Having found and downloaded a content model that meets your needs, find the content model on your computer and open it. The content model may be compressed as a ZIP file; if so, extract the content model from the ZIP file before opening it.

Figure 1: Tabs in Excel; each tab indicates an individual spreadsheet

Each content model is an Excel workbook containing several spreadsheets; each spreadsheet is associated with its own tab (Figure 1); each tab is described in the following list:

• About: Describes the content model, its authors, version information and data history
• Notes: Information specific to a particular content model, including conventions, color codes, and specific terminology. Notes can also be used by subrecipients to add information that pertains to the submitted dataset
• Dataset Metadata: Information used to populate a metadata record describing the completed dataset. Once the content model is populated with actual data, the metadata describing that data will be entered into the Dataset Metadata spreadsheet, from which an independent metadata record will eventually be generated. This metadata record will be entered into the NGDS Catalog and used to locate and access your dataset.
• Template: The spreadsheet in which actual data will be entered (Figure 2) according to the practices defined in the Field List and Data Valid Terms spreadsheets; for more information, see the next page of this tutorial.

  

  Figure 2: The Template spreadsheet. The cells are the top of each column contain information used to generate database fields

  • The first row of information in the Template spreadsheet is used to generate fields in a database. Consequently, each column represents a database field, and columns in the Template spreadsheet are often referred to as fields
  • Each column is intended to record only the data indicated in the cell at the top of the column. For example, if the cell at the top of column D is labeled APINo, then the column should contain only API numbers for each database record. For specific instructions regarding each field, see the Field List spreadsheet
  • It should be noted that the content models often refer to columns or fields as elements or exchange elements. Don’t be alarmed! The terms field and element are often used interchangeably because they refer to different implementations of the same concept. An element can be considered the XML equivalent of a database field or spreadsheet column
• Field List: The Field List tab describes each field of the Template spreadsheet in detail (Figure 3), indicating the kind of data each field should contain and the manner in which that information should be entered; this description includes whether or not a subrecipient is required to populate a given field. The Field List will also indicate whether or not specific vocabulary from the Data Valid Terms tab should be used in a given field. It should be noted that not all Field List spreadsheets are at the same level of development – some will provide more information than others. Optimally, the Field List spreadsheet will provide a description for each field, as well as data entry instructions, notes explaining the peculiarities of a given field, and examples of data entered into the field.

  

  Figure 3: The Field List spreadsheet. The far left column corresponds with the topmost row in the Template spreadsheet; columns on the right provide descriptions for each field

• Data Valid Terms: Some fields, as described in the Field List spreadsheet, require very specific vocabulary; data entered in these fields should generally be restricted to the terms listed on the DataValidTerms spreadsheet (Figure 4)

  

  Figure 4: A sample entry from the Data Valid Terms spreadsheet

• Reviewer Comments: Comments from Arizona Geological Survey reviewers

Continue the tutorial by clicking the links below.