The ‘Replace substance data’ screen can be opened via the menu item ‘Go to - Third-party database’. This screen can be used to replace the substance data for one or more substances from a specific source (SOFOS, BIG, ChemWatch, etc.) with the data for the same substance from another database. The links to the other parts of SOFOS (department, person, article, etc.) remain unchanged.
Source: you can only choose from databases for which a licence has been taken out and for which the maximum number of substances to be purchased has not yet been reached.
Fill in the ‘From source’ field.
Fill in the ‘To source’ field.

After filling in both fields, all substances with an origin equal to the ‘From source’ origin are automatically selected.

After the ‘To source’ field has been filled in, the maximum number of substances that can still be transferred is determined on the basis of the licence and the substances already present. This number is also entered in the ‘Maximum number of substances’ field and indicates the maximum number of substances that may be replaced. You can adjust this field.

If necessary, you can indicate whether a substance has been used after a certain date. You can also select one substance from the list that you want to convert.

Next, you indicate how many substances you want to read at a time. This is useful because reading substances based on a value in “Used after” can take a very long time in some cases. The system then looks at the last mutation dates of the substance, any articles linked to the substance and any pots linked to the linked articles. A limited number of substances to be read will then reduce the time until you can start replacing the substance data.

The “Read substances” button reads the specified number of substances based on the criteria entered. The “Number of filtered substances” field shows the number of substances that you have already read and not converted. These substances will no longer be read the next time you click on the “Search substances” button. This prevents a substance that you do not want or cannot convert from being read again each time you perform the “Replace substance data” function at different times. Next to the field, you will find the “Reset filtered substances” button, which makes the previously filtered substances available again for reading via the “Read substances” function.

Once all the data has been entered, select the substances you want to replace in the “To be processed” overview. The corresponding substance in the “To source” database must now be determined for these substances. As this can be a lengthy process, it is not performed automatically and must be started manually. You can do this using the “Retrieve substance information” button. This will search for the possible corresponding substance(s) for all selected substances at once. This can also be done for individual substances using the “Connect” button in the overview.

It is possible that a substance of origin X has been copied or converted to a SOFOS substance. If you then want to convert that SOFOS substance back to a substance of origin X, you will lose any changes you have made to the SOFOS substance. To prevent this, you must confirm this action by clicking on the “Force” button.

After clicking on the “Retrieve substance information” button, SOFOS will then search for the corresponding substance in the “To source” database for each selected substance. Initially by CAS number and possibly later by name. If this search process yields exactly one result, the substance found will be linked to the substance to be processed and the status of the substance to be processed will be set to “Can be replaced”.

If a substance is found based on one of the additional CAS numbers that may be linked to a substance, the line will be displayed in red. In addition, it will be indicated that the substance has been found based on a CAS number other than the “Main” CAS number. To link the substance to the substance to be converted, you will need to confirm this. By clicking on the “Accept CAS” button, the CHEMWATCH substance will be linked to the selected substance despite the fact that the CAS number does not match.

If the linked substance already exists in your SOFOS360, it will appear twice after the conversion has been processed. To make this clear, linked substances that already exist in your SOFOS360 will be displayed with a green bar on the screen (in the same way as in the Import substance data screen). So, if you see such a green bar, we advise you not to use the selected substance as a replacement. It is better to uncheck the box at the beginning of the line so that the substance to be replaced will not be replaced. Then note down the details of the substance to be replaced, look it up in the substance overview after processing and manually enter the previously found existing DBD substance for all links (department, maximum stock, articles, CMR registration and persons) for that substance. If the substance to be replaced no longer has any links, you can mark this substance as expired on the “Substance” tab. In this way, you have replaced the substance data of an existing substance without introducing duplicate substances.

If no substances or multiple substances are found (the status is “Still needs to be linked”), the substance can be linked manually via the “Search” button. Substances that are already linked can also be linked to another substance using this button.

After clicking on the “Link” button, the “Search for substance to replace the substance” screen will open and you can search for a substance from the external database by name or CAS number. Start the search using the “Search for substance” button. The substances found are displayed in the overview. You can select the desired substance and, after closing the screen, the substance will be linked to the substance to be replaced.

Once a substance has been linked, the data of the selected substances can be replaced by the data of the linked substances using the ‘Process selected substances’ button.

Only the substance data will be replaced. The data for other components will remain unchanged.