PRODOPS II Professional Development Opportunities for Public Sector Reproductive Health Commodity Managers II

Publication date: 2012

PRODOPS II Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition Professional Development Opportunities for Public Sector Reproductive Health Commodity Managers II Final Report April 16, 2012 Suzy Sacher Dana Aronovich Ashraf Islam © John Snow, Inc. Support for this work was provided by PATH. PATH and John Snow, Inc. (JSI) shall have the right to duplicate, use, or disclose the data to the extent provided in the subgrant. This restriction does not limit PATH’s right to use information contained in these data if it is obtained from another source without restriction. Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition Professional Development Opportunities for Public Sector Reproductive Health Commodity Managers II GAT.1291-08799-GRT Final Report Suzy Sacher, Dana Aronovich, and Ashraf Islam John Snow, Inc. (JSI) is a U.S.-based health care consulting firm committed to improving the health of individuals and communities worldwide. Our multidisciplinary staff works in partnership with host-country experts, organizations, and governments to make quality, accessible health care a reality for children, women, and men around the world. JSI’s headquarters are in Boston, Massachusetts, with U.S. offices in Washington, D.C.; Atlanta, Georgia; Burlington, Vermont; Concord, New Hampshire; Denver, Colorado; Providence, Rhode Island; and San Francisco, California. JSI also maintains offices in more than 40 countries throughout the developing world. John Snow, Inc. 1616 Fort Myer Drive, 16th Floor Arlington, VA 22209 USA Phone: 703-528-7474 Fax: 703-528-7480 Internet: www.jsi.com ProDOPS II Confidential 1 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Table of Contents Overview . 2 Background . 2 Summary of ProDOPS II Work . 3 Review and Addition of Courses in Spreadsheet . 3 Dissemination and Analysis of Survey Regarding Training Needs . 3 Creation of Online Database . 4 Launch . 5 Promoting LAPTOP . 6 Updating LAPTOP . 6 Recommendations for Improving the Site . 6 Site Sustainability and Staff Time . 9 Recommended Immediate Next Steps for IAPHL . 9 Appendix A. Site Functionality and Selection of Screenshots . 11 Location on the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition Website . 11 LAPTOP Homepage . 12 Searchable Course Database Page . 13 Course Details . 16 Lists . 18 About LAPTOP Page . 20 Newly Added Courses Page . 23 Survey Page . 24 Link to Provide Information to Add a Course . 26 Link to Provide Information to Update a Course . 32 Appendix B. Admin Mode Functionality and Selection of Screenshots . 40 Admin Login Page . 40 Admin Menu Page . 40 Maintain Courses Page . 41 Add Course Page . 42 Maintain Institutions Page . 44 Appendix C. Tips for Adding/Updating Course Information . 46 Appendix D. Additional Information to be Provided to IAPHL . 48 Appendix E. Results of the Professional Development Opportunities for Public Sector Health Commodity Managers Survey . 49 ProDOPS II Confidential 2 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Overview Through an Innovation Fund grant from the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (RHSC), JSI and subcontractor Active Elements deployed an online database of logistics courses and professional development opportunities, located at http://www.rhsupplies.org/resources- tools/laptop. This work was conducted through the Professional Development Opportunities for Public Sector Reproductive Health Commodity Managers II (ProDOPS II) grant. ProDOPS II was renamed to LAPTOP (Learning and Professional Training Opportunities) before the site went live. LAPTOP helps support the professionalization of supply chain management by helping logisticians easily find training opportunities that suit their needs. Having logisticians better trained should help improve the functioning of supply chains and contribute to greater product availability. After the ProDOPS II grant period, the International Association of Public Health Logisticians (IAPHL) plans to provide support for the management of LAPTOP. IAPHL is well placed to manage LAPTOP since it has a large member base of logisticians and a mission to help logisticians grow professionally. Logistics courses are frequently advertised on IAPHL and IAPHL is already routinely looking for courses that would be of interest to its members. Integrating LAPTOP into IAPHL’s program activities would be of mutual benefit by raising the visibility of LAPTOP and providing added value to IAPHL members. Background LAPTOP was developed as a result of two Gates-funded Innovation Fund grants from the RHSC. Through the first grant—Professional Development Opportunities for Public Sector Reproductive Health Commodity Managers (ProDOPS, or ProDOPS I)—JSI conducted a web search to find relevant logistics courses, created a spreadsheet to organize these course opportunities, and conducted a survey to find out what logisticians were looking for in terms of courses and to identify any gaps between the types of courses they were looking for and the types of courses that exist. The ProDOPS I team came up with various ways to categorize courses based on how relevant they would be to potential course participants and whether potential participants would be able to access the courses. The relevance factors used include the following—  Target sector for the course  Target audience  Course objectives  Topics covered  Focus commodities  Percent of course time spent on logistics topics  Accreditation  Degree/certificate awarded ProDOPS II Confidential 3 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document.  Other incentives (e.g., professional organization membership or continuing education credits) The course access factors relate to how accessible a course will be to a particular individual. They include the following—  Location of course  Language of instruction  Course prerequisites  Time commitment required  Mode of attendance (e.g., in person or online)  Course fee When researching courses, the ProDOPS I team collected information about all of the course relevance and access factors. They then organized the courses in an Excel- based spreadsheet that could easily be filtered and sorted. At the end of ProDOPS I, the team had approximately 158 courses included in the spreadsheet. These courses are not exclusively for people working in reproductive health; they would also be of interest to people working in other health areas, as well as logisticians in general. Similarly, while ProDOPS was most interested in courses that would be of interest to public sector logisticians, people working in the private sector could benefit from many of the courses found, as well. More information about the courses can be found on the “About LAPTOP” page at http://www.rhsupplies.org/resources-tools/laptop/about-laptop. The screenshot of this page can also be found in Appendix A. Many recommendations were made in the ProDOPS I final paper, some of which were implemented under ProDOPS II. These recommendations relate to increasing access to existing courses and are as follows:  Disseminate information on courses that were identified.  Update existing spreadsheet information.  Develop a “one stop shop” for logisticians to access information about courses. Summary of ProDOPS II Work Review and Addition of Courses in Spreadsheet Through ProDOPS II, the team reviewed and updated all of the courses identified in ProDOPS I to ensure that the courses still existed and that the course details were accurate in the spreadsheet. The team also conducted additional research, which led to adding approximately 30 new courses to the spreadsheet, including courses conducted in Portuguese. Dissemination and Analysis of Survey Regarding Training Needs In order to get a better sense of people’s training needs, the ProDOPS II team used a similar survey to that which was distributed under ProDOPS I. The survey questions were then input into Survey Monkey, an online survey tool, in order to reach a broader ProDOPS II Confidential 4 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. audience and improve the response rate. In addition, the survey was translated into French, Spanish, and Portuguese. The request to complete the survey was disseminated via the IAPHL listserv, as well as e-mailed to all USAID | DELIVER PROJECT and Partnership for Supply Chain Management Systems (PfSCM) project offices. This enhanced distribution resulted in 117 responses (a four-fold increase from the ProDOPS I survey). The analysis of the survey results includes comparisons of the current course offerings and the expressed needs of public health logisticians. This information was first reported in the Activity 1.2 Results Narrative Report in November 2010; it can also be found here in Appendix E. The text boxes in Appendix E highlight how well current opportunities match respondents’ needs and also identify gaps where professional development needs are not currently being met. Creation of Online Database Next, the team turned the spreadsheet of course opportunities into an online database housed on the RHSC’s website so that it would be easily accessible and, therefore, useful to logisticians looking for information about professional development opportunities. To do this, JSI contracted with Active Elements, an IT company in Germany that manages the RHSC’s website. JSI developed a mock-up of the website that integrated LAPTOP within the RHSC’s website. The mock-up included the menu structure, web pages, and report layouts. JSI also converted the data from Excel into a database with various tables and provided the export of the database to Active Elements. Active Elements then imported the database into a mySQL database and created the website. JSI