Coordinators’ User Manual for the Water Action Volunteers Online Database

September 2009 (v. 2)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction.............................................................................................................1 2 Coordinator Registration.........................................................................................3 2.1 Access the Database........................................................................3 2.2 Register as a Coordinator................................................................3 3 Make Site Requests.................................................................................................9 3.1 Request Access to an Existing Site................................................9 3.2 Make a New Site Request ..............................................................10 4 Review Volunteer Application(s) ...........................................................................11 4.1 Background Information.................................................................11 4.2 Validate a Volunteer .......................................................................11 4.3 Choosing not to Validate a Volunteer.............................................14 5 Grant Volunteers Access to Sites............................................................................15 5.1 Grant a volunteer site access...........................................................15 5.2 Do not grant a volunteer site access................................................18 5.3 Update volunteer site list ................................................................19 6 Review Samples Entered by Volunteers.................................................................21 6.1 Background Information................................................................21 6.2 Approve a Sample..........................................................................21 6.3 Approve Multiple Samples at a Time ............................................25 6.4 Remove a Sample ..........................................................................27 7 Enter, Edit and Delete Sample Data .......................................................................28 7.1 Log in to the database ....................................................................28 7.2 Add Sample....................................................................................29 7.3 Edit Sample....................................................................................33 7.4 Delete Sample ................................................................................36 8 Enter and Update GPS Coordinates for a Site ........................................................38 8.1 Enter GPS Coordinates ..................................................................38 8.2 Update GPS Coordinates ...............................................................40 9 Manage Volunteers .................................................................................................41 9.1 View Volunteer Information..........................................................41 9.2 Remove a Volunteer ......................................................................42 10 Manage Personal Information...............................................................................44 10.1 Change email Address .................................................................44 10.2 Change Password .........................................................................45 10.3 Edit Personal Information ............................................................46

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1 Introduction Welcome to Wisconsin’s Water Action Volunteers (WAV) online database! This manual is designed for individuals who will be data coordinators for locally organized WAV stream monitoring efforts. WAV’s online database is available to be searched by anyone with Internet access. However, to ensure the integrity of data in the system, only registered volunteers and data coordinators may enter data to it or edit or delete data within it. The majority of users will register as volunteers and each will be associated with a data coordinator. As a data coordinator, you will have several roles to play to help ensure the online database is functioning as it is intended and that data stored in the database are good quality data. First, when a volunteer registers in the database, they are required to choose a coordinator with which to be associated. If they choose you, you will be notified by email that a volunteer registration requires your approval. You will be sent a link to the online database where you can approve or deny the person’s request and approve or deny them access to enter or manipulate data for existing sites with which you are associated. Next, data coordinators are responsible to check the data entered by volunteers who are associated with them to ensure the accuracy of the information entered by those volunteers. The way the database is designed, data entered by volunteers are placed in a temporary storage location after they are submitted by the volunteer. The volunteer’s data coordinator will receive an email message alerting them that data await their confirmation in the online database. The data coordinator must log in to the database and confirm that the entered data make sense based on the methods used, the area sampled, and scientifically. Some checkpoints have been programmed into the WAV database to help minimize data entry errors, but having a person review the information only adds confidence in the data that are stored within the system. Once the data are confirmed by the data coordinator, they are officially stored in the database. Finally, there may be volunteers who do not have access to the Internet or who would prefer to submit their data on paper data sheets instead of entering their findings directly to the online database. As the local coordinator, we’d ask that you enter data to the online database for those volunteers (it’s also OK if you wanted to find another volunteer who is willing to enter data for them and then you could quality check that information like with other data entered to the system). This manual will guide you through the coordinator registration process with step-by-step directions (Section 2). You will receive email confirmation that you have been registered (Note: registration is not an automated process, so please allow at least a week for your registration to be completed). At that time, you can use this manual once again to learn the procedures to make site requests (Section 3), to review volunteer applications and grant them access to sites (Sections 4 and 5), to review and approve samples (Section 6), to enter, edit and/or delete data or GPS coordinates in the database (Sections 7 and 8), and/or to manage volunteers or your personal information (Sections 9 and 10).

