WASH Cluster – Water in Emergencies
W5.8
Handout
W5 – Overview of WASH Information Management Tools
WASH Survey Tool
The WASH Survey Tool provides a range of instruments which assist in planning and conducting needs
surveys following a disaster event, and monitoring systems following a programmed response to the
identified needs. It consists of a database application and an associated spreadsheet “assessment
form” that can be reconfigured through the database application using a catalog of measurable
indicators.
This tool was created in response to the need for an assessment strategy that could be usable in many
different emergency contexts by and for WASH Clusters and its memeber agencies. Its primary
strength is its method of selecting what content (or indicators) is required for a given context. A
problem identified with globally developed tools such as survey initiatives and assessments is that they
attempt to generalize contexts to assume either a ‘lowest common denominator’ condition or an
‘idealized’ set of conditions. Either way, the reality is that every field emergency is unique and static
assessment strategies that use either of those two approaches are difficult to modify and adapt to the
needs of a particular emergency. The WASH Survey Tool addresses these problems by creating a
customizable assessment tool that can be adapted to a given context.
Detailed overview of the Survey Tool
The WASH Survey Tool provides a dynamic approach to WASH assessment form creation. It is a
database of indicators that can be selected to produce a WASH assessment tool (Rapid, Comprehensive
or Monitoring) based upon what is useful to know at field level. The indicators within the database
have predefined defaults to whether or not they appear in certain assessment strategies but can be
turned on and off to produce a form that is most useful to the needs of a specific emergency. Users of
this tool then have the option of sticking with the default indicators, deleting ones that aren’t
relevant, or adding additional ones of their own.
Table of WASH Survey Tool Terms and Elements
Survey Tool
Detail
Description
component
Survey tool db
database
A catalog of indicators which is used to plan a survey, generate
pre-survey training and guidance material, and configure data
collection sheets
Indicator
Summary report of all indicators defined in the Survey Tool
Summary
Indicator
A report which, for each indicator in the survey tool, provides
Guidance
a detailed description of its rational, definition of terms used
in the indicator, recommended source of data, required
calculations (if any), notes for data collection and
interpretation, and model questions.
Recording
A tally sheet which can be used during the field survey process
form
RAT form
spreadsheet
A spreadsheet used to capture data collection during a rapid
assessment process. (The RAT spreadsheet also happens to be
the same as the the Section 1 of the CAT form)
Section 1 General information about the site being surveyed with details
General
regarding its physical location and the affected population
Section 2 –
A summary of the WASH related situation in the surveyed
Conditions
location with each of eight WASH subsectors being evaluated
Summary
on a scale from 0 (not affected) to 3 (highly affected).
Additional comments can be added for each subsector
regarding the situation prior to the crisis, specific problems
identified and values for critical indicators.
Data
If the electronic spreadsheet is used for data entry, the survey
data from section 1 and 2 is summarized on the Data
worksheet
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WASH Cluster – Water in Emergencies
CAT form
W5.9
spreadsheet
A spreadsheet used to capture data collection during a
comprehensive assessment process
Section 1 Same as for the RAT – details information referring to a
General
surveyed site’s location and demographics
Section 2a –
Detailed condition indicators for each of eight WASH
Conditions
subsectors. Which indicators are included in this section can
Detail
be configured in the Survey Tool database
Section 2b –
Same as for the RAT, except that the summary assessment
Conditions
value (or score) for each of the WASH subsectors is calculated
Summary
from detailed indicators found in Section 2a of the CAT.
Section 3 –
Intervention indicators for each of the eight WASH subsectors.
Interventions
These intervention indicators provide detailed metrics which
are intended to form the basis of a monitoring program. At the
CAT stage this is included to allow the setting of targets.
Data
If the electronic spreadsheet is used for data entry, the survey
data from sections 1 to 3 are summarized on the Data
worksheet
Monitoring
spreadsheet
A spreadsheet used to capture data collection during a
monitoring process. This is the same as the CAT form, however
Section 1 and Section 2 may (optionally) be excluded from the
monitoring process.
Section 3 –
Intervention indicators for each of the eight WASH subsectors.
Interventions
These intervention indicators provide detailed metrics which
are intended to form the basis of a monitoring program. This is
the same as Section 3 of the CAT, except in the monitoring
stage achieved values are recorded, and optionally updated
values for the targets
Agency reporting
spreadsheet
A spreadsheet used to record agency activates – planned and
form
ongoing – by location, providing the key data for
Capacity/Who, What, Where, When Analysis
The databases are MS Access 2007 (.accde) format. This use of database does not require the
purchase of any software licenses – a free “MS Access runtime is can be downloaded from the
Microsoft website).
