THE USE OF COMPUTER IN PHARMACY

THE USE OF COMPUTER IN PHARMACY

INTRODUCTION

The computer has become a very common tool in all areas of science and technology. With the proliferation of the Internet and the developments in computer technology and manufacturing, the ratio of price to performance of computers continues to decrease. This has resulted in the development of number of computer applications. The field of pharmacy has immensely benefited by the use of computer and will continue to benefit as the pharmacist's gain more familiarity with computers. The complete field of pharmacy requires computers. Some of the important areas where computers are useful are new drug discovery, drug design, analysis, manufacturing of drugs and hospital pharmacy. Other than these, computers helps pharmacist collaborate with other professionals, which is very essential in today's research work. It also provides solutions for time consuming manual task. Various hardware and softwares have been developed without which drug discovery, designing, manufacturing and analyzing would become virtually impossible. Further development is still in progress which will make pharmacist's job easier. The more important fact is that they will enable us to discover new drugs for the complete care of dangerous of diseases like aids, cancer etc. and reduce the cost of production of drugs for diseases which are easily cured. Computers are also useful for hospital pharmacist and in telemedicine. A lot has been done and a still has to be done for improving the computer facilities for pharmacist.

Communication:
          Computers are used within pharmacies to facilitate communication. From email to other Internet-based messaging systems, online communication allows pharmacists and other pharmacy staff to keep in contact both within their own organization and within the professional community. Some pharmacy companies have their own Intranet systems for internal communications over the Internet.
Prescription Processing:
          Prescription processing is invariably one of the main activities going on within a pharmacy on a day-to-day basis, and computers are used to make this process more reliable and efficient. Both the customer service side of pharmacy operation and the dispensing aspect are today carried out through the use of computing systems. Pharmacy computers also handle customer service activities such as sales and cash handling within the retail operation.
Information:
            Having access to the Web via pharmacy computers is something that has enhanced the ability of pharmacists to carry out their duties to a higher standard. As well as giving the pharmacy staff access to the vast store of information that is available on the Internet, including those on specialist pharmacy resources, the Internet connects pharmacists to their peers on a global scale. Professional communities for pharmacists operate on-line, creating an atmosphere that is conducive to professional development.
Databases:
          Computer databases for information about medicines, and medical treatment in general, are used within pharmacies. These database systems allow pharmacy staff to find out information about any potential conflicts or health-care problems in a prescribed treatment, as well as information about the details of any particular medicine the pharmacist needs to know more about. This information may include ingredients and potential effects as well as research and scientific data.

Now-a-days computers are used in pharmaceutical industries, hospitals and in various departments for drug information, education, evaluation, analysis, medication history and for maintenance of financial records etc.   They have become indispensable in the development of clinical pharmacy, hospital pharmacy and in pharmaceutical research.

Computer has various uses in the field of pharmacy. In the modern world pharmacy is used in computerized systems. For example all the medicine and equipments are maintained by computer monitoring application. Such as medicine’s temperature control, medicine expire data detection, control of surgery equipments by computers. Basically any kind of data-management can be done by computers.

Pharmacy can create its own chamber to keep the medicine in safe. Secure temperature control is needed so in that case computer has its inevitable action. Some special features of medical term logy like DNA/RNA test specimen can be placed in the pharmacy by computer software management. Special kind of harmful bacteria fungus which is needed for medical purpose is suitable placed by computer locked path chamber.

Detection of medicine and other drugs can be done by computer system quickly and effectively. Secure payments monitoring systems can be installed by computer application so those customers feel secure in payments procedure. Customer history in the purchase of medicine and equipments can be done effectively by computers critical patience summary, patience history; medication can be monitored wisely and securely by computer application.
Cornelia, kidney, blood sample is placed in a secure chamber and it is maintained by computer systems. Temperature control, pressure managements are done by computers regularly.
So my irrefutable denouncement is that computer has outstanding scope in the arena of pharmacy industrial. If we can serve these kinds of computer systems in our pharmacy sector then our pharmacy industrial will prosper in a prosperous way.

As with most health-care processes, pharmacy operations have been significantly changed by the advent of digital and computing technology. Computers are used for various tasks within a pharmacy, both in terms of how pharmacists carry out their duties and handle patients. Pharmacy computing systems make use of resources, such as the Internet, although many pharmacies use custom-made software systems to carry out their daily activities.

THE HISTORY OF COMPUTER APPLICATION IN PHARMACY

Computer science and technology is deeply utilized in pharmacy field everywhere like in pharmacy colleges, pharmaceutical industries, research centers, hospital pharmacy and many more. Computer significantly reduces the time, expenditure, and manpower required for any kind of work. Development of various software makes it trouble free to handle huge data. In short, computers are playing critical role in pharmacy field, without computers pharmacy research will be long lasting and expensive.

