POMS support
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The PlantwisePlus Online Management System (POMS) has been developed to provide data management support across the PlantwisePlus programme. This tool allows partners and PlantwisePlus coordinators to store and manage information on PlantwisePlus activities in their countries.
Please scroll down to find out more about what POMS can do and how to navigate the system.
If you have any queries, please email poms-support@cabi.org.
POMS can hold administrative information on plant clinics, people and organizations associated with PlantwisePlus, in-country training and content on the PlantwisePlus Knowledge Bank. As well as storing useful information about PlantwisePlus activities, POMS can also provide valuable analyses of plant clinic data.
Different levels of access provide privacy of data within POMS. Your level of access will determine which data you can view and edit within POMS and is decided by your National Coordinator or National Data Manager.
Login to POMS at clinics.plantwise.org using your username and chosen password.
You will be directed to the main dashboard on the home page, which gives an overview of clinics and available PlantwisePlus content produced in-country.
Upload data
The Upload data page is where you can upload clinic data from an Excel file. You need to select the country, permission groups and/or language if this applies to you. If your data is harmonized, please select 'yes', and your data will populate the clinic data section on live POMS. However, if your data is not harmonized, ensure that you select 'no', so your data is available in the harmonization tool. Please read the next section for more information on this tool.
Harmonize data
You can harmonize and reharmonize data in this part of the tool, however, you will need specific permission to have access to it. You need to select the country, permission groups and/or language if this applies to you. Reharmonization pulls existing harmonized records for the selected country/sub-country from the live POMS database back in to the harmonization tool section. It allows a user to harmonize existing data again. Reharmonization is not compulsory, but is recommended, to improve data quality and reporting within the POMS. To reharmonize data, select 'Include all existing records for reharmonization'.
Manage harmonization terms
Add and edit the agreed terms using the manage harmonization terms functionality. You can edit agreed terms for these fields: Crop, Diagnosis, Farmer County, Farmer location, Farmer village and Crop variety. You need to select the country, permission groups and/or language if this applies to you. You can add a new term, delete a term or edit an existing term. When adding a new term, two fields will need to be populated:
- Harmonized term - this is the value that entries will be corrected to (master/agreed term); Alternative names - these are the values that if matched, will be corrected to the 'Harmonized term'. You can enter multiple values for alternative terms. They should be separated with a comma.
To delete a record, select the row and click 'delete selected term'. To edit a term select edit on the row, within the grid. You can now update both the harmonized term and alternative names fields. - Filter terms - filter terms in the list by either the harmonized terms or their alternative names. You can type into the free text box and then select from the drop-down that appears, to filter. You can filter the results to contain, not contain, start with, end with, equal to, not equal to, greater than, less than, greater than or equal to, less than or equal to, between, not between, is empty, not is empty, is null, not is null, to what is searched for in the text box.
Get data tools
Download the latest versions of the desktop data collection application, the offline data analysis tool and/or the offline data validation tool here.
Under Clinic data there are two choices: Explore Data, and Advanced Analysis.
Explore Data
On the Explore Data page you will find a visualisation of the report in graphs and a map.
Report by country
Select a country and click 'load report'.
You will see a report containing all data for every year that data has been submitted.
By using the various filters at the top, you can make more detailed views, ranging from specific years to the farmer submitting the data. This will have direct effect on the main graphs.
Diagnoses over Time
Shows the number of diagnoses made per year that we have data of for the country of choice.
GPS Location of Diagnoses
Only shows the harmonized GPS locations of the clinics in the country you have chosen.
Crop Affected
Shows the names of the crops affected and the number of times this has been reported upon.
Recommendation Type
Shows the number of times a specific type of recommendation has been made by a plant doctor.
Unsafe Chemical Recommendations
This graph breaks down how many of the chemical recommendations given at plant clinics are safe and unsafe, for data that has been harmonized. It will not show you the names of the chemicals, since that data is not available.
Report by year
When you have access to data for multiple countries, you will see the tab option 'Report by year'. This is to allow you to choose a year and see data for all the countries you have access to, so that you can compare the countries for their results.
Diagnoses by Country
Shows the number of diagnoses made per country that we have data of for the year of choice.
GPS Location of Diagnoses
Only shows the harmonized GPS locations of the clinics in the countries chosen.
Crop Affected
Shows the names of the crops affected and the number of times this has been reported upon.
Recommendation Type
Shows the number of times a certain type of recommendation has been made by a plant doctor.
Unsafe Chemical Recommendations
This graph breaks down how many of the chemical recommendations given at clinics are safe and unsafe. It will not show you the names of the chemicals, since that data is not available.
Graph Filters
When you would like to choose more than one item in the filters above the graphs, hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard.
When you hover on the main graphs at the top you will see 3 buttons:
The first button shows you which filters you have applied, the second gives you a full screen graph, from the 3 dots you have the option to download the graph data into Excel.
