belong in the core, such as the
ability to click or hover on a Data Element in order to see the full
definition. I would also like to have out-of-the box Accordion
functionality for sections, preferably with arrows to simulate a workflow,
so that one would see only one section at a time. We almost have this
already, but the dropdown section selector is not as user friendly as
either a collapsable accordion (better) or Previous + Next buttons, such as
in this (admittedly ugly) example:
http://jquery.bassistance.de/validate/demo/multipart/


> It seems like a good idea to develop apps for a lot of specialized
> requirements, and maybe even some common ones. How much have we developed
> our philosophy about when to put things in apps and when in the core
> product?
>

That is of course a big debate which can perhaps only be fully resolved as
we gain experience, but I would mainly argue for strengthening the proud
DHIS tradition of providing tools for people who are not programmers
allowing them to configure what they want. Both custom forms and Apps are
currently quite hard to do - I'd love to see a few more generic options in
the main Data Entry, and perhaps also some building blocks to quickly get
started with apps beyond the raw API.

Perhaps we need to move that debate to a separate thread, especially in
preparation for a new generation student contributors.

Knut

Cheers,

> Jim
>
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 15, 2014 at 3:42 AM, Alvin B. Marcelo <alvin.marcelo@xxxxxxxxx
> > wrote:
>
>> +1 on Inception (in the context of the movie)....It may seem amusing but
>> to some extent the term is appropriate...
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Sent from my BB Curve 9320
>> ------------------------------
>> *From: * Brajesh Murari <brajesh.murari@xxxxxxxxx>
>> *Date: *Sat, 15 Feb 2014 16:30:30 +0800 (SGT)
>> *To: *alvin.marcelo@xxxxxxxxx<alvin.marcelo@xxxxxxxxx>; Knut Staring<
>> knutst@xxxxxxxxx>; Dhis2-users<dhis2-users-bounces+alvin.marcelo=
>> gmail.com@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; dhis2-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<
>> dhis2-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> *ReplyTo: * Brajesh Murari <brajesh.murari@xxxxxxxxx>
>> *Subject: *Re: [Dhis2-users] Maps of outbreaks
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> There are some synonyms for 'outbreak' are given below
>>
>> explosion, blast, eruption, outburst, detonation, blowup, outburst,
>> plosion, advent, repullulation, commence, inception, initiation,
>> inchoation, eruption, insurgency,
>>
>> I think "Insurgency" or 'Inception' would be nice to use for 'outbreak'
>> in context of DHIS2.
>>
>> Regards
>> Brajesh Murari
>>
>>
>>
>>   On Saturday, 15 February 2014 1:25 PM, Alvin B. Marcelo <
>> alvin.marcelo@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>  I'm not sure if I got the 3Cs correctly. Pls google too...
>>
>>
>> Sent from my BB Curve 9320
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: "Alvin B. Marcelo" <alvin.marcelo@xxxxxxxxx>
>> Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2014 07:41:03
>> To: Knut Staring<knutst@xxxxxxxxx>;
>> Dhis2-users<dhis2-users-bounces+alvin.marcelo=
>> gmail.com@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; dhis2-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<
>> dhis2-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Reply-To: alvin.marcelo@xxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: Re: [Dhis2-users] Maps of outbreaks
>>
>> Hi Knut,
>>
>> My two cents as we recently experienced a measles 'outbreak'.
>>
>> First, better not to call it an 'outbreak'. Health officials are very
>> sensitive about the term. We can gain their confidence if we don't
>> "presume" an outbreak by labeling it as such on the interface.
>>
>> Second, we missed this 'outbreak' in Metro Manila (of all places!)
>> because the health workers waited for official lab confirmation (which
>> takes 3 weeks in this part of the world). The health workers forgot to
>> execute the protocol that if the 3Cs are present (colds, cohryza,
>> conjunctivitis) they should suspect measles and immediately vaccinate the
>> surrounding children.
>>
>> Lesson: if any child comes in with any one of the 3Cs, the information
>> system should alert them for the other 2Cs. The 3Cs will be reported
>> upwards and it will be a syndromic report and not an outbreak report.
>>
>> The first syndromes (in retrospect) started coming in as early as August
>> but it was only December when the trend became evident (due to the lack of
>> near-real time reporting and health worker forgetting the protocol).
>>
>> I fully support this initiative. Such a system, if it works, could have
>> saved lives in the Philippines. A better name might be DHIS2 syndromic
>> surveillance decision support system with the ability to inform officials
>> of dangerous trends.
>>
>> We'll leave it up to the health officials to call it an outbreak.
>>
>> Alvin
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Sent from my BB Curve 9320
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Knut Staring <knutst@xxxxxxxxx>
>> Sender: "Dhis2-users"
>> <dhis2-users-bounces+alvin.marcelo=gmail.com@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>Date:
>> Sat, 15 Feb 2014 08:16:23
>> To: dhis2-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<dhis2-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Subject: [Dhis2-users] Maps of outbreaks
>>
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>>
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>>
>


-- 
Knut Staring
Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo
+4791880522
http://dhis2.org