Data Quality Charts in ZIMS

How to use the ZIMS Data Quality tools to clean up your data.

The Data Quality tools are found under Start > Institution > Data Management. Data Quality is the last tab on the right.

The Data Quality Indicator is a pie chart that displays the records with no issues and those with three types of possible data quality issues. Warnings are usually just a heads up about data that you may or may not need to deal with. Errors are data that you need to address as your record quality is negatively impacted. Congratulations? is notification of the oldest animal(s) in the ZIMS database. Obviously you want your biggest slice to be green (No Issues) and your smallest slice to be red (Errors). A large Congratulations? slice may not actually be a good thing. Hovering over the slice will display the number of records in each category. Below we can see that we have Errors in 88 records.

Data issues that are covered as Warnings include:

Pending Transactions – this is really just a heads up
Parents Not in ZIMS – this is also just a heads up although some originally recorded as not being in ZIMS may at some point have been added to the database and these could be corrected
No Parent Recorded – these will need to be fixed and should only be possible in data migrated from ARKS as ZIMS will not allow it

Data issues that are covered as Errors include:

Obsolete Taxonomic Names – although your institution can choose to not update as the taxonomy in ZIMS is updated
No Useful Scientific Name – probably needs to be corrected
Extra Physical Transactions – needs to be corrected
Extra Ownership Transactions – needs to be corrected
Parent GANs identical to each other – not always an error as unsexed animals are entered as both Sire and Dam
Same GAN as Parent – needs to be corrected
Unrealistic dates – needs to be corrected
Missing Terms – needs to be corrected
Gap Between Parent Death and Offspring Birth – not always an error depending on species reproduction such as delayed implantation and embryonic diapause

If you don’t know where to get started it is recommended to apply the IUCN High Priority Filter. This

will ensure that you are cleaning up the data for high priority animals first. Note that using this filter greatly reduced the size of the Error slice and increased the size of the No Issues slice.

Left clicking on the pie slice will drill down in the chart for more details. Below we have selected our Errors slice. We have current and historical Obsolete Taxonomic names, Extra Physical Accessions

and Dispositions and Extra Ownership Dispositions. You can go back to the previous chart using the “Back to Quality Indicator” button.

If some of your pie slices are too small to read (as below on the left) removing other slices by clicking on the topic below the chart will expand the others. Below right we have removed Obsolete Scientific Name (historical) (now greyed out) to better view the other slices.

Clicking on the pie slice at this point will bring up a list of the animal records that contain the data

that created the Error or Warning. Below we opened the slice for Obsolete Taxonomy (historical). You can fix these individually by going into each record or use the Pending Taxonomic Changes in Animal Statistics to clear these up quickly.

You can also find records that have No Useful Scientific Names Found using the pie slices. Usually the taxonomy for these is Animalia. You will need to go into the records and try to determine what the taxonomy was supposed to be. You may be able to do this via Parent records or checking in Notes.

Extra Transactions (both physical and ownership) are usually found only in records migrated from ARKS. ZIMS should not allow you to create these. Below you have recorded receiving the animal twice with two slightly different Loan terms. You will need to research which one is correct and delete the other transaction if you recorded it. However, if another institution recorded it they will need to delete it on their end. This may also impact Pending Transactions. For example, SAN ANTON has Confirmed the first transaction. If you decide that one was incorrectly entered they will need to confirm the second one.

Below you have recorded sending out the animal twice. This will also need to be researched and corrected. Always add a Note should you have to do this!

Identical Parent GANs means that the same animal has been entered as both a Sire and a Dam. This is not always an Error because that is what is recommended to enter when an animal who is a possible

Parent is unsexed. However, there is a possibility that since the record was created the animal has been sexed. In the record below we checked the sex for GAN 26046561 and it has since been sexed as a female. It can be deleted as a Sire record (and add a Note!).

Records with No Parent recorded are a result of the migration from ARKS as ZIMS will not allow this to happen. Usually this missing information is in transactions with institutions who are not Species360 members. You may be able to get the information by contacting them and you should try to do that before recording Undetermined or Indeterminate for the parents.

Migration from ARKS also may create some records where the GAN of the offspring is the same GAN as a Parent. If you recorded the Parent record you can fix these. If another institution recorded it you will need to contact them for correction.

Finding the Unrealistic Dates may require a bit of detective work as they are not always obvious. Below we have a 258-year-old wood partridge (fairly unrealistic). Although My Transaction stream has the Hatch Date correctly recorded as 9 July 2008, the Event Locations grid displays 01 January 1753. This is probably due as a result of migration from ARKS where empty dates were switch to this 1753 date. These dates can only be corrected by the originating Institution.

Missing Terms are caused by migration from ARKS. Most are typically found in a transaction of Missing because there were no Terms required in the ARKS application for a Missing transaction.

However, other transactions can still contain blank Terms although these are far fewer. Simply find the blank field by opening My Transactions records and select the proper Term.

Fixing Errors for Gap Between Parent Death and Offspring Birth will also require a bit of detective work. And depending on species reproductive biology it may not be an error at all (think delayed implantation and embryonic diapause). The record that will open will be that of the offspring. The penguin below was hatched on 14 April 2011.

However, when you open the dam’s record you note that she died on 24 June 2008.

There are several possibilities here:

1) the incorrect dam was recorded
2) the incorrect hatch date for the chick was recorded, or
3) the incorrect death date for the dam was recorded.

You will need to look at both records, don’t forget to look in the Notes, to determine which record needs to be corrected.

Congratulations? Is an indicator that you may possibly have the oldest individual of a species in the ZIMS database. To open this (usually very small) pie piece you may have to click on the hyperlink

instead of the pie slice if there is no visible slice to open. The results grid will display the animals that you may be deserving of a Congratulations! In many cases though, this longevity is due to an error such as not recording a death on the right date, or even not recording it at all! You may need to review any Notes in the record to determine if the dates are accurate or if they need to be corrected. If the record is indeed correct then congratulate yourself and maybe use it for a Public Relations spot!

Revised 5 March 2025