provided significant feedback throughout the process. For example, some data truncation issues were found during the transition to the online database. In addition, some foreign language text initially suffered due to data conversion errors related to special characters (i.e., accents). These issues were subsequently fixed. An online project management tool called Smartsheet proved very useful for managing website feedback and tracking the status of various related tasks. When fixes were made, JSI checked the development site in both Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer to make sure the site worked as expected in both browsers, assuming that if it worked in both of these browsers, it would also work in Chrome and other browsers as well. (In several cases it was necessary to clear the browser’s caching in order to see the changes made to the site.) The website includes the main view at http://www.rhsupplies.org/resources-tools/laptop and the admin mode available after logging in at http://www.rhsupplies.org/resources- tools/laptop/admin-login. The admin mode allows site administrators to add and delete courses and manage course details through the web interface. It also allows site administrators to determine the sorting order for lists (which is the same as the order of dropdown options displayed in the course details in the admin mode). Explanations of site functionality and key screenshots can be found in Appendix A for the regular view of the site and Appendix B for the admin mode. ProDOPS II Confidential 5 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. There are currently 201 courses listed in LAPTOP. These courses are primarily based on the team’s research, but also reflect the course updates, additions, and deletions course providers have made since LAPTOP has been launched. Launch The launch of LAPTOP was announced in various ways:  A colorful, exciting e-mail to— o The course providers whose e-mail addresses were listed in LAPTOP. In this e-mail, the course providers were also asked to update their course information. So far, four course providers (i+solutions, Crown Agents, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, and the USAID | DELIVER PROJECT) have provided updated information about their course offerings. This updated information is now live on LAPTOP. o All USAID/Commodity Security & Logistics division (CSL) staff, all USAID | DELIVER PROJECT and Supply Chain Management System (SCMS) project staff, as well as relevant field staff of the Making Medical Injections Safer (MMIS) and the Improving Supply Chains for Community Case Management of Pneumonia and Other Common Diseases of Childhood (SC4CCM) projects. Some of the field staff shared the information with their Ministry of Health and USAID mission contacts. o The Coalition’s mailing lists (in English, French, and Spanish) o People that Deliver’s member organizations.  Listservs o IAPHL o E-DRUG (Essentialdrugs.org) o RH Essential Medicines Network  Newsletters o The RHSC’s SupplyInsider o The USAID | DELIVER PROJECT’S Supply Chain Management newsletter (submitted) o The Global Health Council (GHC) newsletter (submitted) o Africa Health (article written by a Crown Agents contact)  Social media o Facebook and Twitter (Coalition accounts)  Presentation to USAID | DELIVER PROJECT and SCMS staff, who were also asked to share the information with field offices and counterparts in-country Since People that Deliver endorsed LAPTOP and are co-sponsoring it along with the RHSC, they also plan to link to LAPTOP from their website. The USAID | DELIVER PROJECT has also linked to LAPTOP from their website. ProDOPS II Confidential 6 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Promoting LAPTOP Once IAPHL takes over the management of LAPTOP, they plan to develop a webinar (i.e., an online video) demonstrating how to use LAPTOP and promote it through an online moderated discussion. LAPTOP will also be featured prominently on the new website that IAPHL is building. See Appendix D for materials that will be provided to IAPHL to help them with the webinar and other management activities moving forward. In addition to keeping the course information current, LAPTOP’s success will depend on the number of people who access and use the site. To maximize the potential reach of LAPTOP, IAPHL plans to employ a sustained approach for promoting LAPTOP by integrating dissemination of information about LAPTOP into all its program activities. As IAPHL works to bring new members on board, LAPTOP will be promoted as part of the outreach. IAPHL’s target populations include employees in ministries of health, students in relevant university programs, and those working in implementing organizations. Updating LAPTOP The success of LAPTOP largely depends on its course listings staying up-to-date. The links from LAPTOP for course providers to provide updated course information will help ensure that the course content remains current. As further detailed in the Transition Plan deliverable (October 2011), JSI recommends that course providers be contacted annually to update their course information in LAPTOP and that another internet search be conducted in 2012 and every two years thereafter to find additional courses to include in LAPTOP. IAPHL will be able to support the management required to keep the course information updated. In addition, when a new course is advertised through IAPHL, the course provider should be directed to LAPTOP to also provide information about the course there. Recommendations for Improving the Site Initial feedback suggests that LAPTOP will serve as a useful resource for logisticians interested in finding information about course opportunities to improve their supply chain skills. Feedback and inquiries about LAPTOP have come from such varied places as the United States, Nigeria, Nepal, and the Ministry of Health in Peru. Before LAPTOP went live, JSI submitted a proposal to the RHSC for ProDOPS III. When ProDOPS III was not funded, JSI received feedback that the Coalition liked the ideas, but considered it premature to suggest how to improve the site before it had gone live. The ProDOPS III proposal included the following features in order to aid the site in being considered a “one-stop shop” for supply chain courses:  Course provider input: A new registration feature would enable course providers to log in and update courses themselves directly in LAPTOP. This feature would help ensure that course listings are up-to-date and reduce the staff time currently ProDOPS II Confidential 7 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. needed to make these updates. (Currently, course providers can provide course information via a Google Doc form, but this information then has to be manually entered into LAPTOP by a site administrator.) In addition, course hosts would be able to share additional course promotional materials via the site.  User comments and course ratings: Course participants would be able to comment on and rate courses, as well as find courses based on user ratings.  Translations: The ProDOPS background website and database headers would be translated into French and Spanish.  Site usage tracking: New data collection, tracking, and analytics mechanisms would be added to the site.  Site promotion and institutionalization: A plan to promote the site would be created, along with a transition plan with how-to guides on maintaining the new features. Since submitting the ProDOPS III proposal, the team has thought of additional recommendations that would also improve site usability and enhance functionality. The ideas originate from various sources, including the JSI LAPTOP team, the Coalition, JSI staff who provided feedback during the brownbag presentation about LAPTOP, and site visitors who responded to the survey and provided feedback about enhancements they would like to see on LAPTOP. (Because of the low response rate to the survey, survey results were not compiled separately.1) Recommendations for LAPTOP include:  Show information about when the course is offered, and allow users to search based on calendar dates. (In order for the information not to become out-of-date quickly, there would need to be staff time set aside for finding and managing this information and/or course dates would need to automatically disappear once the date of the course has passed.)  Allow users to search for courses by keywords. (Add a keywords field to the course details. Allow for multiple keywords to be associated with a course.)  Offer users the option of being e-mailed when new courses of interest are added to LAPTOP. Enable users to sign in and create a profile indicating their areas of interest (based on keywords and/or other criteria, such as location or institution offering the course).  Consider adding another field related to the time commitment required for the course. The current field relates to the number of hours the course takes. Another useful piece of information is over what time period the course is taken. For example, if a course is noted as having a time commitment of 40 hours, a user may be interested in knowing if it is a one-week course (taken for eight hours per day for one week) or a ten-week course (with four hours per week of course time).  Allow users to search on more than one field at once (e.g., location = online and cost < $1,000). 1 Of the four survey respondents, on average they rated the usefulness of the content available through LAPTOP at 4.5 out of 5 and the ease of navigation at 4.3. Each respondent noted that s/he plans to use LAPTOP to find information about professional development opportunities. In the future, to promote a greater survey response rate, the LAPTOP team may consider making the survey link more prominent on the LAPTOP homepage and/or offering an incentive to complete the survey. ProDOPS II Confidential 8 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document.  