Data Management in the Land Matrix Online Platform

• 1 INTRODUCTION
• 2 ENTERING DATA
• 3 DATA MANAGEMENT: THE EDITOR WORKFLOW
• 4 THE MANAGEMENT INTERFACE
• 5 CASE STATISTICS

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 What is included in this manual

This document is a manual for data entry and data management on the Land Matrix Initiative (LMI) web portal. It describes how to create and edit cases as well as how to further manage the data. As such it explains the tool.

 

1.2 What is not included in this manual

This manual does not include a description and explanation of the public part of the Land Matrix web platform.

This document is a manual and not a guide. That means it does not contain specifications of all the variables nor any guidance on how to handle real cases and what data to enter.  Further information about the attributes and the handling of data can be found in the ‘Editor guidelines’.

 

 

Please note: This manual should be considered a living document which will be adapted to future software development and improved according to user feedback.

 

2 ENTERING DATA

2.1 User roles

In order to add an object (deal or investor) to the database, a user must be registered on the Land Matrix website and be logged in. There are three different user roles, all of which are able to create an object but have different rights, or privileges, in terms of editing these objects. When logged in, the user’s role is displayed when clicking on the login icon in the upper right corner.

The three user roles are:

1. Reporter: A reporter account is automatically created when registering on the Land Matrix website. Reporters can:

• Create an object and submit it for review by an editor or administrator
• Submit an update to a published version of an object by creating a new draft version
• Delete the draft version of an object as long as it is not submitted for review
• View versions of objects he has submitted
• Revise versions of objects for which an editor or administrator requested an improvement

1. Editor: Editors can be assigned to a single country or region, or even several countries or regions. In addition to reporters they can:

• See all pending objects
• Review objects submitted for review
• Submit an object version to an administrator for activation
• Delete the version of an object submitted for review

1. Administrator: Administrators make the final decision in each case. In addition to editors they can:

• Activate (publish) an object version
• Delete an object as whole, not only a version

Furthermore, each user can be assigned to one or several countries or regions. In the management section, the object versions to be reviewed or activated, are then filtered by the corresponding target country (See ‘4 Management interface’).

2.2 Adding a deal

2.2.1 Navigate to the data editor

All registered users can add new deals. To reach the data editor form to add a new deal, click on the avatar icon in the top right corner of the browser and select ‘Add a deal’. This will open a form which we call the data editor. With the exception of “Target country” which is mandatory, all fields are optional, although you are encouraged to fill in as much detail as possible.

2.2.2 The deal editor

The deal editor is displayed in the same main layout as the deal view:

• In the left column you can switch between the different sections
• On the top, right hand of the title you find the buttons Save and Cancel.

When you click on Cancel, you will leave the editor without creating a new deal in the database.

When clicking on Save the current entries are saved. After you saved the deal the first time, you created it in the online database. The second button then changes to Close.

2.2.3 Editing a deal

First you have to select the ‘Target country’. This is mandatory and you will not be able to proceed to any other sections, before you select the target country.

Note: Further information about all attributes can be found in the ‘Editor guidelines’.

Some special notes about saving a deal (or investor in the investor editor):

• When you save a deal, you save it as a draft version. The deal is not automatically submitted as it was the case in the old editor.
• When you switch to another section in the left column, the entries are saved automatically.
• Every Save action overwrites the deal saved before. That means: it works like in a Microsoft Word file: Everytime you click on Save, you overwrite the version you saved before. 

Please also note that if any variable has not been entered correctly, the incorrect variable will be highlighted in red. Saving will be rejected and an info box will be raised near to the faulty attribute giving hints on what is missing.

When you have finished entering deal data, you click on Close to leave the data editor.

You then switch to the Deal view in which you can see the current state and all available actions to submit the deal to review and a few other administrative tools in the workflow header displayed above the deal data.

3 DATA MANAGEMENT: THE EDITOR WORKFLOW

3.1 The workflow header

The workflow header is visible only to logged-in users. It shows various meta-information about the state of the current version of a deal or investor and provides various actions depending on the user's role. In the subsequent descriptions, only the version will be used to name a deal or investor version.

