ANCS+ 8.0 Remote Training: ANCS+ 8.0, Import/Export Screen Shot 1. Welcome to ANCS+ 8.0, Import/Export. This course will teach you how to import and export catalog records in ANCS+. A note on conference call etiquette: the group can hear only one person speaking at a time; wait for the speaker to stop talking before speaking yourself, so everyone can hear you. Please hold your questions until the end. Write down any questions you have during the course, so you don t forget them. It s highly likely your question will be answered as the course proceeds. We ll use the last five minutes for questions. If we run out of time, we ll take down your questions and reply by phone or e-mail after the course is over. Let s get started. 2. All of the information we ll cover in this course is also available in other places: Chapter 1 of the ANCS+ User Manual covers system basics, such as navigation and data entry. Chapter 8 Moving & Sharing Data - explains the Import and Export functions. We strongly recommend you read or review Chapter 1 & Chapter 8 completely when you begin to work with importing and exporting The Re:discovery web site also includes several white papers to help you with importing and exporting data to and from Excel and Access, and specific help for importing Natural History records. Also, the on-line System Help includes a section on Import/Export. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 1
3. After login, you ll start at the Home Page. From the Home Page, you can go anywhere in the program. Some functions are available immediately from the Home Page. Others are available only when you re working with records in the database. 4. One function available from anywhere is the System Help. It includes a chapter on Tools & System Maintenance, which includes a section on Import/Export. The System Help does not include details of NPS policy related to data format and field usage. The white papers available on the Re:discovery web site, under Support, and Frequent Questions, give specifics about NPS data format. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 2
5. From the Home Page, you can go anywhere using the keyboard, or the mouse, or a combination. In the Navigator, use the up and down arrow keys to select a module. Whatever is selected in the Navigator appears on the Home Page. Some of you might find this similar to Windows Explorer. With PARK Natural History selected in the Navigator, press Tab to move to the Home Page. Press the down arrow key to select Catalog Records, and press Enter to open it. You can also click with the mouse. 6. We ll use Natural History catalog records for this lesson, since a lot of the import/export activity in the parks is for natural history. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 3
7. We ll start by learning how to export data from ANCS+. There are a couple of ways to do it, and you can export data into several file formats. The method you use depends on what the recipient needs to do with the exported data. 8. The first step in exporting is to define which records you want to export. There are several ways to do this, such as using Search, Filter, and Tags. You can read more about those features in the User Manual and System Help. In this example, we ll select all the Biology records, where the Kingdom is Animalia, using Advanced Filter. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 4
9. From the Record menu, choose Advanced Filter. Note that it has an icon that is also on the button bar. Select Advanced Filter. 10. In the Advanced Filter window, select the Field Class 1 from the pull-down menu. The Comparison is set to Starts with, which is fine for us. Enter the value Biology. Now click the Add a New Filter Item link, and fill in the next row. Select the Field Class 2, Kingdom, and enter the value Animalia. Now click the Activate link, and the filter will be activated. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 5
11. With the filter active, the only records that are visible are those that match the filter. Note how the record count in the lower right of the status bar shows how many records match the filter. They all have Biology in Class 1, and Animalia in Kingdom. 12. Now that you ve defined which records to export, you can export the data. There are two ways to export the data: If the recipient needs a simple list of records for reference, you can use the Update My List View function, and the Export List to Excel function. If the recipient needs to edit the data, and then return it to you to be reimported to ANCS+ with updates, then use the Import/Export Selected Fields function. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 6
13. We ll do Export List to Excel first. If the recipient needs a simple list of records for reference, you can use the Update My List View function, and the Export List to Excel function. 14. From the View menu, choose Update My List View. With this function, you can select the fields that show in the List. Select the fields that you need in the list on the left. Then click the Add Selected Items link to move the fields to the list on the right. The fields on the Right will appear in the List Pane, and in your export file. In this example, we ll choose only a few fields: Catalog #, Scientific Name, Class 1, 2, 3 and 4, Collection Date, Collector, Common Name, and Condition. Click the Save and Activate link to add these fields to the List Pane. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 7
15. The fields you selected are now in the List Pane. Even though the columns are narrow and show only some of the data for each field, all the data will export to Excel in the next step. 16. Now, from the File menu, choose Import/Export. Then choose Export List to Excel. You are prompted to select a location to save the file, and My Documents is usually a good choice. You can also change the name of the file, otherwise it will simple be named export. Click the Save button, and the file is created. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 8
