The Framework

Initiation Phase

This phase is primarily intended as the starting point for new SIS development, although existing SISs may benefit from engaging with some activities within this phase. This phase is made up of six components, each with their distinct activities and supporting resources, and seeks to set the mission of the SIS; discuss roles, responsibilities & funding; understand the environment it will operate in; brainstorm who the users would be and what the ideal SIS would look like.

Objective:

Envisioning seeks to guide decision-making, strategic planning and obtain national government buy-in from the very beginning. It does this by setting clear definitions, objectives, long-term goals and desired outcomes of the SIS. Generally, goals are often broad, general intentions that guide the directions of SIS towards the intended future state, whereas the objectives are specific, measurable actions that must be taken to achieve the goals. Envisioning is intended to be revised and aligned later in the framework, after more detailed assessment and information-gathering.

Key definitions:

  • SIS Champion (sometimes referred to as coalition or steering group): can be a group of individuals from different institutions, or one institution, that actively advocates for, promotes and supports the development, implementation and use of a soil information system (SIS). It tends to emerge naturally but should not be solely one individual.
  • SIS owner: is the institution responsible for overseeing the development, management, maintenance and governance of a SIS. Broadly, the SIS owner is responsible for the strategic direction, operational effectiveness, stakeholder satisfaction, and long-term financial sustainability of the SIS.

Activities:

  • Define the problem statement, intention (mission) statement, and SIS definition
    • What are the current problems or challenges that the SIS will help to address?
    • What are the desired outcomes from the creation of the SIS?
    • Who are the foreseen end users of the SIS? Who is the SIS not intended for?
    • What are the primary or most important uses for soil data in the country?
    • How is the SIS defined? Is the SIS considered only as the digital platform itself? Or does the SIS also include the larger context of stakeholders and activities that enable and support the digital platform, as well as the use cases it seeks to serve?
    • Supporting resources:
      • For developing the problem and intention statements see FAIR Process Framework Step 1 developed by CABI
      • To understand different use cases, review Appendix 7 in A Process Towards Strengthening National Soil Information Services: New Evidence for a SIS Development Framework
      • Example mission statement from convening of key SIS stakeholders in Nairobi, March 2024: “A multi-stakeholder, demand driven public good platform that collects, stores and serves soil data and enables decision and policy support to address food and nutrition security, land conservation and rehabilitation, climate change resilience.”
      • Example SIS definition from CABI: “In many contexts, a SIS is defined as integrated information system that consolidates data from soil surveys (recent and/or historic), sample soil testing and analysis to final output generation for soil mapping and recommendation. It may contain multiple data sets, models and tools for visualization in support of improved decision making by both soil data scientists (experts), and non-technical experts depending on the system in question. This definition primarily refers to the technological aspects. CABI also believes that any functioning system relies on a combination of technology, processes, and personnel.”
  • Articulate the value proposition and business case for government buy-in
    • How will improving soil data lead to downstream or wider benefits?
    • How will the SIS bring value to private sector, the public sector and NGO and development community actors?
    • What is the demand for soil data? Where is there potential for soils information to add value in areas for which there is no current overt demand?
    • What is the scope or market to monetize soil data or data analysis services?
    • How can the SIS be linked to any ongoing or upcoming political agendas?
    • What funding is indicatively available for a) the planning and design phase and b) the implementation phase?
    • Supporting Resources:
  • Discuss potential roles, ownership and funding
    • Who will be the potential SIS owner?
    • Who will be responsible and/or accountable to ensuring the SIS receives adequate continuous funding?
    • Is there a SIS Champion that already has a vested interest in soil data in the country and can they be included early on and continuously in subsequent steps?
    • Supporting Resource
  • Set short-, medium-, and long-term goals
    • Based on the problem statement, SIS mission, and SIS definition defined above, set initial goals for the project by short, medium, and long terms:
      • Short-term goals might include, for example: establish a simple, functional SIS that is accessible and serves some of the needs of some of the identified user groups.
      • Medium-term goals might include, for example: add specific functionalities for additional users, or expand data collection / sampling schemes for increased spatial coverage
      • Long-term goals might include, for example: provide data, information, and related services to policy makers to support updates to specific agricultural and soil policies, and to help decision makers in other sectors.

Objective:

Develop a detailed description of the existing “system” of institutions, policies, and resources surrounding soil data and information, and identify the gaps to support planning and development of the new SIS effort or initiative.

Key definitions:

  • Data ecosystem map is a strategic visual tool that depicts the collection, sharing, and utilization of data across a network of your specific digital ecosystem, considering stakeholders, data and processes relevant to the development of the SIS. It lays out the roles of various stakeholders and the dynamic interrelations in this space, including Value Exchanges. The map visualizes the flow of your digital solutions data, identifying components of value creation, and highlighting the integration of digital tools and data in achieving your project’s ultimate goals and activities.
  • Enabling environment is the underlying social, political, institutional, technical, and financial context that influences, enables or inhibits the development and sustainability of a SIS.

