The Life of a Project Called "Deliver"

2009-06-02T16:31:00.006+02:00

We have moved the DELIVER project blog

to the new WFP Logistics blog

CipCip: It is not what you do, but who you do it with

2009-05-22T15:45:00.021+02:00

Long gone are the times where you put a knowledgeable person somewhere and she or he could do the job. Our work has become so complex, time-critical and crucial to saving lives that "collaboration" with others has become a must. Not only with external parties like donors, government counterparts and other NGOs/UN agencies but also internally within the organisation.

"Information" is a key part of the collaboration. Accessing and sharing information a must.

And data is everywhere. From corporate servers, to Access databases in field offices, to Excel spreadsheets somewhere on individual computers. There is not one bit of information that exists, which is not in a digital form, apart from the feeling of the sand between your toes on a romantic summer evening.

The data exists. But is hardly made accessible let alone shared.

With the DELIVER project we aim to make the information, essential for moving 4.7 million tons of food annually, available to all those who need it. And more.

One of the key goals of DELIVER is the collection, analysis, storage and dispatch of time critical information, generated by systems, people or by public sources.

Imagine you are in a security constrained emergency operation, let's take Goma 6 months go. You need to monitor the constantly changing environment. In one hour:

a crowd is amassing by your warehouse, blocking trucks to leave. Riots possible.
the rebels are rumoured to have attacked an MSF truck on the route to Bukavu
550 new IDPs arrive at the border of town, news reported by a CARE driver
retreating government troops are confiscating cars and motorbikes
the port captain has fled, and people looted his office, making the facilities unusable
UNHCR dispatches the latest IDP figures.
10 trucks are waiting at the Rwanda border, apparently some paperwork went astray
the Belgian government told the press they will fly in a C130 with relief goods, but it seems HQ is not aware yet.

This stream of information comes from HQ, the Goma radio room, the press, the security office, and your counterparts in other NGOs. It comes by Email, telephone, satphone, and VHF radio. Oh and add CNN, BBC and the rumour mill for a good mix.

How about if we could funnel all of that information into one big information pipe with just short messages and with links where to find the full information? What if the system could split up that stream of information, and dispatch it - dependent on the subject - to different audiences (logistics, security, programme, etc...) either via SMS or a real time display on computer - like Skype messages?

Well, we might just have done that.

Please welcome CipCip (pronounce "TJEEP-TJEEP", Italian for Twitter) to the DELIVER family. CipCip is a joint effort by an underground team of information management people, who wish to remain unanimous. ;-) OK, you can call us "Geeks".

CipCip, is like Twitter, but internal to our organisation. Access is restricted, and new users are added by invite-only at this time.

When we talk about Twitter, everyone rolls their eyes, and thinks of a 13-year old getting up in the morning and Tweeting "I need a new hair-cut".

We are thinking more in terms of:

"!pakistan Gov. of PAK now estimates total number of IDPs in SWAT to reach 2.5 million (press conference)"
"!news ICRC releases press release stating they get no access to refugees in North Sri Lanka"
"!earlywarning Who has the link to the latest OCHA report on DRC?"

The core of CipCip is an off-the-shelf open source programme, called Laconica. It has a web-based interface but we have chosen Twhirl as a desktop client.

Both CipCip (Laconica) and Twhirl are free. We are paying 1.3 Euro per month for the server (!), which is also used for loads of other DELIVER projects. CipCip (Laconica) is "open source", which means there are loads of people developing applications for it, and there is a very active user and administrators' support forum.

Twhirl is multi-platform, runs on Adobe Air and also costs $0. The low cost and ease of implementation means that the normal financial and technical barriers are significantly diminshed.

If you are a WFP staff, and you want access to the system, send an email to wfp(dot)logistics(at)wfp(dot)org

We wonder if World Food Programme is the first humanitarian aid organization to use microblogging as a way to dispatch information? Please be sure to let us know if you know of any other.

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED SO FAR?

1. Systems are often not the means, but the goal
Roll out a system, and people will start using it, if the need is there. CipCip started a social stream embracing social media. And they find their own way of using it.

2. Networks start to pop up where they did not exist before
One of the most fascinating aspects of rolling out an internal corporate microblog is that you begin to see a whole new network evolve that is not defined by office numbers, floors, departments, etc.
Seth Godin describes these as 'tribes' in this TED video. The amount we have to talk about is astounding and we have found that this new conversation significantly improves communication. Information, often critical, is delivered in real time to either an individual or the group via this new internal WFP social stream.

3. From far and beyond...and doing it LIVE
Already we have had our first user 'Ciping' from Maputo, Mozambique. We have live streamed meetings so that we could remain working our desks while one of our team 'Cip'd' updates.

AND NOW?

1. While all of this is still an experiment, we're accepting more WFP participants, specifically in the field, as our mandate is to develop logistics tools that enable our teams to work more effectively in the field.

2. We are currently working on running internal and external news and information feeds into CipCip so that our desktop clients can serve as our one-stop-shop for information. By enabling the built-in SMS functionality we also hope to start importing field Cip's coming to us via mobiles and satellite phones. By funneling all of this news through a single channel we will have an information conduit that can then be parsed and searched.

We only just started this new project and have been learning the in's and out's of the system. We hope to make this information, the lessons learned, available to the public at some point in the future. We will be sure to keep you informed as we expand our system so that you too can benefit from our pioneering efforts.

Maps for Mats

2009-05-14T12:43:00.002+02:00

Ok, maybe we'll give Mats a little more than a piece of paper...

