RE: ALGAO Terminology Lists -reaction wanted! -Reply
Paul
has asked for some input regarding his point 2.
As
stated, exeGesIS can and will include agreed terminology lists into HBSMR
for new clients. But for existing users the situation is more
complex.
The
basic problem here is that even when a list of terms for a given field has been
agreed, and an SMR has taken the decision to adopt it, the process of adopting
the new list can be highly complex. The SMR has probably been
using a different list with varying degrees of overlap with the new list, and
may have thousands of records so classified. Migration therefore involves a
number of stages with many pitfalls:
-
Adding the new terms to the look-up tables
-
Deciding how all existing used terms should be mapped onto new
terms
-
Changing all existing records to use the appropriate new
term
-
Removing old terms from the look-up tables
-
Deciding how to deal with existing terms that do not readily map onto the new
list
This
process then has to be repeated for each new field/list.
Of
course this can all be done 'manually' by a system administrator, with judicious
use of update queries etc. However this can be very time-consuming and there are
lots of opportunities to wreak havoc with your data.
What
we have suggested is that a generic application could be developed to help out
with this process. It could be a 'bolt-on' to HBSMR, perhaps accessed from the
Admin Functions menu.
This could work for any field where a new list had been agreed - you
would select which one at the time you ran it. The programme would then present
a list of your currently used values, and show the list of new terms. There
would be a mechanism to allow you to map each old term onto a new term, or to
specify that a term could not be mapped. In the latter case, there might be
various options for what to do - you could either opt to include this term in
your new list if you really need it (perhaps this should then be submitted to
whoever is overseeing the list?) or you could just retain it as a non-current
term then go back and edit these manually later. This could be decided if we go
ahead and develop something.
Anyway, once you were happy with the matching of existing terms to
new ones, you would hit Process... and all your records would automatically be
updated, and your look-up table would automatically be filled with the new list
(plus any outstanding terms as mentioned above).
Using
something like this it would save huge amounts of time and hassle,
particularly when totted up across all HBSMR sites. This might also be
a much-needed incentive to adopt the new standards, because having to
do it manually might be so daunting/risky/time-consuming
that many SMRs simply wouldn't bother.
Hope
this helps, and over to you...
Best
wishes
Crispin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Crispin Flower
exeGesIS SDM
Ltd.
Great House Barn
Talgarth
Powys
LD3 0AH
Tel:
01874 712145/711145
Fax: 01874 711156
email: [log in to unmask]
URL: www.esdm.co.uk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jason, Here is my original e-mail
again - you responded to item 1 but not to item 2,
Dear all,
Further to the recent emails from Nigel Pratt regarding these lists,
and one earlier from Veronica Fiorato about consultation types, we have been
asking whether these can be built into the forthcoming release of Exegesis.
However, although this can be done for new installations, it cannot be done so
easily for existing installations as these are likely to be using their own
lists already and these SMRs would have to implement the lists manually if
they wanted to use them. I discussed the issue with Crispin Flower who
suggests it might be possible for Exegesis to create a tool to help users in
the mapping of terms in old lists to those in new lists, and enable much of
the work to be done automatically. This would be potentially of great value if
it could be made generic and help us to implement agreed standards. It strikes
me there are two issues:
1) Is the user community willing to run with the
ALGAO lists as currently drafted or is more work needed to ensure they meet
user needs;
2) Is there interest in asking Exegesis to consider
developing a generic application to help users migration their systems to
agreed data standards - there would be a cost implication here but perhaps
English Heritage might consider helping here, as this would clearly be of
benefit in implementing standards,
Paul
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