Activities:

Objective:

Understand who the data users and producers are, how they interact with soil data, and what are their challenges, needs, and priorities. This will support the planning and development of the new SIS effort or initiative by focusing activities on the people, institutions, and areas of greatest need.

Key definitions:

User needs assessment is a process through which user needs are identified for a SIS. It can help to understand the current situation and to identify gaps. It is a tool for making decisions about how to serve the potential users of an information system (Watkins et al., 2012). It is also important to take into consideration the needs of both beneficiaries and producers of soil information when building the SIS. We suggest adapting the user needs assessment guide to assessing the needs of beneficiaries and producers too, for an in-depth understanding of all those who will interact with the system and its outputs.

Activities:

Objective:

Develop a detailed description of how the ideal SIS would look, operate, function, and/or deliver information to its users without resource limitations. Then, prioritise what can be done now and what could be done with some additional resources.

This “wish list” description merges the insights from the envisioning (Component 1), enabling environment assessment (Component 2), and needs assessment (Component 3). It then expands upon those insights by defining the details of the SIS, such as data, embedded tools, functionalities, and other characteristics that respond to the needs and constraints identified in earlier steps.

Key definitions:

  • FAIR data principles
    • Findable ensures that data can be easily discovered through unique identifiers and metadata, reducing duplication of efforts and time waste.
    • Accessible guarantees that authorized users can securely access the data through standardized protocols, usability, inclusion and open access, while respecting data privacy constraints
    • Interoperable enables seamless integration and combination of data across different systems and platforms, fostering collaboration and comprehensive analysis.
    • Reusable promotes transparency and reproducibility by describing data, associating them with licenses and provenance information, and adhering to community standards.
  • FAIR aligning principles: seek to develop a shared goal between key stakeholders (e.g. SIS donor, owner, implementer, data producers) for what level of FAIR is feasible for the system. They also seek to create awareness about FAIR, build trust and create a shared vision of FAIR for the system.

Activities:

Objective:

Identify the institutions, people, and stakeholders who should be included in the SIS planning and design phase; define their specific roles; and establish partnership terms with them that can facilitate future interaction and collaboration. Develop a high-level plan or outline addressing how and by whom the SIS will be funded, for how long, and long-term plans for sustaining and growing the SIS into the future.

Key definitions:

  • Financial sustainability plan Addresses how the long-term costs of the SIS will be covered through government support of essential core costs combined with revenue generation from value addition and potential external project funding.
  • Theory of Change (ToC) an “explicit, testable model of how and why change is expected to happen along an impact pathway in a particular context. A basic research-for-development (R4D) ToC identifies the context and key actors in a system and specifies the causal pathways and mechanisms by which the research aims to contribute to outcomes and impacts.” (MELCOP, 2019).

Activities:

  • Validate key findings with stakeholders
    • Consider sharing findings from enabling environment assessment and needs assessment in a workshop- what are the gaps and how can the stakeholders plan together to address these?
  • Develop partnerships
  • Co-develop a theory of change
    • Iterate SIS definition and mission together, value proposition and the downstream benefits of SIS
    • Alignment of different visions of the SIS by the different partners and designate (if needed) short- medium- and long-term visions
    • Consider what challenges are being faced now, and how the SIS can make it better in the future?
    • Supporting Resources:
  • Brainstorm marketing of the SIS
    • Who else needs to know about the SIS? How can they be reached?
    • How will new users find out about the SIS in the future?
    • Which stakeholders will support spreading awareness and publicising the SIS?
    • How will you track users and uses – and how will you use that information to evolve future strategies?
  • Identify risks and plan to mitigate
    • Share existing list of risks and plans to mitigate- how can the stakeholders support these plans?
    • What are the other potential risks to the system that should be monitored?
    • Are there any changes foreseen that other stakeholders know about or believe are highly likely that may affect the SIS?
    • Supporting Resources:
  • Develop a high-level financial sustainability plan:
    • Who will fund the different phases of SIS design, including the long-term operation?
    • What are the potential revenue streams?
      • Do you need to assess users' willingness to pay for services or can you offer a premium service for a fee?
      • What are the additional costs associated with serving revenue streams – and are they worthwhile?
    • What are the indicative costs of the idealised system design that will not be covered from the existing budgets of institutions in the SIS?
    • Do you have a cost recovery model?
    • Supporting Resources:

Objective:

to determine whether all necessary information has been collected and synthesized, and all key stakeholders are in alignment to be able to move forward into the next phase of the framework.

Activities:

  • Develop a workplan for the next phase
    • Review all the information gathered from the activities conducted in each component- were any gaps identified that need to be addressed in the next phase?
    • Review the components and activities in the next phase and incorporate into the workplan
  • Develop budget proposal for the next phase
    • Refer to financial sustainability plan when allocating funds according to different tasks
    • Obtain approval from any authorizing organizations and/or donors to proceed (if applicable)

User Feedback!

We value hearing your feedback on your experience using the framework for your SIS interventions so we can improve it further to benefit future interventions. You can provide feedback using the contact form below: