Standards module

The Standards module was introduced with EMu 9.0, enabling users to maintain a range of industry standards. EMu 10 saw the addition of functionality to calculate field values, making it possible for institution's to define their own Summary Data, Extended Data or indeed any field calculations without the need to have Axiell modify the database forms.

Managing Standards

While the design of EMu is guided by international standards, updating standards in EMu or implementing new or emerging standards was previously only possible through interaction with Axiell and EMu upgrades as the standards were built into the product. The Standards module gives institutions the autonomy and flexibility to maintain a range of industry standards such as Darwin Core or Audubon Core for data sharing purposes; by pairing EMu fields with individual terms from a standard, institutions are able to export their EMu data compliant with that standard.

A standard is defined in EMu through the creation and maintenance of two types of record in the Standards module:

Record Type	Details
Term Definition	A Term Definition record associates one or more EMu fields with a term in a standard. Multiple Term Definition records are created for each standard.
Standard	A Standard record groups Term Definitions into a single export format compliant with a particular standard.

Using the EMu Scheduled Exports facility, it is then possible to export EMu data compliant with that standard. While a typical export from EMu allows data to be exported from one or more columns, data is exported as is; it cannot be manipulated, formatted or combined with other values as it is exported. When exporting to a standard it is possible to combine, manipulate and format values from two or more columns to produce a single export value.

When a standard changes in some way, the change can be implemented in EMu immediately by updating Term Definitions, keeping exported EMu data compliant with the standard. There is no limit to the number of Term Definitions that can be created, nor the number of standards that can be supported.

Details about how to define a standard in EMu here.

Calculating field values

The Field Definition Record Type2 is used to calculate and assign a value for any field in any module:

A Field Definition record includes code that is executed whenever a record is created or modified, the result of which is a value that is assigned to a field immediately before the record is saved. This makes it possible to define your own Summary Data, Extended Data or indeed any field calculations without the need to have Axiell modify the database forms.

The Calculated Registry entry is used to control which fields have calculated values. Support is provided for both single and multiple value fields. Only fields listed in a Calculated Registry entry will have calculated values, and all other fields will continue to use the EMu default value generator.

Details about how to define calculated fields in EMu here.

Typical Standards tabs and their purpose

Tabs	Description
Term3 & Script tabs	Displays when Record Type = Term Definition. On the Term tab a term in a standard is associated with one or more EMu fields; here we specify any conditions that determine what data is output, and define the format of the output data. When creating a Term Definition record, two mutually exclusive methods for formatting the output data are available, String and Script. The Script method allows for more complex formatting of the output data than is possible with String. We use the Script tab to define a perl subroutine for formatting the output data: Details about how to define a standard in EMu here.
Field & Script tabs	Displays when Record Type = Field Definition4. On the Field tab we name the field definition and define the module and field whose value is to be calculated. In the Script Fields group of fields we select one or more fields whose values will be available to the script code when calculating the field value: A Script tab is added to the module, and here define a perl subroutine (`fieldFormat`) for calculating the field value: Details about how to define calculated fields in EMu here.
Standard	Displays when Record Type = Standard. A Standard record groups individual Term Definitions into a single export format compliant with a particular standard: Details here.
Notes	See Notes tab for details.
Multimedia	See Multimedia tab for details.
Security	See Security tab for details.
Audit	See Audit tab for details.
Admin	See Admin tab for details.