Working more productively: tools for administrative data

Abstract

Objective: This paper describes a web-based resource (http://www.umanitoba.ca/centres/mchp/concept/) that contains a series of tools for working with administrative data. This work in knowledge management represents an effort to document, find, and transfer concepts and techniques, both within the local research group and to a more broadly defined user community. Concepts and associated computer programs are made as "modular" as possible to facilitate easy transfer from one project to another.

Study setting/data sources: Tools to work with a registry, longitudinal administrative data, and special files (survey and clinical) from the Province of Manitoba, Canada in the 1990-2003 period.

Data collection: Literature review and analyses of web site utilization were used to generate the findings.

Principal findings: The Internet-based Concept Dictionary and SAS macros developed in Manitoba are being used in a growing number of research centers. Nearly 32,000 hits from more than 10,200 hosts in a recent month demonstrate broad interest in the Concept Dictionary.

Conclusions: The tools, taken together, make up a knowledge repository and research production system that aid local work and have great potential internationally. Modular software provides considerable efficiency. The merging of documentation and researcher-to-researcher dissemination keeps costs manageable.

Figure 1

The Manitoba Population Health Research Data Repository and Linkable Databases