Allow users to search on additional fields that are in the Course Details but not shown in the table view of the Searchable Course Database (e.g., whether a degree/certificate is offered and the time commitment required for the course).  Have an area of the site that links to all of the online courses listed in LAPTOP. This could be through a List of Online Courses.  From the Searchable Course Database, allow users to export all course details for all courses to Excel.  From the Course Details, allow users to export all course details for just a particular course to Excel or PDF.  Allow users to export lists to PDF.  Enhance the look of the course information exported to Excel and PDF, including by noting in the exports that the information is from LAPTOP.  Ensure that course descriptions are written in the language in which the course is offered.  Enhance search capability with regard to foreign-language characters. For example, if a user searches for estimacion in a course title, a course title with the word estimación should appear, despite the fact that the user did not include the accent. Similarly, a search for México should result in finding classes in Mexico, despite the difference in whether an accent was used.  Visually remind users what search they have just conducted. Similarly, show the search and sort information in the downloads to Excel and PDF.  After conducting a search and double-clicking on a course to view its Course Details, when returning to the Searchable Course Database, continue to show the search results (instead of reloading the whole database). Also, return the user to the page s/he was on instead of returning the user to page 1. Similarly, return the user to the view s/he had chosen (e.g., viewing 40 courses per page instead of 15).  Maintain more fields through the admin view (i.e., general course topics, whether certificate/degree offered, and whether incentives offered).  In the admin view, have the locations field allow multiple options to be selected. That way, if a user is looking at the List of Courses by Location, a course that is in France and the Netherlands will appear under both “France” and “Netherlands” instead of only under “France and the Netherlands,” which is a field the user would not necessarily know exists. (Alternatively, a map feature could be added.)  Add information above the target audience and focus commodity lists so users know what categories are in the list. (Note: If this is done as text, new categories that are added will also need to be updated separately here.)  Adjust column widths in lists so that institution and location names are not cut off.  Utilize the empty space on the screen so that more of the information in the database is visible on the Searchable Course Database page. (Have the site take up the whole width of the screen, as done on the RHInterchange page.)  Ensure that the vertical and horizontal lines in the database grid are always visible. (Sometimes some of them disappear.)  In the admin mode, allow a quicker way to arrange items for lists (e.g., to order the locations in the List of Courses by Location). (Currently, when a new location ProDOPS II Confidential 9 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. is added, it appears at the top of the list and has to be moved manually place-by- place until it reaches its correct sorting location. Also, the way the pages reload makes this process more time-consuming, as the site does not remember a user’s settings in terms of the number of entries to view at once and which page the user was on most recently.)  Enable site administrators to decide not to show a newly added course in the Newly Added Courses box. This way, when we create "test" courses in order to test a new site feature, they will not show up in the Newly Added Courses box. Site Sustainability and Staff Time The RHSC suggested including advertisements in the site in order to help make LAPTOP financially sustainable in the future. Marketing the availability of advertising space could be a way to provide funding for LAPTOP; funding will be needed for staff to ensure that course providers and potential users are aware of the site and to promote site usage. (There is already an advertisement on LAPTOP’s homepage, but it is currently being offered free of charge.) Staff time will also be needed to input new and updated course information, to respond to questions, and to search for new course information. Additional staff time will be needed in order to realize any of the recommended site improvements or enhancements. The ability to implement these recommendations will depend on funding both for staff to plan and oversee the enhancements and for Active Elements staff to implement them. Recommended Immediate Next Steps for IAPHL As IAPHL begins to support the management of LAPTOP, we recommend the following as immediate action items:  Improve the contact information listed in the Course Details. Contact the course providers that have not been previously contacted. Also send a reminder e-mail to those that have already been contacted to remind them to peruse the site and provide course updates.  Create a new, flashy e-mail and flier to promote LAPTOP.  Use the webinar that IAPHL will be creating as a way to reintroduce the site to potential users.  Update and add course information to LAPTOP when new information is added to the Google Docs forms. First, for each Google Docs form (i.e., regarding courses to update in LAPTOP, courses to add to LAPTOP, and the site feedback survey), ensure that the site administrator is notified when there is an update. (In each Google Doc form, choose Tools - Notification Rules and then select the option that says Notify me when a user submits a form.) See Appendix C for tips regarding adding/updating course information.  For the courses where the course fee information is currently blank, do online research and/or contact the course provider to determine the course fees. If courses remain where the course fee cannot be ascertained, add a note to the ProDOPS II Confidential 10 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. table in the About LAPTOP page to explain that blank course fees indicate that course fee information could not be ascertained. Consider also adding a note to the lists (especially the List of Courses by Cost) and the Searchable Course Database page to explain this.  Ensure that each course’s Course Details page includes a web address related to the course or institution offering the course. ProDOPS II Confidential 11 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Appendix A. Site Functionality and Selection of Screenshots Location on the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition Website LAPTOP can be found in the Resources & Tools section of the Coalition’s website. ProDOPS II Confidential 12 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. LAPTOP Homepage The LAPTOP homepage link is www.rhsupplies.org/resources-tools/laptop/. Users can return to the homepage at any time by using the menu on the left side of the page, the breadcrumbs on the top of the page, or the Internet browser’s Back button. ProDOPS II Confidential 13 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Searchable Course Database Page The Searchable Course Database is a key part of LAPTOP. The column lines can be moved in order to see the full contents in a cell. To find all the course details for a course, you can double-click on the course from the table. You’ll find a link to the organization’s website, contact information, and all of the other course details. Clicking on the magnifying glass icon in the bottom blue bar of the table brings up a search box: ProDOPS II Confidential 14 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. The “Reload/restore full database” icon in the bottom blue bar of the table can be used after conducting a search in order to access all of the courses again. Courses can also be sorted by clicking on the column header. To use additional filters, you can download the course information to Excel by clicking the “Export to Excel or XML” or the “Export to CSV” buttons at the bottom of the table. You can then further organize your courses via Excel. Below is a screenshot of the beginning of the course information in Excel. You can also export to PDF to save course information for future viewing. The icons to export the course information to Excel or XML, PDF, and CSV will export the information you see in the table. If you have not done a search, it will export information from all of the courses. If you have done a search, it will export information just from the courses that met your search criteria. Either way, you will export the columns you see in the table (not the additional course details that you see by double- clicking on a course). Exporting to CSV will not maintain the appearance of foreign-language characters (e.g., accents). However, this option is provided because some computers will not be set up to automatically open XML files in Excel, which may cause difficulty for those trying to open an XML file. ProDOPS II Confidential 15 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Below is a screenshot of the beginning of the course information in PDF. ProDOPS II Confidential 16 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Course Details Double-clicking on a course from the Searchable Course Database or clicking on the course name from a list will bring you to all of the course’s details. ProDOPS II Confidential 17 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. ProDOPS II Confidential 18 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Lists Lists (i.e., pre-determined reports) can be accessed from the