TESTING of new BCH platform - Third Phase

Dear BCH users,

We are almost at the end of developing and testing of the online formats.

We have finally completed the development of one of the most important and at the same time the most complicated formats: “Countries’ Decisions or any other Communications" -DEC for short.

We have tested this online format internally but now we need your help.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TEST ASSIGNMENT

FOR WHOM: ‘DEC’ is a national record. Thus, this test is for national users only: BCH FPs, CPB FPs and NAUs.

VIDEO: short informal video is available at:  https://youtu.be/4fyfR7OPH-I


TEST ASSIGNMENT:

1. Log in to https://bch.cbddev.xyz/register.

2. Create a new ‘DEC’ record (for example, ‘Decision on LMOs for intentional introduction into the environment’).

3. Find your created record in "Search". Examine the data display. Test various filters (global on the top and sub-filters on the left side).

4. Create a different ‘DEC’ type (for example, ‘Decision on LMOs for direct use as food or feed, or for processing’).

5. Find your created record in "Search". Examine the data display. Test various filters (global on the top and sub-filters on the left side).

6. Optional: Repeat steps 4-5 as many times as you wish to create different types of decisions, communications.

7. Amend your (any) record and find it in Search. Examine the display of data.

8. Go to ‘Country Profile’ page and check your created DEC(s) record(s) on the Country Profile page for your country. All your published DECs should appear on that page.


You can create as many ‘DEC’ types as you wish. We encourage you to try different scenarios, including creating ‘Notifications’, other “Communications’. This is a test site and anything you do in it will not affect your national records in old/current BCH!

DEADLINE: Please send us your feedback and comments by Monday – 12 July.

Thank you for helping us test this format. We really count on your support and feedback.

Kind regards,

Anastasia

Dear BCH users,

Another online format is ready for testing - Biosafety Virtual Library Resource (VLR).

This format is a "Reference Record". That means that this test is for ALL types of users: national and regular registered users.

In the old/current BCH, there is a format called  Biosafety Information Resource Centre (BIRC). Basically, VLR is the new BIRC, only slightly modified, but having the same content and purpose.

VLR is a format that is shared by all three clearing-houses (CHM, ABSCH and BCH). For the purposes of consistency and coherence and better integration between the three main clearing-houses, this format was developed to have similar fields and functionalities in all three clearing-houses except for minor peculiarities that are specific to each clearing-house.

For more information and for explanation of the test assignment, please watch this short informal VIDEO available at: https://youtu.be/R_O4I1ks85E

Test Assignment:

1. Log in to the SUBMIT page of the test site at: https://bch.cbddev.xyz/.

2. Create a VLR record. Send it for publishing. Since it is a reference record, it needs to be validated and published by the Secretariat. Once your record is published by the Secretariat, you will be notified by e-mail or you can check your Dashboard for the status change.

3. Go to SEARCH and find your VLR record. Open the record and examine the display of data.

4. In SEARCH, test the different filters (global and sub-filters) to see if your record shows up.

5. Edit your record. Once published, examine the changes. Test the Search.

6. Optional: repeat steps 1 to 4. You can create as many VLR records as you wish.


DEADLINE: Friday – 18 June.


Thank you for testing this format and your support.

Kindest regards.

Anastasia

Dear BCH Users and Colleagues,

My name is Zakir Jafry, and I’m the new Biosafety Clearing-House Officer at the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. I’m very humbled to be able to serve you all and the larger BCH community.

I’d like to take this opportunity to briefly introduce myself. Before taking this role, I spent the last twelve years working at the Commission for Environmental Cooperation as a Project Lead on Geospatial and Environmental Information projects between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. I managed international geospatial databases, and in addition, worked extensively on a database of pollutant releases and transfers from industrial facilities across North America.

I’m very excited about our upcoming migration to the new BCH platform in the coming months. I’m well-aware of the ongoing and extensive work that has been conducted by the members of this forum, and am very honored to continue working with you all on this important effort.

Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions, comments, or concerns. I greatly look forward to our continued collaboration.

Kind regards,
Zakir


Zakir Jafry
Biosafety Clearing-House Programme Management Officer
United Nations Environment Programme/Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity
413 Saint-Jaques street,  suite 800
Montreal, Quebec
H2Y 1N9
zakir.jafry@un.org

Dear BCH Users,

Please find below a message (in English and French) from the UNEP-GEF BCH III Project on the subject indicated above for your kind attention.

Kind regards,
Anastasia

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Dear Colleagues,

I have the pleasure to announce the release of a new series of training videos, developed under the UNEP-GEF BCH III Project, in close cooperation with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The objective is to build capacity on using the new Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH) platform and assist parties in complying with their obligations under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and relevant COP-MOP decisions.