View Larger Map

Maps for Mats

2009-05-14T11:09:00.003+02:00

Mats will be heading off as thead of the suboffice in Bor, South Sudan soon. This is a good case for us to tune-in with the needs of the deep field.

Of course, he thinks he will get prime service from us. Dah.. The only thing he will get from us is a paper map, faxed every month. Like this one:

;-)

Visualization of COMPAS data in Google Maps

2009-04-23T11:25:00.009+02:00

The Tripoli Post featured a story on WFP activities in Libya earlier this week. The story covers the supply route between Al Kufra, Libya and Abeche, Chad. We mocked up a small visualization of the story below:

Why Google Earth and why all the GIS stuff? Currently we display our COMPAS data (food stock) for the operation adjacent to a Google Map of the region:

However, we also realize that the visualization potential for such data is enormous and we look forward to exploring possibilities once we launch our DELIVER portal. In the mean time be sure to read the full story which has some very compelling segments:

When it comes to navigating through this hostile terrain, however, the drivers excel. ‎Many come from Kufra or Chad and their knowledge of the Sahara is unrivalled. ‎Abdelmenam Saleh Benali, Logistics Assistant at WFP Libya tells the story of when ‎he invited an expert from Egypt to monitor the drivers' abilities.

Somewhere along the ‎route from Benghazi to Kufra, long after the asphalt road has given way to sand, the ‎Egyptian lost his glasses. He didn't notice until his arrival in Kufra at midnight, at ‎which point he gave up all hope of being able to continue the journey fully-sighted. ‎

But a driver offered to pick them up and drove through the other-worldly darkness of ‎the desert at night to retrieve the stranded spectacles. He found the glasses without ‎deviating from his course once. These are men of the Sahara. They know the desert ‎like the back of their hand.

And, if you have time check out this video that shows segments of our operations in Libya:

A blog within a portal within a blog

2009-04-17T11:56:00.004+02:00

It looks like we've locked onto a solution for maintaining a blog within our new portal. By using an iframe we can quickly and easily integrate a blog into the portal structure while still retaining the attributes of the original blog platform.

We will still have access to all of those same widgets, plugins, themes, etc. which means we will be able to blog in the comfort of familiar surroundings. This, in turn, should make for more frequent and better stories since we'll have a whole new portal to tell you all about!

What can you expect to see in the new DELIVER portal?

2009-04-16T15:09:00.006+02:00

We have some great new screenshots of our new business-to-business (B2B) page on our soon to be released DELIVER portal. If you are a current or future customer of UNHRD (United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot) you will be able to access all of your transactional information online via the portal. Mind you, these might not exactly match the final product but we wanted to give you a sneak peak at what we're working on just to prove that Pavlov was right.

First stop is the order summary:

Here you can see your order ID#, Status, Last Action, Description and some additional information. This way you'll be able to view your order history before drilling down into the individual documents.

Located just below the summary are additional items which offer access to a whole range of information:

Lastly, we provide with portlet on the right side of the screen that gives you instant access to all of your docs and even shows you which docs are missing:

Incredibly cool stuff that we anticipate releasing into the wild in the coming weeks. Take a look and please don't hesitate to comment below!

WFP.org - Pirates Constant Menace to Food Lifeline

2009-04-15T10:14:00.004+02:00

Our friends over at WFP.org have just posted a story about the recent hijacking of the Maersk Line ship the Alabama. The ship is now in port in Mombasa offloading it's cargo of over 4,000 metric tons of corn-soya blend. From the article:

Mombasa is essential to WFP’s operations in these areas. More than 500,000 metric tons of WFP food arrived in Mombasa in 2008 aboard more than 200 ships for the hungry in the region.

Food flowing through the WFP pipeline is managed using the Compas system. For those of you unfamiliar with the system an earlier article on the WFP.org site nicely outlines the system:

At the heart of the World Food Programme's logistics information system is Compas, or the Commodity Movement Processing and Analysis System. At any point along its supply chain—from warehouses, to trucks, to distribution centers—the internally developed software program can give relief workers an accurate, up-to-date snapshot of its food stocks.

All food shipment data is sent from the field to Rome, where a software program takes all the information coming in from the disaster area and updates an Oracle database at headquarters, which, in turn, can then be accessed by people in-country.

While Compas monitors food from port to distribution point, an SAP R/3 system tracks food being shipped from donor countries, such as the U.S., according to quantity and destination.

Together, the systems give the WFP "a complete, global picture," says Bruni, and allow the agency to divert food from one area to another that might be in greater need.

The DELIVER portal that is currently in development will feature the Compas system as one of it's main components and will be accessible to WFP personnel through the portal. Other systems featured will include WINGS2, Aviation, UNHRD and a host of other services.

We posted the following screenshot a while back. The data shown was extracted from the Compas system and overlayed on a Google Map showing the Kenya and Uganda regions. Take a look:

Once the portal is up and running WFP users will be able to visualize Compas data for their region without having to refer directly to the reports. Factors effecting the arrival of shipments will show as variations in the graph visible above. Therefore, the hijacking of the Alabama will utlimately show as a variation in the timeline.

"At WFP Logistics success is not only measured by metric tonnes moved, or reductions in cost, but by lives saved."

2009-04-08T10:01:00.006+02:00

Stopping to take a moment to reflect on what we're all about. Have a look at this:

Proverb of the day.

2009-03-31T09:23:00.003+02:00

If one wants to go quickly,
one must go alone;

If one wants to go far,
one must go together;

The thing is.. I need to go far quickly..

(Thanks Temmy!)
Picture courtesy Kajaye on Panoramio

The new web: Linked Data

2009-03-24T21:44:00.004+01:00

Exactly 20 years ago, Berners-Lee, a guy at CERN, had the idea of linking documents with eachother. He invented a special protocol and 'programming language' for it: hypertext. And boom! The World Wide Web was born. 1989.