But now a day’s use of computers in pharmacy field reduced the manpower and time. Computers are almost related to every corner of pharmacy field. These are utilized in the drug design technique, retail pharmacy shop, clinical research centers, crude drug identification, drug storage and business management, hospital and clinical pharmacy, in pharmacy colleges.

WHAT ARE THE APPLICATION OF COMPUTER IN PHARMACY

Right now computers and pharmacy go hand in hand. Drug and patient database management; order entry systems; drug information; billing; purchasing; automated dispensing units; and on and ON! If you have a background in both health care and computers/computer science you will be a hot product.

Today we can exchange health information and provide  services across geographic, time and social boundaries.

COMPUTER AND MEDICAL EDUCATION

Computers have revolutionized the way education is handled in the today’s world.. In medical education, computers are particularly useful because there is such a need for learning and presenting large amounts of data, getting and comparing accurate study and test results, and effectively monitoring patients.

HEALTH INFORMATICS

Health care informatics or medical informatics is the intersection of information science, computer science, and health care. It deals with the resources, devices, and methods required to optimize the acquisition (gaining), storage, retrieval, and use of information in health and biomedicine.

                    Health informatics tools include not only computers but also clinical guidelines, formal medical terminologies, and information and communication systems. It is applied to the areas of nursing, clinical care, dentistry, pharmacy, public health and (bio)medical research.

COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN OF DRUGS

A further refinement of new drug design and production was provided by the process of computer-aided design (CAD). With the availability of powerful computers and sophisticated graphics software, it is possible for the medicinal chemist to design new molecules and evaluate their effectiveness.

PRESENTATION

The field of medicine often relies on complex definitions of conditions and procedural techniques. If you are an educator, use the computer to show your medical students PowerPoint presentations that simplify the large amounts of text often needed in medical science. Stick to the basics in the visual presentations. You also may use computers to present video data of medical policies or procedures, or for slide shows of diseases or traumas and their treatments.

PAPERS

If you are doing a medical research study, you can use the computer to write your findings, format a paper for publication, find relevant studies on the Internet or print posters for medical conferences. If you use the Internet, stick to reputable information sources such as electronic versions of medical journals. Being able to write these kinds of papers is crucial in establishing your credibility as a medical professional because they show that you have an understanding of one or more medical topics and are able to conduct research and present information.

SIMULATION

n  Because medicine involves hands-on work, medical students need to practice procedures before they do the procedure for real on a patient. Use computer programs that simulate surgery and other procedures to meet this need.

TESTING AND SELF EVALUATION

Use computers to take tests on medical subjects or to quiz yourself on medical data. The advantage of this is that you can get immediate feedback and do not need to depend on your instructor to review information or to find out how well you have learned. If you use this method, keep your tests or reviews short and use them often rather than having huge long tests and reviews. You are more likely to retain information if you use it frequently, and in medicine, you'll also be called on to pull many medical facts daily from memory.

INFORMATION SYSTEM IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES

Pharmaceutical companies are responsible for providing updated, relevant information on the efficacy, safety and quality of drugs to medical professionals and finally to patients. To fulfill this responsibility, they developed a drug information database system to manage various information generated during development of new products and after launch of the products.

                   This system is incorporated into an on-line network system, and can be directly accessed by thousands of people all over the world.

DRUGS INFORMATION AND SERVICES

Pharmaceutical companies are responsible for providing updated, relevant information on the efficacy, safety and quality of drugs to medical professionals and finally to patients. To fulfill this responsibility, they developed a drug information database system to manage various information generated during development of new products and after launch of the products.

                   This system is incorporated into an on-line network system, and can be directly accessed by thousands of people all over the world.

INFORMATION STORAGE

Computers can store massive amounts of data. Use a computer or personal digital assistant to take and store notes on any patients you may see as you go on supervised rounds. This makes it much easier to find the medical information you need when discussing the patient and reduces the physical amount of papers and texts you need to carry with you. This is very important in medicine, since efficiency and ease of referencing medical information impacts the speed and accuracy of patient treatment.

THE AREAS COMPUTER IS APPLIED IN PHARMACY

Communication

Computers are used within pharmacies to facilitate communication. From email to other Internet-based messaging systems, online communication allows pharmacists and other pharmacy staff to keep in contact both within their own organization and within the professional community. Some pharmacy companies have their own Intranet systems for internal communications over the Internet.

Prescription Processing

Prescription processing is invariably one of the main activities going on within a pharmacy on a day-to-day basis, and computers are used to make this process more reliable and efficient. Both the customer service side of pharmacy operation and the dispensing aspect are today carried out through the use of computing systems. Pharmacy computers also handle customer service activities such as sales and cash handling within the retail operation.

