ABS-CH IAC Discussion Forum

Dear ABSCH-IAC Experts,

Firstly, sorry for the delay and my lack of contact with this group.

As you may recall during our last ABSCH IAC meeting in Nov 2017 it was discussed that the Secretariat would provide a mock up version for of the submission form and the display of the new ABS Procedures common format.

The following posts in this thread will contain several mockups including the changes related to the ABS Procedures common format for your comments. It would be appreciated if all comments could be provided before 10 May 2018. 

Please don't hesitate to contact us or send your comments via email (please send to absch@cbd.int). All comments sent by email will also be posted in this forum.

Thank you.

All the best,
Matt

Attachments:
Use this link to find the report of the 3rd ABSCH IAC:  https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/a033/41d7/02de500444503e0a3e972bc9/abs-chiac-2017-01-04-en.pdf

Dear IAC members,

Recently, the Secretariat issued a notification (https://www.cbd.int/doc/notifications/2017/ntf-2017-104-abs-en.pdf) inviting the submission of information for the first assessment and review of the Nagoya Protocol. As part of this process, we are carrying out a survey on the ABS Clearing-House to help us gather feedback to continue to improve our work and inform the review board of the implementation and operation of the ABS Clearing-House.

We value your opinion and we would like to invite you to complete this survey (https://goo.gl/forms/n8aOhECy91lrL4lJ2), which takes a few minutes, as soon as possible and no later than 1 December 2017.

We thank you in advance for taking part in our survey and look forward to your active participation in the important work of guiding the development of ABSCH.

See you soon,

Matt

It has been suggested to me (by the UK Regulator) that it would be useful to be able to search IRCCs by the country of the recipient of PIC.  This would enable her to be more effective in managing responsibilities under Arts 15 and 16. 
For the same reasons, an automatic notification to the CNA of the user country on issuance of the IRCC could be helpful.
I know from discussions with NFPs and CNAs over the past few years that a recurring concern is how they know who the users are in their countries.  So, are either of these feasable / desirable?  I think this is probably something for the IAC to discuss.
Chris

Dear members of the Informal Advisory Committee (IAC),

Following the technical advice provided during the meeting of the IAC last October, and the online discussions held until 15 January 2016 we have been working on a number of issues to improve the performance and functionalities of the ABS Clearing-House (ABS-CH) as well as to incorporate the technical advice provided in a new version of the website.  We welcome your comments on this new version at your earliest convenience and no later than 21 April 2016. Please provide your comments through the IAC forum (https://training-absch.cbd.int/forums) or by email (absch@cbd.int). Any comments received by email will also be posted in the forum.

After this date, we will work on finalizing testing and releasing the new version on the public ABS Clearing-House website in time for a training and side-event on the ABS-CH to be held at the margins of the meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation. With these latest improvements we hope to stabilize the layout and functionality and shift some of our focus to other important issues such as translation and capacity-building, and populating the ABS Clearing-House.

We would like to take this opportunity to provide a summary of the main improvements and changes made to the ABS-CH. Please note that a detailed report on the progress made in the implementation and operation of the ABS-CH will be provided in the documentation for the next meeting of the IAC.

In order to make this version of the ABS Clearing-House available to you for comments we have setup a new publicly accessible development website (DEV). The DEV website is located at: https://absch.cbddev.xyz. Although we have tried to replicate most services used on the production environment (PROD), due to some technical limitations certain services have not been completely replicated and will cause inconsistencies and other issues when using the DEV website. These limitations are summarized in a section below.


Summary of main changes and improvements

Overall speed and performance of the ABSCH

Improved speed and efficiency in loading: A number of changes have been made to improve speed and efficiency of the ABSCH, in particular to ensure better functioning for users with slower internet connections. 

Responsive design: Pages have been made more responsive to help display information more efficiently on all screen sizes and devices (e.g. phone, tablets).

Browser support: Functionality that was only available to users with the newest browsers has been changed, removed or updated to support all common modern browsers (IE 9+, chrome, firefox).

Improvements in design

General design: Following various comments from the IAC, we have made several changes in terms of design, including: reducing the spacing between records; improving the display of the record overview in the home page; changing the colour of links to indicate when they are clickable; enhancing distinction between different record categories.

Map: We have included an improved map to visualize country information on the homepage and country profile pages. This map has been integrated as a separate library and will be used and maintained for all CBD websites.

Country profiles: We also enhanced accessibility and display of country profiles by creating a new page for each country profile that includes a link to CBD country profile as advised.

Visual integration with the CHM and other CBD websites and branding: Many of the changes to the layout, branding elements and navigation of the submit page have been done to ensure consistency in the user experience across CBD websites and browsers.

Search functions

Major changes have been made to update the search page. We have improved the layout and introduced several changes making it faster and improving the indexing and sorting for displaying results more efficiently and across platforms. In the coming months the ABS-CH and all CBD websites will be moving to a new more powerful search service. This service will provide a more intelligent way of mapping information behind the scenes. One key feature that will be interesting for ABS-CH users is the ability to also index text and keywords from inside attachments such as PDF and Word documents. 

As the backend search service improves, the new search layout is not expected to change much with the exception of the improved search results. With the new layout we are moving towards a simpler way of searching that focusses more on users keywords (like google) rather than a list of predefined keyword filters.

The layout of the search page has been updated to allow for searches across national, reference and SCBD record categories simultaneously. Search results are displayed in separate tabs in order to allow cross category searching while maintaining visual distinction between records categories. Other specific suggestions such as removing contact details from record metadata for PA and NAU and to create a separate category for SCBD records have been also implemented.

Integration with the CHM and website

We have worked on integrating functionalities, branding elements and services for all clearing-house platforms (login, maps, user notifications, language services, shared controlled vocabularies, API) and those elements have been extracted from the ABS-CH and placed into common and shared code library for all CHM and CBD websites. This will help ensure that all CBD websites share a common look and feel and deliver a consistent user experience.

One major change is the Unified user notifications system for all clearing-house platforms (CBD CHM, BCH, ABS-CH). This feature is accessible in the submit page as “Requests and notifications” as well as by clicking a small bell icon in the top navigation next to your name when you are signed in.

The notification system has been developed with a view to help keep the data in the ABSCH updated. This page will provide users with important feedback and allow them to follow up on the status of their records. Notifications are triggered by important system and user driven events that happen in the clearing-houses, such as: new publication requests, approval of a request, recalled or canceled requests, rejected requests, reminders and alerts. For example, we have setup a notification to remind PAs, on a regular interval, when they have outstanding publishing requests. We will also send notifications to PAs to alert them when records such as ABS measures change status when, for example, they enter into force or are about to be retired. The notification system also provides a backup for the ABSCH’s automated emails, since we cannot guarantee the automated emails are received or read because of spam filters and other common email problems. This notification system can also provide PAs with, on a regular interval (e.g. a monthly), an aggregated report of the important activities, reminders and statistics that have occurred during that period.

Common formats and submitting information

We have implemented the technical guidance provided in the common formats with the exception of the endorsement function in relation to Model Contractual Clauses, Codes of Conduct, Guidelines, Best Practices and/or Standard and Community Protocols and Procedures and Customary Laws. When implementing this feature we faced a number of outstanding questions that need further clarification before it can be implemented. Therefore, we have decided that this aspect should be further discussed and taken up in the next IAC meeting.

As further explained below, changes in the thematic areas list and indexing of records for the search function will not be visible due to limitations with the DEV environment. However, these changes will be reflected in the common formats, search filters and the metadata provided in the summary of the records displayed in the search.

Another issue we have addressed is the way records are versioned and referenced in other records. We have implemented a record versioning system to help track records that are referenced in other records. We are now in the process of developing tools to help manage updates and deletes of referenced records. This change is mostly invisible to the user but is most noticeable in the way contacts are now used and referenced in the system.

Other new feature include:

Online designation of PA and NAUs: The User Management function allows designating and making changes to PAs and NAU directly online.

