Observatories to Back up Decision-Making. A Study Case: The Coronavirus Metric Observatory
Keywords:
observatories, , information and knowledge management, metric indicators, decision-making, COVID-19Abstract
Aim: The aim of this paper is to show the functionalities and different services which an observatory must perform in order to back decision-making on the part of executives, researchers, and other users, according to the Coronavirus Metric Observatory at the University of Pinar del Rio, Cuba.
Methods and techniques: In this research, theoretical and empirical methods were used for understanding and analysis of the topic. Comprehensive document and bibliographic reviews were conducted. In-depth analysis-synthesis permitted to model functionalities and services with value added, for decision-making, based on the main trends of the state of the art. Additionally, direct observation was used in the construction of different customized laboratory products and services, along with modeling, and systemic-cultural analysis, to create an informative platform that integrates several types of information to support and document decision-making.
Main results: It allows for identification, analysis, and evaluation of relevant information to back up documents used during scientific research, from a broad range of high value services, including search and recovery of scientific articles and patents, and the filtering of maps and graphs of relations that represent the underlying knowledge of the scientific domain.
Conclusions: All these data contain a high strategic level within the sector of biotechnology, as well as in any other context. Knowing how to use them properly for management and decision-making is a pending task. It does not rely on the observatory, but on humans, and their capacity for analysis and discrimination to make right decisions.