Getting started

When ANACONDA is launched, the first thing you see is the Welcome Window allowing you to
choose one of the following options:

1. Learn more about ANACONDA…

2. Start data entry and import into ANACONDA
3. Open existing ANACONDA file from workspace

Learn more about ANACONDA

If you are using ANACONDA for the first time, then choose this option. This will take you to the Intro
Page where you will find introductory texts and background information about ANACONDA and how
to get started.

Start data entry and import into ANACONDA

Choose this option to start entering your data into the ANACONDA data input template. If you have
previously already saved your mortality and population data in the ANACONDA data input template
format or you have the data available in the ANACoD format you can directly start the data import
wizard which will guide you through the process of importing the data into ANACONDA.

For a detailed description on how to import data, see the section Data entry and import into
ANACONDA. Once data have been successfully imported you will be directly taken to the Contents
Page.

Open existing ANACONDA file from workspace

With this option you can open a file from your workspace which you have previously saved in
the ANACONDA format (.mqr file). This allows you to continue your review of the data e.g. by
proceeding to the next analysis step. Opening an existing file will directly take you to the Contents
Page.
Intro Page
The Intro Page provides you with an entry point where you can get familiar with how ANACONDA
works and how to get started.

The icon buttons in light red open specific sections in the ANACONDA Introductory Pages, where
you will find introductory texts and in-depth information about the background, methodology and
approach of ANACONDA.

The two buttons in blue are shortcuts to the ANACONDA Info Pages and the ANACONDA Help
Pages. The info pages contain a detailed description of each analysis step. When navigating through
the analysis steps the corresponding detailed section can always be displayed by clicking on
the button. The help pages relate to the content you are currently reading.

The green buttons focus on the process of data import. Clicking on the icon will open
the ANACONDA data input template into which you will have to enter your data, unless you have
them available in the ANACoD tool format.

Once you have entered all data into the data input template you should save the Excel file in your
local workspace and then click on the icon which will open the data import wizard that guides you
through the import process as described in the section below.

Data entry and import into ANACONDA

The process of importing data into ANACONDA is facilitated by the ANACONDA data input
template on the one hand and by the data import wizard on the other hand. In the first dialog window
you have to choose one of the following options:

1. Open new data input template file and enter your data
Choose this option to start entering your data in a new data input template file. Clicking on
this button will automatically open the data input template in Excel format.
 2. Import from existing data input template file
If you have already entered your data into the ANACONDA data input template and saved
the template in your local file system you can now use this option to import the population
and mortality data into ANACONDA.
Source (e.g. year and country) and population data can, if needed, be directly edited in one
of the wizard’s dialog pages as described below in the section Data import wizard dialogs.

3. Import from ANACoD file

Choose this option to extract source, population and mortality data from an existing ANACoD
file and to import them into ANACONDA. While proceeding through the wizard, this will allow
you to check whether the automatically extracted data are correct.

Enter your data in the ANACONDA data input template file

The first step is to enter your mortality and population data into the ANACONDA data input template.
The template provides some support functionality to enter the data correctly, and the user is supported
by Excel functionality such as data format validation and cell input messages.
For example, the template with its headings and user messages assists you in entering for each sex
and ICD code the number of deaths for each age group indicating the correct data format and
structure. Copy & paste from an existing Excel file into this pre-defined structure of the data input
template will speed up the process. The pre-defined structure of the ANACONDA data input template
provides a standardized way to import mortality and population data into ANACONDA.

An example snippet containing user data for Fiji from 2009 is shown below:
The Intro worksheet of the data input template contains detailed information and explanations about
the data structure and required format as well as the support functions.

Once you have entered all your data, remember to save the template in your local workspace before
you proceed.

Data import wizard dialog pages

This section describes the wizard guided process of importing data you have available either in an
existing data input template file which you have previously saved in your file system or from an existing
ANACoD file. The wizard will guide you step-by-step through the import process displaying various
dialogs. Once you have chosen a valid ANACONDA data input template or ANACoD file the
following Source Data wizard dialog appears:

In this dialog page the country must be selected from a pre-defined list; the entry for the year is
checked to ensure it is a valid number. Optionally the source of mortality and population data can be
specified in more detail along with some comments. If all entries are valid, the next button appears
and you can proceed to the next page.