Information

Having access to the Web via pharmacy computers is something that has enhanced the ability of pharmacists to carry out their duties to a higher standard. As well as giving the pharmacy staff access to the vast store of information that is available on the Internet, including those on specialist pharmacy resources, the Internet connects pharmacists to their peers on a global scale. Professional communities for pharmacists operate on-line, creating an atmosphere that is conducive to professional development.

Databases

Computer databases for information about medicines, and medical treatment in general, are used within pharmacies. These database systems allow pharmacy staff to find out information about any potential conflicts or health-care problems in a prescribed treatment, as well as information about the details of any particular medicine the pharmacist needs to know more about. This information may include ingredients and potential effects as well as research and scientific data.

Error Prevention

Pharmacy computer systems can help to prevent errors in medication, potentially saving lives and generally preserving the health of patients. As well as checking medicines and combinations of medicines, these systems can in some cases check on patient information. The availability of such systems varies across the different geographical areas, but in some cases pharmacy computers are able to check on prescribed medicines with specific reference to a patient and their overall health-care picture.

Retriever of Data’s using the computer system.
Computer is an electronic device consisting of various components like key board, CPU (Central Processing Unit), VDU (Visual Display Unit or Monitor), printer and mouse etc. Most activities follow the basic principle of Input-Process-Output (I-P-0 cycle). This can be best illustrated by an example of registration in hospitals. A person who wishes to see a senior doctor has to fill a request slip. This slip contains the relevant data, i.e., name, age, sex, etc. The operator then feeds this data from the request slip into the computer. The process in this case includes examining the availability of senior doctor and determining whether the data suits to the patient or not. As a result of this process, some information is output. The output may be in the form of a printed proforma. if the senior doctor is available or otherwise a message may by the commuter turning down the request.

COMPUTER SOFTWARE USED IN PHARMACY

1.   WinPharm:

2.   Pioneer RX

3.   HBS Pharmacy Software

4.   Arteb Pharmacy Solution e.t.c

Standard pharmacy software features should include:

• User friendly input and recall of patient, drug and prescription information
• HIPAA and regulatory compliance (including DEA reporting, FDA required MedGuides)
• Full prescription management
• Complete third-party claims submissions including adjudication (V5.1, etc)
• Failsafe features for safety and accuracy
• On-line reconciliations
• Drug-file updates
• Tailored labels
• A/R management
• Inventory management
• Electronic wholesaler ordering
• Bar code scanning
• Signature capture
• E Prescribing
• Auto Dr fax
• Complete and accurate drug interaction and other databases
• Interfaces for POS, IVR, Automatic Dispensing Systems, reconciliation systems and other important third party products and services
• And much more

Ultimately, the right software will allow you make better business decisions and give you an edge in the market. A representative financial model (see Business Case) will help you evaluate the financial impact of pharmacy management software on your business.

Additional software features can include:

• Workflow management
• Hand held integration for deliveries
• Claim resubmission profit maximization programs
• Pill imaging
• POS integration
• And much more

Having the right software will allow you to deliver the highest level patient care while maximizing your profits and allow you to spend more time generating new business.

Advantages and Disadvantages

• Safety of Patients information
• Security of the computers
• Patients diagnoses

Also there are disadvantages

• Software error
• Insurance company could be offline at times
• Updates

Conclusion: Limited and inconclusive evidence about whether these systems are effective and what system features are optimal may explain the wide variation among systems in terms of what problems are screened and may also explain clinicians' uncertainty about their value. A comprehensive national research agenda for reducing medical errors should include research on the effectiveness of computer-aided PDUR.

A recently published Institute of Medicine report^[1] identifies medical errors as a leading cause of injury and death and calls for "a comprehensive and strong response to this most urgent issue facing the American people." Recommended steps include developing procedures to assist pharmacists in detecting errors and encouraging hospitals to use error reduction techniques. In the Harvard Medical Practice Study,^[2] researchers identified adverse drug events as the single most common cause of error-related injury. While these reports focus primarily on errors of commission, failure to cure, control, or prevent a disease through underuse (i.e., errors of omission) of medication is another cause of drug-related morbidity and mortality that may be at least as common.^[3-6]

A frequently recommended method for preventing adverse drug events is computer-aided screening of prescriptions.^[7] Pharmacists generally screen, or perform prospective review, of a patient's medication regimen during the prescription dispensing process to prevent drug-related problems that, if uncorrected, might lead to adverse effects or failure to achieve treatment goals. Prospective drug utilization review (PDUR) became legally mandated for Medicaid patients following the implementation of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA '90) in January 1993. Up until that time, this activity had been voluntary on the part of the pharmacist.

