Managing environmental knowledge and the necessary IT tools - Environmental Deterioration and Contamination: Problems and their Management - page 442

- Obligatory multipage, author must fill in at least one page but more than one

copies of the same page can be filled in;

- Optional multipage, author may fill in one or more copies of the same page.

Currently, there are 22 datasheet types organized in the ENFO into five groups:
1. General information; 2. Environmental technology; 3. Assessment/monitoring
method; 4. Study/publication; 5. Waste/by-product. More than 100 different page
types and forms have been defined. The middle part contains the tables/data that can
be edited by the users. The number of tables behind the “Page data'' box is the same
as that of the page types defined in the database. The page data block represents many
tables, one table for each page type. The registered user's database table can be found
on the right-hand side of the diagram.
The database can be used for obtaining information with or without decision
support. Users can select “text search'' or “search by matrix.''
The database is extended daily; registered users can post their method or
technology by filling out the appropriate datasheet.
The methods and technologies can be published by completing online forms.
The input data verification can be done in several steps: The input of data and
use of the database are supported by the user manual (the help command) and the
explanations in the opening windows when the cells of the datasheet are being filled out.
The online data input can be performed in two languages (Hungarian and English),
the datasheet cells and their contents are automatically translated and the information
is shown in the selected language. The online data input has the following stages:
users register and obtain a password and the right to access the datasheets; then after
completing the compulsory and optional cells of the datasheets, the automatic control
system transfers the relevant datasheets to the list awaiting review by the responsi-
ble host; finally, when this manual review has been done, the same responsible host
forwards the sheet to the public interface of the database. Currently, information is
available for any web surfer in the form of a “list.'' The database is bilingual; datasheet
information deriving from the selection of the ready-made lists is automatically trans-
lated. The special descriptions and individual information should be translated by the
users by filling in the English version of the datasheet.
Two different user interfaces were created for the risk management database. One
for any user to browse and search all validated datasheets in the database. The other
is for registered users to create and update their own datasheets.
The datasheets stored may have different status: “input,'' “checked'' or “vali-
dated.'' A datasheet has “input'' status while being edited by the owner; it is not
necessary to fill in all data in one session. There is no time limit to finish the datasheet
input. After the data input the user can check the consistency of the whole datasheet.
It involves checking the presence of the obligatory fields, pages and validating the
field data input. This check is performed by the database management software. The
datasheet gets the “checked'' status if the software does not find any errors. After
the successful check of the datasheet, validators (responsible people delegated by the
ENFO) are asked to validate it. Validators may consult with the sheet owner and, if
they accept the datasheet, it gets the “validated'' status, and it will be available to the
public. Validated datasheets can be changed by the owner, but the status is changed
back to “input'' and it must go through the checking and validating phases again.