Q: How much will this cost?
A: Pricing varies depending on the type of license we purchase and optional add-on features. There are two pricing proposals we are considering:
Proposal A
Executable Code License – A one-time cost of $5,000
Support, and Maintenance - $450 quarterly or $1,500 Annually
Proposal B
Pay-as-You-Go Option – A one-time cost of $2,000
- $0.25 for each dog, person, and litter entered into the database. (payable quarterly)
- After a total of 20,000 dog, person, or litter records have been entered and paid for, the per-dog/litter/person fee will no longer apply.
- The Support and Maintenance option must be selected from Proposal A.
Q: How much will come from the NSCA Treasurey?
A: At the present time, the NSCA Board is willing to match every dollar pledged by donations, up to $1,000.
Q: What Optional Software is available?
A: There are a variety of optional add-on software licenses that are available to us, for additional fees
OFA Data Import – Download quarterly OFA reports for our breed into our database. ($1,000 or $500 PAYGO)
Club Membership Management – Use the People Table as our club membership database ($1,000 or $500 PAYGO)
Veterinarian Data – Maintain a table of Veterinarians and link vets to specific health data they diagnosed or treated ($500 or $250 PAYGO)
Data Management Problem Detection Reports – Specific query reports to detect and help resolve data consistency issues in the database. Including empty litters, duplicate litters, dogs, registration numbers. ($500 or $250 PAYGO)
Q: Why charge a fee to submit a dog/person/litter record?
A: To cover the cost of the Support and Maintenance contract and if we go with the Pay-as-You-Go option we need to cover the costs for each record entered into the database. With the support from people like you making donations we can either minimize the data submission fee or eliminate it. We would then try to come up with alternative income generating activities to cover the annual maintenance contract (raffles, auctions, merchandise sales, etc.).
Q: What type of data repository is used?
A: This database utilizes Microsoft SQL Server as the database engine. This is a very high capacity database that can support millions of records and thousands of users. Designed for large-scale systems, it provides excellent performance and reliability.
Q: How is the data secured?
A: This software is custom written code that provides secure access to the data repository. It consists of dynamic pages designed for general public viewing of the data as well as web pages designed for secure adding, updating or deleting data. The club can assign as many or as few people as you want to have the authority to do these additions or modifications. Secure User ID’s and Passwords allow this maintenance activity to take place from virtually any PC connected to the Internet.
Q: Why do we need a Support and Maintenance contract?
A: Because this is a very sophisticated application, the Internet server hosting environment requirements are very specific and have a great deal to do with how well the application performs. Additionally, specific skills are required to perform data backups and correct any problems that might occur. Since very few clubs have members with the requisite skills to support this environment, this has been the path chosen by all organizations currently using this software.
Q: Who is going to enter all the data?
A: The National Shiba Club of America will be responsible for recruiting and training data operators.
Q: What policies are there?
A: The National Shiba Club of America will need to establish our own policies, processes, and procedures that are specific to our breed and needs. One item we want to stress is that the success of our database is very much dependent on our club being able to establish the data entry operator infrastructure necessary to enter submitted data accurately and in a timely manner. This requires a dedicated team of people that have the time, interest and skills to do this work. Policies and procedures for data validation can be what we want them to be, but must be documented and adhered to.
Q: What does the database software provide us?
A:
- Provide an internet database and software for recording People, Dog, Litter, Tests, and Health information. This includes:
- People, Litter, Dog, Registry, Certifications/Tests, Health Issues, Titles and Clubs tables.
- Appropriate link tables to associate People as Owners or Breeders.
- Reference tables to populate dropdown lists for State, Country, Registry, Test Type, Test Findings, Location, Diagnosis, Titles, and Data Source.
- Search for People, Dog, Litter, Test or Health information.
- Ability for the general public to view this information via the Internet but not be able to modify it.
- Pedigree display. Note that for this to correctly display complete pedigree’s, the operators must accurately enter information so that:
- Litters are unique (no duplicates)
- Dogs are unique (no duplicates)
- All dogs are part of a litter that includes any littermates in the database.
- Sires and Dam’s are entered as dogs in the database and linked as the sire and dam for a litter.
- Ability for the general public to submit data via a web page form that will get emailed to a distribution list.
- Securely allow designated persons the ability to add, modify or delete information in the database across the Internet.
- Secure User passwords plus user and password maintenance. Users are able to change their passwords to one of their choice.
- Application log file of activity.
- Customization of colors as well as all labels & headings to your liking.
- Installation and configuration of this software.
Q: What is the time frame?
A: Once it is determined that there is enough support from the Shiba community for this proposal, we can begin working with the software engineer to design the database to match our existing website color scheme and create all the titles, headings, and graphics. If there are no additional changes specific for the Shiba database, the system could be ready to use in approximately 30-45 days. An additional 30 to 60 days may be needed to customize the dog and litter submission forms to make them specific to the Shiba Inu (ie. coat colors).
