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Plant History Database
Overview
The Plant History Database
is a Microsoft Access application
designed for tracking the history of plant materials held by gardens,
arboretums, etc.
Information Subjects
The database is designed to rigorously track:
- Plant materials acquired but not yet moved into formal garden holdings
- Accessions of acquired plant materials into formal garden holdings
- Donors providing either plant materials or funding for plant acquisition
- Complete taxon names defined for use within the garden
- Name Components used to construct complete taxon names
- Individual specimens representing materials accessioned into formal
garden holdings
- Actions
- Measurements, prunings, removals, etc performed on an individual
specimen
- Action crew members/roles
- Involvement of individual staff members in
- Within-database help message system customizable by database
administrator
- Descriptions of origins, including: geographic location, collector
name, collector plant id, elevation, latitude/longitude
More detailed description of major information subjects is provided on the
about/data model page.
Future revisions of the database are expected to include:
- Tracking of identity verifications, qualification level of
verifiers and materials (floras, etc) used for verification
- Tracking of within-garden plant lineage
Rigorous Data Storage
The underlying data structures are specifically
designed to avoid common database deficiencies. Data
structures are also designed for generality, to match
the basic information needs of most users.
In addition, nearly all code lists used to populate drop-down lists,
etc are user-customizable.
Plant Names
Plant names are rigorously managed:
- Each full, unique plant name used within the database is
defined only once
- Since names are not entered repeatedly, spelling errors
are minimized.
- Each assignment of a name to an individual plant accession
is linked to a pre-defined name
- Construction of formal plant names used within the garden
can be easily restricted to persons with appropriate
expertise.
- Changes in names are immediately reflected throughout the
database
- After a change to a defined name, all accessions and
specimens using that name will show the updated value
- Name components such as family or genus names are
defined only once
- Since name components are not entered repeatedly,
spelling errors are minimized
- Each assignment of a name to a plant accession indicates
start and end date for that use
- History of name changes due to taxonomic revisions or
misidentification can the be readily tracked
- Name components are strongly typed
- A name component marked for use as a family designation
can only be used for that purpose, etc
Record Selection Tools
The database includes a series of
sophisticated record selection
forms that provide the user
powerful abilities to search for records.
Records matching the user's specifications may then be viewed, edited,
or summarized using numerous pre-defined reports. Some reports are
specifically designed to creation of data export files.
Reports typically include a description of the
selection criteria used to identify included records.
Multiple-User Design
The database is specifically designed to
facilitate multiple user access.
Later conversions of the server
component
to DBMSs
such as MySQL, SQL*Server, Postgres, etc. will offer higher
performance than current MS-Access implementations.
Open Source Licensing
The application is distributed by
Bednar Consulting
under the open source
Gnu Lesser General
Public License.
Base For Customization
Because the base application was designed for generality, and
is provided under a generous open source license, it
provides an excellent starting point for modifications
required by groups with unique information needs. No need to
develop common core functions from scratch. Technical
documentation provided on this web site should allow a
skilled developer to revise the system as needed.
Technical Documentation
Available technical documentation should facilitate the
work of third party developers or suitably skilled
garden staff