So, why not celebrate this great day by taking a little time to stretch your thinking about the Web just a bit.

Go on, make yourself a cup of tea, relax… and watch the great TED video above, in which Tim Berners-Lee explains how he invented the World Wide Web - and sheds some light on how he believes his brainchild will evolve in the future.

In this short talk, Berners-Lee explains how the World Wide Web all began because he wanted to refine the way we use information and work together - and, apparently, because his boss humoured him and agreed that he could spend time on it on the side as a “play project”. All bosses with bright staff - take note!.

But this is just the beginning. The future, Berners-Lee explains, will comprise evolving from the current ‘linked documents’ approach to a ‘linked data’ approach. This is the next revolution. Releasing, repurposing, and re-using the infinite wealth of data we collate - from medical research databases to data on relationships held on social networking sites - by linking it up in previously unconsidered ways to support previously unachievable applications.

While I was watching the video, I was thinking: this is EXACTLY what we are trying to do with the portal. FREE THE DATA! No more boxing up the data within our organisation, but making it all accessible for operations people to make operational data, and for managers to make informed decisions.

Or let their staff make informed decisions...

But seriously. Think about it. We have collected Compas data, food commodity tracking data for the past 10 years. What a mass of data. A wealth of data... Think what we can use that data for.

Thanks to the Supply Chain Optimization team (Temmy and Co) from the Logistics Development Unit, we will have the first glimpse of the possibilities, on the new portal.

Here is an overview of the pipeline and the food corridors for Uganda:

Each corridor shows the average transit time, based on the past x months. Each corridor can be clicked and historical data is displayed. All on the spot:

Just a glimpse of the possibilities...

Video discovered via Giving in a digital world

The Logistics Development Unit and LSU/LDU current projects

2009-03-20T14:47:00.007+01:00

For those of you who missed today's presentation, here is a version. To limit the size, we had to cut out most of the graphics.

Full screen version of the presentation

Remembering one of our own. TJK.

2009-03-17T15:11:00.004+01:00

Today, TJK was posthumously awarded the "Tun Myat Award for Excellence in Humanitarian Logistics".

With thanks to Ekram Elhuni, Riccardo di Cola and Marco Frattini.

The project status - update March 10.

2009-03-10T10:17:00.004+01:00

There are 4 active projects in the DELIVER programme at the moment. A short status overview:

The Fleet Management System:
This project was suspended for a while awaiting the recruitment of the new HQ Fleet Manager, and for one of the field resources to be freed up.
Both "conditions" are now in place, and we should be able to pick up this project by April.
According to the planning, April and May will be dedicated to the development of the last remaining reports and input forms.
The PastFood application:
The first phase of this application, facilitating the registration and evaluation of food procurement transactions, was delivered a while ago. The Food procurement unit collected the field users' feedback on basis of which they defined the requirements for the second phase of the project. This will providing additional features and reports, increasing the usability of the product.
The software development for this phase has started, to be finished April 9.
The Compas assessment:
Compas is our food commodity tracking system. It is THE core corporate logistics application tracking the movement of over 3 million Metric Tons of food per year.
This Oracle based system was developed in the late 90's, and now in for a major upgrade. The first phase is to look at quick wins in the areas of data replication, data integrity and systems support.
The ICT department (on basis of input from the logistics business units) has just finished a survey of all 400 Compas locations we have in the field. Add a technological review to this survey, and we have an excellent basis to define a number of changes. The review is to be finished by end March. The development and roll-out of the recommendations will take us until the end of the year.
The survey and review will also give us a good base line to assess what we want to do with this application in the farther future: move to the corporate SAP ERP system? Integrate Non-Food Commodity tracking into the Food Commodity tracking?
The Portal:
The Portal is really the cornerstone of all new systems being developed. We are coming to the end of the 14 month's requirements gathering, testing, prototyping, developing, testing again... Now that all pieces are coming together, it looks like some unforeseen problems are popping up causing delays in the development cycle. We were supposed to get the Portal for testing mid December, but we're already 2 months late. And what is worse: it is difficult to get an overview of when we will get this product out of development. The worst state for a project to be in: in trouble, and not knowing when one is going to be out of trouble.
But... we're on the case and are working closely with the ICT department to asses what is needed to bring this first development cycle to a closure, so we can start testing the product before releasing it to the users.
Once we get the product for testing, we will need one month of testing. The question is: "When will we get this product for testing". -- Clearly work in progress. Stay tuned.
One thing is for sure: this Portal will be good. Better than good. The pieces we have seen already have been impressive.

Hope. Excitement.

2009-02-27T13:00:00.004+01:00

Today is an important day for us... In the "life of a car", this is where the first model runs off the production line, and engineers + designers alike, look at it to check if this is what they had in mind.

In the life of a Portal, this is the day where the developers hand over a product to the 'business', and the latter checks if this is what was requested.

No matter how well the specifications were drilled down, there are always surprises. The challenge for us all is to, in one month, identify the discrepancies and get a product released to our users.

One month.

Picture courtesy Norwegian support team, Pakistan earthquake

Our own Ekram in the Gaza operation!

2009-02-18T23:13:00.003+01:00

Here is Ekram, our team's Information Coordinator while on mission on the Egypt/Gaza border...

Mister Logistics. Paging Mister Logistics!

2009-02-10T14:05:00.003+01:00

From the new Global Telephone director. We have two "Mister Logistics" and one "Miss Logistics".

Maybe they can make little baby Logistics! :-)

How good is perfect?