Possibility to report on records: This feature allows users of the ABS-CH to report to the SCBD problems with existing record with a view to keep the ABS-CH up-to-date and correct. Examples of problems are when a record is considered incorrect or inappropriate, when there is a broken link or outdated information, or if there is a copyright infringement.

Help and capacity-building

Real-time chat help desk:  Since the recent changes to the ABSCH have been so many, and in order to provide immediate support, we have installed a real-time chat application for users to ask for help for problems they experience. The help desk service is available online for direct messages during SCBD office hours. After office hours users can use a form to submit their questions by email to the help desk.

About the ABS-CH: We have created a new About us section and updated and expanded the information on the ABS-CH (we will update information for this page in the following days). We are currently working on updating and improving the list of Frequently Asked Questions.

Help pop ups: Help is identified with a “(i)” icon that provides information on keywords. This helps users to navigate the website without having the visual display becoming cluttered with a lot of explanatory information.



Limitations of the development website:

The following are some limitations of the DEV website to be taken into account when reviewing the DEV website:

1. DEV doesn’t support indexing at this stage. We are using the PROD indexers as a work around for now. This will cause inconsistencies in the display data in published records.

2. DEV does not not have a complete copy of the thesaurus service that provides information of the thematic areas and keywords. This will cause inconsistencies in thematic areas list and keywords in the submit forms and as well as when searching for published records. We have set up a temporary thesaurus service to accommodate only the major changes related to the ABS measures in order to view the display of the measures matrix (overview of measures).

3. The DEV workflow service and website server is much slower than the PROD environment. This causes the process of publishing records to take 30 seconds or longer to traverse the workflow. Normally, on the PROD website this happens instantly. On the DEV website, when publishing, you may notice a record change status from draft to request to and then finally to published. Please give at least 1 or 2 mins after publishing a record before looking for it in the system.

4. DEV does not have its own set of security certificates. On both PROD and DEV website we use secure encryption to transmit data between the servers and your browser. However we haven't setup an official security certificate for the DEV website. Therefore, in order to be able to use the DEV website you will need to make a security exception in your browser for the following websites: https://api.cbddev.xyz, https://accounts.cbddev.xyz and for https://absch.cbddev.xyz. For more information on how to do this please see instructions below.

5. Changes to the DEV website have not yet been tested in all browsers. This is the last set of testing we do before going live. Therefore we recommend using Google Chrome browser, if possible, when viewing the DEV website.

6. In general the speed of the DEV website is much slower than the PROD website.  Please note that some pages may therefore take longer to load than usual.

7. Finally, please note that DEV website is a test and development website that gets updated regularly as we improve the system. These frequent updates may cause the website site to crash or become unstable, information may be changed or lost without warning.


Instructions for view the development website

The issues with the certificates have been fixed. To view the development site please go to: https://absch.cbddev.xyz




If you have any questions please feel free to contact us (absch@cbd.int) or test out our new help desk service by clicking the green question mark (?) icon located on the bottom right side of the website.

Thank you in advance for your continued collaboration. We are looking forward to your feedback,

Matt


Matthew Dias
Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity
Information Management Officer
Nagoya Protocol Division
email: matthew.dias@cbd.int
tel: +1 514 287 6682
skype: matt.dias
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Dear IAC experts,

Please see the attached PDF presentation of the revised mock-up version of the homepage, search, and country profiles. Please provide comments before 15 Jan 2016.

Please note that these mockups focus on general functionality and layout. Details such as  fonts, colours, specific text and content should not be taken into consideration at this time. These details will be considered as the mockups are further developed and implemented.

Improvements not included in the mockups are:

1. Improving the spacing in the display of information on the ABS Clearing-House and in the design of the forms for submission of information.

Wherever possible spacing and font sizes of visual elements will be minimized to provide a more compact and improved display of search results and other design elements.

2. Removing contact details of authorized users involved in the creation and publication of records in the ABS Clearing-House. 

The display of contact details (names and emails) will be removed from the record history and associated meta-data (“created by” and “published by” will be replaced with “created on” and “published on”).