Print Report
The Print Report button will open a print settings pop-up, which. looks different in every browser, in which you then choose to save to pdf. This will save the report to your computer with the filters you have chosen on one page. It can be you need to change printer settings from there to print the report correctly, since it will remember your last used settings. You will have the best result in Chrome where you shrink the document to 60% so it fits on one page. The print settings pop-up looks different in every browser. This document cannot be altered.
Mobile users
Whereas the Explore Date page is mobile responsive and works well on tablets, mobile devices may experience view-related issues. We advise to use mobile devices in landscape mode for an improved experience.
Advanced Analysis
On the Advanced Analysis page, you will find analyses of the clinic data that has been submitted for your country.
First select your country, wait for the report to load, and then select the language you would like to see the page in.
Then select a date range by entering the date in DD-MM-YYYY format, or by clicking and browsing the calendar for the start and end dates. The default is set to show data for the past year, so the start date will always be the date a year ago. You can also filter by clinic code/location and validation outcome. As a default, POMS will filter the data to show just those entries that have been 'Accepted' or 'Accepted with caution'. Data might be categorised as 'Accepted with caution' if the key symptoms are poorly described or if local knowledge is required to fully assess whether the recommendation is effective.
Analyze the data
To see analyses for your chosen date range, click 'Update'. You will first see the 'Quick stats' under 'Analyze the data', which give an overview of key numbers relating to clinic sessions in your chosen date range.
Scroll down to find analyses providing more information about the diagnoses and recommendations recorded at the plant clinics. You can download this report, in either a PDF or in the offline clinic data analysis tool by clicking 'download this analysis' at the bottom of the page.
If there are any data analyses you would like to see that are not shown on this page, please send your requests to poms-support@cabi.org.
Download the data
To download the dataset for your chosen date range and run analyses of your own, within the 'Download the data' section you can choose what you want to do with the data, what type of file and select specific parts of the clinic data.
Validation outcomes
The data validation outcomes section allows each National Data Manager to monitor how many records pass validation in their country, and what is causing records to fail. This helps to identify any issues so that action can be taken to improve the quality of information given to farmers. The tool also highlights records for follow-up, for example a record with a diagnosis that has not yet been officially reported in the country
When adding clinic information, it is advisable to add people records first then clinic records so that you will have populated the people list already when you come to add this information to clinic records.
People
The people page in the POMS will allow you to add information for people, including their name, address, and role in PlantwisePlus. Use the search function to look for specific people records. If the person you search for is not in the POMS yet and you wish to add them, click 'add new person'. You will have to check the name before you can fill in the complete profile information, by typing family name and given name and clicking 'Check Names'. This helps to prevent duplicates from being entered in the POMS.
Fill in as much information as you can and click 'Save'. Click 'Edit this person' to change information or 'Add new person' to add information for a different person. You can delete records by clicking delete on the open record or by clicking the entry on the list so that it is highlighted in dark grey then clicking 'delete selected person'. You call also download all records from your chosen country, by selecting 'download all'.
Clinics
The clinics page is where you can manage information about clinics, including the location, frequency and clinic code. You can search for a specific clinic by name or by clinic code. Clinics must be entered on this page before records can be submitted on the harmonization tool.
If you wish to add a new clinic, click 'add new clinic' and enter the information for the clinic, including the GPS if available. To add people associated with the clinics, click '+Add a person' and use the dropdown menu to view the list of people that have been added to the people page. Click the name of the person you wish to add to the clinic and the click 'Select'. If the person you want isn't in this dropdown, it is possible to add them at a later stage or you can add a new person by clicking 'add them into the people database'. Once all clinic details have been added, click 'Save' at the bottom of the page.
This section of POMS will provide you with 5 different types of reports, depending on your permissions. The 'User Login Report' will give you an overview of who has been accessing the POMS and how frequently. The 'Upload Report' will give you information on who has been uploading data into the POMS with harmonization information. The 'Submitted Clinic Queries' will give you a monthly breakdown of submitted data; you can view it by clinic code or plant doctor. The 'Records Pending Harmonization' will show all records that are yet to be harmonized, by country and language (permissions dependent). The 'Download Report' shows all clinic data that has been downloaded, by who and when.
Account & Password FAQs:
Q: How do I get access to POMS?
A: To gain access to the POMS tool, you'll need a POMS account. To get an account, you will need to request it from the National Data Manager and/or your Country Coordinator (or e-mail poms-support@cabi.org).
Q: I have forgotten my password.
A: Please click on the 'Forgot your password' link and enter your e-mail address. You will receive an e-mail with a link to reset your password.
Q: How can I change/reset my password?
A: To change your password, please click on the 'Forgot your password' link and enter your e-mail address. You will receive an e-mail with a link to reset your password.
Q: If I change my email, how can I access POMS again?
A: To gain access to the POMS tool with a new e-mail address, you'll need to set up a new POMS account. To get an account, you will need to request it from the National Data Manager and/or your Country Coordinator (or e-mail poms-support@cabi.org).
Q: Can I access POMS on my mobile device?
