BCH on BCH Forum

Dear colleagues,

I’d like to take a moment to update you on the next steps for the migration of the Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH). As a result of the feedback received from many members of our BCH community, we’ve been making changes to the new platform as we work towards our pending launch.

The current plan is to launch the new platform of the BCH during the week of November 8th. Shortly thereafter, we will host a webinar to introduce all stakeholders to the new site, its key functionalities, and we will also provide an opportunity for users to ask questions on the new BCH.

With this in mind, we’d like to take this opportunity to communicate some key details related to launch:

1) In the week leading up to our launch date, the current BCH site will be down as we migrate all the data and records in the current clearing-house to the new platform. We’ll communicate the specific timeframe well in advance so you are aware and are able to work around this transition period.

2) While we’ve been making considerable efforts to make the new platform as user-friendly as possible, we understand that it can be challenging to become accustomed to a new interface. As a result, we’re developing walk-through tours for various pages on the site and populating a Knowledge Base with contextual help materials to aid you as you use the site. We’ll also be sure to feature some of the excellent training materials developed by UNEP-GEF’s BCH Project III.

3) We’re making a concerted effort to translate as many sections of the website as possible prior to launch. However, please note that certain pages on the BCH will not be fully translated at initial launch. However, note that we will work swiftly to translate all content as soon as possible.

Many thanks for all your hard work and support during this substantial transition. We’ll be in touch in the coming weeks with additional details related to our launch timeline and webinar. Please do not hesitate should you have any additional questions regarding our launch plans. Feel free to post any questions below, or email me directly if you’d like to schedule a call to discuss via teleconference.

Best 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