Legend

1 State of the current version and subsequent steps in the editor workflow.

2 Here the version can be passed one step; in this case to ‘submitted for review’.

3 The draft version can be edited repeatedly, as often as it is needed.

4 Button to delete the current draft version.

5 This creates an identical copy of a certain deal.

6 Indicates whether a deal version will be publicly visible after activation.

7 The Logbook shows all editor comments and workflow activities with their respective date and the respective username.

8 Indicates that there is an active version available. Clicking this button switches to the active version.

3.1.1 State of the object version and steps to active state

The blue field marks the current status of the displayed deal version. This deal version has the status 'Draft'. The whole row shows the successive steps the version has to go through to reach the status 'Active' to become publicly visible.

The steps an objects version must go through:

1. Draft: In this state a version can be edited several times. Each time a user saves such a draft, it overwrites the already existing draft. It behaves just like editing and saving a document in MS Word.
2. Submitted for review: The version must be reviewed by an editor or administrator.
3. Submitted for activation: The version must be reviewed and can be activated by an administrator.
4. Active: Although active objects are theoretically public, this is only the case if they fulfil certain criteria, which is automatically determined by the platform (e.g. operating or parent company present, more than one data source).

3.1.2 Will the deal version be publicly visible?

This applies only to deals: If a deal version is gone through review and finally set active, it has to comply with several criteria to be publicly available. The workflow header indicates whether the deal will be publicly visible or not. In addition, for each of the four conditions it is displayed whether it is fulfilled or not. Only if all conditions are fulfilled, it is publicly available. The conditions are:

• The deal is not set ‘confidential’
• The target country is set
• At least one data source is listed
• At least one investor, this can be an operating company or a parent company.

 This deal is not publicly visible.  

Cause:

• missing data source
• missing investor (operating company or parent company

This deal is publicly visible

3.2 Editing and submitting an object version

3.2.1 Editing an object version

The current user can continue to edit the version by opening it in the editor. For reporters this is only allowed for versions of which he is the author and only as long as it is in the draft state.

Please note: Re-editing the version doesn’t create a new version as was the case in the former editor. Instead: Editing a draft version overwrites the former draft version exactly as you would expect it in Microsoft Word. Or put differently: The draft mode itself is not versioned.

3.2.2 Submitting an object version for review

When finished editing an object, you can save it and close the edit form. In the workflow header you find the button ‘submit for review’. When clicking on it you a dialog box will open:

If you did a full update of the deal, then you should tick the box beside “I fully updated this deal." You have to agree to the Data policy. You can add an optional comment which will then  be visible in the “Logbook”.
When clicking on “Submit for review”, the state of the object version changes to Submitted for review.

Note: If you are a reporter, you will still be able to see the object, but you will not be able to edit the object anymore as long as it is not activated. 
After this step, any other change on the object will create a new version. 

3.2.3 Reviewing an object version

Only editors and administrators are able to review an object version.

The reviewer (editor or administrator) has to decide, either to approve the object version by clicking on ‘Submit for activation’ or to ask the author (reporter) for an improvement by clicking on ‘Request improvement’. 

Note: The process of reviewing an object, means to really look at the variables and changes done and decide if it complies to the quality requirements so that it can be published at the end of the workflow process. The indication concerning ‘Publicly visible’ is of great help here. In general, the goal is for the objects to be publicly visible.

If, as a reviewer, you want to approve the submitted object version, you click on ‘Submit for activation’.

If you think there are things to be improved before moving further, a reviewer has three options:  

1. Sending a ‘Request for improvement’  to the original author of the object  version

2. Sending a ‘Request for improvement’  to another user 

3. Edit the object directly as editor or administrator 

Note: A new draft version of the object will be created in any of the three cases. After editing/improving the object, the new draft version has again to be submitted for review. The new object version will be attributed to the user editing and saving the draft version.

3.2.4 Sending a request of improvement

When requesting for an improvement a dialog box opens In which the editor or administrator must give an explanation.  When clicking on ‘Request improvement’ a new draft version of the object is created and assigned to the user, who submitted the object version for review. The user to whom it will be assigned, is indicated below ‘Assign to user’. The user is required to edit, improve and submit the case again.