2009-02-06T10:35:00.007+01:00

These are troubled times in the life of any project: the closer one comes to the delivery dates, the more all different components of a project come together.

The front-end of the Deliver systems is the Portal, the giant website that will give access to all data WFP logisticians need. It will also be the information repository for the general public AND the main "shopping window" where any humanitarian organisation can request us for logistics services.

The Portal needs to be good. Let me correct that. The Portal needs to be perfect. But the "more perfect", the longer it takes, and often the more complex the development.

Since a year, we have been working on the development of the Portal. From the try-out sites - testing technology, business flows, information gathering - to extensive business requirements gathering, system specifications and development. From contents gathering, development of back-end systems to graphical layout.

The release date for the full Portal was set to March 2009. And it still is... But now is the time where the different 'project streams', the shackles of the chain, are coming together:

Our corner stone is the ICT department, our technical implementation partner, coordinating all the technical issues. For the Deliver Portal, they made the bold move of selecting a completely new technical platform for web development. Loads of challenges come with that. If anything, they are the heroes of The Portal.
Many different logistics units have been writing pieces of content, which we will use as main information pieces, briefings or teasers on the portal.
The Logistics Development Unit, worked with the business units to gather what information is needed for people to do their work more efficiently, and mapping it out to a great technical detail.
We worked on the user-experience end of the Portal (the navigation, the graphical layout, the usability)
The UNHRD staff worked for months preparing the migration of their stocks data into the SAP Warehouse Management System (WMS), battling many technical challenges.
- ...

The closer we come to the release date, the tighter the link between all these different streams. Nightmares pop up of having overlooked one or the other critical element which would jeopardize the project. Or at least cause major delays.

On December 15, we were supposed to go into "beta testing" (call it "internal testing") of one part of the Portal: the intranet part which would replace the current try-out sites.. Unfortunately a number of technical issues have popped up, and we are late.

The new time line has now one big milestone: by Feb 28th, the development of the whole portal should be finished, ready for us to test. We will then take one month to test and debug the whole site (which contains a couple of hundred pages, and links to a dozen of backend systems).

A very very aggressive planning. And a very aggressive goal too: we don't want to deliver a good product, we want it to be as perfect as can be. Something we can be proud of.

But one question continues to pop up: Good or Perfect? How Good is Perfect if it causes delays? How perfect can a website really be?

Andrea: another face behind the scene

2009-01-23T13:05:00.004+01:00

Andrea is another face in our team people seldom see upfront. He is the Benjamin, the youngest of us.

Up until now, Andrea has been producing the "Logistics Bulletin", our internal monthly Logistics Newsletter.

Andrea got his permanent employment contract offered today, so soon he will be a fulltime staffer in our group.

Auguri, Andrea, and welcome (again!)...

Our presentation at the Rome ShareFair

2009-01-21T08:48:00.007+01:00

Yesterday, we gave a presentation at the ShareFair, an interactive event organised by the Rome based agencies, providing the possibility for staff to showcase their experiences in knowledge sharing and at the same to time to learn from each other.

In the presentation, I wanted to share our experience in the process of gathering information, putting it in query-able backend systems so the data can be accessed by those who need it, in an easy way.

The presentation itself does not contain a lot of text, but rather a thread of what was talked about.

You can see what our "public" captured of the presentation on the ShareFair blog.

When I close my eyes....

2009-01-15T16:11:00.005+01:00

When I was 3 years old or so, I thought when I put my hands in front of my eyes, nobody else in the world could see anything...

Up to recently I thought how I saw a website in my browser, the whole world saw it.

And this is not the case. Different browsers often show the same website differently.

It is up to the web developers to ensure websites are tested for browser compatibility, and this is the stage of our logistics portal development: the web gurus are ensuring it looks well in all browsers...

So Tobias will have a long night again!

Here is an example of the home page: You see any difference between Firefox and Internet Explorer 8? ;-)

The portal last night in Firefox

The portal last night in Internet Explorer 8

PASTFood: a new application went live.

2009-01-09T12:48:00.005+01:00

OMB - Bangkok bureau's PASTFood trainees

PASTFood, the acronym for "Performance Analysis and Statistics Tool for Food Procurement), is one of the DELIVER projects. PastFood went live this week, so reason to celebrate!

The goal of the PASTfood project is to build an analytical tool to compare the cost of local, regional and international food purchases at any point in time.

In addition, the tool quantifies the opportunity cost of the various restrictions on the food procurement actions, through statistical analysis and reports.

The application captures the details of procurement actions in order to make a more precise analysis of the interplay between market factors, donor conditions and cost-efficiency.

Data includes names of vendors, prices offered, packaging, delivery terms, commodity origin, prices of international alternatives, internal (WINGS) information such as Purchase Requisition details, etc.

In September and October 2008, Laila, Mutinta, Janina and Roberta from HQ's Food Procurement unit (OMLP) went around the different regional bureaus to train the procurement staff and to get their feedback on the prototype tool.

additional info. in case you want to add: 73 staff members from 46 countries participated in training sessions organized in conjunction with 6 regional bureaus.

After a final fine-tune The production version went live this week. Reason to celebrate!!

UNHRD faces: Michele

2009-01-06T14:17:00.003+01:00

Talking about 'back end systems' for the upcoming portal (see this post): the Warehouse Management System (WMS for short) is one of the big new back-end systems.

This SAP based product is keeping track of all the incoming, outgoing and stored goods of the UNHRD (the WFP managed Humanitarian Response Depots).

The WMS is a new system for UNHRD, as previously inventories were tracked through a combination of Access Databases and Excel spreadsheets.

