Working with versions

As a UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer survey progresses, changes are sometimes made to the questionnaire definition. For example, questions and categories may be added and deleted. Typically a new version is created in the .mdd file each time a change is made to the questionnaire definition and each version corresponds to a variation of the questionnaire definition used for some of the interviews. When the responses are stored, the name of the version of the questionnaire definition used for the interview is also stored (in the DataCollection.MetadataVersionNumber system variable).

When you export the data, unless you specify a particular version, the most recent version of the questionnaire definition (metadata) is automatically used for the export and only the variables that are in that version will be exported. You can optionally select a previous version of the metadata to use for the export. If you do this, only the variables that are in the selected version will be exported. You can also select multiple versions to use for the export. When you do this, all of the variables in all of the selected versions will be available for the export.

It is important to understand that the version or versions of the metadata selected for the export does not affect which case data records are included in the export. However, you can set up a filter to restrict the export to data collected using one or more specific versions. For more information, see Filtering data in SQL Server Integration Services.

▪To export case data collected using more than one version, select the corresponding versions (or all versions) of the metadata for the export.

▪You must select the same version or versions for both the input and destination data sources in the SQL Server Integration Services Import/Export wizard.

▪To export additional data to an IBM SPSS Statistics .sav file to which you have already exported data, select the same version or versions that you used previously. To use a different or an additional version, you must export the data to a new .sav file.

▪When exporting to Quantum, make sure that card and column definitions have been set up for all of the versions you are using. For more information, see Version handling in Metadata Model to Quantum.

1 When you select the .mdd file for the export, click Properties. (See Transferring data using SQL Server Integration Services for links to topics that explain how to select the .mdd file in each of the different types of exports.)

The Version list lists the individual versions that are available, plus options to select all versions, the latest version, and multiple versions.

2 Select the item from the list that you want to use, and click OK. For more information, see Data Link Properties: Metadata Properties.

Selecting the Multiple Versions option opens the Metadata Versions dialog box. This lists all of the versions that are available.

3 Select the version or versions that you want to use, and then click OK. For more information, see Data Link Properties: Metadata Versions.

4 Make sure you select the same version or versions for both the input and destination data sources in the SQL Server Integration Services Import/Export wizard.