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Tying a Sensible Knot: A Practical Guide to State-Local Information Systems

Abstract

Acknowledgments

Executive Summary

Chapter 1. Understanding the State-Local Environment

Chapter 2. Principles for Working in the State-Local Environment

Chapter 3. Best Practices

Appendices
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Chapter 3. Best Practices

Adopt and abide by data standards

Data standards help different participants speak the same language. They usually include at least two features: an agreed upon definition of the meaning of a term and an agreed upon format for how the term will be represented in the system. For example, the term "application date" might be defined to mean the date on which an applicant for services submitted a signed application form. The agreed upon format for "application date" might be defined as an eight-digit number consisting of 2 digits for day, 2 digits for month, and four digits for year, in that order. Data standards can be more complex and include information related to business rules for how the data is used and even data models that show the relationships among data elements.

Standard data definitions and formats organized in a common data dictionary are an essential prerequisite for effective information sharing among government organizations and between the government and private firms. While the development of these standards is often a time-consuming and difficult process, it is an effort well worth making since common data definitions form the core of any integrated system. A standard data definition offers these necessary components for successful intergovernmental implementations:
  • Provide a common language for information sharing. Since a primary goal of any intergovernmental application is to facilitate the exchange of information among interdependent organizations, it is important that all groups "speak the same language."
  • Help ensure that the data sets will be described accurately. Data dictionaries can serve as a guideline for describing data completely and accurately. Well understood definitions are an important tool for an organization’s internal documentation as well as for data exchange.
  • Facilitate automation. Once the data is standardized, more sophisticated software can be developed for creating, collecting, processing, and searching the data.
  • Allow for both central and distributed storage of data. In some cases, it may be desirable to store and integrate the information collected at multiple origins into a single database. Sometimes, original information collection is accomplished with a variety of local software packages. Integration of information which originates from different sources can only be accomplished when data elements are commonly defined. Conversely, data defined in the standard way can be stored at distributed locations with confidence that the meaning and integrity of the information is consistent from place to place.
  • Support information exchange. To enable the exchange of information among disparate computer systems, the data being transferred must conform to strict messaging formats. Often, this exchange is facilitated through Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).EDI uses a set of national and international standards to define message formats and the data elements within these messages. EDI standards have been developed and approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the United Nations/Electronic Document Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transportation (UN/EDIFACT).


Automated Dog Licensing: Keep it simple

Standard data definitions were a guiding principle of the Electronic Transfer of Dog Licenses Project from its inception. The NYS Agriculture and Markets staff knew that in order to make the licenses electronic, the process would have to work with many vendors’ systems. The development team looked at the information and asked "What do we really need?" Despite the fact that several interest groups wanted additional information collected at the point of issuing a license, the Ag & Markets team stood firm against data redundancy and "nice to know" information. They had one aspiration - to keep it simple.

After consulting with users and vendors, the development team defined the basic data needs with which all vendor systems would have to comply. They eliminated all fields that were not used regularly. Vendors realized that in order to compete with other software companies, they needed to meet state data requirements. Any automated licensing system that complied presented benefits to municipalities.

Today, each approved vendor system converts the information collected to a file that can either be e-mailed via the Internet or sent to Ag & Markets on a floppy disk. Each municipality has an authorization code that provides validity for the data communication when records are sent electronically. The basic information that now must be collected boils down to just a few important, standard elements describing the license, the owner and the dogs.

Each municipality that has adopted the system transmits information in the same order, using the same codes, and using fields that have common data definitions. Keeping it simple has eliminated paper- work, mailing, and postage costs, and has ensured more accurate data that helps protect communities against the spread of rabies.


Electronic Voter Registration: Local needs become national norms

Not every state-local project requires the creation of a new national data standard, but New York State’s Electronic Voter Registration project did produce standards for the transmission of voter registration information that will be used all across the country. This project was started by local officials in the Monroe County Board of Elections who applied for and received a grant from the State Archives to hire a technical expert housed at the NYS Forum for Information Resource Management. The expert, using New York State needs as a guide, chaired a national ANSI working group to select EDI protocols, encryption protocols, software, platform, and Internet capabilities that will allow for the standardized electronic transfer of voter registration records.