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You may want to print this manual so you can have it alongside you as you to use as reference. The manual contains images of what will appear on your computer screen as you work through the steps outlined in the manual, so sometimes it’s confusing to look at the manual online at the same time you are using the web database. If you have questions about any of your responsibilities as a data coordinator or about any of the procedures to follow to complete your tasks as data coordinator, contact Kris Stepenuck, WAV Coordinator, at 608-265-3887 or kris.stepenuck@ces.uwex.edu.

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2 Coordinator Registration 2.1 Access the Database: To start the registration process (and also to login once you are registered), go to: http://www.uwex.edu/erc/wavdb/ This will take you to the main page for the WAV database, which contains options to search data, to register, or to login to enter (or edit/delete) data. (Note: Additional information about the database is located at: http://watermonitoring.uwex.edu/wav/monitoring/database.html) 2.2 Register as a Coordinator: Choose the option to register at the top of the WAV Citizen Stream Monitoring Database page:

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This will take you to the registration screen:

As the webpage indicates, there are options to register as a volunteer or as a coordinator on the registration page. Choose the option to register as a coordinator. (Note: If you are a coordinator, you only need to register as a coordinator, not as a volunteer.) This will bring you to “Coordinator Registration Step 1 of 4”:

Enter your email address and choose a password. Enter this into the form. Re-enter your password to confirm you typed it correctly initially. Then click on the Continue button. Note: Although you can have the database send you a reminder regarding your password, it’s best to keep a record of it, as it is required for you to use when entering data into the database.

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This will bring you to “Coordinator Registration Step 2 of 4”:

Fill in your contact information into the form. Items with asterisks are required. Then click on the Continue button.

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This will bring you to “Coordinator Registration Step 3 of 4”:

If you are going to coordinate a site(s) that is already registered in the database, choose that site(s) from the available list by marking the box to the left of the site name. Then click on the Continue button. If you will coordinate at a previously unregistered location(s), click the Continue button without checking any sites. The next step in the process, defining the site(s) you will monitor, will require that you have some specific information about the stream(s) and the site(s) you will monitor. If you do not have the information (to be explained on page 7) you may still register and add site(s) later. Alternatively, the volunteers associated with you can register their own sites and simply opt to have you as their data coordinator, thus eliminating the need for you to register sites.

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This will bring you to “Coordinator Registration Step 4 of 4”:

If you do not have new sites to register, click in the area provided near the top of the screen to skip this step. For each new site that you want to coordinate that is not being registered separately by a volunteer, you must have a site description that will be used to identify the location. In this site description, include the stream name, nearby road crossings, and/or other characteristics that will allow someone else to find the site using the written description. If the stream is located within a park or other named area, you may wish to include this information as well. An example is: Yahara River, just upstream of East Washington St. bridge at Burr Jones Park in Madison. Choose which county the site is located in from the dropdown menu. You must also have the following site description information: Latitude (degrees, minutes, seconds) Longitude (degrees, minutes, seconds) GPS collection method GPS collection date This information is used to obtain a WDNR-assigned waterbody identification code and station identification code for the site you are registering. Note the link for “Tips on determining GPS coordinates” on this screen. This link provides you with directions for using WDNR’s online mapping system (called the Surface Water Data Viewer) to determine the GPS coordinates for sites without needing to leave your seat. Alternatively, you can use another online mapping tool (such as Google Earth) or you can take a hand held GPS unit to the site to determine this information. Please enter the date you determined GPS coordinates as well as the method you used.

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Once you have entered the site description, county, and GPS information, click on Continue button. An email message will be sent to the WAV coordinator requesting that you be permitted to coordinate the site(s) you requested. The WAV coordinator will validate your registration (please allow at least 1 week for this step to be completed; and more time during the spring training season). Upon validation of your request to become a coordinator you will receive an email informing you that your registration is complete. You may now use your email and password to log in to the database in order to coordinate the site(s). Note: You cannot log in to the database to coordinate the site(s) until you receive the email validation that your registration has been processed. Please allow a week for this process to be completed, as it is not an automated process.

