SOP for Importing Data From A Previous Toolbox Version

Table of Contents (click on a topic below to jump to that section):

  • Introduction
  • ImportGeneral Data (required)
  • Importing Continuous Data and/or Filter Data
  • Resuming Use of the (New) Toolbox

Introduction

You must work through the following steps ONLY if you are switching to a newer version of the Tribal Data Toolbox (e.g., from version 1.0 to version 1.1) and you have been entering and importing your tribe’s data in a previous version. However, if this is the first version of the Tribal Data Toolbox that you have used, you do not need to perform these operations.

The process should take less than half an hour, unless you encounter problems. It is important to have your database logbook handy so that you can note the number of records in the “previous” and new tables as you verify that the same number of records transferred. As always, you can contactITEP anytime if you have problems. If you do not complete the steps listed, all of the data that you have previously entered and imported will be permanently lost.

  1. Follow the directions in the “READ ME…” for installing the new version of the Toolbox on your computer if you have not already installed it.
  2. Open the new version of the Toolbox. This version of the Toolbox does not contain any of your data.
  3. From the Main Switchboard, click on the “Import Data From a Previous Toolbox Version” button under the Administrative category.

  1. The following window will open:

  1. In the drop-down box at the top of the form, verify that the version of the Toolbox listed is the version that you want to import data from. The default value is the most current of the previous versions of the Toolbox, in this example, “Tribal Data Toolbox_betav2.0”. If this is not the version you want to import data from (for example, if you have been importing your data into version 1.1 instead of beta version 2.0 of the Toolbox), select the version of interest from the drop-down list. If the version you want to import from is not in the list, please contact ITEP. Make sure that the version you select is the most current version of the Toolbox that you have been importing data into.

Import General Data (required)

All users must complete the steps listed below! These steps transfer any personnel, site, sampler, and/or AQS monitor protocol records that you may have entered into a previous version of the Toolbox.

  1. Click on the “Link Tables” button in the Import General Data section. You will be prompted to enter the database password (this is the password you use to open the Toolbox). This button creates a link to the relevant tables in the previous version of the Toolbox. You will not notice much of anything happening, however the radio button will be checked once the Toolbox completes this step.
  2. Next click on the “Import Data” button in the Import General Data section. The data are transferred during this step.
  • You will receive a series of messages boxes about appending data. Click “Yes” on each of these message boxes.
  • Note that some of the message boxes may say “You are about to append 0 row(s).” This is okay if you have not entered or imported data into one of the relevant tables (for example, you would receive one message box like this if you do not submit your data to AQS). If this happens, it is okay to click “Yes” on this message box as well.
  • Each of these boxes will appear once for each of the five tables and you should click “Yes” to each one. The messages boxes you receive should look similar to the following (the number of rows you are appending will vary):
  1. The gray buttons on this form allow you to check to make sure the data have been transferred from the tables in the previous version of the Toolbox to the tables in the newest version of the Toolbox. Click on the “Inspect Personnel Table” button. Two stacked tables will open when you click on this button, shown in the example below (tblPeople and tblPeople_PREVIOUS). The active table, (tblPeople) is the Personnel table in the newest version of the Toolbox.

  1. The active table (tblPeople) should now be populated with data.
  • In the bottom left-hand corner of the window, you can see how many records are in the table (in this example, there are 8).
  • Note the number of records in your table, then click the “x” button in the upper right hand corner to close the table (make sure that you click on the “x” button for tblPeople since there are multiple menu bars showing).
  • The table that is now active is tblPeople_PREVIOUS. It is the Personnel table in the previous version of the Toolbox. You should verify that the number of records in this table is the same as the number of records that were in the table tblPeople.
  • If the numbers are not the same, you may lose data when you switch to the new version of the Toolbox. If this is the case, please contact ITEP ( or ) before deleting the previous version of the Toolbox.
  • If the number of records in both tables is the same, click on the “x” button in the upper right hand corner of the table tblPeople_PREVIOUS window to close the table.
  1. Repeat the inspection process in Step 4 for each of the remaining tables by clicking on the gray buttons in the “Import General Data” section.
  • Note: In all cases, once you have clicked on the “Inspect” button, the table on top of the stack (the active table) will be the table in the newest version of the Toolbox. The table under it (always named “…_PREVIOUS”) will be the table in the previous version of the Toolbox.
  • Note: In some cases, there may not be any data in either the table. For example, if you do not submit your data to AQS, neither of the tables will be populated when you click on the “Inspect AQS Table” button.
  • As long as the number of records is the same in the relevant tables in both the previous and newest versions of the Toolbox, the transfer was successful.
  1. Once you have completed inspecting all tables, click on the “Delete Linked Tables” button in the “Import General Data” section. This button removes the link to the relevant tables in the previous version of the Toolbox. Note that this step does not delete the tables themselves, but only the link to the tables in the newest version of the Toolbox. You will not notice much happening; however the radio button will be checked once the Toolbox completes this step, as in the example to the right.

Importing Continuous and/or Filter Data

How you proceed from here depends on the type of air monitoring data you have entered and imported into the previous version of the Toolbox. For the remaining steps, follow the same process as outlined above. Again, note that not all of the tables may contain data; as long as the number of records is the same in the relevant tables in both the previous and newest versions of the Toolbox, the transfer was successful.

  • If you have entered data for continuous-based monitoring (this includes meteorological data) and related activities (such as QC data) into the previous version of the Toolbox, you must complete all of the steps in the “Import Continuous Data” section of the form.
  • If you have entered data for filter-based monitoring and related activities (such as chain of custody data), you must complete all of the steps in the “Import Filter Data” section of the form.
  • If you have both continuous and filter-based monitoring data, you must complete all of the steps under both the “Import Continuous Data” and “Import Filter Data” sections of the form.

Resuming Use of the (New) Toolbox

  1. Once you have completed the transfer and inspection of all data into the new version of the Toolbox, close the form.
  2. You can now use the Toolbox (you will be in the newest version already) to manage your data.
  3. Make a copy of the previous version of the Toolbox and save it in an external location, for example, a network server, CD, USB memory stick, etc., for permanent storage and backup.
  4. After you have made the backup copy, delete the entire folder containing the previous version of the Toolbox from your hard drive.

11/25/2008 SOP for Importing Data From Previous Toolbox VersionPage 1 of 5