Hi

I have been thinking further about how to check my database. One ideal way would be to see the number of records in the database by the 'Observer' - but I cannot find a way of doing that.

I do not put an entry in the 'Determiner' field in the import spreadsheet (though I may have to mend my ways about this) so if I do a search for all records in a year, with 'Obs Determiner' selected I now know that the report returns fewer records than are in the database. Ideally, I wish to check the number of records submitted by each Observer.

I thought of creating a Rucksack, as Charles had suggested for taxa recently, but I cannot find a place in the Report Wizard for opening a rucksack with names of observers in it.
With over 200 observers in a year, selecting each name at the start of the Wizard is not a viable option. The situation would be much easier if all the fields available for import were available for selection and viewing in the Report Wizard.

One way that may show all the records received in a year would be to leave out of the reporting 'Obs Determiner', but I would not have any indication of the observer for any of the records that show, so would not be helpful in trying to establish duplicate or missing records.

Does anybody know a way around this problem? Any suggestions welcome!

Thanks in anticipation, Ian

Hi Ian

I would suggest you have a word with Luck and Eric at rECOrd (01244 383749). They have a routine (originally written by one of rECOrd's Trustees (Vernon Hockley)) which will run through teh database identifying duplicate data.

The duplicate data issue (and the fact that the same data often arrives from different sources) is an issue which rECOrd faced a long-time ago. It was one of the main reasosns for writing our online data entry system (which allows online keying and/or the importation of spreadsheets) which checks data for duplication and formatting errors etc. as it is entered or imported.

Hope you find some help at rECOrd - tell them I sent you.

Cheers

Steve :)

Hi Steve

Thanks for your suggestion - I shall follow that up later today as the weather is so horrible I cannot go checking Barn Owl nests as planned. I hope retirement is suiting you well!

Hi Charles

I hope the new version does come out soon, but in another thread I read that you have a system for checking import files for duplicate records (ie with those already on your database). Is this system an add-on or integral to your computer system so cannot be shared?

I did manage to find why R6 was not selecting records from a particular place, last night. I checked the Location details and in the Administrative Areas tab the information about counties had been removed (not by me!). I then started to check all my other Locations and have found that some sites have had their county details removed and others have had them duplicated. I have been adding the details to those where they have been removed and editting the extra details. This is worrying, as R6 has done this on its own - with what frequency, under what conditions, etc? Who knows? Has this happened to other users? So, when I did a check of the database without requesting VC information my total of records for 2007 shot up from 23,621 to 30,513 - so there are probably several Locations that have had their county details removed.

All the best, Ian

Hi Charles

Do you know how imminent the new version of R6 will be - days or months?

To whom should I send an email about the places problem? I have not noticed an announcement about a replacement for Sarah. When I went through all my locations today, I found that possibly as many as 20+ locations had had their Administrative area data removed. A similar number had their Admin Area info duplicated and in some cased triplicated. One location had Admin Area data  for another place added to its set (with one of the counties different - hence I could tell it was not just a duplication).

All the best, Ian

Hi Steve

Unfortunately I have no idea what may have caused the problem with the locations. About three months ago I completely reorganised my location hierarchy so that I could import tetrad data, but that just meant moving the location information from a logical position, eg 'Wrexham' to a grid ref based system, with 10 km squares, then tetrads, then 1 km squares within tetrads. At that time I had no reason to suspect that any Admin Area information would be corrupted so did not check. I realised there was a problem when preparing to send records to species account authors and found that one place was not selected by Vice County.

I have imported much data and at no time was there any different behaviour with the Import Wizard. Also, now that I have corrected the locations I think most, if not all, of the imported data are accounted for. I'm sorry that I can't think of anything that may have precipitated the errors to the Admin Areas. Have you heard of this happening to other users? Have any other users checked to see if they have such a problem? Is there a routine available in R6 to have an export to Excel or whatever with the location and all the Admin Areas assigned to them? Such a routine could be run from time to time to do such a check.

All the best, Ian