The spreadsheets are MS Access 97-2003 (.xls) format and will work with any spreadsheet software
compatible with this file format.
Stages of the response
The WASH Survey Tool envisions three stages of its use:
1. Rapid assessment. The RAT form is used to conduct a rapid needs survey typically at the early
stages of a rapid onset emergency. It would be enumerated by WASH specialists and is
necessarily kept simple to give rough indications of the level of problems in the 8 WASH
Subsectors.
2. Comprehensive assessment. A more thorough assessment process is planned and a survey
instrument developed with the assistance of the Survey Tool. Data is collected and collated
using the CAT data collection form by WASH specialists and gives more detailed information
about several indicators within each WASH subsector.
3. Monitoring. A monitoring plan is developed with the assistance of the Survey Tool. Data is again
collected and collated using the Monitoring data collection form (this is essentially the same as
the CAT form).
Handout – W5: Overview of WASH information management tools
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WASH Cluster – Water in Emergencies
W5.9
Using the Survey Tool during the RAT
Use the Survey tool to generate the RAT. The RAT is configured as a standard spreadsheet but can be
customized to to remove components of the tool that are not used in the RAT. Select the RAT option
on the Start form, and export to MS Excel.
Using the Survey Tool during the CAT
The Survey Tool is of greatest use during the preparation of a comprehensive assessment. In addition to
generating a customized data collection form, it also contains considerable additional information to
assist in planning the survey and training survey practitioners
Step 1 – Select indicators for use in the CAT
The indicator summary, printed from the Start form of the Survey Tool, summarizes all of the
indicators contained in the tool. Suggestions on the applicability of the indicators for usage in a
CAT survey are provided as guidance. Which indicators are selected for any given survey effort
should be decided collectively by the WASH cluster to ensure that all agencies conduct
assessments against the same group of indicators.
Step 2 – Configure the survey
The survey is configured by selecting which indicators will be contained in it. These indicators have
predefined ranges, or scoring of the responses (which can also be customized if necessary). As
responses are tallied in a particular location these scores are averaged to give an overall score to a
particular WASH Subsector thereby giving coordination personnel the ability to judge how bad the field
circumstances are. Some indicators are noted as being an ‘overide’ indicator, meaning that the score
value for a particular WASH Subsector cannot be any lower than the score of that unique indicator.
The importance of that indicator is thereby weighed higher than other indicators and has greater
relevance to life safety and health.
Handout – W5: Overview of WASH information management tools
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WASH Cluster – Water in Emergencies
W5.9
The details of each of the catalogued indicators are edited on the configuration form (from the Start
menu, select Configuration > condition indicators, detail).
New indicators are added by selecting the “Add Indicator” item at the bottom of the Indicator
selector, and indicators are deleted using the delete button to the right of the indicator selector.
Handout – W5: Overview of WASH information management tools
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The summary configuration option (on the Configuration form) for the condition indicators allows for
more rapid edits of the survey content.
Step 3 – Configure the intervention indicators
During the course of the CAT, it may be desired to assign targets to intervention indicators if these are
already known. Configuration of intervention indicators is simply a matter of selecting or deselecting
them for inclusion.
Step 4 – Print out guidance and recording sheets
Guidance notes are included for each indicator in the survey tool, providing a detailed description of
their rational, definition of terms used in the indicator, recommended source of data, required
calculations (if any), notes for data collection and interpretation, and model questions.
Handout – W5: Overview of WASH information management tools
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WASH Cluster – Water in Emergencies
W5.9
The recording form provides a tally sheet which can be used during the field survey process – it is
printed from the Start form by selecting Format report for > Recording form.
Step 5 – Print or Export to MS Excel
The configured survey can be printed directly from the Survey Tool (preview on the Start form), or
exported to MS Excel.
When exported to Excel, the resultant spreadsheet is configured to automatically calculate the Section
1 –Summary of the CAT based on the results of the survey recorded in Section 2 of the CAT.
Furthermore, all data entered into the Excel sheet is summarized on the data tab to allow for rapid
collation of survey results into a tabular format.
The Agency Reporting Tool
If the assessments (generated in the WASH Survey Tool) address data collection regarding what the
needs are, the Agency Reporting Forms are used to determine what capacity exists in the cluster to
address those needs. A key coordination analysis is “Who is doing What, Where, and When”, or the
4W. In order to answer these questions it is essential that data is collected from operational agencies
to answer them. Therefore there is a certain onus upon those WASH cluster agencies to report to the
CCT in a standardized, methodical manner.
The Agency Reporting form specifies a minimum set of data that agencies would be responsible to
provide. Agencies would be provided this spreadsheet and asked to periodically report back to the
cluster on:
 What locations they are planning to work
 In which WASH subsectors
 The number of beneficiaries they are planning to support
 The start and end dates of their programs
 And whether or not this program is funded or not
Since this document exists as an excel spreadsheet, it is easy to customize and modify to support any
local modifications.
