Represent 'operational'

This is a priority terms that needs to be included in the SDGIO

Context: Refers to policies and procedures: local administrative units with established and operational policies and procedures for participation of local communities in water and sanitation management

Operation also refers to: Operationalize a global strategy/operationalize the Green Climate Fund/operationalize the technology bank and science, technology and innovation capacity-building mechanism for least developed countries (target 8.b/13.a/17.8)

Hi @pdez90, Please include a draft definition we can refine or a document containing such definitions. Is a dictionary definition sufficient for your purposes:

Put into operation or use (Oxford Dictionaries)

@mark-jensen @cmungall @phismith Some thoughts on how we could handle this below...

An operational policy (a policy being a subclass of plan specification, a generically dependent continuant) would probably refer policy that has been concretised by some OBI:plan (realisable entity, specifically dependent continuant) and which has been or is being realised by some OBI:planned process following that plan. The plan concretises a policy or strategy and the planned process realises the plan, making it operational.

We could add operationalization process: a process in which a plan specification (policy, strategy, ...) is concretised in some plan and realised in a planned process executing that plan`

See concretizes, plan, planned process, realizes, and plan specification.

@mark-jensen: Could you add the needed terms to our import for processing?

Note that a common axiom used as a shortcut between a plan specification and a process (leaving out the plan) is:

planned process realizes some concretizes some plan specification

Relevant usage: 6.b.1 Percentage of local administrative units with established and operational policies and procedures for participation of local communities in water and sanitation management

8.b By 2020, develop and operationalize a global strategy for youth employment and implement the Global Jobs Pact of the International Labour Organization

13.a Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible

17.8 Fully operationalize the technology bank and science, technology and innovation capacity- building mechanism for least developed countries by 2017 and enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology

mark-jensen: Could you add the needed terms to our import for processing?

Some should already be added. I'll confirm and include the remaining.

@pbuttigieg I'll also follow up soon with some comments on top of yours.

6.b.1 Percentage of local administrative units with established and operational policies and procedures for participation of local communities in water and sanitation management

http://unstats.un.org/sdgs/files/Metadata%20Compilation%20for%20SDG%20Indicators%2023%20October%202015%20Update.pdf

Definition: Indicator tracks the presence, at the national level, of clearly defined procedures in laws or policies for participation by service users (for aspects related to WASH), and the presence of formal stakeholder structures established at subcatchment level (for aspects related to the management of water, wastewater and ecosystem resources).

Rationale and Interpretation: Defining the procedures in policy or law for the participation of local communities is vital to ensure needs of all the community is met, including the most vulnerable and also encourages ownership of schemes which in turn contributes to their sustainability.

8.b By 2020, develop and operationalize a global strategy for youth employment and implement the Global Jobs Pact of the International Labour Organization

Suggested Indicator: Total government spending in social protection and employment programmes as percentage of the national budgets and GDP and collective bargaining rates

From ILO:

Definition and method of computation This indicator represents the total public expenditure in social protection and employment programmes expressed as a percentage of the national budget and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It also includes the collective bargaining coverage rate, which is calculated as the percentage of employees whose pay and conditions of employment are determined by one or more collective agreements. A collective bargaining agreement refers to “all agreements in writing regarding working conditions and terms of employment concluded between an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers' organizations, on the one hand, and one or more representative workers' organizations, on the other" (ILO Collective Agreements Recommendation, 1951).

Rationale and interpretation Total public expenditure in social protection and employment programmes synthesizes the overall public redistributive and employment promotion efforts. Calculating it as a percentage of the national budget and the GDP allows for the analysis of its relative place in the national economy as a whole. The collective bargaining coverage rate provides a measure of the reach of collective bargaining agreements and, as such, can help in assessing and monitoring the development of industrial relations

13.a Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible

Suggested Indicator: Mobilized amount of USD per year starting in 2020 accountable towards the USD 100 billion commitment

NO METADATA RECEIVED

UNFCCC: Data to be obtained from the mobilization resources from the Green Climate Fund, once it is fully operational.

