OASIS for English HERs: Standard or Lite?

Justice from BL Royal 19 C II, f. 49v – Laurent d’Orleans. The British Library – Public Domain

In England the ADS (via the Historic England HIPs team) are currently asking HERs about their preferred level of engagement with OASIS. This is because in the new OASIS system we now have three tiers of recording instead of just one: OASIS Lite, OASIS Standard and OASIS Plus.

[Note: that in Scotland, because of the the workflow designed to communicate results to HERs, HES and DES, OASIS Lite will not be an option.

Another note: OASIS Plus are specialist modules designed to record fine detail about very specific types of events such as geophysical survey, that fall outside of the main Level 1 (data in-putter) to Level 2 (HER) workflows and thus can be put to one side for the purposes of a concise blog.]

The two main workflows – OASIS Standard and Lite – have been created to reflect the realities of the levels of HER engagement we see in the current system, and reinforced by feedback to the original HERALD phase 1 survey on what people wanted in the redesign. The fine details of these workflows, and the list of mandatory fields are best viewed in the online version of the Functional Specification

However, I thought it best to provide an ‘at a glance’ overview of the differences between the two systems, so without further ado…

OASIS Standard

  • The HER (Level 2) is actively participating in OASIS and wants to hold reports and metadata for review before they are available to the public.
  • So, the Level 1 user fills in the mandatory fields for OASIS standard and uploads a report. Once everything is completed the HER has a window to review, or highlight records are held for extended review.
  • When review is completed the report and metadata go into the ADS Library.

OASIS Lite

  • OASIS LITE is a mechanism for uploading project reports to the ADS Library.
  • OASIS LITE will collect an enhanced bibliographic record which is used as discovery metadata for locating the report (so less than OASIS Standard)
  • OASIS LITE only applies to the areas of the form which are relevant to transfer to the HER (i.e. not the archive section which will be dependent on participation by the museum/archive rather than the HER).
  • OASIS LITE will only be available when there is an HER for the area and that HER is collecting the full event record by other means (i.e. not via OASIS). All other OASIS modules which are relevant to that event/project will be collected even if the HER is not using OASIS i.e. Archive and Geophysics.
  • Any reports that are released into the ADS Library through this mechanism will have a very clear disclaimer explaining that they have not been reviewed by an HER. The text of this disclaimer is being written by ALGAO executive with input from HE/HES.

There’s doubtless a few questions, I’ve tried to preempt them below:

What are the mandatory fields for OASIS Lite and Standard?

Please refer to Page 81 onward of the  Functional Specification

Can an OASIS Lite have more than the mandatory fields recorded?

Yes, if the Level 1 user wants to, they can fill out as much as they want.

Why are you asking now?

As part of the package of work establishing the review and extended review (i.e. how long an HER using OASIS Standard has to review a completed record), we need to get an idea of the split between Lite and Standard users. We also need to have the participation level set for when we start testing workflows for Standard and Lite.

Can an OASIS Lite HER still log in and see records/export data etc?

Yes. They still have access to all the data for records in their area, with access to any exports and API functionality.

Can the level of participation be changed? 

In short: Yes. The HER user simply clicks a button in their admin panel.

In more detail: when the record is started it is defined as Lite or Standard in the database, a separate audit table also records when a record is saved, mandatory fields present depending on level  (i.e. “complete”), report transferred to Library and so on. This will be reflected in what the user sees in their list of records.

If an HER swaps from Lite to Standard there is a good chance the HER could suddenly get records to review, but only ones which hadn’t been defined as completed already and transferred to the library. This will mean however that a Level 1 user will be presented with increased requirements for any records that have been left open. However the differences in mandatory metadata requirements are not onerous, the main impact will be on the timing of transfer of reports into the ADS Library (i.e. any live or new records will be subject to HER review).

If an HER swaps from Standard to Lite then completed records will be unaffected, incomplete records will simply have less for the Level 1 to complete as mandatory and report transfer will default to no review.

That’s the plan, however we will be reviewing how this works in practice!

If I change from Lite to Standard, can I edit completed Lite records?

Yes. However you can’t request that a Level 1 user goes back and edits as they have completed what was required of them at the time. The record will still be marked as a Lite record, reflecting its original status.

We have identified a potential issue where a Level 2 user switches to Standard, and then may want to start correcting or amending completed Lite records for their area.

If an HER wants to go and add or edit that’s fine. Any OASIS record is always open, so additions or corrections are fine. The only sticking point is the report…. When a report and its metadata are transferred into the ADS Library that version is what’s archived as a point-in-time exercise. If an edit to report metadata is required it can be made by either the Level 1 user or HER responsible for that record directly in the ADS Library (we have created a module to do this!). This will need care, but basically there will be a system where accredited users can update Library records themselves without making a request to the ADS.

Hopefully because of the new functionalities in the data entry form there should be many fewer errors in the basic bibliographic record, but we have to be prepared!

Things get trickier if the HER, once switched to Standard, notices problems with the completed Lite reports uploaded for their record. We have to try and balance the integrity of what was originally recorded (according to what was required, and the disclaimer) with the need to add or remove new reports where urgently needed. In this case there are options:

  • The HER simply uploads the correct version of the report, both versions of the report are online (the first with a disclaimer). Potential to have links between the two records so that a user finding the first, is aware of the second.
  • The HER finds the report they want to remove in the ADS Library, and flags it for removal/hiding. The ADS are then notified and the report is removed. Level 1 users will also have the ability to flag reports for removal (please note that if a report is deleted, the DOI remains, but just points to a landing page notifying the user that it has been removed).

It should be noted that the above are options, and nothing is completely set in stone. There’s a a balance between creating a system that allows the upload of reports in a timely manner and the ability to fix genuine mistakes or remove sensitive information, with the risk of having a system that becomes a mechanism for a constant cycle of upload-removal-upload-removal of different versions of the same report by different people.


We will be exploring this further with all relevant parties during the ongoing development, but as always I’m happy for thoughts/ideas/concerns to be raised, so feel free to email herald@ads.ac.uk

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