3. Exploring ways of dealing with outdated records.

One option could be to include functionality to “report” outdated or problems records on each reference record and SCBD record. This report would get sent to the SCBD or record publisher to take appropriate action and delete or update the record as necessary.

4. Providing a link from the ABS Clearing-House country profile to the CBD country profile and vice versa.

This link will be provided.

5. Providing the option to download reports of ABS Clearing-House records.

Each record will include a link to download the PDF version. To download reports or groups of records, one possible option could be to add functionality that would generate a downloadable pdf versions of records in the search results. This would provide the flexibility for a user to generate reports of any combination of records (limited only by the search). 

6. Improving the visibility of clickable links and buttons and providing consistent visual cues throughout the ABS Clearing-House;

The text and/or background of clickable links will change color in a consistent way whenever the mouse moves over them indicating that the item is clickable. This will be applied to all links across the website.

7. Improving the responsive design on small screen sizes, for example, on tablets and mobile phones.

Mockups for smaller screen sizes will be developed and circulated for comments only after the regular screen size versions are finalized.


Warm wishes,

Matt

Dear IAC experts,

Please review the latest version of the common format for Legislative, administrative or policy measures on access and benefit-sharing.  Changes in this common format address the issues discussed during the meeting and in particular how the elements of the measure are introduced.

Cheers,

Matt

Thanks for your comments so far. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your feedback.
Matt

Dear IAC experts,

As you may recall during the IAC meeting we did not have time to cover any of the practical and technical issues related to the online implementation of the interim national report. A preliminary version of the interim national report has been implemented in the ABS-CH and is available on the training website (https://training-absch.cbd.int/register/NR).

As you are aware, the guidelines and format of the interim national report were decided at COP-MOP 1 and made available as part of decision NP-1/3 on monitoring and reporting (Article 29) (https://www.cbd.int/npmop1/doc/).

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you review the online version of the reporting format:

1. Please use the latest versions of Chrome or Firefox. As there may be other problems related to using Internet explorer (IE) after we receive all the feedback we will then make sure the online reporting format is compatible with IE 9+.

2. Please note that the loading speed of the form can be slow. We are aware of this issue and we will optimize for speed as a final step after integrating the feedback received.

3. Please think about how questions could be auto-populated with information already published in the ABS-CH?

4. Please review the two new questions 63 and 64 of the interim national report that have been added to better reflect paragraph 8 of decision NP 1/7 on resource mobilization for the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol adopted at the first meeting of the COP-MOP.

Thank you.

Matt

Dear IAC experts,

We will soon be starting the next round of our outreach and engagement campaign. The goal of the campaign is to encourage participation and capacity to use the ABS-CH among Parties and other users. Thanks to the Japan Biodiversity Fund we have funding to develop some capacity building and training material. We are currently developing content that will serve as the basis for a comprehensive e-learning module on the ABS-CH. The same content developed for the e-learning module could be recycled into various other types of capacity building material and formats such as, for example: webinars, frequently asked questions, fact sheets, short instructional videos, downloadable step-by-step guides, and online tours.

During the meeting we briefly presented the  Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)(https://training-absch.cbd.int/help/faq) and online tours. A rudimentary example of an online tour is available on the search page (https://training-absch.cbd.int/search/national-records/) by clicking the pink coloured “play” icon in the top right corner of the screen.

Keeping in mind our limited human resources, it would be helpful hear your feedback on what capacity building material and formats would be most useful, as well as, the proposed priorities of the outreach and engagement campaign listed below:

   a) Encourage the designation of publishing authorities;
   b) Encourage the submission of national information by providing technical support and raising awareness of the ABS Clearing-House, in accordance with Article 14 paragraph 2 of the Nagoya Protocol;
   c) Provide timely technical assistance and follow-up, on demand;
   d) Provide technical support and follow-up for the registration of competent national authorities and ABS measures, as a priority, as well as for the submission of information on the permit or its equivalent constituting an internationally recognized certificate of compliance and the interim national report;
   e) Further develop capacity-building materials and resources for registering information in the ABS Clearing-House, including by developing an e-learning module;
   f) Engage with partners, organizations, and representatives of indigenous and local communities for registering reference records, such as Virtual Library resources, capacity-building initiatives, and resources, with a view to making the ABS Clearing-House the central hub of knowledge for access and benefit-sharing;
   g) Promote the training website and engage with capacity-building providers for increasing awareness and capacity about the ABS Clearing-House;
   h) Seek feedback from potential users of the ABS Clearing-House including indigenous and local communities as well as other relevant stakeholders on the implementation and operation of the ABS Clearing-House;
   i) Provide technical assistance for the use of the application programming interface (API) to facilitate interoperability.

