IMSMA News

Update on Activities in 2005 (complete report)

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

4. Information management is one of the key elements required for success in mine action programmes. The GICHD has focused its efforts in this area on the development and deployment of the Information Management for Mine Action (IMSMA). IMSMA is currently being used in 41 programmes world-wide and has become a de facto standard in this field of mine action.

5. In order to maximise the impact of information management in mine affected countries and take advantage of the synergies between IMSMA and other systems, the Centre is no longer focussing on the specifics of the IMSMA technology, but provides a systems approach to the overall management of information of all kinds in mine action. The goal of the programme is to assure the successful integration of proven information management techniques, systems such as IMSMA and other tools into day-to-day operations in the field.

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR MINE ACTION (IMSMA)

6. During the reporting period, the IMSMA system was installed in Jordan, the 41st operational installation.

7. As of 31 August 2005, IMSMA was being used in 41 field programmes: Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina (for the National Impact Survey), Burundi, Chad, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Congo (DRC), Costa Rica (by OAS), Ecuador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon (National Demining Organisation), Macedonia, Mauritania, with MINURSO in Western Sahara, in Mozambique, Nicaragua, Peru, Russian Federation (Chechnya, Ingushetia, Northern Ossetia), Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somaliland, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Thailand, with UNFICYP, UNIFIL, UNMEE, in Yemen and Zambia. Additional versions are running at various training sites at locations in France, Switzerland, the UK, and the US.

8. The IMSMA Version 4 Project, started in summer 2004, aims to incorporate the latest technology advancements, improvements in data transfer methods (such as maXML) and – most importantly – the lessons learned by users in the field into an improved and easier to use information management tool for the field. During the reporting period, work on the Pilot Evaluation and Test version of IMSMA Version 4 progressed according to schedule. The official acceptance test for this first release of IMSMA Version 4 is scheduled for early September 2005.

9. IMSMA Version 4 will be provided in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Arabic. Translation of the baseline user screens and error message text used in Version 4 was completed in June.

10. The development of IMSMA Version 4 and relevant translation work is funded by Switzerland.

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT TRAINING AND OUTREACH

11. During the reporting period, the GICHD carried out five editions of the “Introduction Course to Information Management in Mine Action”. These courses aim to assist operations and management staff of local mine action centres with understanding the role and implementation of integration of information management into their daily operations, with an emphasis on the sustainable use and support of IMSMA in the field. In total, 29 participants from Burundi, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Peru, Thailand and Zambia attended these courses.

12. A sixth course was provided within NATO’s Partnership for Peace framework. This course served the above aims, and the participation six of trainees from Argentina, Azerbaijan, France and Switzerland.

13. Furthermore, the first course entitled “Introduction to Information Management for Operations in Mine Action” was held in late June. The goal of this training is to familiarise operations staff with key information that is needed in order to make the use of the IMSMA system possible and also with what IMSMA can offer in relation to their specific tasks within a mine action operation. Seven participants from Argentina, Guinea-Bissau, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon were present.

14. Finally, the GICHD organised and carried out two Regional IMSMA Outreach Meetings for mine action programme managers and their operations officers. Participants were provided a comprehensive update on the status of the IMSMA re-engineering project and a demonstration of the new system (Version 4). The meeting also included a training session focused on information management in mine action and the successful integration of IMSMA into mine action operations.

a) The first of these meetings was held in Panama City, Panama and included representatives from Nicaragua, Colombia, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina.

b) The second meeting was held in Nairobi, Kenya and included representatives from Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Burundi, Uganda, Mauritania, Rwanda, Somaliland and Zambia.

15. Other on-site training is carried out by the Regional Support Centres.

MINE ACTION DATA SHARING PROJECT

16. The Mine Action Data Sharing Project aims to expand both the range of data transfer tasks and the operational use of the mechanism to new data sharing projects. Now that an operational package using maXML as its data transfer mechanism is available in the field, the project will begin to concentrate on a data sharing project involving the transfer of mine threat data to domains outside the immediate mine action community.

17. During the reporting period, work was undertaken to update the maXML data specification. This task is being performed in conjunction with the development of IMSMA Version 4. Early release versions are already being used to perform data transfers from the currently fielded IMSMA version to the new Version 4. Current activities are focused on transfers between hand-held data collection devices and IMSMA Version 4. These transfers will be made in the form of files containing maXML coded data.

