Question
Data Buffet contains many individual databanks; the message "series found: databank turned off" prompts you to modify your settings.
Answer
The Data Buffet repository of over 200 million historical time series is physically divided into several hundred specialized databanks which may be individually disconnected to improve performance. For example, if you subscribe to the U.S. Historical National and Regional data product, your access will include databanks containing archived benchmark revisions and detailed Census results -- which are rarely used and hence disconnected by default.
How do I connect a databank?
You can at any time connect or disconnect databanks through the DataBuffet.com interface. Your available databanks are listed under:
menu:Settings » Default Databanks
Each databank is listed by name and description, for example "CENSUSPLACE1.db" and "Census Place Level Data - A to L." There is a checkbox located to the left of the databank name; select (or deselect) to connect (or disconnect) the databank, then press "Save Changes".
When do I need to connect a databank?
When you retrieve a series and its description reads "series found: databank turned off" that means you have access, but the databank is disconnected. To learn which databank contains the series, you can either:
- Look up the series in Mnemonic 411
- If using a basket, include the "databank name" optional field
To merely search, you needn't worry about which databanks are connected, because the search index is separate and always available. What the databanks contain are observations (numeric data).
Which databanks are likely to be disconnected?
In particular, we use archive databanks for these U.S. datasets:
- BLS Employment Situation (annual benchmarks from 2006)
- BEA NIPA five-year benchmark revisions (2003 and 2008)
- BEA NIPA one-year revisions (from 2012)
- USDA Census of Agriculture prior to 2002
- Anything previously reported under the defunct SIC classification:
- BOC County Business Patterns
- BLS Current Employment ("BLS790")
- BLS "ES202"