In performing PDUR, most pharmacists are assisted by DUR software applications that are resident on their pharmacies' computer systems (i.e., in-store computer-aided PDUR). A pharmacy benefits manager or claims processor may also use DUR software applications online at the time of electronic claims adjudication (i.e., online computer-aided PDUR). Both in-store and online systems issue an electronic alert when a prescription claim violates a preestablished criterion for appropriate drug use. These PDUR alerts typically indicate the type of problem detected and whether an interacting or duplicative medication was dispensed from the same pharmacy or a pharmacy different from the one submitting the claim. Online systems offer a unique advantage: They allow users to review a prescription against a profile of all medications a patient has purchased from all the pharmacies that have submitted prescription claims for that patient. In this article we focus on computer-aided PDUR using in-store and online computer systems. Electronic alerts that are primarily administrative in nature (e.g., prior authorization alerts and same-day refill alerts) are not considered here.

News reports of pharmacists failing to catch potentially significant drug-drug interactions captured the interest of the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) and the American Pharmaceutical Association (APhA). These organizations were concerned about the media's failure to focus on the role computer-aided PDUR can play as a potential solution and about reports that pharmacists were frequently overriding PDUR alert messages.

USP and APhA convened a steering committee to oversee the preparation of an advisory report summarizing the issues surrounding computer-aided PDUR and making recommendations. The committee solicited input from recognized experts from academic pharmacy, the legal profession, third party payers, and system vendors with the intent of compiling their observations and recommendations into a single report. However, the committee found a lack of consensus among these experts; in fact, opinions on specific issues diverged widely, as Table 1 shows. In this article we propose that lack of published evidence is the cause of much of this controversy and recommend research approaches that could improve the evidence base for computer-aided PDUR.

Standards have been set for evaluating the effectiveness of clinical preventive services.^[8] These standards require a satisfactory level of evidence before a health care provider recommends that a screening test be included as part of a periodic health examination. Analogously, the effectiveness of computer-aided PDUR systems should be demonstrated convincingly before they are recommended as a primary tool for preventing adverse medication outcomes.

Uncertainty as to whether a particular health care intervention improves care is now widely recognized as a major reason for variation among providers in rates of use of the intervention.^[9,10] Therapeutic decision making about whether to implement the health care intervention takes place in the absence of clear, evidence-based guidelines and recommendations. When considering the rate of uncertainty about computer-aided PDUR, prescription insurance plan managers make decisions about which, if any, system vendor to contract with in the absence of evidence about which system attributes yield maximum effectiveness. Furthermore, system vendors make decisions about which criteria to include in a system and which operational definitions and system algorithms to use in the absence of evidence to support these decisions. Health care providers make decisions about whether a particular alert signifies a real drug use behavior that must be addressed.

References:

1.   Indiana Professional Licensing Agency, Indiana Board ofPharmacy - Pharmacy Technician Requirements and  Application, on the Internet at  http://www.in.gov/pla/2898.htm.

2.   National Center for O*NET Development, O*NET Online, Summary Report for: 29-2052.00 – Pharmacy Technicians, on the Internet at http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/29-2052.00

3.   http://baonsquarestech.blogspot.com/

4.    

COMPUTERIZED LAND TENURE SYSTEM

COMPURIZED LAND TENURE SYSTEM

INTRODUCTION

Land management is the issue of putting land resources into efficient use, meaning producing food, shelter and other products or preserving valuable resources for environmental or cultural reasons. Land administration is the governmental responsibility to provide security of tenure and information about tenure issues for property markets and governmental and private business activities. For this, information is necessary, which is to be provided by land information systems, sometimes called cadastre. In other words, the government at local and central levels needs to provide an institutional setup including policy and legislation, organization for implementation of the policy and enforcement of the legislation and dissemination systems to make the information available in society, to benefit tenure security, property markets, land use planning and taxation and business in general.

SOFTWARES USED IN COMPUTERIZED LAND TENURE SYSTEM

We present an evolutionary design approach and overview some of the software design and testing procedures in developing a flexible, evolving, land tenure information data model in wicked land tenure problem situations (Barry and Fourie 2002a). We then describe an initial attempt at developing a self-adaptive land tenure information system based on XML data structures and the eXist database as a way to reduce some of the problems associated with evolutionary design approaches. The design priority is promoting equity and fairness at the local level, incorporating the claims of vulnerable groups in what are often highly complex, rapidly changing, local political situations. A record of personal relationships and how these change as a situation changes may contribute to these ideals.

The focus is on land tenure management in uncertain situations and times of major change. It draws on field work in informal settlement upgrades, peri-urban customary tenure regimes, post-conflict situations, and land regularisation as part of programmes to mend dysfunctional land administration systems, and land reform and land restitution cases (Barry et al 2002, Barry 2009c). We have also examined the feasibility of the approach in using recordings of oral history and oral tradition in aboriginal land claims (Barry and Khan 2005).

Land registration is the conventional means of statutorily securing rights in land. In terms of the theory that land titles are a primary driver of economic development, recently popularized by de Soto (2000), but postulated by a number of others dating back to the mid 1800’s, land titles provide tenure security, which in turn allows property owners to secure loans using their land as collateral, which in turn stimulates economic activity and thus alleviates poverty (Shipton 2009). Advocated as an economic development and poverty alleviation strategy, in practice this theory can be shown to work for the affluent, the middle class and some of the less affluent sectors of society.

