Guidelines, Specificatons
and Standard Operating Procedures
The documents provided here support procedures for the SWAN Inventory & Monitoring Program.
All deliverables (such as reports, data, field notes, photos, and materials) collected by projects funded by the Southwest Alaska Network are property of the National Park Service. Documents highlighted in pink are of most interest to project leaders and contractors.
Deliverables Overview:
Products delivered from a project may include reports, field notes, data, maps, photographs, specimens, etc. Each product will have its own set of guidelines, but these guidelines will follow this similar process:
- Delivery
- Product Review
- Centralized Repository
- Documented and Cataloged
- Made Discoverable by Searching
- Made Discoverable by Browsing
- Made Accessible by Distributing
Guidelines:
File Management:
File Management Guidelines:
- Filename Cheatsheet
- Open Project Organizer - Word format.
- Vital Signs Project Organizer - Word format.
The Project Organizer acts much like a web home page. It is the key document for finding all of the documents and data for a project.
The purpose of the Project Organizer is to:
- Help project personnel organize and find project documents and data
- Help park managers access and understand the project data, results, and management implications.
Report Management:
Overview:
General Procedure:
- Reports submitted to the Inventory and Monitoring Program will be written following the guidelines provided.
- A Report series number will be assigned by a designated NPS employee according to the Report Series Numbers guidelines.
- Reports will be reviewed according to guidelines.
- Reports will be cataloged in NatureBIB database and the electronic copy of this report will be linked to the bibliography.
- Reports submitted will be distributed according to the guidelines provided.
- Each receiving office will be responsible for its own filing system.
- Reports will be printed on acid free paper, given an accession and catalog number by an authorized NPS employee, and archived.
- Reports will be entered into ANCS+ by an authorized NPS employee as part of the archival process.
- Reports will remain in archives according to records management guidelines.
- Technical Committee and I&M mailing list will be notified of the report availability via e-mail or newsletter.
Report Guidelines:
- Annual Report & Final Report Information
- Types of Reports and Schedule - doc - Servicewide
- Natural Resource Technical Report (NRTR) & Natural Resource Report (NRR) Information - Servicewide
- Template for Annual Progress Reports & Final Reports - See "Templates" section on NRPM website
- Interim Peer Review Guidelines for the Inventory and Monitoring Program
- Specifications for Report Series Numbering for the Inventory and Monitoring Program - Dec. 2004
- Specifications for Electronic Storage of Reports for the Inventory and Monitoring Program - Dec. 2004
- Specifications for Distribution of Reports for the Inventory and Monitoring Program - Jan. 2006
NatureBIB
References:
- Natural Resource Stewardship and Science
- NPS Editing Reference Manual
- Suggestions for the Composition of Technical Reports in the Natural-Resource Sciences
- National Information Standard Organization (NISO)
- Standard Technical Report Number Format and Creation
- Scientific and Technical Reports - Elements, Organization, and Design
- NPS Focus Image Creation and Management Guide
Protocol Management:
Protocol Management Guidelines:
Guidelines for Long-term Monitoring Protocols
Template for Database Planning Summary for Vital Signs
Monitoring protocols are detailed study plans that explain how data are to be collected, managed, analyzed, and reported, and are a key component of quality assurance for natural resource monitoring programs. Protocols are necessary to ensure that changes detected by monitoring actually are occurring in nature and not simply a result of measurements taken by different people or in slightly different ways.
Tabular Data:
Designing a Database:
- Template for Database Planning Summary for Vital Signs
- ROMN Software Development SOP
- Natural Resource Database Template (NRDT)
- Database Naming Standards
- Database Specifications Guidelines
- Application development Specifications
- Recommended Database Strategies Including I&M Database Template
- Database Documentation Template
Geospatial Data:
Overview:
Geospatial data may include geographic information system (GIS) data or global positional system (GPS) data. The National Park Service has extensive experience with GIS and GPS, and have developed guidelines and many webpages supporting this technology.
GIS Guidelines:
- GIS Specifications Guidelines
- GPS for GIS Workflow
- GIS metadata
References:
Natural History Archives and Collections :
Overview:
Items collected from the park, such as plants, require a permit from each park. Contact the park research coordinator or permitting officer.
Materials such as vouchers collected should follow procedures described by the contract.
Guidelines:
- Museum Collection Web Catalog
- NPS Museum Handbook
- NPS Director's Order 19: Records Management
- NPS DO 19, Appendix B - Records Disposition Schedule
- Museum Procedure Check List for Natural History Collections
Photos Management:
Overview:
Photo Guidelines:
- Photograph Management Strategy
- Download ThumbsPlus Library Tools - version 1
- Download ThumbsPlus Template for Photo Point Monitoring - version 1
- Photo Management and ThumbsPlus Presentations
- Photo Protection Presentation (ThumbsPlus)
- Update on ThumbsPlus - Ft. Collins Data Manager's Meeting 2006
Other Photo References:
- Initial Image Software Review - Draft
- Geo-Linking Photos: Notes and comparisons (2007) - Joel Cusick, AKRO
- Adding Lat/Long from EXIF into ThumbsPlus user field - Joel Cusick, AKRO
