This tutorial demonstrates how to add details of a relevant Organisation or Association to to your FieldNotes database. This information may be required if you decide to share your observations with a recording scheme that is not included in the existing dataset.
Before starting you will need to know ...
This tutorial assumes that FieldNotes software has already been installed and setup on your computer.
Adding a new wildlife Organisation to your database is a straightforward process that involves completing a handful of fields in a single form.
The quickest way of opening the 'New Organisation' form is to ensure that the record-type selector is set to Organisations, and select the button on the main toolbar.
The 'New Organisation' form is displayed, containing a number of fields used to add a new wildlife Organisation.
Field | Notes | |
---|---|---|
(Organisation) Name | Organisation / Association name | |
Website | Website address | |
General email address (may also be used for submission of data) | ||
Company description | Type of Organisation (if relevant) | |
Notes | Additional notes | |
Help | Field-content information | |
Save | Save data as new record | |
Cancel | Cancel the form |
Notes:
In general it is good practice to provide as much information (ie. complete as many fields) as possible.
Check that the level-of-detail (displayed on the right-hand edge of the form title) is set to 'Quick'. If it is not, select the appropriate checkbox.
In this case level-of-detail affects the number of input fields displayed in a form. The relevant Help library pages contain more detailed information about using level-of-detail.
Sections 1-5 below describe the steps in completing the 'New Organisation' form from scratch.
Type the name of the Organisation in the "Name" field.
Organisation names may contain any combination of letters, numbers, spaces and punctuation.
If you know the address of the Organisation's website, enter it in the relevant field.
If this Organisation supplies a general email address, enter it in this field.
If you participate in recording schemes run by this organisation, FieldNotes can use this email address for submitting data (for details see Tutorial 2.9).
Select the primary focus of the Organisation / Association from the drop-down list - this may be anything from generalist or specialist Natural History societies, wildlife or countryside conservation groups to local or national data-collating centres.
The Organisation type field simply provides a basis for screening Organisations of different types, and can be useful for identifying local or regional wildlife Organisations.
The 'Notes' field is free-text format - you may enter as little or much additional information as you like. For example, you may wish to include more detailed notes on remit, projects and activities.
The 'Notes' field will automatically scroll to provide more space for your entry if required. Alternatively double-click anywhere on the field to use a larger data-entry form.
Take a moment to check that the data you have entered is correct, and agrees with your field notebook information.
Pressing the
button will save the information you have entered as a new database record. Before the information is saved, however, FieldNotes will carry out a number of internal consistency checks on the values you have entered, and warn you if changes are required (eg. if the Organisation name duplicates an existing entry) or desirable (eg. if advisory fields that have not been completed). If error or warning messages are generated, you will have the opportunity to correct the values you have entered before the record is saved.The Organisation information is now saved as a record in the database. Later tutorials will show you how to export selected observations from your FieldNotes database to relevant wildlife Organisations.
Error / Warning Message | Cause | |
---|---|---|
Error | <Name> field must be given a value | The 'Organisation Name' field has not been completed. |
Error | <Name> value duplicates an existing record | The Organisation name is identical to an existing record. |
Warning | <Website> value not supplied | The 'Website' field has not been completed - include website information if available . |
Warning | <Email> value not supplied | The 'Email' field has not been completed - include email information if available . |