Query regarding confidential records for WCBS

[kitenetter]

A recorder has been in touch to say that they have entered records for 2021 onto the UKBMS system, as part of the WCBS-BC survey (survey ID 306). In previous years their records have come through to iRecord as expected, but none of the 2021 records have appeared, and consequently they are not available to the verifiers for the county.

Records passing the checks have been auto-verified, but records that don't pass the checks are unavailable to the verification page (just as they are unavaialble in the Explore pages).

The recorder for this location says that the site has always been flagged as confidential. However, if I look at the individual occurrences in the warehouse, all the 2021 occurrences are flagged as confidential, but none from previous years are.

I don't know how the confidential flag is applied during data entry on the UKBMS website.

For the records this recorder has entered in 2021, the following has occurred:

• All occurrences are marked as confidential
• All occurrences are null for location_name
• About half of the occurrences are null for location_id

Is this the expected behaviour for confidential records?

The set of records I am looking at is: SELECT onf.verifier, onf.output_sref, onf.attrs_json, o.* FROM cache_occurrences_functional o JOIN cache_occurrences_nonfunctional onf ON o.id = onf.id WHERE survey_id = 306 AND created_by_id = 142914 ORDER BY id DESC

[kitenetter]

This issue is still cauring problems for the recorder and verifier concerned, but it has been confirmed that the site needs to be flagged as confidential. This raises the question as to whether records that are flagged as confidential in UKBMS can still be made available to verifiers, while not being displayed publicly.

I'm not sure if we have a mechanism in place to achieve this or if new development would be required.

[Gary-van-Breda]

The confidential functionality was implemented with the Drupal8 version of the site, just before the 2021 season. Before this "sensitivity" was used, but there was some confusion about this. Below are the highlights of how this works in the main (non-verification) side of things:

• The confidential flag is stored on the Site
• Site Details: No special functionality other than presence of confidential checkbox.
• Walk data entry: When a new occurrence is created, the confidential flag is set to the value of the confidential flag on the site.
• Once allocated to a user, a site appears in their "My Sites" page irrespective of the confidential status
• Once allocated to a branch user, a site appears in their "Branch Sites" page irrespective of the confidential status
• "All Sites" can only be seen by super managers/admins: each site is displayed with a flag indicating its confidential status
• "Site Assignment" can only be seen by super managers/admins: there is no confidential functionality associated with this page.
• Once allocated to a user, a site appears in the filter on their "My Walks" page irrespective of the confidential status
• Once allocated to a Branch user, a site appears in the filter on their "Branch Walks" page irrespective of the confidential status
• Annual Summary: Normal user: can only filter for confidential sites allocated to them. Have access to all other sites, and combined (aggregate) data includes the confidential sites' data. Confidential sites are italicised in filter.
• Annual Summary: Branch user: can only filter for confidential sites allocated to them at a normal or Branch level. Have access to all other sites, and combined (aggregate) data includes the confidential sites' data. Confidential sites are italicised in filter.
• Annual Summary: super managers/admins: Have access to all sites, and combined (aggregate) data includes the confidential sites' data. Confidential sites are italicised in filter.
• Year Plot and Section Plot: Normal User: Only display sites allocated to them irrespective of the confidential status but confidential sites are italicised in filter.
• Year Plot and Section Plot: Branch User: Only display sites allocated to them as branch or normal, irrespective of the confidential status. Confidential sites are italicised in filter.
• Year Plot and Section Plot: super managers/admins: Display all sites, irrespective of the confidential status. Confidential sites are italicised in filter.
• If a site is flagged as a "Holiday square", it is assumed to be non-confidential: there is no confidential processing associated with the "Holiday Squares" page.

No action has been taken to retrospectively set the confidential flag on pre-2021 occurrences.

[Gary-van-Breda]

See also #219

[Gary-van-Breda]

@DavidRoy : what are your thoughts about this?