 

If, in some cases, you wish to assign the object to another user for improvement, just search and select his username in the drop-down below ‘Assign to user’. The user, to which the request for improvement is assigned, will receive a notification by email.

The case will be listed in the management section for the user to whom the case was assigned for improvement and for the editor or administrator who opened the request:

1. ‘Todo: Improvement requests for me’ (see section “4 THE MANAGEMENT INTERFACE”) for the user to which the case was assigned for improvement
2. ‘My requests: Improvements requested by me’  (see section "4 THE MANAGEMENT INTERFACE") the editor or administrator who requested the improvement.

3.2.5 Activating an object version

An object version submitted for activation can only be further processed by an administrator. To approve a deal, an administrator can click on ‘Activate’. Then the object version becomes active. If the workflow header indicates ‘Publicly visible’ the object version will be publicly available for all visitors of the website.

If the administrator finds that the object version doesn’t comply to required quality standards, he has the same options as when the object version was submitted for review: he can either request for an improvement or edit the object version directly. In both cases, a new draft version will be created and has then to undergo again the whole workflow process.

3.3 Additional actions on a single object version

3.3.1 Removing a version of an object

Each user can delete a draft version as long as it is not submitted for review. Submitted versions can only be deleted by editors or administrators.

Please note:

• Deleting a version doesn’t delete the whole deal or investor, but only the current displayed version.
• A removed (deleted) version is deleted for good and can’t be restored.
• An activated version can’t be removed anymore.

3.3.2 Deleting an object

Only administrators are able to delete a deal or an investor.

Deleting an object doesn’t remove it from the database, in fact it is just marked as deleted. It will remain available to administrators in the management section under ‘Data overview: All deleted’. In the case of a faulty

3.3.3 Copy deal

• Pressing this button copies deal to a completely new deal with a new ID.
• Only the newest version is copied, no old versions.
• The copy must then be edited and adjusted to prevent identical duplicates.
• This tool is only available for administrators.

This tool is mainly here to simplify the recording of a large number of nearly identical deals.

3.3.4 Setting a deal confidential (not public)

Below the indication, if a deal version will be publicly visible or not, there is a switch to set an object confidential.

If for some reason, a deal has to be set confidential, an editor or administrator can click on the switch left of the ‘Not confidential’ indication.

In the message box that appears, an explanation has to be given (mandatory). Then you can click on ‘Set confidential’ and the current version of the deal will not be publicly visible, even if activated.

After activating the ‘Confidential’ switch, the deal version is displayed as ‘Not publicly visible’

3.4 The logbook

It lists all actions this object has gone through. Each with the indication of the date and time and the user who carried out the action. Thus, it becomes a logbook for all activities the object went through.

Like the workflow header itself, it is only visible for logged in users.

Below there are two activity buttons:

Send feedback: Any logged-in user can send feedback to any other user concerning that specific deal or investor.

Add comment: This will just add a comment to the logbook without sending it to somebody.

3.4.1 Send feedback

Clicking on this button opens a dialog window in which you can type a message and select a user to whom you would assign the feedback. The message will then be sent to the user selected in the ‘Send to’ drop-box and displayed in the logbook. The object will then also be listed in the management interface under ‘Feedback for me’ for the receiving user or ‘Feedback by me’ for the sending user (see ‘4.2 Side menu’).

After sending feedback, the user who sent it, will see it in the logbook. This entry will then be shown as a thread in which the sender or receiver of the feedback can answer directly to this feedback.

4 THE MANAGEMENT INTERFACE

4.1 Introduction

The management interface lists deals and investors, which need the users, editors or administrators attention. It is the main tool in which every user finds

• the data he edited or reviewed (my drafts, created by me, reviewed by me, activated by me)
• the data that needs his attention (Todo).

It offers different ways to either order or filter deals or investors for administration-specific needs.

The management interface can be reached through the user menu on the top right corner of the website. Selecting ‘Manage’ opens the management interface.