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3 Make Site Requests 3.1 Request Access to an Existing Site Once you login this will bring you to “Coordinator Options”:

If you have not requested access to any sites, you have the option to request access to an existing site or request a new site. To request access to an existing site, choose that link and this will bring you to “Request Site Access”:

Choose that site(s) from the available list by marking the box to the left of the site name. Then click on the Make Request button. An email message will be sent to the WAV coordinator (i.e., the database administrator) requesting that you be permitted to enter data for the site(s) you requested. The WAV coordinator will validate your registration (please allow at least 1 week for this step to be completed; and more time during the spring training season).

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3.2 Make a New Site Request To request access to a new site, choose that option from the Coordinator Options page. This will bring you to “New Site Request”:

Follow directions on page 7 of this manual to request a new site. Then click the Continue button. An email message will be sent to the WAV coordinator (i.e., the database administrator) requesting that you be permitted to enter data for the site(s) you requested. The WAV coordinator will validate your registration (please allow at least 1 week for this step to be completed; and more time during the spring training season). Upon validation of your request to become a coordinator, you will receive an email informing you that you have been approved as a coordinator for the Water Action Volunteers' online database.

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4 Review Volunteer Application(s) 4.1 Background Information Once you have successfully registered as a coordinator in the database, volunteers will be able to choose you as their data coordinator. Once someone chooses you as their data coordinator you will receive an automated email from that person indicating that you a “Volunteer Registration Requires Your Approval”. You will receive a single weekly email reminder with the number of volunteer registrations that require your approval until you have completed those registrations. (Note: The weekly reminder email will also indicate how many volunteers are waiting to have access to a site granted to them and the number of samples waiting to be approved. These data coordinator roles are covered in sections 4 and 5 of this manual.) 4.2 Validate a volunteer The initial email you receive when a volunteer registers will contain a link to the webpage where you should go to approve or deny their request. Example text from the email you will receive follows:

“A volunteer has registered to enter data to the Water Action Volunteers' online database. They requested you to be their coordinator. Please visit http://www.uwex.edu/erc/wavdb/coordinators/ at your earliest convenience to approve or deny this person's request. This is an automatically generated message from the Water Action Volunteers' online database. http://www.uwex.edu/erc/wavdb/”

When you click on the link within the email, it will bring you to Coordinator Options:

You should see an option listed to “Review Volunteer Applications”. The number of new applications to review should appear in parentheses in red just to the right of that statement.

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Click on that link. This will bring you to “Validate Volunteer”:

Click on the name of the volunteer who you are considering validating. This will bring you to “Confirm Volunteer Validation”:

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There will be a list of sites shown that the volunteer has requested access to:

They will all be marked with a checkmark, but you can unmark any sites which you do not wish to grant that volunteer access. After indicating which sites the volunteer has permission to access, click on the Continue button. You will be informed that you have successfully validated the volunteer:

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4.3 Choosing not to validate a volunteer If you choose not to validate the volunteer, choose the option to “remove this person” at the bottom of the screen:

You will be informed that you have successfully removed the application request:

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5 Grant Volunteers Access to a Site(s) 5.1 Grant a volunteer site access In addition to granting access to existing sites upon registration, a volunteer may at some point request access to existing sites after they have registered and been approved as a volunteer in the database. In these circumstances, you will receive an automated email from the volunteer indicating that a site request requires your approval. Example text from the email you will receive follows:

“A volunteer has requested access to enter data for an existing monitoring site in the Water Action Volunteers online database. Please visit http://www.uwex.edu/erc/wavdb/coordinators/ at your earliest convenience to approve or deny this person's request. This is an automatically generated message from the Water Action Volunteers' online database. http://www.uwex.edu/erc/wavdb/”

Following the initial email, you will receive a single weekly email reminder with the number of site requests awaiting your approval, the number of volunteers who are waiting to have their registrations confirmed, and the number of samples waiting to be approved. When you click on the link within the email, it will bring you to “Coordinator Options”:

You should see an option listed to “Process volunteer requests to existing sites”. The number of new requests should appear in parentheses in red just to the right of that statement. Click on that link.