Although it has been presented as a grand theory for economic upliftment and poverty alleviation, empirical evidence suggests the land title theory is not valid in many situations. A number of observers are strongly critical of it, as practical titling projects have been implemented based on this theory without due regard for the conditions that have to be in place for it to hold. Instead of promoting tenure security, the risks of applying the titling theory uncritically include (1) it may be contrary to complex, changing, continually contested, land tenure practices on the ground, and instead of supporting a stable, secure tenure environment, titling may foment conflict, (2) it can disempowered certain sectors of a community and extinguish existing land interests, and facilitate land grabbing, and (3) secondary market transactions may not be registered which in turn means it fails as a prescription for economic activity and the formal land market is frozen as few formal financial institutions will accept cloudy titles as collateral The question then is if land registration is ill suited to certain situations, what are the strategic alternatives that should improve tenure security justly and fairly? One part of a strategy, we submit, may be a land tenure information system that incorporates far more relationships and more complexity than a typical registration system handles.

The paper proceeds as follows. In the following order, we briefly examine different initiatives to develop land tenure information systems (LTIS) that serve as alternatives to registered titles, information system design strategies, aspects of evolutionary information system design, why this is necessary, and some design aspects of the Talking Titler software. We then move on to methods of creating land records in uncertain situations, and how these records may evolve as a situation changes. Following this, we overview a part of our work on schema evolution and self adapting software, as a way of addressing the evolutionary system design concept. Finally, we overview a prototype design and testing of schema evolution and self adapting software methods in land tenure information systems using the eXist-db open source XML database.

2. LAND TENURE INFORMATION SYSTEM (LTIS) INTITIATIVES

There are a number of recent initiatives to develop information systems that will cater for situations where titling is inappropriate or unaffordable. These include the UN-Habitat supported Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM) (Lemmen et al. 2007) and a commercial package, Open Titler, which is based on the STDM design (Edmead 2010). In addition, UN-FAO is developing the Solutions for Open Source Software (SOLA) system that uses the Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) as a point of departure. It aims to make land registration and a computerised cadastre affordable for developing countries (Pullar 2012). The UN-FAO SOLA system initiative, however, does not appear to be targeted at situations where registration is unlikely to suit the particular circumstances at a given time. The mission is to make registration more accessible (Pullar 2012).

The Talking Tilter system is a design methodology, which the authors are working on, which aims at addressing wicked problem situations where titling is inappropriate at a given time. The methodology is based on field work and design work in South Africa dating back to the 1990’s (Barry 1995, Mason et al 1998, Barodien and Barry 2004, Barry et al 2002, Roux and Barry 2001, Barry et al 2009), Somaliland (Barry 2009a), Nigeria (Barry 2009c), Ghana (Danso and Barry 2012), and an exploratory investigation with First Nations communities in Canada (Barry and Khan 2005, Barry 2009b).

We first analyse the STDM, and compare it with the Talking Titler design. We do not review the SOLA initiative as, apparently, it is not targeted at wicked problem situations (Pullar 2012).

Figure 1 Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM).

The simple form of the STDM design is a major strongpoint, as simplicity should lead to a system that is easy to use. The three primary classes in figure 1 are likely to prove to be suited to many situations. However, as noted above, simple form may not capture the complexity of a number of situations, especially if these are wicked problem scenarios. The STDM is an adaptation of the LADM core, which was developed for a very different set of circumstances (i.e. the European Union) and grounded in a top down rather than systemic way of thinking about problem situations.

3. TALKING TITLER DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

Figure 2 portrays different future states for an evolving LTIS. Scenarios A, B and C represent some form of system with which designers are familiar, such as an existing registration system, an occupation permit system, taxation information system or combination of these systems. The fourth one represents the very different system alluded to above.

Figure 2 Evolution Scenarios

To address these different scenarios, there are two approaches to system design. The first approach addresses the completely new scenario, and has parallels with grounded theory research methodology in the social sciences. The design should be grounded in the data, and in an uncertain situation the design should emerge from the data rather than a top-down prescription. The initial design focus should on the data alone (Media class in figure 4).

The second approach addresses scenarios A, B and C and it allows a LTIS to evolve based on four core classes, Media, Person, Land Object and Reference Item (see figure 5). (The Person and Land Object classes have equivalents in the STDM and LADM). Evolution tends to occur based on one or more of the Person, Land Object and Reference Instrument classes. The Reference Item class reflects what happens in practice most of the time. In our studies, local record systems tend to be based on some form of reference document or documents, such as a title, a file number, a rent card or occupation permit and some form of map with unique identifiers to model land parcels, linear and point features and 3-d objects (e.g. building or shack numbers). Media may comprise unstructured data items, such as video clips, photographs, sound recordings, written notes and reports, and formal or iconic data items such as title deeds, contracts, permits, wills, marriage contracts and cadastral survey plans.

