Any Party collecting water quality-related data in California can submit data to CEDEN by following the six steps outlined below:

CEDEN Data Flow overview

1. Review the Guidance
   Each template for submitting data to CEDEN is accompanied by a guidance document. These are important to read at the beginning of preparing data for CEDEN submission so you know what fields CEDEN collects.


2. Register Project
   Submit a CEDEN Vocabulary Request Template for your new Project and ParentProject (if applicable) to ceden@waterboards.ca.gov or contact a Regional Data Center (RDC) to register your project.


3. Populate Templates
   Use CEDEN controlled vocabulary and your data to complete the templates.
   • If the data are intended for use in the Integrated Report, confirm that the templates have been populated to meet the Integrated Report submission requirements. More information can be found at the Surface Water Quality Assessment homepage or email WQAssessment@waterboards.ca.gov


4. Use Template Checker
   The Template Checker confirms that CEDEN controlled vocabulary is used and that the data follow certain business rules.


5. Resolve Errors and Check Warnings
   The Template Checker returns errors, which must be fixed, and warnings, which should be confirmed. Consult the CEDEN Help Desk or your RDC with results with which you are having trouble.


6. Confirm Data is Ready to Submit to CEDEN
   Once the errors have been resolved and the warnings checked, click the "Submit Data To CEDEN" button. This will send the data to the RDC. Staff from the RDC will load the data into the RDC database, which is then copied to CEDEN. Normal processing time for data to appear through the CEDEN query tool is up to two weeks.
   
   
   • Use the Results Count by Project Report to track changes in the number of results associated to a project. A new line in the report will be recorded when there is a change resulting from the weekly refresh of data from the RDCs. Note that tracking started January 21, 2017.

State Water Resources Control Board 1001 I Street Sacramento, CA 95814 © California Environmental Data Exchange Network (CEDEN)