ALISS; 15 years co-producing a national digital service with people and communities in Scotland

Background: ALISS - A Local Information System for Scotland, has the vision that everyone in Scotland can access the information they need to help them live well. It allows people to find and share information about local and national health and wellbeing services, groups, activities and resources.

 

Approach: One of the biggest challenges for any community directory is how to keep information up to date and accurate. ALISS uses crowdsourcing to work towards this goal. However, this approach poses a number of challenges, as well as being one of its main strengths. The programme team take a flexible approach to crowdsourcing and ‘crowd-editing’ the data to ensure existing data is maintained and we continue to enhance its quality.

ALISS involves people, communities and partners by employing human-centred design and agile approaches to technical developments. User research and feedback help to shape and design ALISS and inform future improvements. This involves a variety of stakeholders, including members of the public, health and social care staff working across public and charity and sectors.

ALISS follows open-source principles so the code can be used in other pieces of software. ALISS data is also available publicly to reuse in other systems and websites.

 

Results: The approaches we adopt enable ALISS to achieve our vision of ‘more data’, ‘better data’, ‘better experience’, ‘more users’ and ‘better insights’.

Despite making significant progress as a digital resource that helps people live well, as its build on crowdsourcing this has limitations. For example, how can bulk data be added to ALISS, without compromising quality?

Through engagement with stakeholders, we know that data quality is more important than quantity. People want to know that ALISS entries are up to date, and that the services are operational, accessible and safe.

ALISS data can be found in many locations, thanks to a number of successful integrations, allowing community services to be tailored to local needs (e.g. Shetland Community Directory, Glasgow Community Food Network).

 

 

Implications: ALISS is an example of the ‘collect once, use many times’ data management principle. The aim is to reduce duplication of effort and improve consistency. However, this requires buy-in from stakeholders at all levels, which continues to be a challenge in a complex health and social care system.

Regular review of ALISS’s strategy and roadmap, enshrines continuous improvement across all areas of the programme. This requires a long term, sustainable funding commitment, an ongoing challenge in the current economic climate.

Over the 15 years of its operation, there is much learning to share, which could lead to establishment of an ALISS in other places. However, its most valuable asset is the data it holds about Scotland’s community services, groups, activities and resources that can help keep people well.