PROPOSED FINAL DEVELOPMENT FOR GEMSTATS

Introduction and background The UNEP GEMS/Water Programme is dedicated to providing environmental water quality data and information of the highest integrity, accessibility and interoperability. GEMStat, an advanced intelligent information and online data acquisition system, is designed to share surface and ground water quality data sets collected from the GEMS/Water Global Network which includes more than 3800 stations, close to 4.5 million records, and over 100 parameters spanning a period of 1965 – 2012. These data are used in water assessments and capacity building initiatives around the world. The GEMStat system has been evolving and improving over the years to provide better access to data and better analytical tools for water quality assessments. The application development is primarily in ASP.NET (using VB.NET) with some parts in PHP ( Hypertext Preprocessor). The GEMStat web site has been redesigned based on the Open Layers java-script library and Google Maps. GEMStat is metadata compliant (ISO19115) with metadata documents available through the FAO GEONetwork Catalogue. GEMStat offers a suite of web services based on CGDI's metadata and OGC standards. The GEMStat database and web site, currently function on a MS SQL server and operating system to handle metadata standards and UN language requirements. The GEMStat master database sits behind a firewall with administrative access only to the raw data. The GEMStat online information system, which sits outside a firewall, is a copy of the master database for data access, analysis and download by any web user based on selection by country, station, watershed, and parameter of interest. As part of the agreement with participating countries, raw data are not released from GEMS/Water without the permission of the individual country. Our GEMStat web site has three levels of access to data: the Member Login for our designated National and Collaborating Focal Points who provide the water quality data to GEMStat; the General User which is open to the public; and through a suite of Web Services. The proposed Terms Of Reference (TORs) below require programming to implement and/or incorporate: routines to run calculations (items 2 and 7); new tables, files and utilities (items 6, 8 and 9), the conversion of web pages/structure (item 3), and update/add existing functionality (items 4, and 5) to a different component of the web site. Once these items have been completed, reviewed and finalized, ‘Installation Packages’ (item 10) can be produced. The successful contractor shall be given full access to GEMStat source code, files and documentation to complete the proposed development. As the UNEP GEMS/Water Programme prepares to pass the management and maintenance of GEMStat to a new host country, GEMStat resources (including database, web site and desktop application) must be consolidated and prepared for transition to a new location. The proposed development items as outlined in the TORs (below) must be achieved to provide a complete and optimum operating system for new management so that they can continue to provide GEMS water quality data and information of the highest integrity, accessibility and interoperability. This requires all components of GEMStat to be pulled together and prepared for installation on new computers and servers to run efficiently and flawlessly as per its current format. We require the proposed Terms Of Reference (TORs) to be completed no later than March 31, 2014. Tasks /activities 1) Implementation of the 2nd edition of the Analytical Methods Dictionary (AMD2) to GEMStat website 2) Implementation of Water Quality Index 3) Architectural Upgrade 4) Improve visual interface and performance for the Data Download / Upload Feature 5) Public Sandbox 6) Language Support 7) Update and Expand Statistical Routines 8) Loading Estimate Module – Data Utility 9) Watershed Shape files 10) Preparation of 3 Installation Packages: a) GEMStat Database Installation Package and Test; b) GEMSoft Installation Package and Test; c) GEMStat Website Installation Package and Test.