Our limited experience at the local level indicates that several system starts ups and failures may occur in uncertain situations. Thus a design may revert back to the starting point, i.e. the data in the Media class, if the first design does not work. Experience has shown that in certain situations, a “well designed” GIS may be ignored by people on the ground, even if they participate in its development. Instead, completely unstructured data, such as the noting of events and relationships in a notebook (or sound recordings or a video) may be appropriate at a particular time (Barry and Fourie 2002a).

4. INFORMATION SYSTEM DESIGN STRATEGIES

We can consider two forms of information system design and development, top down and evolutionary.
A top down approach is ideal in stable situations where the problem contexts are simple and well understood, and it fits in well with the bureaucratic organizational culture typical of many land administration institutions. Top down, detailed design is especially appropriate in the design and implementation of information systems which support land registration. Land registration’s primary purpose is to provide procedural effect to real property law (Ziff 2006). It follows that there may be severe legal and social repercussions if an information system that supports legal procedure is ineffective, particularly if it does not deliver what the law prescribes. At the national or jurisdiction level, a host of other land administration functions draw on land registry data, hence the need for broad top-down inter-institutional LIS planning and design.

We now move on to a discussion of the conceptual data model for evolutionary LTIS development based on the Talking Titler model.

5. CONCEPTUAL EVOLUTIONARY MODEL

The evolutionary model involves continual prototyping and development. Prototypes can take on a number of forms. Of relevance are throwaway prototypes and evolutionary forms. The throwaway type is used to explore and experiment with certain parts of the final system design and it is then discarded. In the evolutionary form the software may evolve from an initial form featuring a number of core features which will be retained as it is gradually developed to a final form (Davis 1992, Budgen 2003). Both of these forms may be relevant to LTIS evolution.

An evolutionary development approach starts with an initial operational system which gradually evolves over time. The initial operational system builds the core requirements that are well-understood, and it progresses as modifications to requirements are required and other requirements emerge. This approach works well when users are unsure about what they want initially (i.e. uncertain user needs), but they can formulate an idea about them when they see them implemented in a working system (Boehm 1988). In evolutionary development, the system changes on an on-going basis. Often there is no notion of a final product, but rather the notion of current state of the system (Patel 2009, Budgen 2003, Beynon-Davies et al 1999).

Figure 3 Evolutionary LTIS Development

As per figure 3, the evolutionary process commences with a simple, flexible, initial system. The initial system is designed to address an immediate problem situation, such as the post-conflict rebuilding process following civil war, where the social and political environment is likely to be unstable, uncertain and rapidly changing (Augustinus and Barry 2006). The initial system implements basic requirements only, while allowing a great deal of flexibility in how this is achieved. The primary purpose is to collect data quickly, allowing different data types to be collected within a loose structure (Muhsen 2008). The more uncertainty in the situation the information system is meant to serve, the more flexible it should be.

In our work to date, the initial system comprises two main components, an initial three class data model and the initial software prototype. The data model has three general abstract classes, namely Person, Land Object and Media as per figure 4. Each of these can be related to the other classes and to itself in many-to-many relationships.

Figure 4 Talking Titler Three-Class Conceptual Model

The Person class includes anyone (e.g. individual person, legal person, money lender, social group) who might hold an interest in land and/or be involved in administering it (e.g. a land surveyor, system
operator). Social structures and lineage groups are represented via recursive relationships (a relationship between a person and another person) which enable modeling parent–child relationships, inheritance, and other interpersonal relationships.

The Land Object class may represent things such as parcels, volumes of space, dwellings, trees, hunters’ trap lines, religious artifacts, water bodies, mineral deposits, and/or any spatial object of economic or cultural value (Muhsen and Barry 2008). Recursive relationships on Land Objects allow situations within and between objects to be modeled. For example, a dwelling is located on a parcel and a tree may be located on the same parcel. Entitlement to the land may be held by one person, the dwelling by another and the tree by yet another person. The entitlements to use the dwelling and parts of the fruits of the tree may vest in a number of other persons, which in turn may stem from a number of personal relationships.

The Media class contains a mix of records that might represent different items of evidence relating to the existence of persons or land objects and the relationships between them such as interests and obligations between people and between people and the land. The data may be structured, semi-structured and unstructured. Media items might include, for example, titles, deeds, and survey plans describing parcel lots, marriage certificates, and rent cards, and multi-media recordings of dances, stories, ceremonies, video recordings of customary rules relating to chieftaincy succession and land allocation rules, recordings of symbolic land transactions, meetings, dispute resolution proceedings, and personal testimonies.

