Speciation Data Validation Analysis Tool (SDVAT) version 2.2.2 ======================================================================= Introduction ------------ The Speciation Data Validation Analysis Tool (SDVAT) is designed to allow review and validation of data from the Speciation Trends Network (STN) monthly monitoring reports. The SDVAT imports data from the monthly Microsoft (MS) Excel spreadsheets, displays the data for modification and approval, and presents data analyses to the user in MS Excel charts and spreadsheets. Requirements ------------ The SDVAT program requires a personal computer with the following: > Windows 2000 or Windows XP operating system. > 256 megabytes (MB) of random access memory (RAM). Users who plan to review a large number of sites look at long time periods or run other applications while using the SDVAT program may want to add more memory. > Pentium (500 MHz or higher) or similar processor. > MS Excel 2000 or later (XP) (preferably as part of MS Office XP). This program has not been tested with other versions of MS Excel. > MS Access 2000 or later (XP) - optional. Users without MS Access may install a version including the MS Access Runtime package. This is less desirable than using MS Access included with the office suite and the Runtime package should only be installed if MS Access is not available. This program has not been tested with other versions of MS Excel or MS Access. > Sufficient free hard-drive space to install the program, data, and the run-time version of MS Access (if used). This program may run on machines with less memory or slower processors, but it could cause poor performance. Not having adequate RAM can result in significantly slower operation while lower processor speed will generally cause a lesser effect. Installation ------------ Two types of installation are possible 1) (Preferred method) for machines with MS Excel 2000 or later AND MS Access 2000 or later. 2) (Alernate method) for machines with MS Excel 2000 or later but WITHOUT MS Access. This method should should only be used if MS Access is not available. Please see the User's Guide for more information Changes from version 2.2.1 to 2.2.2 ------------------------------- 1) The mass reconstruction and species distribution analysis routines were extensively rewritten to improve their speed. Although there is still a significant delay when running these routines, typical run times have been reduced from several hours in version 2.2.1 to 10 minutes or less in version 2.2.2. Note that your run times may be significantly greater if you are using a machine with little RAM or have multiple programs open at the same time. Changes from version 2.2 to 2.2.1 ------------------------------- 1) Several problems migrating old data from current and earlier versions of the SDVAT have been fixed. 2) The SDVAT uses a temporary file for importing data. When importing from a CD-ROM this temporary file was created as a read-only file, which could not be removed by the SDVAT. This has been fixed and the temporary file should be removed after the import from CD-ROM. Changes from version 2.1.2 to 2.2 --------------------------------- 1) Fixed Mass Reconstruction and Species Distribution Analysis Tools to work with the new XRF analyte suite (33 vs 48 elements) Changes From Version 2.1 to 2.1.1 --------------------------------- 1) Fixed problem that caused duplicate rows to be appended after a cancelled import. Changes from Version 1 (1.1 to 1.3) ----------------------------------- 1) SDVAT version 2 may be used to directly import data from earlier SDVAT versions or other copies of SDVAT (such as might be used for separate sites in a State or Agency). The previous versions required exporting data to Excel spreadsheets for transfer to other copies. Creating such spreadsheets for transfer is no longer needed. Please see the User's Guide for more information 2) File import has been simplified and made more reliable. Users may import data directly from both old and new format files. Users no longer need to remove uncertainty columns or add header information to STN files before SDVAT import. 3) Minor changes to application forms. 4) Revised User's Guide. 5) Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millinium Edition (ME) are no longer supported.