Introduction

Loading new Baseline Storage Sheets (BSS) into the database requires the import to recognize the data in the various worksheets and allocate the correct standard metadata. Data that cannot be recognized automatically because it uses different terminology or different cell locations to the norm must be reconciled manually, requiring additional effort.

Below are recommendations for data entry in a BSS that ensure that it will be easy to load into the HEA Baseline Database.

Guidelines

Livelihood Zone Codes

This database allows for comparison of a livelihood zones across multiple baselines. In order to ensure accurate comparison, livelihood zones that use the same code should be broadly the same geographically. While small changes are acceptable, if there is a major changes in geography a new code should be used.

Note that this has not been the case for livelihood zones historically. In the case where we have baseline data for a livelihood zone where the geography has changed significantly, the livelihood zone codes will be appended with a reference year.

File Formats

All new BSS should be maintained using current versions of Excel and saved in the .xlsx file format. The .xls format is obsolete and is not supported by many modern tools.

Community Names

The Community Full Name is constructed from the admin unit name (typically labeled District) and the community name (typically labeled Village) in rows 4 and 5 of the WB, Data, Data2, and Data3 worksheets in a BSS. The database uses these names to ensure that the data from the different worksheets can be linked to the correct Community entry in the database. Consequently, the spelling of those names in all places where they appear is critical to successfully recognizing the data.

Ideally, either cell validation or conditional formatting should be used to ensure that the names are accurate, for example, by comparing them to the Form 3 interview results in ‘WB’!C4:L5.

Livelihood Strategies (Data, Data2, Data3)

Metadata should only be in Column A

Don’t put metadata (data describing the livelihood strategy) in the per-community columns (column B onwards). The reported income or kcals for each community are used to produce a reconciled value for the Livelihood Zone, and so the numbers for each community must refer to the same Livelihood Strategy. For example, if the strategy refers to a particular type of food, then it should be the label in Column A, not in that row in Column B.  

For example, the following data:

Should properly be entered as:

Notice that “termites” has been moved from the community cells (columns B and D) to the label in column A.

Column A should explicitly state the expected data values for the row

If data is expected in the row, then the label in column A should explicitly state what data is expected.

This avoids the ambiguity inherent in labels such as Other Crop Type: bambara nuts, where it is unclear whether the values represent the amount in kg, the number of local measures, or just a label where no additional data is expected.

Data should not be stored in label rows

Do not put data values, including 0, in columns B onward on rows where the value in column A is a heading or other label not associated with expected data. The BSS ingestion will refuse to load a BSS containing data in unexpected locations to ensure that no important data is lost.

This sometimes happens when the previous Livelihood Activity contained a 0 entry for many rows and they have been copied down one row too far, into the heading for the next section of the BSS.

Use zero purposefully

Only use zero when there is an opportunity for earning money, kcal, etc. If there is no opportunity, leave the cell blank. For example, labor should be left blank for kcal unless the field contains kcals from payment in kind.