1. The Move from Planning to Implementation John Boetsch - NCCN / Olympic NP 2009 I&M Data Management Conference Tucson, Arizona – April 2009

2. Funded 2001 2 “Prototype” Parks History of pilot development prior to funding 2009 I&M Data Management Conference Tucson, Arizona – April 2009 NCCN - Among the First 12 Networks Funded "Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.”

3. Contributing to Protocol Planning & Development 2009 I&M Data Management Conference Tucson, Arizona – April 2009 1.Data structure standards (based on NRDT) 2.Reusable application components 3.Writing data management sections Recycling & refining materials from other projects Annual project task lists – unified project “calendar” 4.Consultation … Sampling design, response design, field form layout 5.Data Manager quickly gains protocol development experience …!

4. Three Spheres Control – System design, standards, info mgmt. procedures Influence – Protocol layout & content Protocol development timeline Field form layout Project application scope and development timelines Awareness / involvement of information management Concern – Response design, sampling design, project funding 2009 I&M Data Management Conference Tucson, Arizona – April 2009

5. 2009 I&M Data Management Conference Tucson, Arizona – April 2009 Don’t be afraid to exercise it …

6. 4 Legs of a Table Scope / Vision Clearly documented Agreed upon Standards Simple Flexible Extensible Process conceptual AND specific well-reasoned tried and true! Defined Responsibilities 2009 I&M Data Management Conference Tucson, Arizona – April 2009 Protocol or system … … will fail without all 4

7. 2009 I&M Data Management Conference Tucson, Arizona – April 2009 Project Lead & Data Mgr: Different Perspectives Generally, more involved = Better data stewardship, attention to project timelines, quality of deliverables, etc.

8. 2009 I&M Data Management Conference Tucson, Arizona – April 2009 Data accessibility during / after the field season Importance of finishing the QA process before reporting … Project Lead & Data Mgr: Different Perspectives

9. 1. Breaking the culture of changing methods without considering consequences to data continuity and application functionality Updating and Maintaining the Protocol 2. “Well-oiled machine” – illusion of permanence of design/methods/procedures, document as a whole 3. USGS documents … hard bound copy, InDesign doc (if we’re lucky) … now what?

10. Updating and Maintaining the Protocol Change is inevitable, so we must plan for it Concern about changes to accepted protocols … Concern about usability of the protocol document … How to encourage and sustain the “Living Document”? Atomized protocol documents vs. the Big Behemoth – unwieldy to edit or even open and use Making document changes easy … more difficult with the NRR publication series? Not all protocol changes are created equal … o SOPs, data model changes, roles & responsibilities changes with staff turnover 2009 I&M Data Management Conference Tucson, Arizona – April 2009

11. Updating and Maintaining the Protocol Protocol revision process (revised SOP) 2009 I&M Data Management Conference Tucson, Arizona – April 2009 Draft document Inactive document Distribution copy Archived document Active document Review document First edition or significant changes – add date stamp when sent for review Approval Add to archive Create PDF version Minor edits, internal review, approval Revision – copy to drafts folder, revise Remove from implementation Make sure an archived copy exists Upon approval, add date stamped copy to archive

12. Managing Multi-Year Data Pilot phase - data in Access, before multiple years of data accumulated in databases Concept of working db, certification, master db … but with SQL, does this mean 2 databases? In actuality, this got unwieldy quickly … some tables have content that can change from year to year, others not, so reconciling became very troublesome Either manage a complex reconcile & merge operation each year for each project, or … Move to a single database for both working and certified data 2009 I&M Data Management Conference Tucson, Arizona – April 2009

13. Definitely forced the issue of needing to work out how to store and protect certified data from unintentional edits: Which tables can field crew members edit directly? 2009 I&M Data Management Conference Tucson, Arizona – April 2009 Managing Multi-Year Data

14. Database Application: Simple vs. Complex Depends on needs – keep as simple as makes sense But … the vision for what was required to really raise the bar for data management practices added complexity 2009 I&M Data Management Conference Tucson, Arizona – April 2009 Efficient data entry Data verification, quality review / validation Data certification Data browsing Managing post-certification edits Providing consistent summarization and output Version notification Identity management / varied application functions and data access Error handling Managing lookups and taxonomy (vegetation and species) Backups/link management for Access back-ends

15. Dragging people into Access implies responsibility to support them also Either training or application functionality – or Both! Project Leads work on many other things – forget how to build queries Still … complexity and sustainability of our applications troubles me 2009 I&M Data Management Conference Tucson, Arizona – April 2009 Database Application: Simple vs. Complex

16. Db updates, support, training Facilitation of quality review, documentation Part of operational team – seasonal planning & review meetings Additional scoping Analytical / summarization support Integration & collaboration opportunities 2009 I&M Data Management Conference Tucson, Arizona – April 2009 Evolving Roles

17. If at first you don’t succeed … … then skydiving isn’t for you. 2009 I&M Data Management Conference Tucson, Arizona – April 2009 Closing Thoughts

18. 2009 I&M Data Management Conference Tucson, Arizona – April 2009 Closing Thoughts

19. Questions?