The next page contains an overview of the age-specific population data for males and females which
have been extracted from the data input template. The screenshot below shows the
wizard Population Data dialog page:
The population data edit panel allows for ad-hoc editing of the population data which have been
extracted from the data input template. Usually this should not be necessary as the population data
stored in the input template should be the ‘master data’. However, this functionality provides some
additional flexibility and might be useful in some cases. The multiplier can be used to multiply entered
data by a certain factor (e.g. if you enter or copy&paste data which are to be multiplied by a factor of
1000).

You will see an ad-hoc preview of the data you entered or edited respectively in the Preview Panel.

The population data are validated to be consistent and to match the standard age-categories. In case
of inconsistencies an error message appears:
Once you have entered all your data and there is no error message, you can proceed to the next
wizard dialog.

The next wizard dialog page provides you with a summary of the mortality data imported from
the Mortality Data sheet of the data input template. No input is required here as all mortality data
have been automatically extracted from the template. However, you should carefully verify the
following:

1. Check whether the range of mortality data rows imported from the data input template is
correct

2. Check whether the data column mapping is correct

Once you have verified that everything is fine you can proceed to the next and final page of the data
import wizard.

In the final page of the data import wizard you can optionally choose a file name and location in your
workspace to save the document immediately after successful import of data into the ANACONDA
file format (.mqr file). The following screenshot shows the final page of the data import wizard:
Click Finish to complete the data import process, and you will be redirected to the Contents Page.

Contents Page
The Contents Page gives an overview about the analysis steps which are grouped under four broad
categories, each of them represented by a different colour:

1. Data input and general background checks

2. Mortality data
3. Cause of death data
4. Summary index of mortality data quality

Besides the 10 analysis steps, there are two additional categories:

5. Review summary report

6. References

The Contents Page allows you to navigate through the steps and to quickly switch to another
category by clicking on the links as indicated in the screenshot.

Global menu
The global menu contains the following menu groups and items:

File menu group

 New: Import data and create a new ANACONDA .mqr file

 Open: Open existing ANACONDA .mqr file
 Close: Close the currently opened .mqr file. You will be asked whether to save the changes
(e.g. user review comments) beforehand.
 Save: Save the .mqr file in its current file location
 Save As: Save the .mqr file under a new location
 Quit: Exit the ANACONDA program. You will be asked whether to save the changes (e.g.
user review comments) beforehand.

Tools menu group

 Export -> Population data: Export the population data into .csv or Excel file
 Export -> Mortality data (ICD coded): Export the ICD coded mortality data into .csv or Excel
file
  Export -> Mortality data (GBD coded): Export the GBD coded mortality data into .csv or
Excel file

Export -> ANACoD Workbook: Export population and mortality data into the ANACoD
workbook format
 Convert -> ICD Codes: This function converts all 4-character ICD codes contained in the
mortality data to the parent 3-character ICD codes

Help menu group

 Show Introductory Pages: Open ANACONDA Introductory Pages

 Show Info Pages: Open ANACONDA Info Pages
 Show Help Pages: Open ANACONDA Help Pages
 About ANACONDA: Information about the product and software version

Global toolbar
The global toolbar provides additional shortcut elements to open, create or save an .mqr file as
described above. Further, it contains the following elements which allow for easy navigation through
the analysis steps:

 Navigation combo box: Switch to selected analysis step or page

 Previous button: Navigate to previous step or page
 Next button: Navigate to next step or page
 Intro: Switch to Intro Page
 Contents: Switch to Contents Page
Analysis steps and subpages
An analysis step can consist of a single page, but some analysis steps have multiple parts each
represented by a subpage or a tab respectively. The following screenshot shows the various panels
contained in an analysis step page:

At the top of the analysis step page there is a header panel displaying the name and icon of the step
currently selected as well as the i icon. Clicking on the i symbol on the top right will open the
specific ANACONDA Info Pages section for this step.