homepage. Compared to the Searchable Course Database, lists look nice and organize the information for users without requiring them to search or sort. Users can access course details from lists by clicking on the course name. For these lists, normally the course description reflects the course objectives, but if the course objectives field is blank it reflects the specific course topics field instead. The following screenshots show the different categories of focus commodities included in LAPTOP. ProDOPS II Confidential 19 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. ProDOPS II Confidential 20 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. About LAPTOP Page This page provides more information about LAPTOP, the course details in LAPTOP, and how courses were found to include in LAPTOP. ProDOPS II Confidential 21 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. ProDOPS II Confidential 22 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. ProDOPS II Confidential 23 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Newly Added Courses Page A box with the names of the five most recently added courses can be found on the LAPTOP homepage. When you click “Read more” you will find a longer list – of the 12 most recently added courses, as well as a short description of each of them. To arrive at a course’s details, click on the course name. ProDOPS II Confidential 24 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Survey Page This survey allows users to provide feedback and suggestions regarding the site. ProDOPS II Confidential 25 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. ProDOPS II Confidential 26 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Link to Provide Information to Add a Course From the homepage, the Searchable Course Database page, and the About LAPTOP page, there are links for course providers to add course information. The link brings course providers to a Google Doc form. After the course provider has submitted information via this form, a LAPTOP administrator has to review the information and transfer each piece of information about the course to LAPTOP via the admin mode in order for the course information to be included in LAPTOP. ProDOPS II Confidential 27 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. ProDOPS II Confidential 28 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. ProDOPS II Confidential 29 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. ProDOPS II Confidential 30 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. ProDOPS II Confidential 31 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. ProDOPS II Confidential 32 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Link to Provide Information to Update a Course From the homepage, the Searchable Course Database page, and the About LAPTOP page, there are links for course providers to update course information (this includes requesting that a course be deleted from LAPTOP). The link brings course providers to a Google Doc form. After the course provider has submitted information via this form, a LAPTOP administrator has to review the information and make the necessary changes in course information via the admin mode in order for the course information to be updated in (or deleted from) LAPTOP. ProDOPS II Confidential 33 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. If a course provider selects “Keep this course as it is” or “Delete it altogether” they are skipped to the very end of the form and just asked to click “Submit.” If they choose to update the course, they are taken to the next question. ProDOPS II Confidential 34 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. ProDOPS II Confidential 35 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. ProDOPS II Confidential 36 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. ProDOPS II Confidential 37 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. ProDOPS II Confidential 38 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. ProDOPS II Confidential 39 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. ProDOPS II Confidential 40 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Appendix B. Admin Mode Functionality and Selection of Screenshots Admin Login Page Admin Menu Page Even after logging in, in order to access administrator functionality, the admin user must be within the Admin Menu noted on the lefthand menu under LAPTOP. Otherwise, the admin user will experience the site as a regular user does. ProDOPS II Confidential 41 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Maintain Courses Page To delete a course, click in the rightmost column. To add a course, click on the “Add” icon in the bottom blue bar of the table. ProDOPS II Confidential 42 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Add Course Page Fields containing an asterisk (*) are required. Which fields these are becomes quite obvious if you try to save a course without completing all of the required questions; these fields turn green. ProDOPS II Confidential 43 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. ProDOPS II Confidential 44 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Maintain Institutions Page Here, site administrators can maintain the institutions that will show up in the dropdown list for institutions when adding a course or editing a course’s details. To change the sorting order of an institution in the List of Courses by Institution (available from the homepage), use the arrows in the “Move” column until the institution is where you want it to be. To delete an institution, click in the rightmost column. (Do not do this unless you are sure this institution does not have any courses listed in LAPTOP. Otherwise the course details for this institution’s courses will be compromised.) To add an institution, click on the “Add” icon in the bottom blue bar of the table. ProDOPS II Confidential 45 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. The other icons in the bottom blue bar of the table provide the same functionality that they do for the Searchable Course Database. To rename an institution, double-click on its name from within the Maintain Institutions table. You will then be able to edit the name. This change will automatically be made to every course listed in LAPTOP for this institution. ProDOPS II Confidential 46 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Appendix C. Tips for Adding/Updating Course Information When adding information to the Course Details based on information course providers have specified via the links to provide information about a course, remember:  Information about courses that course providers want to update or add will populate the respective Google Doc forms. As mentioned earlier, it is helpful to set up a Notify rule so that you will be e-mailed automatically when new information is added to the forms. In each Google Doc form, choose Tools - Notification Rules and then select the option that says Notify me when a user submits a form.  In order to work with the information more easily, it is best to export the information from Google Docs to Excel. Then you can change the row heights to enable easier viewing to review information and then copy it into LAPTOP via the admin mode. You can also add columns in Excel to indicate whether the course has been updated in LAPTOP yet, who updated it, and if there is anything left to be done.  Each time new information is added to one of the Google Doc forms, the spreadsheet can be downloaded and compared to the existing spreadsheet. The new changes will be at the end of the spreadsheet. These new rows can be copied over to the existing Excel spreadsheet for easier management of information.  The About LAPTOP webpage contains a table of user notes, including what the course information fields mean and how they are categorized. This is a helpful resource to familiarize yourself with before adding course information.  If a course provider has entered information in the wrong field, make sure it is entered in the correct field in LAPTOP. This may mean making use of the Additional Comments field.  Edit entries to ensure that the wording and formatting are acceptable.  In order for the institution’s website address to link properly, do not include http://.  If Other is chosen for the location, institution, or accrediting institution, first add this new information through the appropriate admin menu “Maintain” page (e.g., through the “Maintain Locations” page). After doing so, use the arrows there to place the new information in the correct sorting order. The new information will now appear in the dropdown list in the admin view when adding or updating a course.  When adding a new location, enter the country, followed by the state or city (e.g., France, Paris). (If the state or city is not known, just enter the country.)  Currently LAPTOP contains information about courses in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. If a course is offered in another language, include this information in the Additional Comments field. If you find though that a lot of courses are offered in other languages, you may consider adding other language classifications to LAPTOP.  If the course fee is noted as unspecified, do not write unspecified in the Course Fee field in LAPTOP; if you do, the course will show up as $0 in the Searchable Course Database. Instead, leave the course fee field blank, and write in the Course Fee Description field: Course fee information not provided – please ProDOPS II Confidential 47 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. contact the course host for this information. If possible, follow up with the institution offering the course to ascertain the course fee information.  