http://www.dandc.eu/en/article/green-climate-fund-aspires-be-fully-operational-ahead-climate-summit-paris-december contains information about how the GCF will become 'oeprational'

17.8 Fully operationalize the technology bank and science, technology and innovation capacity- building mechanism for least developed countries by 2017 and enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology Suggested Indicator: Proportion of individuals using the Internet. From ITU, UNCDF, Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development:

Definition and method of computation: This indicator is defined as the proportion of individuals who used the Internet from any location in the last three months. The Internet is a worldwide public computer network. It provides access to a number of communication services including the World Wide Web and carries e-mail, news, entertainment and data files, irrespective of the device used (not assumed to be only via a computer − it may also be by mobile telephone, tablet, PDA, games machine, digital TV etc.). Access can be via a fixed or mobile network.

For countries that collect data on this indicator through an official survey, this indicator is calculated by dividing the total number of in-scope individuals using the Internet (from any location) in the last 3 months by the total number of in-scope individuals. For countries that have not carried out an official survey, data are estimated (by ITU) based on the number of Internet subscriptions and other socioeconomic indicators such as for example GNI per capita, and on the time series data of the indicator. Rationale and interpretation

The Internet has become an increasingly important tool to access public information, which is a relevant means to protect fundamental freedoms. The number of Internet users has increased substantially over the last decade and access to the Internet has changed the way people live, communicate, work and do business. Internet uptake is a key indicator tracked by policy makers and others to measure the development of the information society and the growth of Internet content – including user-generated content – provides access to increasing amounts of information and services.

On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 7:05 AM, Mark Jensen notifications@github.com wrote:

Relevant usage: 6.b.1 Percentage of local administrative units with established and operational policies and procedures for participation of local communities in water and sanitation management

8.b By 2020, develop and operationalize a global strategy for youth employment and implement the Global Jobs Pact of the International Labour Organization

13.a Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible

17.8 Fully operationalize the technology bank and science, technology and innovation capacity- building mechanism for least developed countries by 2017 and enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/SDG-InterfaceOntology/sdgio/issues/74#issuecomment-184508084 .

Yours Sincerely, Priyanka deSouza

@pdez90 thanks for the material above https://github.com/SDG-InterfaceOntology/sdgio/issues/74#issuecomment-184577400, but I don't really see a clear definition of operationalisation. The indicators suggest that our definition is not too far off. Mobilisation of funds and use of the Internet suggest that some policy or plan has been concretised and realised.

Also, for @pdez90 et al.: What would be the difference between implementation and operationalisation in the SDG lingo? From Merriam Webster

implement: to begin to do or use (something, such as a plan) : to make (something) active or effective

From the Oxford Dictionaries

operationalise: Put into operation or use

What would be the difference between implementation and operationalisation in the SDG lingo?

Yes, knowing this would help. From what I can tell, usage is very similar—tied to realization and execution. But, perhaps a policy/framework/strategy can be implemented but not yet operational? In other words, implement includes the beginning, to develop, and operational means that it is fully implemented and being used.

'operational' is the requested term, but to be clear, we are discussing a class properly labeled operational policy, a subclass of policy (not yet created), which would be a subclass of plan specification.

And it is assumed ’operationalize’ is being used in the same sense, that of a policy which has been adopted and is being implemented.

What does it mean to adopt and implement some policy? And, of course, then what is a policy? It is hard to define a subclass of something without having a sense of what the superclass is. Is a policy the same as a plan specification?

Sidestepping the question about what a policy is for the moment, and assuming it is very similar to a plan specification, we can focus on the operational part. For that, I think we need to say more than the policy is concretized and then realized. That's not very informative to non-ontologists. And it misses a key part, the approval/adoption of the policy.

Plausibly, adoption is a formal act within an organization that occurs when some authorized high-level managerial group accepts the specific objective and action specifications of a proposed policy and then mandates that it be implemented by whatever group(s) that would be responsible for such things.

The varieties of implementation could be very wide-ranging depending on the complexity and scope of the policy. And importantly, I think, all aspects of a policy don't need to be realized in some planned process to be considered operational.

