Community Data-Sharing 101: Picking a Data Steward Partner
As one of the final stages of the partnership-building phase of a data-sharing project, you must pick which of your partner organizations will be the “Data Steward” agency. We’re not talking about who the decision-maker is, or who the public face is. We’re talking about who will roll up their sleeves and run the day-to-day, nuts-and-bolts of the managing a shared data system: confirming the integrity of the uploads, housing the data, ensuring data security, and processing all of the data draw-down requests
Community Data-Sharing 101: Demystifying the Data-Sharing Agreement
If you’ve been following my blog to date, you can see the high level of forethought, work, and skill that go into putting together a multi-organizational data-sharing community partnership. I have seen talented, influential community leaders navigate these waters without fear, overcoming all obstacles in their path—only to come up short at the prospect of drawing up the data-sharing agreement (DSA).
Community Data-Sharing 101: The Data-Sharing Agreement as a Living Document
In my last blog entry, I gave general advice about writing a Data Sharing Agreement (DSA), using the Quad Cities Data Warehouse project’s Standards of Operation and Practice (SOPO) as an example. I mentioned that you can divide DSA components into two categories: things you want to be hard-wired into the system, and things you want to leave more fluid.
Tech is My Career, Partnership is My Goal
Thoroughness counts for a lot in my world. From product development to quality assurance, rollouts to system upgrades, we do the small things well so the big things can function reliably. What I’ve found in my career, and especially during my time at nFocus Solutions™, is that an emphasis on thoroughness has a place in the equation long after the products are developed and released. It is also important in the customer relationships – our solutions initiate the relationships, but our Client Support Team sustains and even builds upon them.
Scouting Success Upfront
You see it here and there in the software business – the assumption that every challenge and every objective will automatically work within a single tool’s framework. It’s basically “universal fit” thinking that our teams try to avoid through collective discussion and understanding.
Software That’s Simple Is Software You Need
Overcomplicated solutions are common these days, especially in the software profession. For some reason, computer technology tends to lead people towards convoluted tools when straightforward options are either available or designable.
TraxFacts® – Tomorrow’s Executive-Level Data Is Here
We base the foundation of all product development on an understanding of what our clients actually need. What we’ve learned and observed for ourselves is that there is a common demand for real-time data access, which is especially important at the executive level, as organization leaders often need quick performance and attendance insights to inform major on-the-spot decisions.
Exciting Days In The Shop
A new software tool is on the way from nFocus Solutions – an executive-focused attendance/reporting module we call TraxFacts which is great news for our clients, especially their leadership. It’s also a reminder to me of what I appreciate so much about this line of work. Many of us who work in software are constantly tuning up existing products while progressing on new tools and solution offerings. It requires that we balance several thought channels:
Modular Construction, Wholesale Concept
For our clients, one of the most useful words to associate with any TraxSolutions® module is “integrated”. We conceptualize and code modules to fit right into the wholesale Trax concept, which is built around participant management and branches outward to related areas such as program management, fee collection, outcome measurement and surveys. TraxSolutions® is comprehensive software clients can expand as necessary via compatible modules.
2021: A TraxSolutions Recap
Our product engineering team, as part of the client-focused TraxSolutions team, had a very busy 2021.To demonstrate just how much we value that work, I’d like to share with everyone a retrospective of nFocus Solutions’ 2021 projects and our continuing product development.