An important milestone was achieved on 1 August when the new database went live and the transfer of information about the different bell towers was tested and completed. All changes and additions now take place within the new environment. As far as those who normally use this website are concerned, there is little change to be noticed, and that is as it should be: the building of a new website is something planned for the future. However, we do now have a system of tracking every single change to the Dove information, whether a correction, amendment, or addition, in a way that has not been possible before. A new system of classifying towers into regions (whether geographical, ecclesiastical, or by ringing association) has been introduced, and the recording of practice nights has been rationalised. A new admin system for capturing change requests and workflow, which we call DoveTickets, has been set up and tested for use by the Dove Team.
The next phase of work is to design the database to accept the bell level information, currently termed the prototype National Bell Register (pNBR). Details on the next phase and a further look ahead will be the subject of a future Dove update.
