The Data Bridges is an application that allows users in the field to contribute data to a centralized database in a fast and easy way, maintaining a flexible design to various data templates. It is geared towards two main objectives: ensuring quality of data submitted and supporting a timely, consistent, standardized storage of data collected digitally via multiple tools. To achieve these objectives, the DataBridges hosts master data for each of its modules, a collection of descriptions which enables to trace a direct linkage across the entities on which data is collected, at the basis of the data standardization process. Furthermore, it supports the process of standardization and cleaning of data directly during the upload with automated procedures that reduce time spent on repeated tasks.
Automation not only achievies considerable gains on effectiveness by enabling downstream automations and full replicability of the analysis, but it also prevents any human error in the data cleaning and standardisation process . As a result, analysts can swiftly access the data they need through a dedicated library.
WFP users can access the dedicated Teams channel to receive additional guidance and support.
#Market price module
Prices are an overarching indicator that provides key information for many WFP activities. As the outcome of supply and demand forces, they can give a timely insight into many different drivers that influence the functioning of a market and that are relevant for food assistance programming. In countries where WFP operates, these drivers include the macro-economic context, natural or human-induced disasters, physical infrastructure and weather associated with crop production, as well as international commodity price volatility and transmission to domestic prices. Against this backdrop, WFP often analyses markets looking at three aspects: i) the structure, as in actors and institutions for supply and demand, barriers to entry as a market player, trends in production, and market catchments; ii) the conduct, as in competition levels, rules and standards as well as contract enforcements; and iii) the performance, as in different methods of price analysis such as seasonality and volatility, market integration, profit margins and income generation, and purchasing power patterns.
In support of Data Storage, Analysis & Reporting, DataBridges hosts master lists of commodities, markets and currencies, allowing the management of market price reports for retail, wholesale, farmgate and contracted shop data. Thanks to this strict management of data, automated analysis is reported in various places, including the one-stop-shop DataViz, particularly in its Economic Explorer.
The Data Bridges Prices Guidance Note provides detailed information on the Data Bridges price module. The resource equips users with instructions on how to access and upload price data to the VAM price database.
#Market functionality index module
The MFI is a quantitative tool jointly designed by the Supply Chain (SC) and Research, Assessment and Monitoring (RAM) divisions to benchmark marketplace functionality in the following nine dimensions: assortment, availability, price, resilience of supply chains, competition, infrastructure, service, food quality, and access and protection.
It assigns marketplaces an overall score representing its functionality from 0 to 10, which can be interpreted consistently across time and geography. The MFI provides an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses for each of the nine dimensions deemed important to evaluate market functionality.
The Market Functionality Index comes with an MFI package that supports the entire cycle of a market assessment: from the design phase to data collection, and storage, up to the analysis and reporting of results.
In support of Data Storage, Analysis & Reporting we have developed: the end-to-end data pipeline that handles data exchange from WFP’s field offices, stores the data in a centralized database in MFI Dataviz, processes the data every 24 hours with automated scripts where results are automatically visualized and an MFI Report Template to support report writing. The one-stop-shop DataViz, with its Economic Explorer, reports more granular details on the MFI analysis.
#Retailer performance monitoring and evaluation module
The RPME process is a systematic review of retailers throughout the contract period that aims to verify and track how well and how consistently the retailer is meeting agreed-upon performance targets.
The approach relies upon a semi-standardized survey and digital methodology to consistently evaluate retailers.
This includes corporate performance evaluation criteria (mandatory and optional), while it also enables the inclusion of the country and context-specific questions.
The approach is valid both for Value and Commodity Vouchers and it is adaptable for specific mechanisms.
Thanks to data management in DataBridges, Retailers Performance is computed into a performance score that is the consolidation of a score assigned per each key performance evaluation areas: (1) Assortment and Availability, (2) Price, (3) Food Safety and Quality, (4) Service and (5) Compliance.
#Household surveys module