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Topic: Transferring record metadata from R3 to R6

Our Recorder 3 database was transferred to Recorder 6 by Sally and Mike in 2007.

We on occasion have to go back to the original R3 database to find out when a record was originally entered and by whom - all the records that were transferred have the same "entered by" and "entered date", that of the date they were transferred into R6. Is there a way to get that information out of Recorder 3, and in to Recorder 6?

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Teresa Frost | Wetland Bird Survey National Organiser | BTO
Other hat  | National Forum for Biological Recording Council
(Old hats  | NBN Board, ALERC Board, CBDC, KMBRC)

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Re: Transferring record metadata from R3 to R6

The instructions for extracting the required information from records in Recorder 3 are:

Filters – Select “Records” F9
Reports – Special reports & maps – Export ASCII text – Table name Records, Columns: Rec_num Date_updated Updated_by
DOS file name: Rtn to choose default (or enter something like CBDCRecs.txt) (Recorder 3 only copes with 8 character file names);
F2 Tab delineated

Given that Mike and I did your data transfer you will have a key translate table which lists all the keys of the records in Recorder 3 and the key of the corresponding record in Recorder 6. This can be used to add data from Recorder 3 to observations in Recorder 6. Some users paid extra for having Date_updated and Updated_by transferred to their Recorder 6 systems when we did their transfers.

For records, Recorder 3 only holds a Date Added/Updated field, called Date_updated, and Updated by, called Updated_by, whereas Recorder 6 holds ENTERED_BY, ENTRY_DATE, CHANGED_BY and CHANGED_DATE. Hence you will need to decide which fields to put the Recorder 3 data in and you will need someone who can tell you who the initials in Updated_by are for.

The dates come out in the format dd mmm yyyy, e.g. 25 JAN 2001. If you can easily process dates in this format then this should be fine. If not, I have the instructions from Stuart Ball for getting them out in a format that goes into Excel more easily.

If you need help with getting the Recorder 3 data into Recorder 6, Mike or I should be able to help.

Sally Rankin, JNCC Recorder Approved Expert
E-mail: s.rankin@btinternet.com
Telephone: 01491 578633
Mobile: 07941 207687

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Re: Transferring record metadata from R3 to R6

Thanks very much Sally, that seemed to work fine. I'll be in touch about getting the info into Recorder 6. In the meantime, here is a summary of *all* our records by year of entry. :)

[img]http://i58.tinypic.com/5pikic.png[/img]

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Teresa Frost | Wetland Bird Survey National Organiser | BTO
Other hat  | National Forum for Biological Recording Council
(Old hats  | NBN Board, ALERC Board, CBDC, KMBRC)