Four-Stage Framework for Implementing a Chatbot System in Disaster Emergency Operation Data Management: A Flood Disaster Management Case Study

This research proposes a four-stage consultant framework for applying a chatbot as a data management system. With the advancement of computational power and data storage technology, the increasing amount of data makes the issue of data management difficult to address. Management of a massive amount of data by utilizing chatbots to play the roles of a data manager and a data provider has been extensively studied. Although a chatbot system has been proven to increase the overall efficiency of data management, implementing a chatbot system in a government department remains a challenge, especially in a field with highly complex data. This research presents the authors’ experience of applying a chatbot system in a department of the government of Taiwan for disaster response operations. A four-stage consulting framework comprising 1) existing workflow review, 2) usability evaluation, 3) system improvement, and 4) management plan (EUSM) was thus proposed. After a two-year field test, the authors found that the framework could help the department in clarifying their working process, increase the overall efficiency of the chatbot system, and identify the major issues of introducing the chatbot system.