18. The purpose of the Hand-held Field Data Collection Tool Project is to introduce an automated system to aid in the collection of field survey data and its transfer to centralised information management systems. This could improve actual data collecting procedures, which are paper-based and need to be inserted manually into central databases. During the period covered by this report, the consolidation of data collected during field trials was terminated and work has begun to expand the data collection capability of the hand-held systems in use through the adoption of a generic forms transfer and handling capability. This project is funded by Switzerland and the UK.

REGIONAL SUPPORT CENTRES (RSCS)

19. The GICHD established the Regional Support Centre (RSC) concept in 2002 as a way to address the need for on-going support to its IMSMA installations in the field. The RSCs provide first level user support, assist mine action centres in reviewing their internal information management processes as well as their information exchange and communication procedures, and with general support to information management. The RSCs also organise regional user focus group meetings, training courses, and facilitate general contacts between interested countries and the GICHD. Each RSC is staffed with one person. Over the next two years the RSCs will be challenged with completing a total upgrade of all of the existing IMSMA installations.

20. The Centre currently supports four Regional Support Centres:

a) The RSC Latin America, established in 2002 and based in Managua (Nicaragua) covers Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Peru. It maintains technical contacts with the humanitarian demining programmes of the United States, the United Nations and the Organisation of American States (OAS).

b) The RSC Europe/Central Asia, established in 2003 and based in Geneva covers Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Kosovo, Macedonia, the Russian Federation, Serbia and Montenegro, Tajikistan, and Ukraine. The RSC Europe/Central Asia also maintains technical contacts with the International Trust Fund (ITF), the South-East Europe Mine Action Co-ordination Council (SEEMACC), NATO and France.

c) The RSC Africa, established in 2003 and based in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) covers Angola, Burundi, Chad, Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zambia. The RSC Africa also maintains technical contacts with the African Union and other humanitarian demining programmes and projects in the region.

d) The RSC Middle East/Northern Africa, established in late 2003 in Beirut (Lebanon) covers the following countries and territories: Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Puntland, Somaliland, Sudan, Western Sahara, and Yemen.

21. During the reporting period, and besides routine work within the framework indicated above, the RSCs

a) provided assistance to a regional mine action conference in Cartagena, Colombia, in February;

b) conducted a workshop on information management in Bogota, which reviewed internal management processes and relevant information management strategies. This four day workshop was attended by 29 participants;

c) supported the Landmine Impact Survey conducted by the Survey Action Centre (SAC) in Angola;

d) supported the Puntland Mine Action Centre with regard to the Landmine Impact Survey;

e) assisted the UNMACC in Burundi in planning the respective general community survey,

f) made an assessment visit to the Zambia Mine Action Centre (ZAMAC).

Press Release

 

Geneva, 7 September 2005

 

Launch of the new IMSMA Version 4

 

 

The new version 4 of IMSMA - Information Management System for Mine Action - is completed and ready to begin filed testing. It has been handed over by FGM, Inc., the development firm, to the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD).  

“The latest version of IMSMA is designed as a decentralized system and will replace existing systems within the next two years. This new release is based upon open-source software and is being developed using the platform-independent Java programming language” says Alan Arnold, Program Manager Mine Action Information Systems. “Thanks to the generosity of ESRI the new system will contain a fully integrated GIS based on the Arc Engine software package. It allows users to perform interactive map-based navigation throughout the entire content of the database”.

This first release of IMSMA V.4 will under go a series of pilot tests starting in the fall of 2005 before it is made available for general release. The new system is designed for use by operations and management staff and contains a number of technical improvements, which will reduce the cost of operations and maintenance.

IMSMA is a software based data management tool for use at mine action centre level. It is able to provide the Mine Action managers and practitioners with up-to-date information management capabilities to facilitate decision making in the framework of mine action.

“The system is currently in use in more than 40 countries and covers 80 % of mine action programs around the world. Based on the input of field users, the system has been continuously revised and upgraded since its initial release in the summer of 1999” says Ambassador Stephan Nellen, Director of the GICHD.

IMSMA is a licensed and copyrighted product of the GICHD and is not freeware or shareware. All distributions of the system are covered by license agreements. IMSMA is provided free of charge by the GICHD to mine affected countries and to the governments of countries actively involved in peace keeping and mine action support operations. The use of IMSMA in the pursuit of any commercial enterprise is strictly prohibited.

 

 

For further information, please contact :

 

Davide Orifici

Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining – GICHD

Phone : + 41 22 906 16 91 – Mobile : + 41 79 747 10 57

d.orifici@gichd.ch