The Introductory Panel, below the header panel, contains a description of the step and some
guidance on how to interpret the data and calculations. The interpretation section can be shown or
hidden by toggling the arrow button next to the Interpretation label.

The Analysis Panel usually consisting of several sub-panels displaying calculation results and
summary measures in data tables and charts.

At the bottom of the page there is the Review Panel which is described in a separate section below.

Display of comparator data

In some of the analysis steps and subpages you will also find a yellow button in the Introductory
Panel which is labelled Show comparator chart series. This button allows for display of comparator
data, which is usually implemented by means of an overlay chart on top of the user data chart.

Review panel
At the bottom of the Analysis Step pages you will find the Review Panel which allows the user to
perform a review of the user data and calculated outputs by adding notes and observations in free
text. By clicking on the Add your notes button the Review Panel is expanded, opening an editor
panel:
Not every subpage is ‘reviewable’. In case of simple descriptive panels the Add your notes button
is greyed out.

The Review Panel allows for two types of user input:

 Entering of user notes and observations (formatted free text)

 Selection of an overall review status for this step or subpage respectively

Adding formatted user notes

The editor panel is a graphical HTML editor and when entering user notes the text can be formatted
as required. The example below shows some of the options concerning formatting of user notes text.

Selecting the overall review status

In the review status combo box at the bottom of the review panel you can select one of the
following statuses:

1. Unreviewed (default) – colour code: grey

2. Satisfactory – colour code: green
3. Unsatisfactory – colour code: red
4. Other – colour code: blue
All user notes entered, as well as the specific selection of the status for each (reviewable) analysis
step and subpage, will then be summarized in the Review Page as described in the section below.

Data tables
Many of the analysis steps and subpages show data tables containing various kinds of calculations
results or summary measures.

All the tables can be sorted by column in order to rank the values according to a specific criterion.
Sometimes it might also be useful to export the data tables for post-processing. Instructions on how
to do this are described in the sections below.

Sorting tables
The data tables can be sorted by column as follows:

 Select the sort criterion by clicking on the respective column header

 Click twice to change sort order (ascending or descending order)

Exporting tables
The export functionality can be used to export either single or multiple table cells or an entire table in
tab delimited format into the review panel or an external editor useful for post-processing of the data
(e.g. Excel or text editor).

1. Select table cells or entire table

The following data cell selection modes are supported:

 Select entire table: Click into table and press CTRL+A key combination
  Select single table cell: Click on the table cell to be selected

 Select multiple table cells: Hold the CTRL key and click on the table cells to be selected

2. Copy selected table values by pressing CTRL+C

3. Paste table values into review panel or e.g. into Excel (menu paste or CTRL+V)

Charts and graphs

Many of the analysis steps and pages contain charts and graphs which visualize the calculation results
and summary measures. The following sections provide a short description of the chart export and
zooming functionality.
Exporting charts
Charts can be exported and saved as an image. The export functionality is available through the
context menu (mouse right click) as shown in the example below:

The chart can be saved as an image either in the PNG or the JPG format.

Zooming functionality
The zooming functionality allows for having a close look at some focal area of the chart. To zoom in
to some focal area select a rectangular region by clicking the left mouse button and
simultaneously dragging the rectangle.

When releasing the left mouse button, the chart will display the selected focal area:
Use the context menu Export -> Reset zoom to reset the chart to its original range.

Review summary report

The Review Page summarizes all status information for each of the steps and subpages and allows
for generation of a summary report. The screenshot below shows the elements of the Review Page:
The page contains a listing of all ‘reviewable’ steps and pages including all notes and comments
entered by the user, along with the overall status information for each step and subpage.
The review summary report can be printed, e.g. to a PDF file.

References Page
The References Page contains a list of references cited in the tool, with links to research papers for
further reading. There are two types of links depending on whether the research paper has been
published under the Open Access policy:

1. Link to research paper in PDF format which are available together with the ANACONDA tool
2. Link to website from where the research paper can be downloaded

In case of the second type of reference link, internet access is required to read and/or download
the paper.