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This will bring you to “Site Access Requests”:

Click on the name of the volunteer who is requesting site access. This will display the sites that volunteer is interested in accessing:

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Mark the sites which you wish to grant that volunteer access.

Then click on the Grant Access button. You will be informed that you have successfully granted that volunteer access to those sites:

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5.2 Do not grant a volunteer site access You can also opt to not grant access to a volunteer for a site. Remove the site by clicking on the “X” to the right of the site name.

That site will be removed from the list of sites available to approve. Once you opt to grant or not grant access to the requested sites, you will be returned to the Coordinator Options page.

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5.3 Update Volunteer Site List As a local data coordinator, you also have permission to update sites a volunteer has access to, without that person requesting access. However, the only sites you have permission to grant a volunteer access to are those for which you are granted access. This option is listed on the Coordinator Options page:

Click on the link to “Edit volunteer site lists”. This will bring you to “Update Volunteer Site List”:

All of the volunteers for whom you are a local data coordinator will be listed on this screen. Choose the volunteer that you want to update a site list for. This will display a listing of sites. The sites for which the volunteer is granted access have a checkmark to the left of their name.

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Check the box next to any additional sites you wish to grant that volunteer access to. Then scroll to the bottom of the site list and click the Continue button.

You also have the option to cancel your request by clicking on the cancel button at the bottom of the screen. You will be notified that you have updated the volunteer’s approved site list:

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6 Review Samples Entered by Volunteers 6.1 Background Information To help ensure that data stored within the Water Action Volunteers database are of the best quality possible, when a volunteer enters data, that information is temporarily stored until it can be reviewed and confirmed by a local data coordinator. As a local data coordinator, it is your responsibility to review the information entered to the database by citizen volunteers who have chosen you as their local coordinator. 6.2 Approve a sample When a volunteer who is associated with you enters data, you will receive an automated email from them indicating that there are data that await your confirmation. The email will contain a link to the webpage where you should go to review their data. Example text from the email you will receive follows:

“Data await your confirmation to be placed into the Water Action Volunteers online database. Please visit http://www.uwex.edu/erc/wavdb/coordinators/ at your earliest convenience to approve or modify the data that have been entered. This is an automatically generated message from the Water Action Volunteers' online database. http://www.uwex.edu/erc/wavdb/”

When you click on the link within the email, it will bring you to “Coordinator Options”:

You should see an option listed to “Approve Sample”. The number of new samples waiting for you to approve should appear in parentheses in red just to the right of that statement.

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Click on that link. This will bring you to “Approve Samples”:

Click on the word “view” at the left of the sample you are reviewing. The sample data will appear for you to review on the Approve Samples screen, and the row of the sample you’re viewing will be highlighted in blue:

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Review the information that the volunteer entered and decide if it makes sense to you. For instance, does the sample time seem realistic? Does the transparency tube reading seem logical for the length tube the volunteer has and the site they monitor? This step requires that you have at least a basic understanding of the values able to be obtained using the WAV monitoring equipment and expected in Wisconsin streams. If you are unsure about data that have been entered for a site do not approve the sample. Instead, contact the volunteer to double check their results with them or contact the WAV coordinator to get a second opinion about the data that the volunteer entered. You can also obtain useful information about the data (including possible ranges at: http://watermonitoring.uwex.edu/wav/monitoring/database.html) If the data that have been entered make sense to you, approve the sample by first checking the checkbox on the left side of the table in the “Approve” column.

Then, click on the Approve box on the left side of the screen.