When a respondent chooses Not specified (don’t know) or Not indicated (don’t know), just enter Not specified or Not indicated; do not enter (don’t know). (Don’t know was added to help respondents understand what Not specified or Not indicated means in LAPTOP.)  The accreditation and discounts fields are currently checkboxes, so you cannot indicate if the information was not specified. If you do not know whether the institution is accredited or whether there are discounts for the course, leave the box unchecked.  When working with the Google spreadsheet for updating courses, first look for the information regarding whether the course provider has indicated that the course should be updated or whether it should be deleted.  Before adding a new course, check to make sure that it does not already exist in LAPTOP.  After adding a course, check to make sure it is listed in the Newly Added Courses box on the LAPTOP homepage. This is a quick way to check that the course has in fact been saved. ProDOPS II Confidential 48 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Appendix D. Additional Information to be Provided to IAPHL In order to enable IAPHL to effectively manage LAPTOP moving forward, we will provide IAPHL with this document, as well as the following items:  A username and password for the site admin mode  Access to the Google Docs forms and responses regarding courses to update in LAPTOP, courses to add to LAPTOP, and the site feedback survey  A recent spreadsheet of the course information in LAPTOP  List of course providers contacted  Technical documentation  The ProDOPS II Transition Plan  The ProDOPS III proposal  A presentation about LAPTOP (with speaker’s notes) ProDOPS II Confidential 49 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Appendix E. Results of the Professional Development Opportunities for Public Sector Health Commodity Managers Survey In order to compare expressed need for professional development opportunities to the database of  currently existing course options, the project team updated and distributed a survey used from the  previous Innovation Fund‐supported professional development project (ProDOPS I).  This online survey  was disseminated via the International Association of Public Health Logisticians (IAPHL) listserv, USAID |  DELIVER PROJECT offices and local counterparts, the Partnership for Supply Chain Management Systems  offices and local counterparts, and the International Planned Parenthood Federation’s African Regional  Offices and Member Associations.  While the exact reach of the survey is unknown, it is known that at  the very minimum the survey reached all 548 IAPHL members from 76 countries2.    The ProDOPS II project team compiled a listing of 195 public health supply chain courses, trainings, and  programs in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and French prior to the distribution of this survey to  logisticians.  By comparing what currently exists in terms of professional development opportunities in  public health logistics to the expressed needs of public health logisticians, the project team can identify  clear gaps in the offerings and utilize this information to advocate for additional opportunities that  might better meet the expectations and needs of the growing community of public health logisticians. In  each section of this paper the survey responses are compared to the Microsoft©Excel© worksheet listing  of 195 professional development opportunities.  The text boxes with these comparisons highlight how  well current opportunities match up with respondents’ needs and also identify gaps where professional  development needs are not currently being met.      A Note on the Survey Methodology  The survey was disseminated through the online program “Survey Monkey.”  While using an online tool  allowed the team to reach a wider audience increase response rates, the quality of respondent  completion did vary as it most likely would have in a paper‐based survey.  Due to the nature of how the  survey was designed, respondents were able to skip questions and sometimes only answer portions of  entire questions.  Therefore, while 117 respondents visited the survey, 117 respondents did not answer  each and every question completely.  Where appropriate the numbers of respondents are indicated  near the results of the survey questions presented in this paper.  A copy of the survey is included in  Annex 1.      Respondent Profile  One hundred and seventeen (117) logisticians from 40 total countries responded to the questionnaire  on Professional Development Opportunities for Public Sector Health Commodity Managers representing  a four‐fold increase from the 31 logisticians that responded to a similar survey under the ProDOPS I  project.  Utilizing the online survey tool, SurveyMonkey, the ProDOPS II team hoped to ease the survey  completion burden; in addition, surveys were sent out not only in English, but also in Spanish, French,  and Portuguese.  Of these respondents there were:   95 respondents representing 29 English‐speaking countries    7 respondents representing 4 French‐speaking countries   11 respondents representing 6 Spanish‐speaking countries   4 respondents representing 1 Portuguese‐speaking country    2 IAPHL membership statistics as of Aug., 30, 2010 ProDOPS II Confidential 50 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. The full listing of countries represented by the survey respondents is included in Annex 2.      Charts 1 and 2 represent the percentage breakdown of all respondents by professional sector (i.e. the  sector in which they work‐‐Private, Public, NGO and Other) and by professional level (i.e. the level of a  system or organization at which they work).  For both charts a few respondents selected more than one  answer; thus the totals will equal more than 100%.                               Given that one of the objectives of the ProDOPS II project is to promote more professional development  opportunities for public sector logisticians, it is advantageous that nearly 40% of the respondent pool  currently works in the public sector (likely a Ministry of Health).  A sampling of the organizations and  Ministries represented by survey respondents can be found in Annex 3.      Chart 2 displays that the majority  of the survey respondents work  at higher levels within a country,  with about 75% indicating that  they work at the central or  regional/provincial levels.   ProDOPS II aims to locate  opportunities for just this cadre  of public health logistician.      Over 85% of all 117 respondents  classified their current positions  as either a Practitioner (65%) (i.e.  Logistician, Logistics Advisor,  warehouse manager, LMIS  manager, etc.), or as a Program  Manager (22%).  These logisticians also reported working with a wide variety of commodities,  demonstrating that while certain groups of commodities such as Lab and HIV and AIDS products have  recently received more intense funding and attention globally, quite a few respondents also report  working nearly equally as much with essential drugs and contraceptives.  Chart 3 below displays these  responses.      Chart 1. Respondents by Sector Private, 12.39% Public , 38.05% NGO, 49.56% Other, 7.96% Chart 2. Respondents by Professional Level 5% 58% 28%17% 3% International Central Regional/Provincial District Other ProDOPS II Confidential 51 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Chart 3. Commodities Managed by Respondents Contraceptives; 41% RH Supplies; 30% Essential Drugs; 47% HIV/AIDS & OIs, 48% TB; 31% Lab supplies; 44% Vaccines; 16% Additionally, these logisticians noted that they worked with a number of other commodities including:   Avian Pandemic Influenza Items   Consumable Medical Supplies   Male Circumcision Products   Laboratory Equipment/Blood Banks   Community Case Management‐ related Commodities   Surgical Materials    The purpose of the survey was to determine the experience and preferences of public health logisticians  related to their professional development, including, but not limited to courses, trainings, workshops,  online learning, etc.  Nearly 71% of all 117 respondents have attended some type of training in public  health supply chain management. The most commonly utilized programs were offered through the  USAID | DELIVER PROJECT, the Partnership for Supply Chain Management Systems, and John Snow, Inc.  Other noted training courses were completed through UNICEF, Family Health International, the United  Nations Population Fund, Management Sciences for Health, and International Relief and Development.  Of those respondents who have attended a training/workshop, 60% of them indicated that the training  met their professional needs “Very Well” or “Well” (32%).  A full listing of courses identified by  respondents is included in Annex 4.                                ProDOPS II Confidential 52 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document.     Logistics Competencies  One of the open‐ended questions on the survey tried to determine what logistics  competencies/knowledge was important for their positions.  Respondents provided input on the most  critical logistics and professional skills and knowledge that they believed that need to gain.  The  following is a list, in no particular order, of the most frequently mentioned competencies and areas that  the survey respondents identified as critical for public health logisticians.    1. Logistics management (LMIS)  2. Procurement  3. Warehousing  4. Consulting  5. Health Software (such as Quantimed)  6. Microsoft© Excel©/Access©  7. Quantification  8. Communicating with policy makers about supply chain  9. Monitoring and evaluation  10. Human resource management  11. Setting maximum and minimum levels for different levels of care  12. Forecasting  13. Information Systems from the local level  14. Customs procedures  15. Plans, Budgets & Estimating Needs  Survey Respondent Profile ‐v‐ ProDOPS II Course Listings    While the majority of survey respondents identified themselves as working in either the public or  NGO sector, the largest percentage of the 195 courses listed (42%) in the ProDOPS II database are  targeted toward private industry and only 3 courses were specifically targeted at the NGO  industry.   