Frequencies

On the Frequencies form, review the list of frequencies shipped with Essential. Frequencies indicate how often, such as "Weekly" or "Monthly", you must monitor. To add a new monitoring frequency, enter a name and specify a time basis, such as "Week". (The time basis list is maintained by the software and cannot be changed.) Then provide a frequency definition to indicate how often during the time basis the monitoring should occur. For example, if a pollutant must be monitored every week, the time basis would be "Week", and "Occurs 1 time(s) every 1 Week" would be the frequency definition.

For each frequency, equivalent entries in different languages can be defined. For example, a "Continuous" frequency in Spanish, "Continuo", could be specified. When localization has been implemented, the Culture setting assigned to a user determines which value is displayed in field lists on Essential forms. Enter the corresponding frequencies and associate each one with the appropriate language in the Language Dependent Frequencies section.

Recurrence Patterns

Specify a recurrence pattern for each frequency in the Recurrence Pattern section to define the interval between expected parameter monitoring data imports via Process Data Manager, to define the interval between monitoring results for parameters and parameter groups, and to control how missing data and data gaps are determined. For example, if data is expected on a daily basis for a parameter or parameter group and no data is received during a 24-hour period, a data gap is identified. Recurrence patterns can be based on intervals of minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years, as described below.

• Minute—data is expected every specified number of minutes, such as every 15 minutes.

• Hourly—data is expected hourly or in intervals of hours. For example, you might expect parameter data every 4 hours or every hour at 10 minutes after the hour.

• Daily—data is expected every day.

• Weekly—data is expected once every week, or in intervals of weeks, or on one or more specific weekdays. For example, you might expect parameter data every Monday, every 4 weeks on Tuesday, or every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

• Monthly—data is expected monthly or in intervals of months. For example, you might expect parameter data on the 15th day of each month or on the first Monday of every second month. (If you select a day greater than 28, the frequency pattern will be adjusted to the last day of the month, as necessary.)

• Yearly—data is expected during a selected month, either annually or in intervals of years. For example, you might expect parameter data every January 1 or on the first Monday in June.

Note:  A None option is available to remove an existing recurrence pattern association.

For Minute, Hourly, and Daily recurrence patterns, the Process Data Manager Frequency Expansion process checks for data beginning at 12:00 a.m. For Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly recurrence patterns, the process checks for data during the entire 24 hours of the day specified.

For Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly recurrence patterns, a Frequency Pattern Effective Date will need to be specified when the frequency is assigned to a parameter. The pattern effective date is used to calculate the date range of each interval in the recurrence series to properly determine missing values. For example, a Weekly recurrence pattern of "every 3 weeks" requires the calculation of a start and end date for each 3-week interval. The date range of the initial two intervals for different pattern effective dates, November 1, 2009, November 11, 2009, and November 30, 2009, is shown below.

Assign a frequency to parameters on the Parameter Definition form. Frequencies with recurrence patterns defined, and pattern effective dates specified when applicable, are required to identify missing values in the Process Data Manager import process. Refer to Overview of Process Data Manager for additional information.

To enable functionality that can improve data entry accuracy on the Parameter Group Data Entry form, assign a frequency with a recurrence pattern to parameter groups on the Parameter Group form.

To enter frequencies

1. Click Data Entry > Validation > Frequencies in the Navigation Tree to access the Frequencies list.

2. Click the New button.
   
   The Frequencies form is displayed.

3. Enter a Frequency name.

4. Select a period of time from the list for the Time Basis field and enter a frequency Description.

5. Enter the number of times monitoring should Occur during Every time period selected as the time basis in the Frequency Definition section.

6. Select an interval basis (minute, hourly, daily, etc.) in the Recurrence Pattern section when applicable. Otherwise, skip to step 8.
   
   Any additional required fields are displayed based on the selection made.

7. Complete the remaining fields when applicable.

8. Expand the Language Dependent Frequencies section, when necessary, to add the frequency in different languages. Otherwise, skip to step 12.

9. Click Add Language Dependent Frequency and select a Language from the list.
   
   If the appropriate language is not listed, click the Ellipsis button and add it.

10. Enter the Frequency name for the language selected and click OK.
    
    The translation information is displayed as a line item in the Language Dependent Frequencies section. Edit existing translation information using the buttons adjacent to the line item.

11. Repeat steps 9 and 10 to add other language translations.

12. Click the Save button on the form.

13. Repeat steps 2 through 12 to add other frequencies.