Thank You.

Matt

Dear IAC experts,

We have proposed a step-by-step approach for advancing the translation of the website, starting with those components for which (a) more experience and feedback has been gathered and (b) stability in terms of their content, design and functioning can be better ensured.  In this regard, the Secretariat suggested to proceed with translation of the different ABS Clearing-House components in the following order:

1. Common formats for national records:
   a) Competent National Authority;
   b) Legislative, administrative or policy measures on access and benefit-sharing;
   c) Interim national report;
   d) Checkpoint;
   e) Information on permits or its equivalent constituting an internationally recognized certificate of compliance;
   f) Information for the checkpoint communique;
   g) National website or database.

2. Web pages:
   a) Homepage;
   b) Find information section;
   c) Country profile section;
   d) Submit information section;
   e) Help section.

3. Common formats for reference records:
   a) Model contractual clauses, codes of conduct, guidelines and best practices (Article 19 and 20);
   b) Community protocols and procedures and customary laws;
   c) Virtual library and capacity-building resources;
   d) Capacity-building and development initiatives (activity/project/programme).

Please provide any feedback on the priorities for translation proposed by the Secretariat, as necessary, by 30 November 2015.

Thank you.

Matt

Dear Matthew, dear colleagues

Hope you all made it back home safely and back to "normal" work.

I just wanted to share with you, that I'm finally managing to use our Internet Explorer to work on the ABSCH. I do not know whether they changed something in our office or whether Matthew changed something in Montreal. Anyway, this is good news.

There are however still some compatibility problems. For instance, only half of the Logo of the Convention on the upper right corner shows up on my screen with IE, while the entire Logo shows up by using FireFox. Hope that this will be solved soon as well.

Best regards
Marco

Hello,

I’m still playing with the training site using Chrome and here you find what I found:
- In some formats the opction “more details or less details” seems that is not working because doesn’t display anything.
- In the contact of organization, sometimes even when I already filled all the mandatory fields is impossible to save the changes. Also, the telephone number format is not very common, sometimes works with the “dot” and other times without it. Also I wonder if a smart phone whith the format that you establish could recognize the number to call directly.
----------------------------------------------------
Submitting information for reference records:
I try to submit a web page and tell me:
- Virtual Library Record (VLR)
×Your document contains errors.
• Field is mandatory / libraries
• Error.HasValue / Thematic areas(s)
I mark the options in thematic areas just for the first categories, after that I tried marking the first and second one, and I get the same message. I really don’t understand these errors
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Submitting information for national records
In most of the national records, when I want to add a new record I get the message: “Error as occured...”
That happens to me when I want to add a new register for:
- Competent national authority (CAN)
- Legislative, Administrative or Policy Measures
- Internationally Recognized Certificate of Compliance
- Information for checkpoint communiqué (CPC): the system allows me to fill information, when I review the records I get the message:
“Your document contains errors.
• Field is mandatory / Checkpoint/s that collected or received the information”
but when I try to select something there is not selection at all, and also I have problems saving the draft getting this message: Your action save draft was not successful.
- ABS National Website or Database (NDB): I filled all the information and when I try to save the draft and I get this message, even when the review of my information said that my record is valid
Your action save draft was not successful.
Your document is valid.
------------------------------------------------------------
Problems saving drafts:
I´m submitting a check point , when I review my submission form said that is valid, but when I want to save I get this message:
Your action save draft was not successful.” Your action save draft was not successful.
Your document is valid.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Retrieving information from other records:
I´m submitting a check point and I want to include an organization that I create a reference record (a virtual library records- website), and it’s not possible. Is that something that happens in general? I mean, if this happens between the organizations created/registered in reference records and the possibility to retrieve this information in the national records?

