2026 SCC Work Program

[Grant]

Specify Collections Consortium Staff

This is the SCC Annual Work Program for software development and technical support activities for calendar year 2026, with SCC-staff determined priority areas and planned activities, created with feedback from the Board of Members, Technology Advisory Committee, and User Advisory Committee.

Priority Area 1: Specify 7 Independence

Specify 7 Independence from Specify 6 has been a high priority for the SCC. In 2026, the SCC will finalize the transition and officially declare Specify 6 End of Life. This will enable our developers and support staff to focus fully on Specify 7, for more efficient development and support, and simplify Specify installation and management for members.

Planned Activities

• Database Backup Tool
  • The ability to backup a database is essential and offers a safety mechanism that Administrators can perform before executing major data modifications such as Batch Edits.
• Query Enhancements
  • The query functionality in Specify 7 is already a powerful tool, but enhancements will be added to match functions previously available in Specify 6:
    • Accepted and Synonymized taxa searches: if taxa fields are present, a query can search on the taxon entered, plus any accepted taxon or synonymized taxa for that taxon.
    • Support for dash separated ranges: users can query a numeric range of values, such as 100-340.
• Report and Label Functionality Enhancements
  • Reports and Labels are already a robust feature in Specify 7, however some improvements will simplify creation and updating:
    • Support scriptlets
    • Automatically update labels and reports when an associated query is updated
    • Print labels based on a numeric field value
    • Print labels for selected records from a query result.
• Interaction Identifiers
  • This will give members options on how to link interactions between Preparations and Loans, Gifts, Disposals, or Exchanges. Members will be able to query on unique identifiers in the Collection Object or Preparation record then link selected results to the interaction.
• Schema Import Feature
  • This will allow sharing schemas (field and table captions, table formats, field formats, uniqueness rules, etc.) between Specify databases. Internally, this is required for SCC support to customize data entry forms for members.

Priority Area 2: Data Export Enhancement

The ability to export data for publication via an aggregator or web portal is a vital part of every collection’s sustainability. The SCC will strengthen our data exporting capabilities to make it easier for members to export in Darwin Core format and to a Specify Web Portal. This will improve the findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability (FAIR) of Specify records and will simplify the process for collections staff to publish their data.

Planned Activities

• Schema Mapper
  • Specify will make it easier for members to export their data in Darwin Core format to share with aggregators or other community members. The new Schema Mapper will allow members to easily match data in their database with DarwinCore (DwC) concepts, both basic and extensions.
• Web Portal
  • We will simplify the setup and update of Specify Web Portal caches directly from a Specify 7 instance.

Priority Area 3: Asset Management

Assets are an integral part of collection management and key to documenting the Extended Specimen. The SCC has added powerful tools for importing and managing attachments. In 2026, we will continue expanding Specify’s Asset Management capabilities to further support external links and bulk import.

Planned Activities

• External Links as Attachments
  • The SCC Open Discussion on Associated Media Management resulted in a clear consensus that members need the ability to attach external URLs to Specify records. Specify will enable URLs to be added via the Attachment table, making it easier for members to attach multiple file links and fully document the extended specimen.
• Bulk Attachment Upload with Mapping File
  • This will allow members to bulk upload attachments according to a separate mapping file rather than basing the upload on the file name.
• Security Improvements
  • The SCC will continue to review and address security vulnerabilities and harden all aspects of the software stack, code, and deployment.

Priority Area 4: Policy and Procedures Update

The SCC membership is growing by leaps and bounds and with that growth, our transparency and professionalism will also progress. The SCC has begun developing new official policies and procedures internally. During 2026, the SCC will finalize our policies and procedures and publish as applicable, for a more stable, resilient, dependable, and professional organization.

Planned Activities

• Membership Levels and Fees
  • The SCC has already begun to update membership and service fees to catch up with the inflation that has occurred since the SCC’s inception in 2018. The SCC will create a 5 year plan for membership and service fees to counteract both past and anticipated inflation as well as changes in development and support requirements. This 5 year plan will be shared with the Board, but not publicly, as changes at the state and federal levels may require us to pivot in unforeseen directions.
  • As the SCC membership is growing, new membership levels are required. New types of members are interested in Specify with new expectations of support and influence. The SCC will finalize and announce new membership levels and descriptions.
• Bylaws
  • The SCC has drafted an update to the SCC’s bylaws, currently in review by the KU legal team, which will be presented for Board consideration by the final 2025 meeting. We anticipate a vote during the first 2026 meeting.
• External Documentation
  • The SCC will continue working on documentation of SCC policies that will be made available to members. This documentation will include Specify usage and workflows but also more institutional documentation, such as security and administrative documentation. This will make our official policies more transparent and easily accessible to not only existing members but interested new members.
• Internal Procedures
  • In addition to our External Documentation, the SCC will continue documenting internal procedures and policies. This will speed training, provide task instructions for when one of our small team is absent, provide all employees with a clear understanding of expectations, and improve our internal functioning.

In addition to these four main priority areas, the SCC has built time into the Work Program for dependency updates, general feature enhancements, Help Desk support work, data conversion and modification, and random emergency issues that may pop up. These are built in throughout the year to allow the SCC to keep up regardless of when a change occurs.