Further to decisions CP-VIII/2 and CP-9/2 of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, the development of the new BCH platform - including the testing process - is currently underway. While the formal launch of the new platform by the Secretariat of the CBD is planned for later this year, the BCH III Project Team believes that these videos will help users to already familiarize themselves and explore the new platform’s many capabilities.

In that regard, the videos are material designed to bridge the transition from the current platform to the new one. It is important to note that the current platform will remain fully operational until the testing of the new platform is completed and the migration of all records is finalized.

These 3 videos are concise (total duration 45 min) and split into modules to explore more on the topics that interest you. They can be accessed in English and in French, at the BCH III Project Virtual Learning Environment at https://bch3-vle.unep.org/course/view.php?id=92  and cover the following topics:

VIDEO 1
Duration: 12 min
Topics:
- Roles and functions of the BCH
- BCH importance and benefits
- The various categories of information available in the BCH
- The BCH and the Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress
- Brief overview of the transition from the old to new BCH Central Portal and the imperative for the changes

VIDEO 2
Duration: 18 min
Topics: Introduction to publishing information on the new platform

Module 1 - Why do we publish information on the BCH?
                 - The different roles of BCH users, and
                 - The categories of information records on the BCH

Module 2 - How to register as a General user on the BCH?

Module 3 - How to use the BCH management center and dashboard to register and edit information on the BCH?
                - The new improvements to the management center.

VIDEO 3
Duration: 15 min
Topic: Introduction to surfing and finding information on the new platform

Module 1 - The new BCH platform features that can be found on all of the BCH web pages.

Module 2 - The features that can be found on the homepage and the first two sections listed in the horizontal navigation bar of the BCH named ‘About’ and ‘Protocol.’

Module 3 - How to get information through the ‘Search’ section and be familiarized with the common features of its pages using a case study?

Module 4 - The features that can be found on the ‘Country Profile’ section in the horizontal navigation bar of the BCH.

The Russian and Spanish versions are now being finalized and will be released in the coming weeks.

We hope you enjoy watching them!

Kind regards,
The BCH III Project Team

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Chers collègues,

J'ai le plaisir de vous annoncer la publication d'une nouvelle série de vidéos de formation, élaborées dans le cadre du projet PNUE-FEM CEPRB III. L'objectif est de renforcer les capacités d'utilisation de la nouvelle plateforme du Centre d'échange pour la prévention des risques biotechnologiques (CEPRB) et d'aider les parties à respecter leurs obligations en vertu du Protocole de Cartagena sur la prévention des risques biotechnologiques et des décisions pertinentes ultérieures de la COP-MOP.

Suite aux décisions CP-VIII/2 et CP-9/2 de la Conférence des Parties siégeant en tant que réunion des Parties au Protocole de Cartagena sur la prévention des risques biotechnologiques, le développement de la nouvelle plateforme BCH - y compris le processus de test - est actuellement en cours. Alors que le lancement officiel de la nouvelle plateforme par le Secrétariat de la CDB est prévu pour plus tard cette année, l'équipe du projet BCH III pense que ces vidéos aideront dès maintement les utilisateurs à se familiariser et à explorer les nombreuses possibilités de la nouvelle plateforme.

À cet égard, les vidéos sont conçues pour assurer la transition entre la plateforme actuelle et la nouvelle plateforme. Il est important de noter que la plateforme actuelle restera pleinement opérationnelle jusqu'à ce que les tests de la nouvelle plateforme soient terminés et que la migration de tous les enregistrements soit finalisée.

Ces 3 vidéos sont concises (durée totale 45 min) et divisées en modules pour approfondir les sujets qui vous intéressent. Elles sont accessibles en anglais et en français, sur l'environnement d'apprentissage virtuel (VLE) du projet BCH III à l'adresse https://bch3-vle.unep.org/course/view.php?id=92 et couvrent les sujets suivants:

VIDEO 1
Durée : 12 min
Sujet :
- Rôles et fonctions du CEPRB
- L'importance et les avantages du CEPRB
- Les différentes catégories d'informations disponibles dans le CEPRB
- Le CEPRB et le Protocole additionnel sur la responsabilité et la réparation
- Bref aperçu de la transition de l'ancien au nouveau portail central du CEPRB et de l'impératif des changements

VIDEO 2
Durée : 18 min
Sujet : Initiation à la publication d'informations sur la nouvelle plateforme

Module 1 - Pourquoi publions-nous des informations sur le CEPRB ?
                - Les différents rôles des utilisateurs du CEPRB, et
                - Les catégories de dossiers d'information sur le CEPRB

Module 2 - La façon de s'inscrire en tant qu'utilisateur général sur le CEPRB

Module 3 - Comment utiliser le centre de gestion et le tableau de bord du CEPRB pour enregistrer et modifier des informations sur le CEPRB ? et
                - Les nouvelles améliorations apportées au centre de gestion.