Using the Survey Tool for monitoring
The monitoring tool and the CAT are essentially the same; however the core of the CAT is Section 2 –
Conditions, whereas the core of the monitoring tool is Section 3 – Interventions. Configuration steps are
the same as with the CAT; however it is possible that only Steps 3 & 5 will be followed.
WASH Data Tool
One of the most technically challenging parts of an information manager’s job is to find a convenient
and efficient way of storing many different types of data in a way that various analyses and reporting
on those data can be done. The WASH Data provides information managers a framework that imports
data collected from assessments generated in the WASH Survey Tool, reports collected from agencies
regarding their capacities, and important secondary data on the affected area. The Data Tool provides
a quick start on analysis – with standardized reporting and analysis addressing needs, capacity, and
gaps.
The collation process starts with a manual ‘cut-and-paste’ of summarized rows of data from the
various individual survey forms (the “Data” tab) into standardized spreadsheet tables, which are then
imported into the Data Tool. Once the data is brought into the database survey results are
immediately available as to what are the needs, capacity, and gaps in the response. All of the data
from the survey remains available to the advanced user.
Getting your data into the Data Tool
The Data Tool user interface consists of a single form, and a WASH specific ribbon along the top of the
database window.
Handout – W5: Overview of WASH information management tools
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WASH Cluster – Water in Emergencies
W5.9
Step 1 – Demographics data
The first step in using the data tool is to import a demographics table for the area of interest. The
format for this table is the Demographics tab of the WASH.DataTables.xls file. The PCODEs referred to
in this demographics table must have matching PCODEs in the other data tables to allow for any
meaningful analysis.
If the demographics data is updated over time, it should be manually deleted from the
dataDemographics table and re-imported using the WASH ribbon.
Step 2 – Import WASH data
WASH data – from RAT, CAT, Monitoring and Agency forms is imported into the Data Tool using the
Import button on the start form. Prior to import it must be manually collated into the applicable table
format in WASH.DataTables.xls.
Step 3 – Report and analysis survey results
Three means of access the data in the database are provided – these are selected in the top right of
the Start form
Reports. Preformatted tabular reports, appropriate for direct printing.
Data tables. The actual data tables, most useful if you want to take the WASH data into another
application (for example MS Excel) for further analysis.
Pivot tables. A dynamic means of exploring the data, where fields of information can be added or
removed from the display.
Key Output
Severity of conditions
Agency response
Monitoring
Format
Report, Map
Report, Map
Report, Map
Response gap
Report
Description
Severity of conditions by WASH subsector by location
Agency activities by WASH subsector by location
Intervention indicators (reported against targets) by WASH
subsector by location
Combination of content from severity of conditions and
agency response in one table
Handout – W5: Overview of WASH information management tools
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WASH Cluster – Water in Emergencies
W5.9
Mapping WASH Survey data
The Data Tool facilitates mapping of the WASH survey by presenting the survey data in table formats
which can be directly linked into a geographical information system. Where GPS coordinates have been
obtained for surveyed locations – for example during the course of a CAT survey, these can be directly
used to map the data. In other cases the link between the WASH data and the map will be based on
demographics data – for example obtained from an OCHA run Humanitarian Information Centre.
The contents of the various tables in the database can be understood by their prefixes, which are
described below. A report (rDataFields) found in the WASH Data Tool provides a useful summary of all
of the data tables and their fields.
Table prefix
raw
data
last
fact
view
Description
This is exactly what was imported from the tabular data summarized in the
spreadsheet
This is a transformation of the raw data. It contains all of the information
found in the raw tables, but is stored in a different way
An index to the set of reports which should be used at the current state. For
example, if a RAT and CAT both exist for a location, lastReportAssessment will
have a reference only to the CAT report. Similarly, if multiple agency reports
have been provided over a period of time, lastReportAgency will have a
reference only to the most current of these reports.
Processed results with one result per location (or in the case of
factResponsePlan, one row per location / agency combination)
Queries that provide useful views of the data – these queries always only show
the “final” set of records (ie it joins in the applicable ‘last’ table
For mapping purposes, you will generally want to use either the ‘view’ or the’ fact’ tables.
To connect the data tool to a GIS, configure an ODBC connection to the data tool. For example, in
Windows connecting to ArcGIS you would first configure the ODBC connection in the MS Windows
Control Panel.
The data tables are then available in ArcCatalog.
Handout – W5: Overview of WASH information management tools
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WASH Cluster – Water in Emergencies
Handout – W5: Overview of WASH information management tools
W5.9
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