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NICE Evidence Services Library Bulletin - HDAS training materials & migration information

We have received the latest update from NICE Evidence Services regarding the implementation of the new version of HDAS.

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Help materials to support the launch of new HDAS service from Monday 17 October are now available here
  • HDAS quick reference guide
  • HDAS full user guide
  • HDAS key changes (old to new)
  • HDAS video demonstrations of key tasks and features are also available here 
There are Word/Publisher versions of both guides, as well as PDF versions.  The Word/Publisher versions allow you to make your own versions of the guides, and have spaces for you to add your own library contact details, etc.

Advice on managing your migrated searches from Monday 17th October 
All saved searches and alerts set up from 2008 onwards in old HDAS (and in the BETA version) have been migrated to the new system and will be available to users from Monday 17 October.  

When you log in you will see an Import link at the top of the page, next to Saved Results and Alerts:
  • click on the Import link and you will see a drop-down list of years
  • select a year, and then you will see the list of your saved searches and alerts from that year
  • select the ones that you want to import. 
Things you should be aware of:
  1. Migration may take some time, so please set some time aside to let this run. This will depend on how many saved searches and results you choose to bring across.
  2. Only bring across the searches you need
  3. You will need to go into your searches and run them in the new system.
  4. Alerts will be on the final line of the strategy only. You will have to go into each strategy to change this if you want alerts on other lines within a strategy.
  5. Alerts will continue to be sent from the old HDAS while users transition to the new HDAS, which  may lead to duplication of alerts to users during November for some recipients.
Please note: some of the rules in new HDAS differ to those in old HDAS. These are explained in the HDAS key changes document available in the help package described above.  For example, rows that have run on different databases cannot be combined in the new HDAS – whereas they could in the old. This feature was synthesized in the old version of HDAS, meaning that results were a representation rather than an accurate combination. Similarly,  it is not possible in the new HDAS to combine rows that have limits applied.
In cases like these the affected search line will show a syntax error in the place where the error arises. The syntax checker will prompt users to make the required changes and update the line in new HDAS.

Your feedback on the new service is valuable to us, please send this to nice@nice.org.uk

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