1. Getting Started with your Studbook
ZIMS Studbooks Set Up
Getting Started with your Studbook

2. ZIMS Updates! This PowerPoint is up-to-date as of: November 12th 2018
ZIMS is developed in an “agile” method
This means that it is updated every two weeks, sometimes with additional releases in between!
Use the link below to see if there have been any updates to this topic since the date above:

3. Getting Help
Every institution has a designated support person to assist them with ZIMS
This person will also be your contact for any questions/help with Studbook set up
You can contact them at
Your will automatically be directed to your designated support person
Species360 can only advise on ZIMS functionality, your Regional Association should be contacted for Best Practices

4. Opening Your Studbook To open your Studbooks
go to Start>Studbook>
Studbooks. You can drag this
to the desktop for quick
access to your Studbooks
if you want.

5. Edit Information on your Studbook
Open your Studbook Dashboard by selecting the desired species
under My Studbooks. Select Overview from the left side dashboard.

6. Edit Basic Information
To edit the overview of your Studbook select the Edit Details button in the Basic Information grid.

7. Edit Dates Currentness and Start Date are the only dates
that can be edited. Currentness Date is the date
that you last felt the studbook was “complete”.
The Last Updated date is sourced directly from
when you last entered any data into your
Studbook and this is not editable.

8. Edit Description The second topic in the Basic Information box is the
Description. If the Studbook
was migrated this will
automatically populate. You do not have to retain this information as it reflects the
data as of the time of
migration and does not automatically update. If
the Studbook is new you
have the option to enter
the information that you
want here. All data here is
editable.

9. Edit Species Notes Further down in the Basic
Information is a free text
box where you can add
or edit notes on your species.
This Studbook is using a
temporary numbering
system to identify fertile
eggs that did not hatch.

10. Edit Conventions/Assumptions
Below the Species Notes is where you
would record any Conventions and
Assumptions that you are following in
your Studbook. This Studbook has
noted how they handle some data
regarding wild caught animals.

11. Edit Gestation/Incubation Period
To edit the gestation or incubation period select Edit
Details in the Taxonomy Details grid.

12. Edit Gestation/Incubation Period
Make the changes as needed. Here we have changed the Minimum to 9 days and the Maximum to 11 days. The Average period is all that is required, Minimum and Maximum is not. You can also edit which period you want to use for calculations.

13. Edit Maximum Birth/Hatch Date Range
This is also where you would edit the maximum
number of days between Births/Hatches for
litters and clutches. Remember to Save & Close
when you are done.

14. Create User Defined Fields
Below the Taxonomy grid is the grid for your User Defined Fields. If your Studbook was migrated from SPARKS or PopLink all your UDFs will migrate. To Edit a UDF double left click on the UDF line that you want to edit. You cannot Delete a UDF and you must contact to do so. This is to assure that historical UDFs remain intact. To add a new UDF use the “+” button to select Add New.

15. Create User Defined Fields
The Field Type can be either a
Text Field or a ComboBox. A
ComboBox allows you to
enter specific Terms that will
be available to select from
in the Value box when you
assign this UDF to a record.
This helps with standardization.
If a Text Field is selected the
Value box will be free text.

16. Add/Edit Assignments If the Regional Association has given you the
access to manage the people involved in
your studbook you can do so under the Actions
button in the Assignments grid.

17. Add an Assignment The Regional Association and
Studbook Name will default
and are not editable. Complete
the fields, remembering that
only Studbook Roles that the
Regional Association has
checked as editable by the
Studbook Keeper will be
displayed in the dropdown to
be assigned.

18. Finding the Institution List
From the left hand dashboard you will find the
institution list by selecting Institutions.

19. Institutions in the Studbook
The left hand Dashboard
displays the number of
Institutions involved in
your Studbook. This
Studbook has created 3
Local institutions. The
current population is
represented by 65
facilities and historically
136 institutions have held
the species.

20. Add Local Institution
To add a Local Institution select the Add New Local Institution button. Always remember to check with Species360 before adding a Local Institution as it may already be in the Global database and you just have not found it. If you have any questions contact
for guidance.

21. Add Local Institution All the fields are mandatory (red asterisk).
The Institution Category selected will drive
the Institution Types that are available
to select from.

22. Add New Institution Details
By expanding the Location
Details you can record much
more detail regarding the
facility.

23. Finding Local Institutions
Any Local Institutions can be found under Local on the
left hand dashboard.

24. Mark Contact as Liaison
In the Institution Contacts, if there is someone that you communicate often with, you can mark them as a Liaison by right clicking on the red “x”. Here we have marked Deanna as a Liaison at Calgary. This lets you find commonly used contacts quicker.

25. Add Institution Note Just below the Contacts in the institution record
is the grid to add a note
regarding the facility.
The notes are private to
the studbook and whoever
has access to it will view
them. The institution the
note is recorded on will
not be able to view the note.

26. Date Type Customization
To customize your Date entries
go to Start>My Preferences>
Language, Date/Time and
Separator Formats. Complete
the Date fields as you wish them
to be. Remember to Save. These
will take effect the next time you
log in.

27. Expanded Module Boxes Also under My Preferences>Application
Preferences you can chose if you want all
the grids in your animal records to be
expanded by default. This will allow you to
view all the data without having to open
each grid separately.

28. Any Questions?
On setting up your Studbook