Collection stop instructions

This page is about general considerations when we stop collecting something. The audience is anyone in the main office who needs to consolidate this, they are not part of regular data collection instructions. For specific actions for particular fields and dropdowns, check the Category:Collection stop instructions to see if instructions exist, otherwise consider the other pages in there for similar fields as a starting point.

Consider general impact

Many of our diagnoses are part of CCMDB.accdb Data Integrity Checks or other checks, Indicators or Reports. If we have made sure to link to the field name or specific content that is being retired from any relevant documentation then we can find all related items by looking a the "What links here" link from the page for the item (eg a diagnosis) or field that contains the item (eg the dispo field).

Consider how to handle the transition

For some drop-down fields only the code number is stored in the L-tables, and the verbal description is shown by the field because it looks up the code in the s-tables; other fields display the actual value from the s-tables. For most fields, the data source property for the dropdown filters out values with dates that puts today's date out of their valid range (or inactive checkboxes in the s-tables), so the entered value has no corresponding entry in the dropdown, which then displays it as blank. The fact that there will be blanks needs to be addressed. Options:

• change it before the value is retired so there are none left; a query may need to be made available to collectors to find all instances efficiently; possibly by putting a cross-check to force the change
• let it be; accept that some will be blank, expect that collectors will have entered the correct thing on the first go-around
• leave the old value available until the last record with it is sent, but put code on the change event of the field that rejects entering the record going forward
  • depending on how that is implemented, it could also be a permanent solution to this that deals with other codes in the future, but it would add 4 more bits of code that run all the time and slow things down as the program is used

Stage the change

Consider the change and what you found in #Consider general impact to decide if you can just make the change or if the item needs to be phased out. If collectors currently have the item in one of their incomplete records, several things can go wrong.

• dropdown fields may appear empty / blank, making collectors think they did not enter the field yet
  • in these cases the data stays intact even if the field looks blank, but if the blank field confuses a collector and they edit the field, they won't be able to put the value back in. In that case, the Data Processor can re-instate it once the record is sent.
• Cross checks may flag the data as invalid

Consider timing

We try to keep data within our Regular reports consistent within reporting periods, especially for items that are related to Indicators. Discuss with Julie how this will be handled.

Documentation Update

Collectors may no longer need to see the information about items that are no longer collected, but the wiki is also used to document legacy data, so we should not just delete content collectors no longer need. Consider what users of our data will need to know when they look at the documentation. Generally, info relevant only for data use can be moved lower down on a page under an appropriate heading. If there are concerns that collectors may accidentally follow the instructions if they are visible, use one of the collapsing templates to hide it from casual view.

All related items and their documentation need to be updated to reflect that a dx is no longer collected. That includes the linked ones, but also consider if general instructions that may not link to the discontinued thing or refer to it generically need to be updated.

If multiple items are affected, consider Change Explainer Pages.

Special:ReplaceText can be helpful but use it carefully, reversing an overreaching automated change can be tedious.