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Biodata Management Guide
18 December 2013 by Dan Randow with support from Horizons Regional Council and financial assistance from the Terrestrial and Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (TFBIS) Programme (Project 263). Licensed under CC BY 3.0.
Good biodiversity management requires good decisions. Good decisions require good data. Managing biodiversity and biosecurity data is difficult. There are a lot of things to think about. It is hard to know where to start and what to prioritise.
This Guide can help you assess and plan improvements to a biodata management system.
Mature data management means that data is fit for purpose while costs are managed.
Use the Guide
- Use the Mini-Guide for a quick data management assessment and improvement plan.
- Use the System Assessment Form (login to Google is required) for a comprehensive data management assessment and improvement plan. (A review version of the Assessment Form does not require a Google login.)
- Use the Reference for information and resources for improving biodata management.
This Guide can be used for a strict assessment if required. It can also be used to stimulate thinking and discussion about how data management could be improved.
Scope of the Guide
The Guide relates to the practices that are used to manage biodata, as well as the technology that is used. It is designed to be used on systems of any scale, using any type of technology, that manage data that is:
- about any species including indigenous and pest species,
- about any ecosystems including all habitats for indigenous species,
- about any management of biodiversity including protection, restoration and community-engagement activities, and the policies, programmes, projects, priorities and site-designations within which activities are carried out,
- collected by any survey method including casual observations, community monitoring, rigorous surveys and even uncertain methods as may be the case with legacy data (the use of recognised survey methods is recommended, of course),
- of any quality (systems should ensure that data quality is not degraded, and that data of low reliability is not visible to people who are not qualified to interpret it), and
- for any purpose including planning, management, operations, education and community engagement.
Questions and Feedback
You can:
Help to Maintain the Guide
The technical documentation explains how the Guide is generated and how to participate in maintaining it.