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You will be informed that you have successfully approved the sample:

Note: If you do not check the box in the table with the site information, and only click on the Approve button, the sample will not be approved. The information will remain in the temporary storage location outside the database and you will be reminded by automated email that you have a sample(s) to approve on a weekly basis.

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6.2 Approve multiple samples at one time If you have multiple samples to approve you can review them all at once and choose which to approve. When you log in to review samples, the number waiting to be approved is listed in red in parentheses just to the right of “Approve Sample”:

Click on the “Approve Sample” link and all of the samples waiting to be approved will appear on the Approve Samples screen:

For each, follow directions starting on page 22 to review the entered data. For each of the samples you wish to approve, first check the box on the left side of the table.

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Then click on the Approve button.

You will be informed that you have successfully approved the samples. You will also be informed if you have any samples still to be reviewed.

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6.3 Remove a sample

If any of the data in a sample appear to be invalid you should contact the volunteer who entered the information.

If you confirm that the data are indeed correct, approve the sample as noted above. However, if you find out that the data are incorrect you need to remove the sample from the database. Although it’s hoped that editing the portion of the data that is incorrect will be an available option in the future, at the time of writing this manual that is not possible. Thus, any data inaccuracies that you locate during your review must be corrected by initially deleting the sample from the database, then re-entering the information for that site and date in its entirety. Data entry can be done by either the volunteer or you (if you have the complete and correct information) since both you and the volunteer have access to the site in the database.

Note: If you have the correct information in hand at the time you are reviewing the data, you can approve the sample and immediately go in and edit the information for that site and date. However, this is NOT recommended, as invalid data can be entered to the database and then be forgotten to be corrected. Therefore, in most circumstances, please delete the data from the database and ask the volunteer to re-enter the information they collected for that site and date.

Remove data from the database by clicking on the “X” on the right side of the data table:

The site will disappear from the available list of samples to approve.

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7 Enter, Edit, and Delete Data 7.1 Login to the database Once you are registered as a data coordinator in the WAV online database, you can access the database at this web address: http://www.uwex.edu/erc/wavdb/ You can either use the Quick Login located on the right side of the main screen or click on the Login button at the top of the page:

Enter your email address and password that you chose when you registered. If you forgot your password, enter your email address and click the Login button and an email will be sent to you with your password included in it.

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7.2 Add Sample If you have previously requested site access and received an email indicating that your registration is complete, when you login the Coordinator Options screen will include options to Add Sample, Edit Sample or Delete Sample:

To enter data for a site, click on the Add Sample link.

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Fill in as much information as you have from your monitoring visit.

There are multiple options on the Add Sample page to provide you with information that can help you fill in the fields properly. First, because you are required to enter temperature in degrees Celsius, there is a temperature converter that allows conversion from Fahrenheit to Celsius for those using thermometers graduated in Fahrenheit. Second, because you are required to enter transparency in inches, there is a centimeter to inch converter for those using transparency tubes graduated in centimeters. There are also calculators for both Biotic Index and Habitat available on the Add Sample page. Please use these and fill in the detailed information about each of these parameters from your paper data sheets. The database is designed to automatically calculate your Biotic Index and Habitat assessment scores after you enter the detailed information about your observations.

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Note for users of the previous version of the WAV database (2002-2007): In the last version of the WAV online database if your transparency reading was 21.6 inches or greater, you were asked to indicate in the comments section that transparency was <10 NTUs. In this version of the database, an automated conversion is done within the database for transparency measurements greater than 21.5 inches, thus, you do not need to indicate that NTUs were <10 in the comments section any longer (though you may still do so if you wish). Once you have filled in the information in the fields provided, click on the Continue button at the bottom of the page.

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You will then come to the Sample Confirmation screen.

Make sure the data you have entered are correct. If the information is correct, click on the Confirm Sample button at the bottom of the screen. If the information is not correct, click on the Modify Sample button and make the appropriate changes. Then resubmit the data by clicking the Continue button and recheck data in the Sample Confirm screen to be sure you’ve made the changes that are necessary. If the information is correct, click on the Confirm Sample button. Once you have confirmed the sample data are correct, you are returned to the Coordinator Options menu.

