User instructions for DATSU (Data Screening Utility)
The DATSU program is to be used for screening data files (e.g. 3.2 formatted data files).
This is a short manual on how to use DATSU for the screening of data files.
1. Start the DATSU program by going to the webpage:
http://www.ices.dk/datacentre/datsu/ (see Figure 1).
2. Type in the password “spider”
3. Follow the steps 1 to 8:
Step 1. Browse and select the file to be screened
Step 2. Select the file type format. For 3.2 formatted data the type is “delimited”
Step 3. Indicate the separator (Comma or Semi-Colon)
Step 4. Select the data format (e.g. “3.2 Biota”)
Step 5. Select the country for file
Step 6. Select monitoring year for file
Step 7. Indicate the maximum number of errors to be reported (max is 5000)
Step 8. Write e-mail address (will be used to send error report)
4. Press submit and the screening will start (see Figure 2)
At this stage the webpage can be closed. The error report will be sent to the e-mail
address. You can also wait until “Results” are displayed on the page and then click
on it.
5. The error report can be viewed (see Figure 3). For 3.2 formatted data the submitted
error report contains a file summary at the end where the number of
measurements, minimum and maximum values can be viewed per Matrix,
Parameter and Unit (Figure 4). For disease data a table is included with disease
prevalence per station, species and disease.
The intension has been to make the error messages as explanatory as possible within
the frame limit that makes DATSU a generic tools for many different types of data. The
following message type (Table 1) might need some explanation and is therefore
described here with an example:
Table 1 Cross check warning
Line
Error Description
number
Severity
Error Value(s)
Affected
Field(s)
12
Error
Line 13, R10.VALUE
<= R04.NOINP
R10,
Condition
Cross record/field check
(condition not met)
Cross check errors/warnings - where fields are checked against other fields and
records - are explained with a link to condition and a related record. In the example
above, the NOINP (Number of individuals in subsample) value of the “04” record in line
12 of the data file is less than the VALUE for the affected number of individuals of the
related “10” record in line 13. Therefore the condition “R10.VALUE <= R04.NOINP” is
not met and an error was generated.
Figure 1 DATSU web-interface
Figure 2 Performing screening
Figure 3 Error report
Figure 4 File summary