See you tomorrow,

Best regards,

Elleli

Dear Colleagues, I attach the presentation on the WFCC, GCM and ABSCH I was not able to project yesterday.  As I noted, this was put together last year, before the information on APIs was presented, so some of the technical problems will reduced.
Regards
Chris

On the search webpage we have provided the option to view national records grouped by country. Grouping records gives an additional context to the search providing more context than simply listing individual records. We have now made this grouped view the default way to view records in the search. Please note that reference records are not available in the group by country search view since they are not necessarily connected with a country and do not go through the same validation process as the national records. 

Please let us know if the search functionality is intuitive and user-friendly and provide any comments or suggestions on how the search could be improved.

Dear Matthew, dear colleagues

Many thanks to you and the Secretariat for setting up the discussion forum and the training website as well as for the further progress made on the ABS-CH.

Some initial comments:

The ABS-CH is still not working correctly by using our official browser (Internet Explorer, Version 9.0.8122.16421). I know that this is not the newest version, but after all it is not so old and it is working perfectly for other webpages, including for the CBD-CH as well as for the Biosafety-CH. Is there any reason why the ABS-CH can only be compatible with the newest version of the IE browser? I suppose that many users of the ABS-CH are using even older IE version. I think that it will be very important to have an ABS-CH that will be compatible with older versions, similar as it is the case for the CBD-CH and for the Biosafety-CH.

On the front (first) page you’ll find the ABS-CH overview with the most important information in boxes. I like this overview.

If you click on the first box (Parties to the NP) you’ll find all Parties to the NP, including the information that they have submitted to the ABS-CH. In an older version there was a nice map indicating the Parties to the NP. That was very useful but I cannot find the map anymore. It might also be useful to find a list of those Parties that have ratified it or signed the NP but that are not yet Party to the NP. On the other hand, there are now very sophisticated filter options. I really do not see a reason for having all these options. For instance, if you select the “region filter” you might end up with a serious of subfilters that, in my opinion, do not add any value  in the context of ABS?

In addition, for each Party to the NP you’ll find the ABS national focal point as well as the CBD focal point. I think that there should only be the ABS national focal point in the ABS-CH. Those seeking information on ABS will need to know exactly which person they might need to contact. A user sending an ABS-request to the CBD focal point might not get any answer as in many countries the CBD focal point has to do nothing with the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol. Moreover, who is responsible for updating information on the CBD Focal Point in the ABS-CH?

In the second box there seems to be a bug. If you start the webpage, the number of countries that have submitted national focal points is 170 with 180 national focal points. However if you press the box and then return to the first page by pressing the home bottom it indicates 200 countries with 401 national focal points.

I do not understand why there are separate boxes for model contractual clauses and community protocols. Either such information is submitted by the publishing authority and then it should be part of the national records, or it will be submitted by others, and then it should be part of the reference collection in the virtual library.

Finally, I would like to highlight that there is quite some duplication of information that one finds on the ABS-CH as well as on the Webpage of the CBD. As said before, if information will be found on both webpages it is of utmost importance that there is consistency in this information. I’m still of the view that we should avoid duplicating information on different webpages in order to avoid inconsistencies, as these might misguide users seeking information on ABS.

I will provide you with more feedback, as soon as I will find time for further testing.

Best regards. Marco

The IRCChas a lookup field: Reference number(s) of the internationally recognized certificate(s) of compliance that relate(s) to this permit. Since the form being compiled will become an IRCC not a permit this wording in itself is a little confusing.  What is the field for (I do not recall it being there in earlier versions).  Is it to address the Issue of updating an IRCC and maintaining a link to the earlier version?  If so, we may need to review the implementation; if not, I think we need this feature so still need to review the implementation.
Chris

We have created three separate environments that host the ABS-CH:
1. training - for users to test-drive the ABS-CH (http://training-absch.cbd.int);
2. development - for programmers to work-out bugs and test new features (http://dev.absch.cbd.int/) and;
3. production - the live ABS-CH website (http://absch.cbd.int).

