Campaign input files

Before GTS can show which places were visited, a Tracking Round needs a few files. They are usually prepared by a GIS officer or a data manager, and uploaded by the Organization or Field Activity Focal Point in the Admin pages. This page lists them and explains what each one is used for. The exact file formats are described in Inputs in the Administrator guide.

What a Tracking Round needs

File	What it is used for	Needed
Targeted Areas	The places the teams must visit: settlements, grid cells of populated areas, or service locations (fixed posts and outreach sites). Coverage is measured against this list. A Tracking Round has one Targeted Areas layer.	Yes, to measure coverage
Base layers	The areas used to group the results, from the largest to the smallest (for example District, Commune, Fokontany). They are the levels you drill through on the map and in the downloads.	Recommended
ODK forms	Questionnaires filled in GTS Collect during the activity, for example a tally sheet. Each submission is placed on the map.	Optional
Health facilities	A point base layer with one point per health facility. Auto microplanning uses it, with the base layers of the localities and of the health facility areas, to propose outreach microplans (see Auto Microplanning (Administrators)).	Only for auto microplanning

A microplan prepared in GMT can also be imported as the Targeted Areas of a Tracking Round (see GMT microplan import).

Prepare good files

The quality of the coverage figures depends on the quality of these files. Before sending them to the focal point, check that:

• maps are delivered as a .zip file of the shapefile, including its projection (.prj) file;

• each area has a unique ID that stays the same from one round to the next, and a name (label) that field teams and supervisors recognise;

• smaller areas lie entirely inside the larger ones (for example each Fokontany inside one Commune);

• numbers you want to follow, such as the estimated population, are stored as numeric attributes of the Targeted Areas, so that they can be used as indicators;

• forms are designed with the usual ODK tools and include a GPS (geopoint) question, so that submissions can be placed on the map.

To build a Targeted Areas layer from settlement data with QGIS, follow Create a Targeted Areas layer.

Where the files are uploaded

The focal point uploads the files in the Admin pages:

• Targeted Areas: in the Targeted Areas tab of the Tracking Round, where the base layers used to group the results are also chosen;

• base layers: in the Base Layers tab of the Organization, of the Field Activity or of the Tracking Round;

• ODK forms: in the ODK Forms tab of the Organization or of the Field Activity.

The steps are described in the Administrator guide.