VIDEO 3
Durée : 15 min
Sujet : Initiation à la navigation et à la recherche d'informations sur la nouvelle plateforme

Module 1 - Les principales fonctionnalités de la nouvelle plateforme du CEPRB qui peuvent être trouvées sur toutes les pages Web du CEPRB.

Module 2 - Les fonctionnalités que l'on peut trouver sur la page d'accueil et les deux premières sections répertoriées dans la barre de navigation horizontale du CEPRB nommée « À propos » et « Protocole ».

Module 3 - Comment obtenir des informations via la section « Recherche » et se familiariser avec les fonctionnalités communes des fonctions de recherche à l'aide d'une étude de cas ?

Module 4 - Un aperçu des fonctionnalités qui peuvent être trouvées dans la section « Profil du pays » dans la barre de navigation horizontale du CEPRB.

Les versions russe et espagnole sont en cours de finalisation et seront publiées dans les semaines à venir.

Nous espérons que vous aurez plaisir à les regarder!

Très cordialement,
L'équipe du projet BCH III

Dear BCH users,

We hope you and your families are doing well!

The work on the migration is progressing. One of the things we are working on is the Homepage of the new BCH platform.

To help us design a Homepage that is user-friendly and useful to you (the main users), we would greatly appreciate it if you could complete a short survey about your experience with the Homepage of the current BCH (http://bch.cbd.int/).

The survey is accessible here: https://forms.office.com/r/dP3Pb4Htu8

DEADLINE for completing the survey is – 24 May 2021.

Thank you and kind regards,

Anastasia

Dear BCH users,
 
We kindly ask you to give a few minutes of your time to take part in the survey on stakeholder knowledge of the Biosafety Clearing-House.  The survey was developed by the UN Environment Programme in collaboration with the Regulatory Science Group of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) as a means to better understand attitudes towards biosafety and Living Modified Organisms (LMOs) regulation, as well as stakeholder habits regarding biosafety communication.
 
Your participation can help in mapping BCH stakeholders in raising BCH awareness, and in designing communication strategies to assist countries to make informed decisions about LMOs.

The survey is available online and is completely anonymous and confidential, and can be completed in any of the 5 UN languages: Arabic, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.

The link is: http://bit.ly/BCH_Survey

Deadline -23 May.

Please note that this survey is in addition to the one that was circulated on Monday about the design of the BCH Homepage.

Thank you in advance for your active participation in both surveys.

Kind regards,

Anastasia

Dear BCH users,

Yesterday, the Secretariat issued a notification on the subject indicated above.

The text of this notification is available on the CBD website at: http://www.cbd.int/doc/notifications/2021/ntf-2021-024-bch-en.pdf.

Kindest regards,

Anastasia

Dear BCH users,

We have now reached Phase 3 of the testing process, meaning we will be testing the set (final) of online formats which are the most complex ones.

We are starting with: “Biosafety Laws, Regulations, Guidelines and Agreements (LAW)”.
This online format is used in the new BCH (like in the old/current BCH) for registering laws, regulations, guidelines for the implementation of the Protocol, as well as bilateral, regional and multilateral agreements and arrangements.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TEST ASSIGNMENT:

FOR WHOM: This test is for national users only: BCH FPs, CPB FPs and NAUs.

VIDEO: available at: https://youtu.be/n99Zr62U9kk

The video is about 9 min long. At the beginning I explain briefly the old/current BCH and then I explain the main changes made to this format in the new BCH, and the test assignment.

TEST ASSIGNMENT:

1. Log in to https://bch.cbddev.xyz/register.
2. Using the LAW online format, create a "LAW" record (law, regulation, guideline).
3. Find your created record in "Search".
4. Updated your record and find it in "Search".
5. Amend your record and examine the "Search".
6. Test Search by using different filters (global and sub-filters) to find records.
7. See if your created "LAW" record(s) has(ve) been added to the Country Profile page for your country.

You can create as many "LAW" records as you wish. This is a test site and anything you do in it will not affect your national records in old/current BCH!

DEADLINE: Please send us your feedback and comments by Monday - 22 February.

Thank you for helping us to test this format. We really count on your support and feedback.

Kind regards,

Anastasia