However, the number of courses which cater to Practitioners and Program Managers  more closely matches the survey respondent profile.  More specifically the courses in the ProDOPS  II database included:         ‐ 61 courses geared toward the Public Sector   (31%)  ‐ 81 courses geared toward the Private Sector (42%)    ‐ 3 courses geared toward the NGO Sector (2%)    ‐ 50 courses geared toward any “other” sector (26%)  AND  ‐    105 courses for Practitioners (58%)   ‐    37 courses for Program Managers (20%)  ‐   16 courses for Facility Manager (9%)   ‐   34 courses that are “Open Enrollment” (13%)    Unfortunately, only 35 courses (18%) of the 195 courses in the ProDOPS II course list focus on  health commodities while the majority of the courses (69%) listed in the database address  “any/other” type of commodity (not health‐focused).  While logistics concepts may be applicable  across commodity groups, clearly health commodity‐focused professional development  opportunities in supply chain management are not as extensive as non‐health focused courses.    ProDOPS II Confidential 53 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. In addition to competencies, just over 60% of survey respondents preferred to attend a “general course  that goes into some detail about logistics topics” over one that “focuses on one or two logistics  concepts.”  On a later question, nearly 50% of those who responded noted that they knew several  courses that would train them in areas specifically related to their logistics responsibilities.      Training/Course Preferences  Three questions on the survey attempted to capture what respondents preferences were in terms of  course attendance location, course length, and language.  Chart 4 shows that survey respondents  preferred in‐person one‐ to two‐week courses, a combined self‐guided distance‐learning with in‐person  program, self‐guided distance‐learning, and an in‐person month‐long course.     Survey Respondent Identified Logistics Competencies –v‐ ProDOPS II Course Listings    The fact that 60% of the survey respondents preferred a more general course over an in‐depth  very specific course matches up quite well with what is currently offered.  The ProDOPS II course  list includes 102 courses in a “variety/range of logistics topics in some detail” (48%) and in  “general/service course with logistics included” (4%).      Of the 35 courses listed that focus on health commodities, the topics that they addressed  matched up quite well with the competencies that the survey respondents identified.  Topics  included in course descriptions covered a wide variety of topics including:  - Warehousing  - Storage and Distribution  - Quantification  - Procurement  - LMIS  - Inventory Control  - Monitoring & Evaluation  - Waste Management  - Human Resources and Finance Management  ProDOPS II Confidential 54 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00% 80.00% In pe rso n,1 -2 we ek co urs e In pe rso n,m on th lon g c ou rse In pe rso n, 6 m on th pro gra m In pe rso n, ye ar lon g p rog ram Se lf-g uid ed , d ist an ce -le arn ing pr og ram Co mb ine d d ist an ce le arn ing & in pe rso n Strongly Prefer Prefer No Preference Chart 4. Length & Course Location Preferences                                                            The majority of survey respondents strongly prefer attending a one to two‐week course (8‐14 days) as it  is a more acceptable “leave” time for employers/workplace policies.  In addition, 76% of survey  respondents noted that it would be “very possible” to easily access a computer with a good internet  connection in order to participate in self‐directed, distance learning programs.      While English‐speaking respondents did have the highest response rate to the survey, clearly a demand  for Spanish, French and Portuguese professional development opportunities does exist.  Table 1 shows  respondents language preferences.  Instead of preferencing all four languages in first, second, third, and  fourth choice, etc., survey respondents just preferenced their language of choice and moved on to the  next question (as evident by the fact that not all 94 respondents to this question ranked each language  choice).  Five respondents did note that having professional development opportunities offered in a  language other than those four would be advantageous.  These respondents listed Amharic (Ethiopian  dialect), Arabic, and Filipino as their language choices.  However, in a separate question nearly 70% of  those who answered the question felt that they knew of courses offered in their language.     ProDOPS II Confidential 55 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Table 1. Language Preference     First  Choice  Second  Choice  Third  Choice  Fourth  Choice  Fifth  Choice  Response  Count  Survey Respondents  by Language spoken  English  87.90%  (80)  11.0%  (10)  1.10%   (1)  0.0%   (0)  0.0%   (0)  91  95  Spanish  46.66%  (7)  26.67%  (4)  26.67%  (4)  0.0%   (0)  0.0%   (0)  15  11  French  30.0%   (6)  45.0%   (9)  10.0%   (2)  10.0%   (2)  5.0%   (1)  20  7  Portuguese  14.28%  (1)  14.28%  (1)  14.28%  (1)  42.96%  (3)  14.28%  (1)  7  7  Other:   0.0%   (0)  40.0%   (2)  0.0%   (0)  20.0%   (1)  40.0%   (2)  5          Training/Course Attendance Factors    Another key purpose of the survey was to identify different factors that affect participant attendance at  different professional development activities.  Two separate questions addressed the following factors:  ‐ supervisor/employer support (i.e., how the place of employment encourages and resources   employee professional development activities)  ‐ financial and cost factors (i.e., cost‐benefit analysis of attendance –v‐ not attending,  prohibitive costs including per diem, travel, tuition, etc.)    Tables 2 and 3 highlight how strongly survey respondents agreed or disagreed with statements related  to supervisor support and cost implications. The responses with the majority are in bold text and  shaded.             Survey Respondent Training/Course Preferences–v‐ ProDOPS II Course Listings    Nearly 73% (145) of the 195 opportunities listed in the ProDOPS II database are two weeks in length  or less.   Of those 145 courses, 92 are one week or less indicating that the majority of opportunities  do align with survey respondent preferences.  In terms of location, 59% (108) of the opportunities  require a single, in‐person trip and 38% (74 courses) are either fully online or a combination of  online and in‐person training.  This data indicates that courses are also fairly in line with target  audience preferences on location of the course.         With regard to language, 76% (149 courses) are offered in English only.  Approximately 40 courses  are offered in French, Spanish and Portuguese with Spanish having the majority of courses with 16.   This ratio corresponds to the survey respondents yet it is not certain how to correlate these results  with the opportunities as most survey recipients did speak English.  ProDOPS II Confidential 56 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Table 2. Supervisor/Employer Support Factors    Table 3. Financial/Cost Factors     Strongly  Agree  Agree  Neutral  Disagree  Strongly  Disagree  Response  Count  I have a difficult time paying  tuition/fees.  36.36%  (32)  32.95%  (29)  20.46%  (18)  6.82%  (6)  3.41%   (3)  88 I never consider courses that  are located outside of my  country.  6.82%  (6)  11.36%  (10)  13.64%  (12)  32.95% (29)  35.23%   (31)  88 Travel and per diem costs are  too expensive and prevent me  from attending most courses.  31.82%  (28)  31.82%  (28)  25.0% (22)  10.22%   (9)  1.14%   (1)  88       Answered question  92       Skipped question  25                                        Strongly  Agree  Agree  Neutral  Disagree  Strongly  Disagree  Response  Count  My supervisor encourages me to  attend courses and workshops that  will improve my skills.  27.06%  (23)  27.06%  (23)  22.35%  (19)  16.47%  (14)  7.06%   (6)  85 I know who to contact if I need a  sponsor to cover all of my training  related costs.  6.02%  (5)  15.66%  (13)  13.25%  (11)  33.73%  (28)  31.33%  (26)  83 My employer provides good  opportunities and benefits for those  who have a degree or certificate in  logistics.  18.39%  (16)  28.74%  (25)  28.74%  (25)  12.64%  (11)  11.49%  (10)  87     Answered Question  92     Skipped Question  25 Training/Course Attendance Factors –v‐ ProDOPS II Course Listings    When compiling the list of courses and opportunities for ProDOPS II, the team only compiled  information on actual cost of the course, as travel and per diem costs would vary by country and  also potentially by person.   Instead the team looked at how much the actual course would cost a  participant.  The costs broke down as follows:  29 courses exist for $500 or less  25 courses exist between $501 and $1,000   50 courses exist between $1,001 and $2,000  37 courses exist for $2,001 and $5,000    On top of this, within the team’s search, more than 73% of all courses required at least a single trip  or multiple trips in order to attend the course which would require additional travel plans, tickets,  visas, etc., to ensure attendance.  And, while survey respondents are very open to courses outside of  their home, the majority of them indicated that they have a difficult time acquiring the funds  needed to make those decisions.    