1: Side menu

2: List view

The side menu offers data selections based on specific management tasks. The options available in the menu depend on the role of the user opening the management interface. In the following description ‘Availability’ lists the roles for which that menu item is available. It makes a difference between items available to all roles (reporter, editor, administrator) and items only available to editors or administrators only.

There are four groups of data selections:

• Todo: Lists object versions (deals or investors) that need your attention.
• My requests: Lists requests sent by me to other users
• My data: Lists objects in which im involved either as an author or as a reviewer
• Data overview: Lists all objects filtered by different criteria.

4.2 Todo

4.2.1 Feedback for me:

Availability: All

For deals or investors listed here, another user has sent you a feedback (See 3.4 The logbook). You can open the deal and answer directly to the feedback you received. In the logbook there is a special field to answer to the feedback directly:

When you click on this button, your answer is sent directly to the sender of the feedback.

4.2.2. Improvement request for me

Availability: All

For deals or investors listed here, a reviewer (editor or administrator) has requested an improvement. This applies to cases, which you formerly submitted to review or to activation and the reviewer (administrator or editor) found either an error or some missing information. The reviewer is forced to add a comment which you will see as the top logbook entry. If it is not conclusive to you, please contact the user, who sent you the request for improvement.

Once you re edited the case and did the requested improvement, you must again submit the case to review.

4.2.3. Review: Object versions submitted for review

Availability: editors, administrators (Reviewers)

see 3.2.3 Reviewing an object version

4.2.4. Activation: Object versions submitted for activation

Availability: administrators

see 3.2.5 Activating an object version

4.3. My requests

Lists of either feedbacks or improvement requests sent by me to other users

4.3.1. Feedback by me:

Availability: all

Lists objects, for which the current user gave a feedback. This is done in the logbook of the specific object (see ‘3.4 The logbook’). If you click on the comment, the logbook will open and you have the possibility to anser yourself.

If you think the feedback is outdated and you want it to disappear from the list ‘Feedback by me’ then you can click on ‘Resolve thread’. This will close the feedback loop and remove it from your list under ‘Feeback by me’.

4.3.2. Improvements requested by me:

Availability: editors, administrators

Lists objects, for which you have opened a request for improvement (see ‘3.2.4 Sending a request of improvement’). The case will disappear from the list, once the new and improved version of the case is activated.

4.4. My data

Deals and investors to which the current user has contributed, either as author of a version or by approving or activating it:

4.4.1. My drafts

Availability: all

All objects for which the current user is the author of the most current, yet not activated version.

4.4.2. Created by me

Availability: all

All objects for which the current user created the first version object. The specific user is then listed as the creator of the object.

4.4.3. Modified by me

Availability: all

All objects to which the current user contributed and updated be it the current version or an earlier one.

4.4.4. Reviewed by me

Availability: editors and administrators

All objects of which the current user reviewed and submitted the current version for activation.

4.4.5. Activated by me:

Availability: administrators

All objects of which the current version was set active by the current user.

4.5. Data overview

4.5.1. All objects

Availability: editors, administrators

Lists all existing objects except the deleted ones.

4.5.2. All non-active

Availability: editors, administrators

Lists all objects of which the most current version is not yet active but has one of the following states: ‘draft’, ‘submitted for review’, ‘submitted for activation’.

4.5.3. All deleted

Availability: administrators

Lists all deleted objects.

4.6. Ordering and filtering the lists

Beside the two different selections in the management interface as described above, there are two further options:

a) Order the list by one of the column labels

b) Filter the list by one of the column labels

4.6.1. Filtering the lists

At the top right, above the list view,  this button gives access to different filtering options inside the different selections in the management interface:

The different lists can be filtered by any of the attribute lists.   Note: The drop-down lists in the filter only show values available in the specified selection you are in.   Example:  You are in ‘Todo / Feedback for me’. Only one deal from Kenia is listed. When you select the drop-down ‘Target country’, your only choice is ‘Kenia’.

4.6.2 Ordering list view by attribute

When clicking on one of the column labels the list is ordered either in alphabetically or by number. In this example, the label ‘Deal size’ was clicked and the deals are listed in descending order by deal size. The arrow used for ordering is highlighted in orange. Repeated clicks on the same label change the order from descending to ascending and back again.

