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Scripts should allow anyone to validate their data before entering them into DATIM.
Scripts are written in the R programming language. Will allow for validation to occur offline and on your own machine.
Question - does the DATIM test environment run the same validations as production?
Jason - yes.
Jason - you can run the R scripts on your own machine before transmitting to PEPFAR
Question - How do we get the scripts?
Jason - They are on GitHub. I have posted the link in the notes. Anyone is free to download and contribute.
Question - Is there a forum for individuals to discuss errors and issues they are having with the validations?
Mark - Will be tracked via the helpdesk
Jason- Issues related to the scipts, can also be posted on the github site.
Question - how often is the synchronization between dev and the production environments
Jason - Right now this is a weekly process. The challenge is that if you are adding sites, they may not be there right away. You can use production org units to run your validation script without actually importing the data
Question - What is the minimal requirement for running validations locally? Who runs these?
Jason - Only requirement for running the scripts is the R programing language, if you can load this technically anyone can do it. ( you also need to be able to load software on your machine)
Stacey - Where are you finding information and what type of information you need? Is there anything we can make more accessible?
Mozambique - Documentation is clear. Knew where to find it and if we had trouble we knew who to ask.
Invalid data elements and category options
There have been changes and there will continue to be changes. There are checks in the validation scripts to help you with this. There may also need some changes to the guidance documents to help with the data entry screens. Legacy support can create challenges because old disaggregations are not removed from the data entry screen.
Issues with FACTS/mechanisms
All the mechanism information on DATIM is synced nightly via FACTSInfo
Occasional problems with mechanism files where they are not activated. If the mechanism is not in FACTSInfo it cannot be corrected in DATIM.
A method in the data validation script will allow for this issue to be identified earlier so corrections can be made
Would be helpful to have SQL views under source control. Has not been documented either - should work to document what all of these views do.
Issues with the time period.
All periods in DATIM refer to calendar quarters, not the PEPFAR quarters.
Documentation is being added to map the PEPFAR and calendar quarters to add more clarity.
Data exchange updates
DHIS 2.21 is going into production, but we don't have a date at this time.
Biggest impact will be that there are more restrictions on the type of data that are allowed to be imported into DATIM. Will only allow for 0 or positive integers for example.
Functions are included in the DATIM validation scripts.
SIMS data elements validation is also included.
Question - is there a list of all the SIMS data elements availible?
Jason - yes, it's all in the DATIM API, can also be done by creating an SQL view.
Preview updated data import references that will be presented at DATIM field trainings
Working on an A-Z scenario to show how data can be imported into DATIM from another non-DATIM HMIS. For a training in Johannesburg.
Documentation that Jason will create will be availible on the helpdesk.