ProDOPS II Confidential 57 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. Summary & Conclusion    Professional development opportunities for public sector logisticians in the health sector do exist, but  matching those existing opportunities to the needs of their intended audience is not always easy.  The  results from this survey as compared to the ProDOPS II listing of 195 professional development  opportunities indicate that the demand for the following types of opportunities is ever‐growing:  - supply chain management activities and functions as they relate to health commodities in  the public sector  - one to two week, in‐person trainings   - self‐guided, distance learning opportunities  - less costly in‐country professional development opportunities in local languages    The need to disseminate the opportunities that are currently available globally is a crucial step in making  professional development for public health logisticians more accessible.  As one respondent to the  survey noted, ““I am very interested in developing my technical knowledge through logistics course  study, but are unaware of ones [courses] that are available apart from a few HIV courses. It is likely that I  would not be supported to attend international courses so they need to be more affordable or online‐ based.”  The ProDOPS II project team is utilizing these survey results and the listing of 195 professional  development opportunities to meet two of its intended objectives to:  - Provide an expanded, up‐to‐date listing of formal and informal professional development  opportunities and resources to public health supply chain managers;   - Verify the relationship among the purpose/objectives of the opportunities and the  development of practical skills to the perceived needs of public sector supply chain  managers.    As the project continues through 2011 and into 2012, the team will further analyze these survey results  to clearly identify gaps and make specific recommendations for filling them.  In addition, the project is  poised to move forward with greater understanding of current professional development opportunities,  target audience preferences, and factors affecting participation to achieve its remaining two objectives:  - Develop and implement a means for disseminating, managing, and updating the information  on professional development opportunities for public health logisticians via the RHSC  website;   - Provide ongoing support and management of the professional development opportunities  online database and associated activities.           ProDOPS II Confidential 58 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. PRODOPS Survey ANNEX 1. SURVEY    ProDOPS II‐ Professional Development Opportunities for Public Sector     Opportunities for Public Sector  The purpose of the Professional Development Opportunities survey is to identify training needs and  opportunities, as well as barriers to access, that those involved in public health supply chain  management may experience.    1. What is your country of residence?  Country:      2. What sector do you work in?  ������Private  ������Public  ������Non‐governmental organization  ������Other    Other (please specify)      3. What is the administrative level at which you work?  ������International  ������Central  ������Regional/Provincial  ������District  ������Other    Other (please specify)      4. What category best describes your current position?  ������Facility Manager  ������Program Manager  ������Practitioner (i.e.: Logistician, Logistics Advisor, warehouse manager, LMIS   manager, etc)  ������Other    Other (please specify)  Development Opportunities for Public Sector  ProDOPS II Confidential 59 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. 5. What commodities do you manage? Please check all that apply  Professional Development Opportunities for Supply Chain Managers  ������Contraceptives  ������Reproductive health supplies  ������Essential drugs  ������HIV/AIDS and OIs  ������TB  ������Malaria‐related commodities  ������Laboratory commodities  ������Vaccines/Immunizations    Other (please specify)      6. Have you received any training in public health supply chain management?  ������Yes ������No    If yes, please provide the name of the training course, who conducted the training, its dates and location.  If no, then skip to question 8.      7. How well did the training course you attended meet your professional needs? Opportunities for  Supply Chain Managers  ������Very well  ������Well  ������Neutral  ������Not well  ������Not very well    Any additional comments on the training?      8. What are the most critical logistics and professional skills and knowledge you believe you need to  gain (i.e: general, procurement, logistics management information systems, warehousing, consultant,  etc)?    9. Are there any areas in which you require refresher training?    ProDOPS II Confidential 60 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. 10. What type and length of course attendance do you prefer? Please select a  preference for each course type/length.  Strongly   Prefer  No preference  prefer  In person, one to two week Course      ����    ��� ��  In person, month long course      ����    ��� ��  In person, six month program      ���   ��� ���  In person, year long program      ����    ��� ���  Self‐guided, distance learning program    ����    ��� ���  Combined self guided, distance learning    ����    ��� ���       program with periodic in person sessions      11. Please use the scale to indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with the  following statements:  Strongly  Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree  I know of several courses  ������   ������   ������   ����������  that will train me in areas  specifically related to my  logistics responsibilities.    Courses on the logistics    ������   ������   ������   ����������  topics that interest me are  not offered in my  language.    My supervisor encourages  ������   ������   ������   ����������  me to attend courses and  workshops that will improve  my skills.    I know who to contact if I  �������  ������   ������   ����������  need a sponsor to cover all  of my training‐related costs.    My employer provides good �������  ������   ������   ����������  opportunities and benefits  for those who have a  degree or certificate in  logistics.    A general course that goes  ������   ������   ������   ����������  into some detail about  logistics topics is more  useful to me than one that  focuses on one or two  logistics topics Development Opportunities for Public Sector  12. In what language do you prefer training sessions be conducted? (You may only  ProDOPS II Confidential 61 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. have one 1st choice, one 2nd choice, etc.)    First choice Second choice Third choice Fourth choice Fifth choice  English      ����������������������������  Spanish     ����������������������������  French �    ����������������������������    Portuguese �    ����������������������������  Other �     ���������������������������    Other (please list preferred language)        13. Please use the scale to indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with the  following statements:  Strongly  Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree  I have a difficult time    ����������������������������  paying tuition/fees.    I never consider courses  ����������������������������  that are located outside of  my country.    Travel and per diem costs  ����������������������������  are too expensive and  prevent me from attending  most courses.    I can travel for two or three �����������������������������  days to attend a course.    14. I would be able to leave my workplace to attend a course lasting:    ������2‐3 days  ������4‐7 days  ������8‐14 days  ������15 days or longer    15. An internet‐based course would be:    ������Very possible (easy access to computer and good internet connection)  ������Possible but difficult (limited access to computer and/or good internet connection)  ������Difficult (no access to computer)  ������Difficult (no or unreliable access to internet)  Pro  DOPS II‐ Professional Development Opportunities for Public Sector  16. Please list any additional comments, questions or suggestions that you might have  in this box.  ProDOPS II Confidential 62 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document.     17. If you can be contacted regarding your survey answers, please provide us with your  name and contact information below.      You are finished with this survey.  For more information on the International Association of Public Health Logisticians, please visit this  website:  http://my.ibpinitiative.org/public/Default.aspx?c=ca7f45ec‐3b4a‐400f‐a055‐b19ed8771066   ProDOPS II Confidential 63 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. PRODOPS Survey ANNEX 2.  