Policies for emergency services would be considered operational even though no emergencies are currently happening. For sure some of the specified actions could be ongoing in various planned processes, those related to funding and management, education, equipment maintenance, etc. But many aspects of the policy would only be realized when in fact there was an emergency.

Merriam Webster def for 'policy'

a high-level overall plan embracing the general goals and acceptable procedures especially of a governmental body

Wikipedia entry

A policy is a deliberate system of principles to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent, and is implemented as a procedure or protocol.

A while back I had drafted something for established and operational policy = a policy which is actively being implemented and managed in some set of appropriate processes for a long enough time to be generally accepted and functional.

Not great, but a start, which should be narrowed to just operational policy, dropping 'established', and made more explicit about the adoption part. Use of ‘implement’ does seem to “pass the operational buck" though.

operational policy = a policy which has been approved and adopted by an organization and has been implemented such that the specified actions can be preformed to satisfy the policy's objectives.

Hi,

This is the reply I got vis a vis the question of 'operational' versus 'implement'

Dear Priyanka,

The best source of information I can offer is the attached UN-Water compilation of metadata notes for the proposed indicators for SDG-6. You will note that the term ‘operational’ is also applied in the proposed indicator 6.5.2 (which is under consideration but not yet approved by the IAEG).

My own sense, being an ontological ignorant, is that operationalization implies that not only policies, but also institutional frameworks and procedures are in place, whereas full implementation further implies that objectives are being met and tracked and there is a mechanism for regular review and revision in place. So a policy (e.g. local participation) can be operational yet not fully implemented.

My five cents, best wishes,

Peter

On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 8:17 AM, Mark Jensen notifications@github.com wrote:

What would be the difference between implementation and operationalisation in the SDG lingo?

Yes, knowing this would help. From what I can tell, usage is very similar—tied to realization and execution. But, perhaps a policy/framework/strategy can be implemented but not yet operational? In other words, implement includes the beginning, to develop, and operational means that it is fully implemented and being used.

'operational' is the requested term, but to be clear, we are discussing a class properly labeled operational policy, a subclass of policy (not yet created), which would be a subclass of plan specification.

And it is assumed ’operationalize’ is being used in the same sense, that of a policy which has been adopted and is being implemented.

What does it mean to adopt and implement some policy? And, of course, then what is a policy? It is hard to define a subclass of something without having a sense of what the superclass is. Is a policy the same as a plan specification?

Sidestepping the question about what a policy is for the moment, and assuming it is very similar to a plan specification, we can focus on the operational part. For that, I think we need to say more than the policy is concretized and then realized. That's not very informative to non-ontologists. And it misses a key part, the approval/adoption of the policy.

Plausibly, adoption is a formal act within an organization that occurs when some authorized high-level managerial group accepts the specific objective and action specifications of a proposed policy and then mandates that it be implemented by whatever group(s) that would be responsible for such things.

The varieties of implementation could be very wide-ranging depending on the complexity and scope of the policy. And importantly, I think, all aspects of a policy don't need to be realized in some planned process to be considered operational.

Policies for emergency services would be considered operational even though no emergencies are currently happening. For sure some of the specified actions could be ongoing in various planned processes, those related to funding and management, education, equipment maintenance, etc. But many aspects of the policy would only be realized when in fact there was an emergency.

Merriam Webster http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/policy def for 'policy'

a high-level overall plan embracing the general goals and acceptable procedures especially of a governmental body

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Policy entry

A policy is a deliberate system of principles to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent, and is implemented as a procedure or protocol.

A while back I had drafted something for established and operational policy = a policy which is actively being implemented and managed in some set of appropriate processes for a long enough time to be generally accepted and functional.

Not great, but a start, which should be narrowed to just operational policy, dropping 'established', and made more explicit about the adoption part. Use of ‘implement’ does seem to “pass the operational buck" though.

operational policy = a policy which has been approved and adopted by an organization and has been implemented such that the specified actions can be preformed to satisfy the policy's objectives.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/SDG-InterfaceOntology/sdgio/issues/74#issuecomment-185028014 .

Yours Sincerely, Priyanka deSouza

SDG-InterfaceOntology / sdgio

Represent 'operational' #74