Michele has been one of the UNHRD Brindisi aces migrating the data from the legacy systems onto the WMS.

The Front and the Back

2008-12-27T12:21:00.003+01:00

Busy times at the UNHRD! The boys and girls in Brindisi are inputting the data into the various new back-end systems.

"back-end?"... Well, remember this diagram:

The portal website will be the front, through which the user and the customer service system will access data stored in several backend systems:

- The warehouse management system (WMS) which holds the data for all items stored in the warehouses.
- WINGS (the corporate ERP system, running on SAP) holds procurement and invoicing data.
- the customer database holds all data for each user logging in
- the customer service system contains the data for each order
- the product catalogue is a new system storing all specifications, pictures, manuals and manufacturer details for each product stored in the warehouses.

And the winner is....

2008-12-18T08:37:00.005+01:00

Thank you all for voting on the different graphic layouts.

Several of you have worked with us in the past weeks to come to this result. If you compare the layout from the current portal tryout sites and the new one, you will agree with me: there is quite a difference! ;-)

Once again to everyone who participated in the "Graphic Nerds" working group: Andrea, Denise, Diana, Ekram, Eric, Eunju, Hetty, Jonathan, Julia, Mats, Maurizio and Nadia!

- 59 people voted for the 5 different layouts.
- 74% of you thought the new layout was either "real cool" or "cool". Only one did not really like them.
- The top 3 voted layouts were #2, #3 and #4
- The least liked layouts were #1 and #2

We presented the top three layouts to The Boss. He suggested two small changes and now... (taraaa!) we present to you the final layout (click for full resolution):

For those of you interested in the detailed poll outcome:

Overall impression of the layout:
(total votes: 53)
Real cool: 22%
Cool: 52%
Mmyah: 24%
Sucks: 0%

Which layout(s) do you really LIKE:
(total votes: 59)
Mockup 1: 20%
Mockup 2: 23%
Mockup 3: 40%
Mockup 4: 25%
Mockup 5: 4%

Which layout(s) do you really HATE:
(total votes: 52)
Mockup 1: 65%
Mockup 2: 36%
Mockup 3: 9%
Mockup 4: 7%
Mockup 5: 15%

Evy does it all

2008-12-16T09:11:00.000+01:00

Evelyn, or Evy, is our unit's finance, admin, HR, procurement do-it-all. She also monitors the traffic statistics on the Portal website, and screens all documents uploaded to the Portal by the users.

Evy recently uploaded over 3,000 pictures on the Portal.

She might look shy, but we all agree on one thing: she ain't! :-)

Graphic stuff.. almost done.

2008-12-14T23:43:00.005+01:00

(L-R: Ivan, Peter and Mats)

It started off with a couple of layouts Mats made in Dubai, and then we worked in cycles to refine the different pieces which make a webpage look good and usable.

We gathered a group of interested logistics staff (those with the red hats) and webgurus (those with green noses), who commented on the the layouts through a discussion forum on Quickr.

Every week, we would gather for an hour, and agree on the different topics covered in the discussions, after which the graphic designers could further refine the mockups.

After three weeks, it came down to the little details, and we asked Ivan - one of the professional designers - to work for a day in the office (picture above). The end result is the designs people are now voting for.

Our graphical layout - Five choices

2008-12-10T13:02:00.012+01:00

Over the past four weeks, a working group of volunteering logistics staff and WFP "web people" went through several iterations of the graphic designs.

We have now finished our work.

Here are five variations ("mock-ups") of the same design, each with a different top banner.
The main body of the page is always the same.

When judging the mockups, do not look at the contents. The text, pictures and the titles of the different headers are just dummies. What is important at this stage is to get an impression as to "if you would come to this webpage, how does it make you feel".

Click on each picture below, to see the full resolution of the mockup.

Vote for the most LIKED and the most HATED design.

You can leave a comments too. By clicking on "comments" at the bottom of this post...

All banners have the same body. Vote on the first poll if you like the overall look and feel or not. (click on the pictures to enlarge)

Summarized differences between the banners:
Design 1: faded banner - dark
Design 2: faded banner - light
Design 3: clear banner - font 1
Design 4: same as #3 but with a different font in the banner
Design 5: same as #3 but with another font in the banner

Mockup #1: faded banner - dark

Mockup #2: faded banner - light

Mockup #3: clear banner - font 1

Mockup #4: clear banner - font 2

Mockup #5: clear banner - font 3

Minor changes

2008-12-05T13:13:00.002+01:00

We made minor changes to the Portal "navigation", the way a user will access the information...

Minor only..

Don't tell Diana, though, as she will go nuts. ;-)

Hover-over Navigation!

2008-12-04T21:56:00.007+01:00

We had a big discussion today about the navigation system we wanted for the portal.

Both me and Peter are very persistent on what we want and if we feel we can't have something implemented because it is ”the way we work”, ”Our old standard system cant do that ” or ”we never did that so we don't want to do that” type of answer, then by default neither of us will ever give in ;-)

By coincidence we had seen a very good navigation system on a website for one of the potential suppliers we had shortlisted:

I think all people who saw the navigation agreed it would be a model for how we wanted ours to be. It is so smooth and have a pleasant way to expand out. The "only" thing different we wanted was to have Hover-over instead of clicking down in the navigation tree. Perfect we all thought and left it at that.

Yesterday Diana mentioned that there was a problem with the navigation when we hover. It would expand down but then jump in a crazy way when moving from one main group to another, especially if there was a lot of pages in between. I looked at it quickly but it looked simple enough to solve and I left it to think about over night. I could not see anything really problematic as the jumping itself we should be able to prevent with a smart code solution. Diana's boys are sharp so it might be more work but not impossible.