The recursive relationship relates a media item to another media item. For example, in a conventional cadastral survey records system when a new survey diagram supersedes a cancelled survey diagram, it is necessary to keep both media items in the system and relate them to retain the chain of title. If we fail to relate them, we may lose the chain, and possibly vital evidence in the event of a boundary conflict. Or, audio recordings may be used in conjunction with photographs (a slide show) to capture an event, and all of these media items should be related to one another or to the event.

6. SYSTEM EVOLUTION

The system may evolve in a number of different ways, and we have experimented with schema evolution to manage this to address a set of known outcomes such as scenarios A, B and C in figure 2. Schema evolution in this experimental work implies adding more general classes to the three main classes in Figures 4 and 5, by decomposing the generalized classes into more specialized ones, and adding additional attributes to these classes

Using the example of a post conflict situation, it may be necessary to change the schema in a vastly changing environment to address more specialized needs. For example, we may introduce a fourth general class, Reference Instrument as shown in figure 5. We may start off using a variety of reference instruments, such as certificate of occupation, taxation certificate, title deed and so forth, in this class and differentiate between them by identifier type.

Figure 5 Talking Tilter Four-Class Conceptual Model

We might then choose to separate these into sub-classes of the reference instrument class at a later stage once we are reasonably certain that the design meets the situation’s requirements. As figure 6 shows, we could specialize classes in the reference class, such as a deed and a valuation record, and keep all other types of reference instruments in the parent reference class until we’re reasonably certain that we will keep them, whereupon we will separate them into specialized classes as the system evolves.

Figure 6 Talking Tilter Specializations of Reference Instrument Class.

In an ideal design, we should be able to generalize the system to revert back to an earlier state. The system may evolve from System0 through several stages to say System7 (Figure 3). It may then be found to be completely unsuitable and we may have to start all over again at a new System0 (e.g. if there is a change in government which has a different approach to land management and administration) or revert back to an earlier system number. Ideally, we should be able to revert back to any particular evolutionary stage.

7. DATA MIGRATION

Data migration is the last step of a cycle in the methodology outlined in figure 3. It aims to move the data from the old design to the evolved one. In principle, the migration process involves three main tasks, namely: data extraction from the old model, transformation of data to suit the format and requirements needed for the new model, and data loading in which data is imported to the new model. Lastly, data verification should be performed at the end of the migration to check for errors (Kimball and Caserta 2004)

We now describe the concept of self-adapting software using a XML database. Using a XML database has advantages in an evolutionary approach as in general a XML database is more flexible than a relational database. On top of this, it should be easier to extract data from the system at any stage and allow it to be used by a new, evolved, system or by other systems.

8. EVOLUTION SCENARIOS AND THE SELF-ADAPTIVE APPROACH

Changes in a system can be frequent, unforeseen, and caused by a diversity of factors (Buckley et al. 2005). Continual prototyping and development associated with the evolutionary process implies repeated refactoring of the system, which requires skilled IT personnel and the associated costs. This places a question mark over the feasibility of an evolutionary model, given that budgets and IT skills capacity are often limited in uncertain land tenure situations (Barry and Fourier 2002b).

In order to reduce the negative impacts of the evolutionary development approach, self-adaptive systems may alleviate some of these problems. A self-adaptive system is a system which has the capacity to modify itself at runtime in response to changes introduced by an internal decision making process or by external factors such as user input

Drawing on Cheng et al. (2009), there are four major factors to be addressed in developing a self-adaptive system:

• Modeling Dimensions. This concerns the definition of models that represent: (1) objectives, (2) changes occurring at runtime, (3) how the system should react to those changes, and (4) dealing with the effects of changes.
• Requirements. This concerns the specification of: (1) what the system should do, (2) what adaptations are possible, (3) constraints on these adaptations, and (4) how to deal with the uncertainty of not knowing what future requirements could be.
• Engineering. This concerns the implementation and control of the feedback loop that underlies the dynamic behavior of the system which enables internal decision making and self-adaptation.
• Assurances. This concerns the assessment, verification and validation of the changes taking place on the system at runtime.

To improve feasibility prospects, a self-adaptive LTIS development approach should address these factors in a manner that the complexity and costs associated with self-adaption do not outweigh the benefits of flexibility. Special emphasis should be made on quality management as changes occur, especially data and relationship integrity, because LTIS are especially sensitive to users’ trust. Incorrect information in land tenure recording processes can have major social and legal consequences. Addressing the above challenge is not trivial and there is no general or simple methodology for developing a self-adaptive system.

To date we have experimented with self-adaptation at the database level, which we describe in the next section. Other components that have to be adapted as a system evolves in the multi-tier software architecture used in our exploratory self-adapting system are the user interface and the middleware that handles the interaction between the interface and the database.

9. XML-BASED LAND RECORDS

XML (W3C 2008) is a widely used markup language and data format, especially for data exchange between applications even when these applications do not store data under the same structure. Among its benefits are flexibility and ease of use as users may specify their own data structure and extend the structure it to meet their specific needs (Harold and Means 2002).