5 CASE STATISTICS

5.1 Introduction

The case statistics provide some indicators of the overall quality of the cases, - either deals or investors -, and on the other hand give an overview, how many cases are publicly available (active) and how many are in any other non-public state.

The case statistics are listed in the menu, when clicking on the user login. They are only available for logged-in users.

5.2 The case statistics interface

5.2.1. Introduction

By default the case statistics include all deals. But at the top there are two drop-downs which give the user the possibility to filter the statistics.

• Region: When a region is selected, the total number of deals equals to all deals from the selected region.
• Country: When a country is selected, the total number of deals equals to the total all deals of the selected target country.

The case statistics interface is divided into three sections:

1. Quality goals: A few indicators concerning the quality of the data
2. Indicator listings: Different totals representing the current number of different selections.
3. Changes within timespan: Indicators showing the number of certain changes that happened within a specified timespan

5.2.2. Quality goals

Some indicators for quality goals are listed here. It includes all active deals either global or based on the region or target country selected at the top. The figures are valid for the exact moment at which the user calls up the case statistics.

Indicator	Definition
Publicly visible deals	All active deals which are publicly visible and not set confidential. This is the number of deals visible for not logged-in visitors.
Deals with multiple data sources	Number of active deals, which contain more than one data source.
Deals georeferenced with high accuracy	Number of active deals with at least one location with either accuracy level ‘Coordinates’ or ‘Excact location’ or at least one polygon.
Deals with polygon data	Number of active deals with at least one polygon added for either a production area, contract area or intended area.
Publicly visible investors	All active investors, which are publicly visible and not set confidential.
Investors with name	Number of all active investors with a name. This excludes all ‘Unknown investors’.

5.2.3. Indicator listings

This table lists figures for deals and investors that are in various workflow steps. This gives an overview on how many cases still need to be approved and set active and are not publicly visible.

Indicators for deals

Indicator	Description
Deals pending	Number of all deals for which the newest version has not yet been activated. The newest version in one of the following stages: Draft, submitted for review, submitted for activation.
Deals rejected	Number of deals for which the newest version is ‘rejected’. This was a possible state before the switch to the new workflow management, but was removed with the new workflow. Deal versions with this state should either be moved to ‘Request improvement’ or deleted.
Deals active	Number of deals active. This includes all ‘not public’, yet active deals.
Deals active, but not public	Number of deals active, but not publicly visible. This includes deals, which don’t fulfil the minimum criteria, as well as deals set confidential.
Deals active, but confidential	Number of deals, which are active and fulfil the minimum criteria, but are set confidential manually by an administrator.

Indicators for investors

Indicator	Description
Investor pending	Number of all investors for which the newest version has not yet been activated. The newest version in one of the following stages: draft, submitted for review, submitted for activation.
Investors rejected	Number of investors for which the newest version is in state ‘rejected’. This was a possible state before the switch to the new workflow management, but was removed with the new workflow. Investor versions with this state should either be moved to ‘Request improvement’ or deleted.
Investors active	Number of investors active. This includes all ‘not public’, yet active investors.

5.2.4. Changes within timespan

His table lists figures for certain activities that happened in a specific timespan. These activities include actions such as adding a new deal or investor or updates that happened for deals or investors.

Above the table there is a filter section in which the user can select the timespan for which he wants to get the figures.

Indicators for deals

Indicator	Description
Deals added	Number of newly added (created) deals, regardless of their status, be it active, draft state, submitted to review or activation, within the given timespan.
Deals updated	Number of deals modified within the given timespan, regardless of their status.
Deals fully updated	Number of deals for which a version has been marked ‘fully updated’ within the given timespan.
Deals activated	Number of deals for which a version has been activated within the given timespan.

Indicators for Investors

Indicator	Description
Investors added	Number of newly added (created) investors, regardless of their status, be it active, draft state, submitted to review or activation, within the given timespan.
Investors updated	Number of investors modified within the given timespan, regardless of their status.
Investors activated	Number of investors for which a version has been activated within the given timespan.