1 Reply by Darwyn Sumner (LERC)

  • Darwyn Sumner (LERC)
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Re: Local Records Centres and NBN Gateway

Our East Midlands Local Records Centres today recieved a copy of Natural England's "Memorandum of Agreement" which outlines the terms under which we will receive Defra's LRC annual funding for various core services rendered.
A key part of these services surrounds an obligation on LRCs to deposit data onto the NBN Gateway. The text runs as follows:

The LRC's database should at least be capable of export to the NBN data exchange format

and whilst this may be taken to refer only to Recorder-to-Recorder transfers, the text goes on to indicate that exchange is expected between "the LRC and the NBN Gateway"
Graham French of NBN Gateway team kindly pointed me towards a very useful pack detailing how to set about this on the NBN Gateway at NBN Gateway Data Provider Pack
But what about Recorder? Sally Rankin tells me that JNCC intended to incorporate 3 items into 6.10 but they weren't quite ready for the CD. One of them is JNCC's "Export to NBN Gateway" add-in which I know is currently being developed by them.
Local Records Centres are this very week signing a document produced by a member of the JNCC Recorder Steering Group and will then only have a few months to prepare themselves for sending datasets to the NBN Gateway.
Can JNCC tell us all how soon can we expect this Add-in

2 Reply by Sarah Shaw

  • Sarah Shaw
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Re: Local Records Centres and NBN Gateway

Hi Darwyn

Just to give a bit of background on this, the NBN Exchange addin for Recorder 6 has been developed by Stuart Ball. This has been tested by myself and a member of the gateway team and has undergone one round of re-development.

We now have to give this addin a final test and (along as there are no major problems) should be able to provide on the Recorder Software website by the end of next week.

Best wishes,

Sarah Shaw
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC

3 Reply by AndyFoy

  • AndyFoy
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Re: Local Records Centres and NBN Gateway

Hi Sarah,

Will the addin work with v6.9 or only 6.10?

Thanks,
Andy.

Andy Foy
Systems Manager
Greenspace Information for Greater London (GiGL) CIC
www.gigl.org.uk

4 Reply by Sarah Shaw

  • Sarah Shaw
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Re: Local Records Centres and NBN Gateway

Hi Andy

I haven't tried with 6.9 but I can't see why it wouldn't work - apologies if you have mentioned this before but are you having problems with upgrading to 6.10?

Kind regards,

Sarah Shaw
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC

5 Reply by AndyFoy

  • AndyFoy
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Re: Local Records Centres and NBN Gateway

Hi Sarah,

We're not actually having problems as we haven't tried yet.  Our issue is that we are hosted by our County Council and so any upgrades we make to Recorder have to go through their IT department and all the scheduling, delays and bureaucracy that entails.  Having had the pain of spending over a year upgrading from 6.3 to 6.9.3 (only managing it after eventually switching to Mike Weideli as our approved retailer and using his expertise) we are reluctant to upgrade again without good reason.

We would obviously like to be able to apply dictionary updates on a regular basis which I believe means moving to 6.10, but I'm not sure even then whether we can apply the dictionary updates without having to go through our IT department.  Can they be applied as import files or do they require scripts to be run?

Many thanks,
Andy.

Andy Foy
Systems Manager
Greenspace Information for Greater London (GiGL) CIC
www.gigl.org.uk

6 Reply by Alison Stewart

  • Alison Stewart
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Re: Local Records Centres and NBN Gateway

Hi Andy

We are similarly hosted by our County Council and the IT department have only recently managed to get 6.10 up and running.  I wasn't sure if the dictionary updates should be run from a workstation, rather than the server, but I decided to give it a go and it has worked successfully.  At least that is one thing less that I have to ask them to do!

Alison Stewart
Dorset Environmental Records Centre

Alison Stewart
Dorset Environmental Records Centre

7 Reply by Sarah Shaw

  • Sarah Shaw
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Re: Local Records Centres and NBN Gateway

Hi

Just to provide a quick update on the NBN Exchange addin - unfortunately it looks like we won't be able to make this available before Christmas.

We will make it a high priority in the new year and will ensure that this is available in time for LRC's to meet the terms of the agreement between LRC's and Natural England (as described by Darwyn above).

Merry Christmas and best wishes for the new year,

Sarah Shaw
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC

8 Reply by AndyFoy

  • AndyFoy
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Re: Local Records Centres and NBN Gateway

Hi Alison,

Thanks for confirming the updates can be applied from a workstation.  That gives me more confidence to start the long process of requesting our IT department to upgrade to 6.10.  Especially with the new addin on the way.

Cheers,
Andy.

Andy Foy
Systems Manager
Greenspace Information for Greater London (GiGL) CIC
www.gigl.org.uk

9 Reply by Sarah Shaw

  • Sarah Shaw
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Re: Local Records Centres and NBN Gateway

Hi

Just a quick email to say that work continues on the NBN Exchange and Delete Survey addins for Recorder 6.

We provided a couple of users with the NBN Exchange addin for testing purposes, but unfortunately one user had problems running the addin - we are still investigating the cause.

However, in the meantime if you would like a copy of the NBN Exchange addin for testing purposes please email Recorder@JNCC.gov.uk.

I have now re-tested the Delete Survey addin and identified 2 issues that need to be addressed. One is very straight-forward to fix (survey fails to delete if it has been used in an Export Filter), the other could be related to performance (i.e. very large surveys) but needs further investigation.

I'll keep you updated on our progress,

Many thanks for your patience and support,

Best wishes,

Sarah Shaw
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC

10 Reply by AndyFoy

  • AndyFoy
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Re: Local Records Centres and NBN Gateway

Hi Sarah,

Any news on the NBN Exchange addin yet?

Many thanks,
Andy

Andy Foy
Systems Manager
Greenspace Information for Greater London (GiGL) CIC
www.gigl.org.uk