Many FrontlineSMS functionalities are designed to help enable effective SMS data collection. You can:

• Arrange incoming messages using keywords
• Organize messages received from different communities using contact groups
• Export the messages and analyze the data received.
• Make use of FrontlineForms; a data collection tool built on top of FrontlineSMS.

You can see a user example of data collection using FrontlineSMS keywords here, and an example of use of FrontlineForms here. Find out more about FrontlineForms on our website here, and below there are some further resources which help provide guidance on use of FrontlineSMS for data collection without necessarily using FrontlineForms.

FrontlineSMS – Data Collection without Forms [PDF: 500Kb] George Mu’ammar, World Food Program

FrontlineSMS provides FrontlineForms, a data entry tool for phones that are Java enabled. Unfortunately, not all mobile phones support Java, and those that do may not be compatible since several Java runtime engines exist for mobile phones. Data can be sent to FrontlineSMS through a standard SMS, but the data is more difficult to structure and validate.
To get round this, a Microsoft Access database system was developed to host the SMS data and to provide the validation. The system is also configured to send an automatic reply to the sender detailing any validation errors, or to confirm that the data has been accepted. FrontlineSMS interfaces with the database through a DOS script which makes use of a number of free software utilities. The database uses SQL instructions and the script interfaces with it using Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), making it is easy to port the system onto a different type of database.

Building a Community-Based SMS System Using FrontlineSMS [PDF: 385Kb] Anthony Papillon, Advanced Data Concepts Inc.

In mid-2008, I was approached by an Oklahoma based domestic violence agency seeking to better use technology to reach victims and to provide a safer, more reliable, way of reporting, recording, and responding to reports of domestic violence. This brief paper will discuss the technologies we used and the steps we took to develop the system, officially called “FamilyFirst”, and show how any agency can deploy a similar system for very little money.