The IAC is invited to do their testing on the training version of the ABS-CH. The training website will be used by the IAC as well as by our partners and participants of workshops and webinars for training and familiarizing themselves with the ABS-CH without affecting the live ABS-CH website and data.

Please note that the training website is not open to the public. Users need to be granted access by the ABS-CH team. IAC members have already been granted access to the ABS-CH training website.

In any form requiring a link to an Internationally Recognised Certificate of Compliance, selecting the 'Please select' box results in an 'Unknown error'.  I know there are no IRCCs currently published, but I would have expected a simple nil return, so i suspect a problem.
Chris

Welcome to the private IAC forum for IAC members and the ABS-CH team to virtually meet and discuss the ABS Clearing-House. The IAC forum can be accessed from the training website (https://training-absch.cbd.int/)  or using the following link (https://training-absch.cbd.int/forums/iac). The ABS-CH training website (https://training-absch.cbd.int/) is a test environment we have setup to allow the IAC and other users to test drive the ABS Clearing-House by publishing, editing and deleting records and reviewing the common formats, without modifying the any of the live ABS Clearing-House real data.  Please do not hesitate to contact us for any further questions or problems accessing the forum or the ABS Clearing-House.

Since COP-MOP1, more than 9 months ago, we have implemented a number of improvements to the ABS Clearing-House website and IT infrastructure. We are also working on new features that will be soon finalized for your consideration and feedback at the first meeting of the IAC to be held on 28 - 30 October 2015, Montreal, Canada. In the meantime, we invite you take a look and if possible provide feedback on some of the major changes done so far.

Thank you in advance for your help improving the ABS-CH. We look forward to your comments and suggestions and will be pleased to answer any questions.

Best regards from the ABS-CH team

Improvements have been made to infrastructure of the CBD IT systems providing faster loading speed,  better stability and improved scalability of our clearing-houses and web services. The infrastructure is now synchronized and hosted across four servers located in world wide hubs (east-coast USA, west-coast USA, Frankfurt and Singapore) guaranteeing 99.99% up time and faster access world-wide.  We have doubled the capacity of all our back-end servers boosting overall performance and our ability to respond better in times of high demand.

We invite you to peruse the website and report back on the loading speed of the site. Please let us know the circumstances (url of the webpage, the version of the browser you are using, your location, and internet connection details) if you experience problems or delays in service.

In collaboration with other divisions of the CBD the ABS-CH team has instigated several improvements and changes to improve integration and consistency in all CBD webpages. With these changes we hope to present a more cohesive, consistent and improved overall experience for our users.

There are multiple benefits from better integration of the various components of the CBD website, the clearing houses and the back-end systems. Better visual integration in terms of look and feel will bring efficiencies in training users especially for those who other CBD Clearing-Houses or other CBD web portals. Better back-end integration means using the code and programmer’s time more efficiently and also minimizing knowledge gaps in developing and maintaining CBD systems.

For example, one simple feature that will tie together all CBD webpages is the green CBD navigation bar to be placed at the top of all CBD webpages. This common navigation bar will allow easy access back to the main CBD website and re-enforce an impression of consistency across CBD branded webpages and improving the user experience. More work on integration of CBD’s web presence is being planned. The work being done is inline with the CBD’s overall web strategy which is currently being refined. The CBD's web strategy will be discussed during the IAC meeting in October in a joint session with the IAC of the CHM.

Recognizing the increasing popularity of mobile technology we are working to ensure that the website responds intelligently to devices such as tablets and smart phones. The responsive design of the ABS-CH means the layout will adapt to smaller screen sizes by displaying information in a more minimalistic and efficient way. For example, on the search, submit and country profile pages the left navigation side-bar hides away on smaller screens and automatically appears if the window or screen size is big enough.

If possible, please test the responsiveness of the ABS-CH on all your devices. Please note that the ABS-CH works better with newer web browsers and is tested on IE 9+ and the latest versions of Firefox and Chrome.