We are often asked of all the many fields to complete in Biotics, what should member programs be focused on?  In response, I would point you to the Benchmark Data Content Standards which are available from the SharePoint site.  I'd recommend starting with the Benchmark_Standards_In_Brief  document which is the "cheat sheet" version.  For background information, the Full_Benchmark_Data_Content_Standards_2004_Version_2.0 is also available but is somewhat out of date.

The Biotics 5 support team does not maintain and manage the SharePoint site itself however if you have a question, do not yet have a log in or can't remember your log in to SharePoint you can send an email to NatureServe's IT support staff at [email protected] for assistance.

The Benchmark Data Content Standards are intended to provide guidance to all members of the NatureServe network in North America north of Mexico, and any other members that implement Biotics in Latin America or elsewhere[1].Adherence to these standards will ensure a high level of accuracy, currency and quality to the species data[2] maintained within the collective NatureServe databases.

The Benchmark Data Content Standards play an essential role in demonstrating to our partners and clients that the completeness of our core data is measurable and substantial. Many of our customers consider adherence to these standards as a certification that our data meet documented quality requirements. The Benchmark Data Content Standards additionally reflect NatureServe’s commitment to register its data sets with global data portals such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF, http://www.gbif.org/), so that researchers can discover what we have to offer, determine whether we have data that would be useful to them, and understand how to make data requests. These Standards will allow NatureServe to measure and report on the quality of our data, and they will be used to identify priorities for data development and management.