Today when coming back from another meeting one of the boys came over and wanted to chat more about it and I explained what I thought and the discussions got more and more heated. My smart coding solution did not really convince anyone. But ”yeah a smart coding might be the solution” Toby said and left the room in a voice and look on his face, saying ”This guy must be nuts”.

We ended the discussion without a solution but I could not stop thinking about it. I went back to the site we had found the navigation structure on. I was clicking away while thinking about how it would react if the clicks I made was already happening when I would hover the mouse over instead. Back and forth I tested to see what the problem would be. It was so smooth. I hover over and the menu expands down in a smooth very pleasant way. Then I go to the next main category... eh..eh... hmmm.. only then did I realize that if this was hover over, we would have created a menu that would make anyone leave the site and never come back, Ever.

If you have seen the small prank screens where they show a small pop-up window with a ”click here to cancel” button that you never can click as it moves when the cursor gets close. That is exactly what we would have created with our ”lets hover over expansion”.

What can I say : 10 points to Diana and her boys..

Community of practice

2008-12-03T14:11:00.008+01:00

As we are working on the Logistics Portal, more and more ideas start popping up.

It is 4 am in the morning, and I'm reflecting on what just happened tonight.

We were having a technical problem with one of the news feeds (one of those things that display the "Latest News" on a website. I just could not figure it out. I went on the Internet and found a discussion forum specializing in "feeds".

I posted a message.

I take in a google news feed. In the Google news feed, the title is duplicated. How do I remove that?

Two hours later I got an answer from a guy, called HapDaniel. A guy I don't know. Don't know what he does for a living, nor where he lives. Never heard of him.

His answer was:

Try this:

In [item.description] replace [(?s)^(?(?=.*?<a.*?<img)(.*?</a>.*?)|(.*?))<a.*?</a>.*?</font><br>] with [$1] (omit all outer []s).

Now this is all gibberish to you, as much as it is to me. But I tried it, without knowing what I did, and... it worked.

What is the lesson learned?
I had a problem, reached out to an Internet discussion forum, and asked a question in the void. From the void, the answer came and solved my problem. In two hours time.

In technical terms, we call these forums tools for "Communities of Practice".

My question to you is: what is the Community of Practice for logistics officers, our prime target for the Portal? Where do you, as a logistics officer in the field, turn to if you have a problem? How do you do that?

Where do you ask for "contacts in Dar es Salaam port"? Where do you find "the spare part for a Clark oil pump in Ouagadougou"? Where do you turn to if you want to know "who has experience with trucking company XYZ in Goma"?

You turn to people you know, probably. How? Call them up, email them? How fast do you get an answer? And what if you get no answer?

So where is that Community of Practice, where you Email a question, read by thousands of logisticians all over the world, and attended to by "those in the know"?

I don't think it exists.

That is one of the things we want to accomplish with the new Logistics Portal... Build that Community of Practice, and give it the tools it needs to function. So we can concentrate on stuff that is really important in our job. Our humanitarian goals. Rather than "where to find a fuel pump in Ouagadougou.

This is what we do...

2008-12-02T13:44:00.005+01:00

Logistics: Keeping the Aid Flowing
in Eastern DRC

Location: Goma

When Peter Schaller, operations officer for WFP logistics in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), arrived at his duty station in Goma,in October, he had no illusions about the tasks ahead of him. The logistical challenge of working in a landlocked region nearly as big as France – with poor infrastructure and barely functioning local authorities – was about to get much worse. The simmering war across North and South Kivu and Orientale Province was heating up, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes and fields – yet again.

Camps for the displaced either expanded or sprang up in new areas, often close to the fighting. With rising numbers of people in need, WFP had to ramp up its efforts to provide food and other humanitarian assistance – wherever it could reach the Congolese people.

Opening corridors

“We have had to open as many corridors as possible,” says Peter, referring to the various routes along which food and other goods can be brought to the regional centre of Goma, from where a fleet of WFP trucks as well as commercial vehicles are dispatched to various locations. WFP uses a number of seaports to bring food to the region. Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Beira in Mozambique are both entry points, but Mombasa, on the Kenyan coast, is the main sea port used by WFP.

Food cargoes are moved inland by rail or road to Kampala or Tororo in Uganda. From these two hubs, food assistance is moved either by road, or by barge across Lake Albert to Bunia and Goma. Careful consideration is given about the distances that food has to travel by road, especially after fuel costs rose this year.

“You have to make contingency plans in case some routes get closed; for instance before the latest clashes a month ago, we had three entry points for Goma – now we have only one, from Rwanda.”

Bunagana is now officially closed by the DRC government because it’s in territory controlled by Laurent Nkunda’s rebel forces, and Ishasha is currently insecure.

Each new corridor has to be checked, not only for security, but also to ensure that it can carry sufficient capacity. “We’re talking about shifting around 8,000 tons of food per month, so there’s no point in looking at a road that can’t carry heavy trucks,” says Peter Schaller.

Air Ops

Certain areas, for example around Dungu, in Ituri Province, are so inaccessible – either because of insecurity or an absence of roads – that plans are underway to start both an airbridge and potential air drops to provide around 50,000 internally displaced people with food and other assistance in the region.

Vital flexibility

The numbers of people being registered for food assistance regularly changes, either because they move from one place to another, or when an entire area becomes “off limits” to WFP food convoys due to insecurity – even with escorts from MONUC, the UN peacekeeping force in DRC.

