AIRS Telecom Inventory

AIRS members are providing I&R services through a wide array of telecommunications technologies. One of the constant challenges is understanding how different systems work within real operating environments along with the costs and benefits of various capital investments.

In September 2007, 90 AIRS members generously provided details of their telcommunications hardware and software environments. The purpose of this survey was to create an informal inventory of telecom equipment used by I&R services. This inventory allows agencies to view the type of equipment used by similarly-sized services and also to contact colleagues in order to check on situations and share possible solutions.

AIRS Members Telecom Inventory (details by state and by agency with contact info).

You may also be interested in the results in tabulated form (i.e. showing 'how many are using what' without being tagged to specific users).

 

AIRS Style Guide

The AIRS Style Guide is a collection of recommended best practices rather than mandatory standards. If a state/provincial collaborative (or an individual agency) has invested significant resources in setting up their own style guide, there is no reason to change to the AIRS model.

The AIRS Style Guide uses, as its base, the field structure already devised for the AIRS XSD. The development of this Style Guide was overseen by a team of experienced Resource Specialists from across North America. Style is often a subjective matter. In this area, there is rarely a decision that can ever be unanimous. There is often no inherently “right” way to style a certain data element. There is, however, a right way to apply those decisions, once made, as consistency as possible.

This is the original version and will be changed as feedback is received from the field and consolidated. Please email any comments or questions to AIRS.

Click here to download a free copy of the AIRS Style Guide.

 

AIRS XML Schema - New Standards for Resource Database Interoperability    

AIRS is trying to make it easier to share information between I&Rs. Until recently, there have been no standards that vendors could use to ensure that their customers could regularly send and receive information from other I&Rs that used different products.

The AIRS Board has adopted a standard that vendors are incorporating into their products. This standard uses a technology called XML (eXtensible Markup Language). This is an internationally recognized technology for creating customized standards. These customized standards are called XML Schemas. AIRS has used this technology to create a customized standard for sharing I&R resources -- the AIRS XML Schema (copyright of AIRS).

Vendors are beginning to ensure that their software products are able to create exports that comply with the specifics of the AIRS XML Schema. I&R customers will then be able, with a few clicks of a mouse, to create and accept data exports to augment or enhance their databases.

A subcommittee of the AIRS Technology Committee has built upon the work of Michigan Association of United Ways and has been assisted through the U.S. Department of Commerce Technology Opportunities Grant to the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center.

The latest AIRS-approved version of the AIRS XML Schema is 2.07.

The AIRS XML Schema 2.07 (copyright AIRS) and other relevant information is available (through the generous support of Bowman Systems) at the:

• AIRS XSD wiki

During the 2006 AIRS Conference and in the immediate weeks following, several vendors received participation certficates to recognize their contribution of submitted a data batch in accordance with the latest AIRS XSD Schema over the past 12 months. Those vendors were:

However, it is very important to note that this does not mean that any vendor software is currently in a position to routinely import and export similar data from another software system.

[AIRS XML Schema is copyright AIRS]