Data Architecture

This refers to how an organisation’s data is captured and stored. For example, some organisations have capture-all systems in place, whereas others will have separate systems for finance/accounting, management information and projects. Depending how data is stored, some organisations will find it easier than others to pull information together relevant to IATI.

Organisations may want to consider putting new systems in place to capture all activity data in one area, and may even go further to look at systems which are able to draw down the IATI-relevant data and even convert this to XML. Other organisations may be happy to pull information together manually from different sources. These decisions may depend on the size of the organisation, the number of activities to reported, and the in-house capabilities.

How data is currently stored may have an impact on what can immediately be published in an IATI format, but organisations are encouraged to work with what they currently have and publish what they can. The ability to draw down additional data can then be a future publication aim and can be demonstrated as an area for consideration depending on future data capture mechanisms.