17. You will find the file you exported in the folder where you saved it, in this case, My Documents. 18. You can open the file in Excel to see what it looks like. In Excel, you can press Ctrl-A to select all rows, and from the Format menu, choose Row, then Height, and set the height to a consistent number for all rows. You can stretch the columns so more data shows. You can attach this file to e-mail to send to the person who needs it. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 9
19. Now we ll export using the Import/Export Selected Fields function. This is especially useful if the data you re exporting is going to be edited, and then imported back into ANCS+. 20. The first step when exporting is to select the records you want to export. Remember that earlier we selected the records for Biology, where Kingdom is Animalia. We used Advanced Filter to do that, and those records are still the visible data. Before proceeding, I ll deactivate the filter, so all records are visible again. I ll Sort by Catalog Number, so the List returns to its original form. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 10
21. For this example, we ll select a smaller group of records. Before the lesson I prepared a tag of only 3 records. These three records will serve as a template for a contract cataloger. I ll activate that tag now. From the Record menu, choose Activate Tag Set. Choose Show All Tag Sets. Select the Plant Sample Records tag, and click OK. 22. With this tag active, my visible data is now only these three records. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 11
23. Now let s export the data: From the File menu, choose Import/Export, then choose Import/Export Selected Fields. 24. In the Import/Export window, choose Export Records, then click Next. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 12
25. Choose Create New Template, then click Next. 26. Maximize this window. Enter a template name. When we re done, this template will be saved and we can use it to export AND import data. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 13
27. To choose the fields to export, click the Append link. In the Field Mapping grid, a new row appears. Click the blue arrow pull-down under Rediscovery Field. This opens a list of fields you can choose from. Select Catalog # from the list. 28. Click Append again to add a new row, and select another field from the pull-down. For this example, we ll choose Accession number, Class 1, Kingdom, Phylum/Division, Class, Order, Family, Sci. Name: Genus, Sci. Name: Species, Object Status, Locality, Location, and Condition. Note that in the new ANCS+, you can choose the subfields for formatted memos, such as the Genus and Species subfields from Sci Name. This will help your collectors enter such data in Excel. Then click the Save Template link, and click OK. Click the Next button to move to the next step, where you ll export the data to a file. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 14
29. Choose the File Type ASCII CSV. This will create a file you can easily open in Excel. Click the Browse button to select a location to save the file, and enter a name for it. Again, My Documents is a good place to save your files. After entering a file name, click the Open button. Then click Next to move to the next step. 30. This screen shows you a sample of what the data will look like when exported. Click Next to continue. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 15
31. Click the Start Export button, and the records will be exported. When done, click the Finish button. The Import/Export window closes, and you return to the catalog record screen. 32. Now you can go to My Documents, find the file, and open it with Excel. If the columns are too close together to see all the data, you can click and drag the column headers to stretch them out. This is a feature of CSV files in Excel. Even if you save the file, it won t remember that you stretched the columns. For that, you need to save it as an Excel file. In any case, the file you have exported is easily opened in Excel. This file can serve as a template for collectors who need to give you data to import into ANCS+. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 16
33. Another handy function in Excel is Freeze Panes. Click in the second cell in the second column. From the Window menu, choose Freeze Panes. This ensures the catalog number column and the column header row are always visible as we edit the data in Excel. 34. Now we ll edit the data in this Excel file, and re-import it. In this example, inventory has found all three of these specimens are now in a different location. And a botanist has surveyed the specimens, and assigned a new condition to them. I ll update the Location, and the Condition, for each of these records. This will demonstrate how importing can be used to update existing records. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 17
35. As an example of new cataloging, we ll enter two new records. This will help demonstrate how importing can be used to add new catalog records to your database. You must fill in all the required fields on the catalog record. You can do that by including those fields with data in your Excel file, and importing them. Or you can fill them in using Modify All after the data is imported. Either way, the required fields must be filled in for these records to count as fully cataloged. Because the new records in this simple example do not have all required fields filled in, the Object Status is DRAFT RECORD. The ANCS+ User Manual has sections for each discipline, which lists the required fields for each discipline. 36. When the file is updated, save and close it. Saving a CSV file in Excel will give you several different prompts. The first points out that there are features that aren t compatible in CSV files, such as the stretched columns and the Freeze Panes option. Click Yes to save the file as-is. Then close the file. It will ask if you want to save the changes. This means do you want to save it as an Excel file, rather than as a CSV file. You want to save it as a CSV file, so click No. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 18
