Management Information Systems

MIS - Management Information Systems

Introduction

Good news for humanitarian agencies: according to MEARCH.org does "MIS" not have to be related to complex management software. To the contrary, MEARCH.org redefined MIS as the management information flów. Now MIS considers the flów of information from the point of collection information from the field, via processing of data, towards making the data useful for your organisation. The final presentation in the required formats, such as memo's, assessment and evaluation reports is the last phase.

MEARCH developed a range of tools and methodologies that can help your NGO, your (national) staff to collect, process and present information in new refreshing ways.

All MEARCH trainings are based on the use of Open Source software and basic data collection techniques. That means that at the end of your course, you will will not only have the knowledge of what you have learned during the course. Also, you will receive all of the software that has been used during the course, license free.

Data collection in the field - Introduction

MEARCH.org offers a basic introductory course that will teach you how to collect information in the field. The course aims at national field staff, that with some basic training can become a very valuable source of objective and well categorized information. Out of experience we know that many national staff that are responsible for collecting information do not have a proper understanding of hów to collect this information in a way that it is objective, and of sufficient quality (over time) to be useful for project management. After the course, students should have basic understanding and a range of basic data collection techniques available. The course is given in a way that what you have learned can be applied in different settings. That means the knowledge you have gained will be directly applicable in the context of your work.

Data collection in the field - Advanced level

After you have learned about data collection, entry and mapping of your information, it is time to turn you into a true field-research expert. The advanced course will introduce a range of techniques that will improve your skills in the field, enabling you to setup your own research and, acquire opinion of people, random selection, snowball, aggregate, stratified clusters, populations, correlation, opinion, randomized response, and finally T11 modelling.

Advanced Course - Data Collection for Emergencies

Data processing

Data Entry - Advanced Level

One of the biggest challenges about information is, how to keep track of it in a useful way. Especially when having increasing amounts of information, The advance data entry course will help you decide on which type of data registration you should use, so that your information will stay useful over time, or still useful when the amount of your information multiplies by 1000%. The use of spreadsheet and database are discussed, strenghts and weaknesses will be evaluated. MySQL, and Statistical software will be introduced, all to help you how powerful these tools are vor data registration. You will set up your own relational database system, designed in a way that useful for expansion over time. You will learn about logbooks, codebooks and about the advanced features of Open Office Calc / MS Excel.