We developed and tested a self-adaptive design using the eXist-db open source XML database based on a case of an informal settlement upgrade where people were moved from shacks in an informal settlement to formal houses in a new development (Barry 2006). There are four phases or evolutionary steps in the experimental model.

• In Phase 1 social and demographic information is captured as multimedia and text documents (MEDIA class) and related to the people living in the informal settlement (PEOPLE class) and the shack that they occupy (LAND OBJECT class) (see figure 4).
• In Phase 2 the local authority decides to relocate the people in each shack to a formal house in a different location. This change is represented as a new relation between two land objects, the shack and the house (figure 4).
• In Phase 3, official recognition of rights over the new land is addressed by issuing an occupation permit to the families, introducing a new INSTRUMENT class and its relations to the existing classes (figure 5).
• In Phase 4, formalization of rights over the new land is completed by issuing a title; the title is linked to the household’s occupation permit in case of fraud or errors in the process. The people who were not allocated a house remain in the informal settlement and the occupation permit provides official recognition of an occupation entitlement. Drawing on Figure 6, the INSTRUMENT class is specialized into an OCCUPATION PERMIT class and a TITLE CLASS.

Phases 2 to 4 impose changes to the database structure. The introduction of these changes is possible because of the database schema evolution process built into the database.

• Modeling Dimensions:
• The main objective is to allow for specialization of the land administration model over time.
• The database should be flexible enough to allow for database schema changes while preserving existing data and consistency.
• Requirements:
• The initial land administration model should allow the changes in Phases 1 -4.
• Possible changes to the initial model include: adding new classes, adding new attributes to existing classes, defining relations between classes, modifying existing classes, and specializing classes through inheritance, among others.
• Changes in the initial model should be translated into database changes.
• Existing instances of the data should be updated if their structure has been changed.
• Automation of the adaptation process model change - database schema update -instances affected migration should be done with minimal intervention by the database administrator.
• Engineering:
• The initial model is represented in UML, which it is then stored as XMI (XML Metadata Interchange; a XML for model representation and exchange).
• The initial model is translated into a XML Schema (W3C 2004).
• Data instances are stored following the current XML Schema.
• Changes in requirements are introduced in the form of changes in the UML model.
• The adaptation process is triggered by user input on the UML model.
• The series of changes provided are in turn converted into XML Schema changes.
• No XML instances updates are performed unless they are solicited by the user in which case the instances are transformed to conform to the new schema before the instances reach the user.
• The feedback loop is controlled in such a way that intervention from the database administrator is expected only if strictly necessary.
• All changes occurring at runtime are documented within the database for validation purposes.
• Assurances:
• Validation of the schema evolution mechanisms taking place is currently performed verifying the correctness of the data instances after the adaptation occurs; i.e. old instances still exists, old instances meet the new database schema, old instances are still correct, and new instances are stored using the new database schema.
• For quality control, unit tests are used for internal validation. A unit test is an automated task within the system that performs an operation for a given input and expects a given result. If a failure is detected the data instance is then flagged for manual revision

We could not get the process to work entirely through all four phases as there were some types of changes that required an administrator’s intervention (Molero et al 2010). However, these can be addressed with further work. Notwithstanding, the design and testing indicates that the concept does hold promise and that forms of self-adaptive LTIS are feasible with further work.

10. CONCLUDING REMARKS

In conclusion, flexible and evolutionary LTIS systems are one strategic option where conventional land registration systems, with their rigid rules and procedures, are not suited to the local circumstances. We have described a conceptual approach to the evolutionary LTIS development problem and one area of design, development and testing that our research group has done in this area. These are concepts that may evolve into practical solutions in the future, but significantly more work needs to be done in this area.

A XML based approach to data storage and sharing, along with well designed methods of storing data outside of the IT system but in parallel with it, e.g. using hard copy plans and documents to perform administration and filing systems that accommodate DVD’s and similar devices to store multimedia data, may mitigate some of these risks and facilitate the revival of the system.

We now understand the effectiveness of information technology in our land tenure system.

References

Afolabi, A. (1975). “The Role of Cadastral Surveying in Land Development in the Western State of Nigeria.” B.S. Department of Surveying Engineering, University of New Brunswick.

Agboau, L. K. (1990). “Land Registration in Ghana: Past Present and Future.”

Journal of African Law 34.2: 104.

Allot, A. (1971). Theoretical and Practical Limitations to Registration of Title in Tropical

Africa.  Seminar on problems of land tenure in African development. Afrika-Studiesentrum, Lieden:

Andersson, Sune (1986). Cadastre as a Base for Land Information Systems.  International Federation of Surveyors-FIG XVIII Congress. Toronto, Canada: FIG. 369-378.