37. Now we ll import it back into ANCS+. From the File menu, choose Import/Export, then Import/Export Selected fields. 38. Choose Import Records, then click Next. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 19
39. Choose the File Type ASCII CSV. Click the Browse button to find and select the file you want to import, and click Open. Then click Next. 40. This screen shows you a sample of the data to be imported. Click Next. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 20
41. Choose to Open an Existing Template. Then click Next. 42. Choose the template that you used to export the record, Plant Project. Then click Next. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 21
43. Choose to Update the Target Record. This option makes sure that imported data will update existing catalog records that have the same catalog number. Click Next to continue. 44. Click Start Import. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 22
45. The Track Changes window opens. This window lets you manually update the History Tracking supplemental data, if needed. Usually you ll use the automatic values for these supplemental records. Click OK to proceed. At the prompt asking if you re sure you want to import the data from the file you selected, click Yes. 46. The data is imported. The screen shows you how many records were updated and how many were added during the import. Click Finish to close this window. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 23
47. Now we ll look at what we accomplished. The tag of 3 records we exported is still active. Note on these records, the location has the data we changed in Excel. On the Catalog tab, the Condition also has the data we changed in Excel. The data was updated by importing the Excel file. 48. To see the new records we imported, deactivate the tag. Then scroll to the bottom of the list to see the new records. The new records were created by importing the data from Excel. Only the fields that we filled out in Excel were imported. You could quickly fill in the rest of the data, such as Controlled Property, Status Date, etc., by using Modify All Records. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 24
49. You must fill in all the required fields on the catalog record. You can do that by including those fields with data in your Excel file, and importing them. Or you can fill them in using Modify All after the data is imported. Either way, the required fields must be filled in for these records to count as fully cataloged. Because the new records in this simple example do not have all required fields filled in, the Object Status is DRAFT RECORD. The ANCS+ User Manual has sections for each discipline, which lists the required fields for each discipline. 50. Here are some very important things you should check before importing data into ANCS+. I ll open the file we imported to help illustrate: Catalog number must be the first column in your Excel file. Catalog number is the unique key for each record. If it is not the first column in the file you re importing, the system won t be able to match up records that need to be updated. You should also check the incoming data carefully before importing it, to make sure there are no duplicate catalog numbers in the file. It s easy to sort in Excel, from the Data menu, by choosing Sort. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 25
51. Catalog number must be in the proper NPS format. That is, 4 letters, then spaces and numbers for the next 8 character spaces. If the number is 1 digit, there will be 7 spaces; if the number is 7 digits, there will be one space. The total length is 12 character spaces. Similarly, the NPS Accession number has a specific format: 4 letters, a hyphen, and a 5-digit number, padded on the left with zeros to fill out the 5 digits In Excel, select the columns, and choose Courier New as the font. This helps you see the spacing. 52. The column headers in the file you re importing must match the field names used in ANCS+. Pay careful attention to punctuation such as the period in Scientific Name and Maintenance Cycle, or the pound sign in Catalog number, Accession number, and Collection Number. The column headers must also be in the same order in your import file, as they will be in your ANCS+ import template. One way to make importing easier, is to remove empty columns from your import file in Excel. This reduces the number of fields you need to select for your import template, and makes it much easier to spot problems with field names. ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 26
53. Check that data matches the ANCS+ standard terminology. For example, fields that are controlled by locked authority tables in ANCS+ should have standard terms in your Excel file. In Excel, use the Data menu, Filter, Auto Filter function to create pulldown menus of unique terms. Click the pull-down to view the unique terms. If you see a non-standard term in the pull-down, select the term to find those records, and correct them. 54. That s all we have time for. Remember the use the System Help and the ANCS+ User Manual chapter 8 for more help using Import/Export! Questions? ANCS8_RemoteTrainingImportExport.doc 27