A: Yes, you can access the POMS tool on your mobile device.
Q: Do I need to key in my password every time I want to log in to POMS?
A: No, you do not need to type in your password every time you login, you can click on the 'Remember me' checkbox on the login page. Additionally,
some internet browsers will offer to remember your password, which you can choose to do.
Q: Why is the link only active for 48 hours?
A: When setting up an account, you'll receive a link. For security reasons this link is only active for 48 hours and will need to request a new password by e-mailing poms-support@cabi.org if the link expires.
Data FAQs:
Q: How do I obtain information on how my plant doctors are performing?
A: Under the 'Reports' section within POMS, you can go to 'Submitted Clinic Queries' and by choosing to view 'By plant doctor', you can view a report of the number of records submitted by each plant doctor, broken down by month. This can be filtered by year, type of record and can be downloaded into an excel file.
Q: Can I view data from my county/district/clinic?
A: Under the 'Clinic data' section, you are able to filter by clinic code. Within 'Explore data', to click on multiple clinics, hold onto the control button on your keyboard.
Q: How do I get information on male/female farmers who have visited plant clinics?
A: Under the 'Clinic data' section, you are able to filter by clinic farmer gender.
Q: How can I generate PDF reports of data?
A: Within 'Clinic data' and Reports', you are able to download reports in an excel format. Within 'Clinic data' you are able to choose the type of file and select specific parts of the data, depending on what you want to do with the data.
Q: As a plant doctor, I would like to see the data that I have submitted. Can I view it on my tablet?
A: Yes, you can view the data you've submitted on a desktop, tablet or a mobile. To view the data you've submitted, it will be within 'Harmonize data' in 'Data management' ready to be harmonized, if you have access to this function on POMS.
Q: What are mixed diagnosis queries?
A: This is when a farmer has more than one problem and the plant doctor only fills in one form. A plant doctor should fill in one form for each problem to avoid mixed diagnoses.
Q: Why does the number of queries displayed on POMS quick stats ('Advanced analysis' section) sometimes differ from the number of queries on 'Submitted Clinic Queries' in reports, for the same time period?
A: The data within the 'Submitted Clinic Queries' show the total data submitted, whereas the data displayed in 'Clinic data' shows only harmonized data.
Q: For countries that are doing data validation, can they re-upload the validated data? If they do so, will this create duplicate records in POMS?
A: To upload validated data, please contact poms-support@cabi.org so someone from our IT team can upload this data. If a country submits more than one validation outcome for the same record, the most recent outcome will override any previous outcomes.
Q: As a national coordinator, which is the easiest way to tell if plant doctors in my country are recommending unsafe chemicals?
A: In the 'Advanced analysis' section within 'Clinic data', there is a table within 'View validation outcomes' called 'Unsafe recommendations', which shows a list of chemicals that have been recommended and are not registered for use in your country or on the crop or are on the Plantwise internationally restricted chemical list. A graph of unsafe recommendations can also be found within reports of 'Explore data'.
Please visit https://www.plantwise.org/pesticide-restrictions/ to find a list of unsafe chemicals. You can select your country within 'Country resources' to find any additional information for your country.
Q: I can't download my country data, why?
A: If the data set is large, sometimes it can take a while to download. If the data set is large, you will receive your requested data via e-mail.
Q: Can I download the top pests on top crops?
A: Under 'Advanced analysis' within 'Clinic data', there is a section at the bottom of the page for 'Top crops and top pests'. This will show you the top 10 crops, but you can click on the green 'See the full list of crops and pests' link to see the full list for your selected data set. You can also download the list into excel or pdf by clicking on the 'download this analysis' button.
General FAQs:
Q: Can I access plant doctors' contact information on POMS?
A: Depending on your permissions, you may have access to a farmer's name and telephone number.
Q: What is the difference between POMS and Knowledge Bank?
A: POMS is a data management tool to store, manage and analyse PlantwisePlus data from plant clinics. The Knowledge Bank is online resource containing PlantwisePlus content and decision-making tools to help diagnose crop problems.
The POMS tool is secure and only accessible with a username and password due to the sensitive information it contains. The Knowledge bank is free and accessible to anyone with internet.
Q: Who is allowed to access POMS?
A: The POMS is a secure system that can only be accessed via a username and password. The National Data Manager (often in collaboration with the National Coordinator) is responsible for activities relating to data management, and both are responsible for deciding who has access to the POMS.
Q: I don't see any validation outcomes when I go to this section, why?
A: If you see the following message: 'No results found for the chosen date range', this means there is no validated data in the system for this country.
Q: I'm unable to access the Desktop data collection app, why?
A: You can only access the Desktop data collection app if you have specific permissions for it. Please open the DDCA in Chrome rather than Internet Explorer. If this does not work, please open the tool in Incognito mode. If this does not work, please clear your cookies/cache, Google will provide instructions on how. If you are still having problems, please contact poms-support@cabi.org.
To end your session, click 'Log Out'. For any further guidance, please email POMS-support@cabi.org.