Countries Represented by Survey Respondents    1. Australia   2. Bangladesh  3. Benin  4. Botswana  5. Burundi  6. Denmark  7. Dominican Republic  8. Ethiopia  9. Fiji  10. Ghana  11. Guatemala  12. Guinea  13. Honduras  14. Indonesia  15. Kenya  16. Liberia  17. Malawi  18. Mali  19. Mozambique  20. Namibia  21. Nepal  22. Nicaragua  23. Niger  24. Nigeria  25. Pakistan  26. Papua New Guinea  27. Paraguay  28. Peru  29. Philippines  30. Rwanda  31. Solomon Islands  32. Syria  33. Tanzania  34. Tonga  35. Uganda  36. Ukraine  37. United States  38. Vanuatu  39. Zambia   40. Zimbabwe    ProDOPS II Confidential 64 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. PRODOPS Survey ANNEX 3. Sample of Organizations Represented by Survey Respondents  *of those who indicated their organization     Catholic Relief Services‐ Nigeria   Clinton Health Access Initiative (Clinton Foundation)   Ministry of Health‐ Fiji   Ministry of Health – Ghana (Volta Regional Health Directorate)   Ministry of Health – Malawi   Ministry of Health – Nigeria   Ministry of Health‐ Pakistan   Ministry of Health‐ Solomon Islands   Nepal Family Health Project (NFHP) (USAID‐funded bilateral project, JSI)   Northern Provincial Hospital – Vanuata (South Pacific)   Partnership for Supply Chain Management (PFSCM) – Kenya   Partnership for Supply Chain Management (PFSCM) ‐ Nigeria   Partnership for Supply Chain Management (PFSCM) ‐ Mozambique   Planned Parenthood Association of Zambia   Planned Parenthood Association of Liberia   Population Services International – Ethiopia    Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) / Fiji Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Services   Together for Health (USAID‐funded bilateral project, JSI)   UNFPA‐ Fiji   UNFPA‐ Malawi   UNICEF ‐ Nigeria   United Nations Development Program (UNDP) / United Nations Volunteers (UNV) – World Food  Program/Safety Net‐ Ethiopia   UN‐ Guinee   USAID ‐ Benin   USAID | DELIVER PROJECT‐ Bangladesh   USAID | DELIVER PROJECT – Honduras   USAID | DELIVER PROJECT‐ Malawi   USAID | DELIVER PROJECT –Nigeria   USAID | DELIVER PROJECT ‐ Pakistan        ProDOPS II Confidential 65 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. PRODOPS Survey ANNEX 4. Public Health Logisticians Trainings Attended by Respondents     Arlington Course‐ FPLM 1996, JSI Arlington, VA   Global Fund Round 8 by USAID/DELIVER, training on Malaria commodity quantification, Sept.12‐ 17, 2010    Regional Logistics Management Course, Thailand, Bangkok, conducted by FPLM 1994   Supply Chain for Commodity Security Apr 2005   Advanced Training on Contraceptive Logistics in ET  July 2007   Strengthening supply chain through M&E Dec 2009    VMT UNICEF 2008, Kaduna, Nigeria   Mutarlington Zimbabwe, June 2010, Gregory Roche   Lessons In Logistics Management For Health Commodities by USAID/JSI, 2009 (online)   Lessons in Logistics Management for Health Commodities by USAID DELIVER PROJECT (online)    Commodity Security; Principle & Practice Course, USAID/ Deliver Project, Tanzania   Logistics Management for Health commodities on‐line   Certification in Humanitarian Medical logistics practice from Fritz institute   DELIVER Project‐ Logistics Management training   FPLM   East Asia Regional Workshop and Procurement and Supply Management   An Overview of Supply Chain Management of Health Commodities by SCMS in Kaduna, July 2009   Health commodity security by JSI DELIVER May 2009   Pharmaceutical Management by MSH Oct 2007   Procurement and Quantification by ESAMI and JSI DELIVER March 2010   Best Practice of Procurement by SCMS July 2010   Management of public health commodities by USAID 2008   Workshop on ATT Drug management by JICA during 2007, Islamabad   TB Drug management course in Cairo and in Pakistan   Supply Chain Management Course, conducted by SCMS, July 2008, Kaduna‐Nigeria   2 weeks workshop on Public Procurement organized by UNFPA in Suva Fiji, August 2010   UNFPA ‐ Sept 2010   Introduction to supply chain management, quantification and procurement planning ; USAID/JSI  May 2008, Tanzania   Supply Management Course, MSF‐B, March 200, Brussels   M&E in supply chain management   quantification, procurement planning, overview of logistics management, conducted by JSI,  DELIVER in Tanzania in May 2008   Arlington Course   OVERVIEW OF SUPPLY CHAIN AND COMMODITY SECURITY AND QUANTIFICATION IN KADUNA  BY SCMS JULY 17 TO 30, 2010   Accra JSI/Deliver Ghana, 2004    Basic training on logistics conducted by Abdou Diallo in Tanzania ‐ January 2010   Supply chain management course, March 2006, Accra Ghana   Commodity Security, JSI, Ethiopia, 2005   Supply Chain Management, JSI Arlington 1996   Linking Quantification to better Advocacy, April 18th‐24,2010 in Nairobi (with JSI‐ Erin  Hasselberg, Sylvia Ness and Elizabeth)  ProDOPS II Confidential 66 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document.  Commodity Security training, JSI, Washington DC   Supply Chain Mgt for Commodity Security; JSI Nigeria; July 2009; Kaduna   Stores and Logistics management solutions, March 16‐20,2010,Abuja   Supply Chain Management For Commodity Security, JSI/SCMS, KADUNA, NIGERIA, JULY 2008   Supply Chain Management, Kaduna, Nigeria ‐ July 2009 and Procurement planning course,  Kaduna ‐ July 2009: Organized by JSI   LMIS TRAINING BY FAMILY HEALTH INTERNATIONAL AND JSI ONLINE LOGISTICS TRAINING   Supply Chain Mgt Course and Quantification & Procurement planning. March 2010 in ESAMI,  Arusha Tanzania   Supply Chain Logistics for Commodity Security, Motomoke Eomba, April 21 ‐ May 2 2008,  Malawi   Supply Chain Management Training By SCMS Nigeria Aug 2009   Supply Chain management systems for commodity security conducted by USAID/DELIVER  PROJECT, 24th ‐28th may 2010, Lusaka   Supply Chain Management Course, in June 2009, Lusaka Zambia, conducted by SCMS   SCM and QPP training from JSI   Logistics System Management Course, June 28 ‐ July 2, 2010, Kaduna, Nigeria   Quantification for Health Commodities Course, July 26 ‐ 30, 2010, Kaduna, Nigeria   Supply Chain Management Course organized by John Snow Inc. at Kaduna, Nigeria on June 28 ‐  July 2, 2010   JSI, multiple courses since 2007 (Commodity Security, M&E, JO Course, Quantification, etc.)   Managing Drug Supply, MISAU, 1997   Training on Logistics, JSI/MMIS Jan.30‐Feb.3, 2006, Mombasa   Product management training by UNFPA, l'Ile Maurice, July 2010   Logistics Training on the Development of Curricula and Logistics Management Training for the  SPSR Issue, July‐August 2009, A Dakar, Senegal    Logistics management training, by UNFPA, CST Dakar, 2 ‐ 21 July 2007   Drug logistics training, by USAID‐ Calidad en Salud, 2001   IRD (Consultoría contratada por CHF International Honduras, como Receptor Principal del Fondo  Mundial en Honduras)  ProDOPS II Confidential 67 © John Snow, Inc. Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document. PRODOPS Survey ANNEX 5: Comments/Additional Responses    A sampling of qualitative responses to survey question 16.      “If I am trained in mentioned courses/areas then it will be beneficial for me and as well as for my  department.”    “Although I believe education is important to be able to catch up with latest development in this  rapid changing logistics environment, the biggest challenge is to find a sponsor to attend training  and seminars especially if it is outside of Ethiopia.”   Barrier to self‐guided courses = creating time to attend course throughout its duration   “I would prefer any support to have a master’s degree in health commodities logistics management,  supply chain management, or health economics.”   “I live in and work in a very tough developing country, Papua New Guinea, with limited resources  and opportunities, but work hard to try and achieve what is required as a public health logistician. I  appreciate IAPHL effort in getting some courses on line to improve our depth of knowledge.”   “I would like courses of 7‐14 days to be arranged at Agha Khan University Karachi/LUMS Lahore OR  By Management Development Program at Thailand or any other country and Financial support.”   “I am very interested in developing my technical knowledge through logistics course study, but are  unaware of ones that are available apart from a few HIV courses. It is likely that I would not be  supported to attend international courses so they need to be more affordable or online‐based.”   #1 Barrier to attending courses‐ cost   “This area of learning is very important especially in the pacific, because logistics, procurement, and  administration is always put on the back burner. Therefore if this opportunity is out there and can  be funded, this is great for us.”   “1. Logistics training needs to consider private sector principles of supply management training.   2.  Training needs to consider mainstream their improvements in their skills towards a Logistics career  path. Once trained they become marketable and then leave the public sector.  3. Needs to adopt the  principles of the WHO essential medicines framework  4. There are so many Logistics training (or  equivalent) materials that is available, what is needed is training that will enable them to apply the  knowledge in their local circumstances.”   “We need to build local countries capacity in design, development and execution of a 2‐3 credit  course for public health practitioners for developing a critical mass of logisticians.”   “Case study and scenarios from Africa or specific counties will be helpful to be included in the  trainings.”   “As per my opinion, instructions should be conveyed to Central Health Ministry of each country or  project implementation authorities to sensitize the importance of Logistics, LMIS & trained  professionals for the successful implementation of public health projects and professionals working  in the key areas should be trained for proper implementation of supply chain management.”   “Logistics course should be an integral part all support to Government and should be organized in‐ country as much as possible to benefit more people.”   “For a program to work correctly, it is essential to have an efficient logistics system. We are not  sufficiently trained in logistics and some countries do not have this opportunity but the need is  great.”   “I would like a course that was more detailed in some components of the logistics system, such as  human resources and their roles, profiles.”   “It is also important to teach courses from the most basic level (operational) to the managerial level  (executive). Overview Background Summary of ProDOPS II Work Launch Promoting LAPTOP Updating LAPTOP Recommendations for Improving the Site Site Sustainability and Staff Time Recommended Immediate Next Steps for IAPHL Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D Appendix E

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