WFP is often obliged to switch deliveries at the last moment. “Flexibility is vital,” Peter says. “We – and I’m talking about a logistics team here, including Gustave and Isaac – have learnt to stay on our toes and juggle our resources so we can provide a lifeline in this beautiful but benighted part of Congo."

(Source: Alertnet)

The graphic look of the Portal takes shape

2008-12-02T09:29:00.000+01:00

Gradually, the graphic design of the new portal takes shape.

Here is how the current portal tryout sites look like (screenshot)

This is what the new one will look like.

We're not quite there yet. The top banner still needs tuning. But we are getting there.

Ma! Look what they 'done to my specifications!

2008-12-01T14:24:00.004+01:00

Well, it looks like the tabs we specified (in this post), did the trick!

This is how Diana's graphic designers translated it:

Looks good, no?

Our sophisticated technical specifications...

2008-11-26T13:11:00.001+01:00

The development of the new portal is done by the ICT department. We call them "Diana and her boys".

We, on the business side, define the requirements. They, on the systems side, develop solutions based on our requirements.

The better the requirements, the better the solutions will be. Crappy specifications guarantee crappy software.

The challenge is often for "those on the business side", to define the requirements good and clear enough, so that the developers can write their software. Sometimes we feel we speak different languages.

Today, we had a discussion on how we want the tabs at the bottom of a Portal page to look like. We did not understand each other. Even more complex as the graphic designers work off-site.

So we made a drawing, scanned it, and sent it by email them. Looking back, the drawing looks funny. It is almost like a cartoon.

Well at least we find it funny. Do you think we are turning into nerds?

Keeping track of the Portal usage

2008-11-25T09:51:00.002+01:00

We have released the Portal tryout sites for internal use since a while. These sites are labelled as "tryouts" as they are not "the final thing yet".

It was a test to gain experience in the web development and information management for the "big" portal, first release scheduled end December this year.

We are getting our feet wet on many different levels:

Gathering all available information, tracking who is the owner of the material, who updates it, who checks for consistencies
Exploring the technical tools available to actually construct the website
Exploring different ways to support and manage the website

Anyone who constructed a website will be familiar with these challenges, no?

One of the tools we implemented on the Portal tryout sites is "Google Analytics", a freeware webmaster tool, tracking the usage of the portal. This helps us track which parts of the Portal are accessed the most, which type of documents are used the most, the way users navigate through the site, the duration of "a visit" on particular pages, etc... This helps us identify issues and optimize the design of the website. It is also a monitor to see "how much this tool we built is actually used"...

So, every week, Evy runs the statistics on the use of the tryout sites, which look like this:

She then pours the information in a simple spreadsheet that allows us to track -on a weekly basis- the amount of visits the website has, and how many pages are being viewed:

As you can see in the graphs, last week the Portal had 155 visitors, viewing over 800 pages. Not bad if you consider the site has only been released for internal use, to WFP logistics officers!

DELIVER: or here is the longer version

2008-11-24T09:08:00.000+01:00

In a previous post, we gave a rundown of what the DELIVER project is all about. Here is a write-up we did for an external partner. Or... DELIVER explained in simple terms. ;-)

1. WFP Logistics systems, the background.

WFP logistics procures, stores and transports 3.3 million tons of food items per year.

Our aid goes to the most remote points on the earth, where we often manage truck fleets and operate aircraft in places where commercial suppliers do not want to work due to the roughness of the terrain or the insecurity.

Increasingly WFP is also the ‘logistics provider’ for the other humanitarian agencies, storing their emergency stocks, and procuring or transporting their non-food items the world over.

To make it even more complex, WFP is accountable for every truck, every bag of food it stores, transports or tranships and ensures for every single beneficiary, a food basket of 10 to 15 ingredients is available at the distribution point at the same time.

This makes the WFP's logistics supply chain not only the most critical lifeline for close to 100 million people, but it is also by far the most complex logistics supply chain anyone operates. And this statement stands when we compare our operation not only with other humanitarian agencies, but also with commercial or military operations.

In the mid 90’s WFP realized such a vaste and complex logistics pipeline could not be managed on pieces of papers, and in a well-defined strategy - called “FMIP“ (Financial & Management Improvement Plan) – rolled out connectivity and information systems. These allowed Email, voice and data communications from and to any of our field stations. These systems allowed us, amongst others, to track the food pipeline and commodity movements from anywhere to anywhere in the world.

Late 2007, WFP logistics decided to upgrade its systems, training and tools, under the five pillar approach (illustration above). One of the pillars supporting the improved logistics are “systems”.

2. Why improved systems?

We have observed that with the proliferation of ICT in WFP, we ended up with logistics officers using at least 15 different systems, resulting in a duplication and inconsistency of data and unneeded double data entry. Many of these systems were isolated, and only contained data for a single office, making it impossible to have an overview on a country level, leave along on a global level.

At the same time, WFP logistics defined as one of its priorities to optimize its supply chain from the receipt of donor funds and commodities are ordered to the moment the aid is delivered to the beneficiaries.

This requires every logistics officer to have a unique and central access point to all the data, for all data to be accessible from anypoint in the world, and for data to flow transparently from system to system.

Rather than redevelopping or repurchasing software, we are taking a pragmatic and fast-track (and cheaper) approach, called the DELIVER project:

- all existing data will be made accessible through one portal (or website)

- existing software packages will not be redevelopped but we will ensure their data is available to the central portal

- those logistics areas (truck fleet management, UNHRD warehouse management, air asset (flight) management and Non-Food items tracking) which is not covered by current software will be rolled out

- we will link up with software from service providers (e.g. Nexus container cargo tracking) to provide a transparent sea freight tracking

3. What will the DELIVER Project give us, concretely?

These are more than “systems”, this is a new approach to humanitarian logistics, supported by the systems. And at the same time it should be understood a lot of these systems are not to provide support to WFP logistics only, it will support the wider humanitarian community.

