SIMLA template language for an

extensible data driven decision support system to support policy

making

Presentation by Jordan ReeseSlides adapted from Ren BauerSupervised by Hye-Chung Kum

Social workers needed a better way to extract useful information

• Lots of data– Child Welfare– Food and Nutrition Services– Work First

SIML: What’s it for?

SIML: What’s it look like?

ssw.unc.edu/ma

SIML: How’s it work?

• The SIML environment includes:– Templates– External files– Compilation engine

• User writes a configuration file– SIML (XML based)– Specify template, dataset, variables, etc.

• User runs compilation engine– Combines configuration and template files– Produces SAS/Internet output file

• User opens output in a browser– Broker generates HTML from output and external files– Browser displays HTML to user

SIML: How’s it work?

Advantages

• Extensibility– Adding new pages– Generating new views of existing data

• Usability– Systems knowledge– Basic knowledge of SAS

• Further Adaptability– Ease of integration

• User Personalization– Adaptive Menus

• More active support– Integration of policy data

Future WorkWe’ve noticed a recent increase in your work first cases. Ashe county has experienced a sharp decrease since their implementation of policy WF-9000 in 2011Q1.Click here for more details.

The Project Now

• Ren is working elsewhere for the summer– Big shoes to fill

• Transition from old SAS to new SAS– Via compiling SIML files with Ren’s PHP engine

• Writing SIML code and troubleshooting both the SIML code and PHP engine

Challenges

• Learning SAS, SIML, PHP– No prior experience

• Understanding someone else’s code• Only a few hours a week to work on it• Some features not exactly right– Error in either the documentation or engine

The Future

• Goals: – Correctly produce HTML identical to that in the

production version– Do this for Child Welfare, Work First, and Food and

Nutrition Services• Ren has already done most of Child Welfare, except

indexes, which is where the aforementioned bug lies

At The Moment

• Going through the PHP code trying to figure out why dropdown boxes are not displaying correctly.– Based on these findings, either edit PHP engine or

SIML’s documentation• Still learning PHP and SAS as I go

Questions?

Works1. Henk G. Sol et al. (1987). Expert systems and artificial intelligence in decision support systems:

proceedings of the Second Mini Euroconference, Lunteren, The Netherlands, 17–20 November 1985. Springer, 1987. ISBN 9027724377. p.1-2.

2. Haettenschwiler, P. (1999). Neues anwenderfreundliches Konzept der Entscheidungsunterstützung. Gutes Entscheiden in Wirtschaft, Politik und Gesellschaft. Zurich, vdf Hochschulverlag AG: 189-208.

3. Power, D. J. (2002). Decision support systems: concepts and resources for managers. Westport, Conn., Quorum Books.

4. Aumnad Phdungsilp, Integrated energy and carbon modeling with a decision support system: Policy scenarios for low-carbon city development in Bangkok, Energy Policy, Volume 38, Issue 9, September 2010, Pages 4808-4817, ISSN 0301-4215, 10.1016/j.enpol.2009.10.026.

5. H. van Delden, R. Seppelt, R. White, A.J. Jakeman, A methodology for the design and development of integrated models for policy support, Environmental Modelling & Software, Volume 26, Issue 3, March 2011, Pages 266-279, ISSN 1364-8152, 10.1016/j.envsoft.2010.03.021.