User Roles#
In addition to the training previously detailed for Common Actions, users may want to read training specific to their role. This section offers guidance for Data Managers, Data Viewers, and Field Workers. For Admins, please see the next section Admin Guides which covers your more expansive abilities.
Data Managers#
As mentioned, Data Managers have near full access VA Explorer, equivalent to admin access without the ability to create and manage user accounts. They should support the admin in VA Explorer operations to reduce burden on Admins, who can then focus on ensuring Data Managers have the users they need (such as Data Viewers and Field Workers) to be effective. These guides help cover those tasks Data Managers can undertake.
Viewing Users & Supervision Information#
As a Data Manager, you have access to the profiles of all VA Explorer users, but do not have the ability to make changes to them, such as adding permissions. This ability may be useful in determining if users you supervise have the correct access, or facilities you supervise have the right amount of coverage through user geographic access. To view the list of Users, click “Users” in the top navigation bar. To view an individual user, click the “Show” button next to their name.
Next, to view VA Explorer’s supervision information click “Supervision” in the navigation bar to visit the Supervision page. This page shows VAs collected in the system grouped by Interviewer/ Field Worker or by Facility. In each case, the page lists the following information to help you answer various supervision questions such as:
Which interviewer or facility is generating the most issues when we attempt to code VAs?
Total Warnings
Total Errors
Which interviewers or facilities are providing the most data and how often?
VAs / week
Total VAs
Total Weeks of Data
Date of Last Interview
When viewing data grouped by Interviewer/ Field Worker, this information (each sub-bullet beneath the questions) is available for each individual Field Worker (ex. Total VAs collected by interviewer John Smith, total for …, etc.) and shows the Facility that Field Worker is assigned to. However, when viewing data grouped by Facility, the names of individual Interviewers/ Field Workers go away as the information becomes summarized at the Facility level (e.g., John Doe and Jane Roe each collected 20 VAs for Example Clinic so Total VAs now shows Example Clinic – 40 total VAs). Changing this grouping is done by toggling the “Group by” dropdown in the top form and clicking “Go”
Additionally, it is possible to filter the supervision data in case you’d like to see it for specific facilities or for certain date ranges (How many VAs did John Doe collect last month?). To apply a filter, enter in your parameters to the form at the top and click the “Go” button.
Exporting Data#
Click “Export”, either in the navigation bar, search interface, or the dashboard to navigate to the Export page. When exporting data from VA Explorer for local use:
Either customize the data you would like to export by using the available filters or confirm that the form has been auto-filled with the filters you were using when navigating here from the search interface or dashboard. By default, if no filters are applied, the system will attempt to export all the data you have permissions to access.
Click “Download.” A modal will appear explaining that your download is being prepared and compressed to a .zip file. For the download to complete, do not navigate away from the Export page. The modal will close automatically when the download has finished. Please note that large file sizes may take a while to download.
Running Data Cleanup Operations#
VA Explorer can autodetect VAs that are possible duplicates. The system flags VAs that match across a set of fields and shows these possible duplicates under the “Data Cleanup” navigation bar item. The Data Cleanup functionality is available when your system has been configured to autodetect potential duplicate VAs. By default, this feature is turned off. If you do not see the Data Cleanup menu item and think you should, contact your system administrator for more information.
As an example of how this feature works, let’s say your system is configured to identify VAs as duplicates if they match interview date, name, gender, and age of the deceased person. When VA Explorer detects two (or more) VAs that match across these fields, it leaves the oldest one unmarked and flags all others as possible duplicates.
The set of fields used to identify duplicates is configurable, and your system administrator may set and update them.
To manage what is done with these VAs flagged as potential duplicates, you may delete them or edit the possible duplicate VAs to remove them from detection. See the table below for all actions you can take on the data cleanup page.
Action |
Description |
|---|---|
Download All |
Download all potential duplicate verbal autopsies to a CSV file for examination. |
Delete All |
Delete all potential duplicate verbal autopsies. The oldest VA (by created timestamp) amongst a set of matching VA s is designated as the non-duplicate and kept in the system. |
View |
View a single VA flagged as a possible duplicate. |
Download Individual |
Download an individual verbal autopsy and verbal autopsy(ies) flagged as its potential duplicate(s) to a CSV file for examination. |
Delete Individual |
Delete an individual VA from the system. |
View question list |
View the list of questions used by your system to autodetect duplicates. |
For further information relating to the identification of duplicates, please either ask your admin, consult Configuration & Deployment for info on setting up or changing questions used for this process, or Management Commands for admin guidance on running the process manually.
Repairing VA Errors & Warnings#
Occasionally, you may need to edit an individual VA, especially in cases where warnings or errors have been reported for the record. You can reach the Edit form from the Individual VA page by clicking the “Edit Record” button. Doing so transforms the VA responses into a series of form elements that are compliant to the WHO VA instrument standard and make data entry for specifically formatted values (such as datetime) easier. Questions that have already been answered will be pre-filled with their responses. You can expect to encounter the following types of form elements when editing the various responses to a VA:
(Text Field) For short responses
(Large Text Field) For longer/ narrative-style responses
(Upload Selector) For images and file attachments
(Datetime Selector) For choosing a date and time response
(Radio Buttons) For choosing 1 response from N (small #) choices
(Dropdown) For choosing 1 response from N (large #) choices
(Calculated) You are unable to edit these, they update according to other editable fields
(Checkboxes) For selecting multiple responses to the same question
Using this form, you may edit the VA as needed. Upon finishing, scroll or navigate via the bottom right floating action button to the bottom of the page and click “Save” to confirm your edits.
After editing a VA, the natural next step is to see if the changes have corrected any reported warnings or errors associated with the VA. Data Managers can complete this second step in the repair process by clicking “Home” in the navigation bar to visit the Home page and starting a VA coding job to assign Cause of Death:
Click the “Run Coding Algorithms” button to execute the coding algorithm in the background
If you receive any error messages following this, either reach out to your admin or see our Troubleshooting section
Data Viewers#
Data viewers have the simplest set of permissions, enabling them to view data scoped to whichever restrictions their admins set. As a data viewer, VA Explorer does not currently support any features unique to your role. Please consult the Common Actions section, particularly the Dashboard and VA Search interface guides for more info on available actions.
Field Workers#
Field Workers are similar to Data Viewers. However, they only see VAs for their own location and can partially repair VA Errors & Warnings for those VAs. For a full listing of these, see Common Actions or see below for an explanation of the “partial repair” workflow.
Partially Repairing VA Errors & Warnings#
As a Field Worker, you have the ability to make corrections to VAs for your own location as a way of assisting Data Managers with the correction of any warnings or errors reported by VA Explorer. See Repairing VA Errors & Warnings for details. However, you will not be able to create any VA coding jobs to re-run cause of death assignment. Please reach out to the appropriate Data Manager or Admin to do this for you.