ISPO-EIS in the Government of the Republic of Slovenia (solutions and implementation)'' ABSTRACT This paper will give a reader a review of a very complex EIS project: ISPO (Information System for Decision Support for the Government of the Republic of Slovenia). This system has already been in production. It is an example how to control heterogeneous data sources through a data warehouse. The paper will present the key elements which are necessary for successfull implementation of the project. The practical presentation will introduce to the audience the 'real life' application built by the SAS System. FIGURE 1.: LOGON SCREEN INTRODUCTION Large amounts of data stored on various platforms present a special problem in development of decision support systems, while the implementation is a complex and professionally and technically extremely demanding task. Additionaly, it is also true that for governmental institutions systems of this kind are no longer only a wish, nowadays they are reality and necessity. Wishes and needs of managers to cope with all pieces of information have become stronger then ever.
Managers and dicision makers have to react fast, but as a rule, they don't have the right information at the right time. Actual demands and expectations from decision support systems are essentially different than years ago. Decision makers are not satisfied with static reports, they need specific information related to their business, which could be observed in different ways. Graphical user interface is a normal thing and we don't want to enter into details. A modern manager or an executive should also expand the usage of decision support system with communication environment (electronic mail, automatic electronic office), which allowes him effective excange of information with the inside as well as the outside world. FIGURE 2.: ISPO DATA WAREHOUSE The ISPO project is a kind of 'school example' of building a data warehouse for decison support. Up to this moment we have set up the mechanisms for data extraction, transformation, summarizing and data integration from different data sources. All these data is loaded into the information data base, which is built in the SAS data on UNIX server. All changes have been recorded and controlled through meta-data. With these activities we provide management and organisation of the data warehouse. We have implemented the Client/Server architecture with SUN server and Windows clients (including Windows95 operation system) with all requirements for data security. We have also utilised the operation advantages of OLAP++ technology (Motore as a bridge between EIS and AF applications). With the
system interoperability - OLE 2.0 (Object Linking and Embedding) we are going to provide the integration with Lotus Notes applications, a groupware standard in public administration services. Thanks to expert assistance of the SAS Institute and close cooperation between the client and the project team, we have succeded in developing the ISPO system in a very short time. FIGURE 3. QUESTION: Which branch has the highest net salary in chosen period? ANSWER : Presented via data driven graphics. WHAT IS 'ISPO' AND WHAT IS 'The ISPO Centre'? The ISPO project is planned for the leading management and experts of the Slovenian Government. It should enable the staff to get quickly up-to-date information necessary to do their work properly. Relevant data is transformed into information through to the user friendly and high quality graphic user interface.the system must alert the user to notice the states of emergency and deviations regarding the normal state which should result in an immediate and effective measure taking. The ISPO information system was developed in the ISPO centre in SRC d.o.o. The ISPO centre is in charge of constant development of the system, its modification, updating, education and user support (help desk). The project team has six people.
The ISPO centre is connected to the governmental communication backbone. Local area networks of the government services are connected or are going to be connected to this backbone. At this moment there are 30 users connected to the ISPO system, but we are planning to connect 200 more until the end of this year. FIGURE 4. QUESTION: How is the real estate owned by gouvernment distributed among organisation units? ANSWER : Presented via multidimensional viewing of data THE PHASES OF THE DECISION SUPPORT LIFE CYCLE (DSLC) After reviewing goals of the users and preliminary system analysis, we established that the greatest effort and knowledge would have to be invested into integration and suitable transformation of data. In the early stage we found out that we would have to select the right information technology to meet user's expectations. The main issue is to collect and adequately transform data from various data sources. Data is variously aggregated and situated on several platforms (central computer-mainframe, PC, UNIX). It is organized in various forms (tables, hierarchal databases, relation databases, flat files, PC files,...). Data should be gathered at a central area. These facts were outlined at very begining of the project.
Which software or system is strong enough to cover all these requirements? Regarding all project's requests (rapid application development, adaptability of the system to changes, interoperability, client/server technology, data warehouse concept, security support...and many more) we have chosen the SAS System software. It was chosen as the software for management, organisation and exploitation (end to end) of ISPO Data Warehouse. Strategic agreements concerning longterm cooperation between the project client (Government Center for Informatics, SAS Institute and SRC d.o.o. have been prepared and signed. FIGURE 5 QUESTION: Is the highest salary average related to geografic dimension? ANSWER : The answer is simple! PROTOTYPING : "Give me what I want so I can tell you what I need.'' We agreed with the client to approach the whole project by several phases. At the beginning we developed the prototype with limited number of users' demands, chosen by priorities in a questionaire. In practice it often happens that a user and a performer do not reach the same point, although they share the same idea which they have been discussed about. Costs of changes are not high at this point, as the prototype investment is minimal. We deal with a sort of model which the client and the
performer almost interactively discuss about. A prototype was made in 50 man/day (20 days). Validity and verification of the prototype were done by users. THE NEXT STEPS After the prototype, we started to build the first release of the ISPO system. We extended areas (subjects) and made some modifications in the system, of course in cooperation with users. A test of production version of application started at the end of year 1995. After successful test production (there were some corrections - image, access, performance,...). The main purpose was to reach higher quality of the displayed information and adding value to information where this was possible. FIGURE 6.: SCHEME OF DATA AREAS COVERED BY ISPO SYSTEM Areas, which have been included in the ISPO system and carried out, were of the greatest importance to the Government. The most important - regarding the internal administration - were the areas concerning the real estate, human resources, movables and public opinon about work of the parliament and preferences on politicians. The project for budget area (subject) was elaborated. In the field as economy ISPO system has been elaborated for the survey of indexes, gross and net salaries in connection with branches of various activities. Some data are displayed geographicaly (average values of salary, a number of employees, unemployment, etc...). An internal integrated
telephone book for users is included. For its functionality this telephone book is much more than that. It covers the whole employment structure of the Slovenian Government as well as hierarchal descriptions and positions of the employees. IS THE USER HAPPY? The latest interviews with users showed that they had many useful ideas for changing and improving the system (modus discovery). They have been using the system even more frequent than we expected.the main purpose is achieved, users know the possibilities information technology offers and how the system can help them in every day business and decisons. FUTURE PLANS We measure the use of the system with our 'internal - ISPO developers EIS'. One of the elements of this system is logging and journaling of SQL queries on server.we are planning to expand the areas that are used more often and to discusse with users the areas which are in minimal use or not used at all. We will prepare questionaires for users in oreder to find out their opinion about the system. We are developing applications for central distribution of new applications or pieces of modified applications. Some of 'public data' will be disposable to other customers. We are not quite sure, but the idea is to provide informations from ISPO through the INTERNET (JAVA software on the client side and SAS information database on server ). CONCLUSION ISPO is not and will never be a substitute for decision making, but we are convinced that with it, the business goals will be reached faster. ISPO system represent a modern, adaptable and dynamic information system offering answers to various questions of different users. Decision makers with different positions in the hierarchal pyramid of the Governement of the Republic of Slovenia, they all work with the same data, with one version of true. Everyone who is more interested in ISPO system is invited to Slovenia for a practical demonstration of the system, with 'real' data. ABOUT THE AUTHOR The author of this paper is Dusan Kricej, Project Manager at SRC d.o.o. Ljubljana, Slovenia. He was the Home Office employee responsible for the information systems development untill 1995. Since 1995 he has been a key person in SRC d.o.o. responsible for the development of a complex projects in decision support area supported and developed by the SAS System. He can be reached through e- mail at dkricej@src.si.
ely discuss about. A prototype was made in 50 man/day (20 days). Validity and verification of the prototype were done