Now concretely we will, by end 2009 have:

Developped and rolled out:

- One user portal for all logistics services

- UNHRD warehouse management system (including bar coding)

- An integrated “sales and customer relations” module

- A Non-Food Commodity Tracking system

- Performance monitoring system

Integrated and expanded:

- The Flight Management System

- The Fleet Management System

Improved and linked with:

- The Food Commodity tracking system (Compas)

- The corporate accounting (ERP) system (WINGS II) for finance and asset mgmt

Ekram in Congo

2008-11-23T15:16:00.005+01:00

Ekram is the Information Coordinator in the DELIVER team. She has oversight of all the information that goes onto the Portal: documents, text, pictures, links etc..

She is currently on mission in Goma, to support the emergency operation in DRC. While her job is to oversee the reporting of the operations, it is clear she is "A Woman For All Jobs"!

What is the Deliver project all about?

2008-11-22T18:28:00.000+01:00

"DELIVER" is our codename for a project consisting on the design of a global WFP logistics system, support WFP's logistics operations, one of the core services we provide in support of our humanitarian mission.

DELIVER is not one programme, or one system, it is a set of projects ensuring the WFP logistics officers can store, track, and retrieve the data related to the procurement, storage and transport of both food and non-food items all the way to the end delivery point in the "deep field".

Many of these systems existed, but were not connected to each other.
Others were non-existent, so we need to develop them.
Yet others existed, but were not sufficient.
These are, what we call, the "back end systems": systems which all perform one, or a set of, isolated tasks.

The DELIVER project will provide a common platform where any WFP logistics officer can access the data he/she needs to perform his/her job.

We achieve this, by connecting all these "back end systems" to a common "Data Interchange Bus", enabling data to be exchanged between the different systems.

The way the data is delivered to the users, is through a "the Portal", a large website, where data can be retrieved from or entered into the different backend systems.

Similarly, a customer service system will have an overview of the workflow of the different logistics operations.

That is what the DELIVER project is all about.

The WINGS team

2008-11-21T18:21:00.001+01:00

Currently about 7 people are working in Brindisi the prepare the UNHRDs for the new release of WINGS, the corporate ERP system. While Nadia (featured in our previous post) leads the WMS (Warehouse Management System) efforts, Eva (on the far left) and her team head the migration for all finance and procurement workflows.

Nadia, our WMS guru

2008-11-20T11:11:00.000+01:00

The Warehouse Management System (WMS) is our of the "back-end systems" we use in the Portal project. It runs on SAP and contains the warehouse inventory of the items the UN Humanitarian Response Depots (UNHRD) have in stock. It also supports the whole workflow from receiving goods, storing, picking and dispatching goods.

WMS is integrated in the WFP corporate ERP system, "WINGS".

The new Portal (the front-end website) we are designing will read and write data onto the WMS during the ordering and dispatching process. It will ensure that the data we represent in the Portal is correct and up to date.

Currently, the UNHRD Warehouse Management System is being rolled out, and at the same time upgraded to a new SAP version. So a whole team of experts have their hands full.

Nadia is our Brindisi-based devil-do-it-all, supervising the WMS-team. If anyone in WFP knows the WMS system, she is the one.

2009 planning - serious business

2008-11-19T16:20:00.004+01:00

The Deliver dudes in Brindisi, sweating out the 2009 planning. (From left to right: Peter, Temmy and Mats)

The main modules of the Deliver project we will work on in 2009, are:

1. The Non-Food Warehouse Management System (WMS)
- WINGS II rollout for Brindisi
- Product Catalog
- Integrating non-brindisi stock and sheets to WMS I
- Migrate WMS I data to WMS II
- Migration of non-Brindisi UNHRD stocks to WINGS
- deployment barcoding system
- Automation between Wings II and Portal

2. The Logistics Portal
- Release 1 (being developed now)
- Release 2 (will concentrate on country office needs)
- Release 3 & 4 (will be fine tuning releases)

3. Fleet Management System
- Orientation for Fleet Manager
- Completion & validation of all reports & screens
- Development by Chevin
- Pilot Roll out
- Roll-out to the field

4. Food commodity (COMPAS) Upgrade
- COMPAS Assessment
- Handover of support
- Requirements Gathering on upgrade
- Development
- Testing - Pilot Roll out
- Roll-out to the field

5. Non Food Item Tracking system
- Requirements Gathering - NFI
- Development of interim NFI system
- Testing / Pilot Roll out
- Roll-out to the field
- Analysis for merger with COMPAS

6. Flight Management Application
- Requirements Gathering
- Research on similar software on the market
- Development / configuration
- Testing / Pilot Roll out
- Roll-out to the field

7. Customer Relationship Management
- Requirements Gathering
- Research on software availability on the market
- Procurement
- Configuration, Testing & Pilot Roll out
- Roll-out for usage

Our first post - planning 2009

2008-11-18T23:55:00.000+01:00

Temmy and I flew to join Mats in Brindisi today to map out the 2009 team planning. Thinking of ways to plan the project for next year, I thought this would be the right moment to start jotting down notes about our project, "DELIVER".

It is 1 am in the morning, and I just wrapped up my emails and was ready to go to bed, but wanted to post this first. Just to kick off this project blog.

So... welcome to the blog of the WFP Logistics "DELIVER" team!

Evy, Ekram, Temmy, Diana (and her army of developers), Andrea, Selamawit, Mats and Peter.