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7.3 Edit Sample To edit a sample that you have already entered into the system click on the Edit Sample link.

Next, click on the site name for which you want to edit the data.

The list of all samples taken at this site will appear. Click Edit on the left side of the sample you wish to edit.

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You will now come to a screen that lists all the collected data for that sample. You may make any edits to the data that are needed.

Make your changes and click on the Continue button at the bottom.

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This will take you to the Sample Confirm screen:

If the information you edited is correct, click on the Confirm Sample button. If it is not correct, click on the Modify Sample button and make the appropriate changes, then click the Continue button, and finally the Confirm Sample button to make the changes. Upon Confirming the Sample, you will be returned to the Coordinator Options screen.

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7.4 Delete Sample To delete a sample that you have already entered into the system, click on the Delete Sample link on the Coordinator Options screen:

Next, click on the site name where the sample you wish to delete was collected.

The list of all samples taken at this site will appear. Click the “X” next to the sample you wish to delete.

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Confirm this is the correct sample to delete by choosing the option “Yes, delete this sample”. If it is not the sample you wish to delete, choose to “No, select a different sample” or “No, do not delete any samples” from the list of options at the bottom of the page.

Once the sample is deleted, you will be returned to the Coordinator Options page.

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8 Enter and Update GPS Coordinates for a Site 8.1 Enter GPS Coordinates for a Site To enter or change the geographic positioning system (GPS) Longitude and Latitude coordinates for a site, start by clicking on the link to “Update GPS coordinates for a site” on the Coordinator Options page:

Next, click on the site name for which you wish to enter or update the GPS coordinates.

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This will take you “Update GPS coordinates”:

Enter the GPS coordinate information in degrees, minutes and seconds. If your data are not in degrees, minutes and seconds, contact the WAV coordinator (kris.stepenuck@ces.uwex.edu or 608-265-3887). Then select the GPS Collection Method from the pull down menu. To see a description of the different methods, click on the link called “View Methods”. Enter the date that the GPS coordinates were collected. Click on the Continue button. This will save the information in the database.

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8.2 Update GPS Coordinates for a Site If you have already entered GPS coordinates for a site but would like to change them, follow the same procedure as listed in 8.1. The latitude and longitude values you previously entered will appear in the degrees, minutes and seconds boxes on the Update GPS Coordinates screen.

Make your appropriate changes and click on the Continue button. Once you have submitted the GPS data you will be returned to the Coordinator Options page.

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9 Manage Volunteers 9.1 View Volunteer Information As a local data coordinator you have the ability to view information about volunteers with whom you are associated in the database. To do this, on the Coordinator Options page there is an option to View Volunteer Information. Click on that link.

A list of all volunteers with which you are associated will appear:

Choose one of the volunteers by clicking on their name.

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That person’s contact information and sites which they are granted access will appear:

9.2 Remove a Volunteer As Data Coordinator you also have the option to remove a volunteer from having access to the manipulating data in the database. On the Coordinator Options page, choose to Remove a Volunteer:

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A list of all volunteers with which you are associated will appear:

Choose which volunteer you wish to remove by clicking on their name. That person’s contact information and sites which they are granted access will appear:

Click on “Remove this Volunteer” at the bottom of the screen. You will be notified that you have successfully removed that volunteer:

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10 Manage Personal Information You can also edit your personal information in the database, including your email address, password and personal contact information. 10.1 Change Email Address To change your email address, start at the Coordinator Options page:

Choose the link to change email address and change your email address as you wish.

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10.2 Change Password To change your password, start at the Coordinator Options page:

Enter your existing and new password and confirm your new password. Then click the Continue button.

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10.3 Edit Personal Information To edit your personal information such as your address, start at the Coordinator Options page:

Click on the link to Edit Personal Information and edit your information as desired.

Then click the Update Information button.

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