Webstract is the name of the software used to access many economic databases maintained by GlobalInsight (Note: Webstract frequently refers to these databases as ‘banks’). University of Michigan users have access to the following banks:

As Reported Economic Indicator Database (ASREP)
Balance of Payments -- IMF (IMFBOP)
Basic Economics (BASIC)
Basic Economics - Daily (BASIC/D)
Basic Economics - Foreign Exchange (BASIC/FX)
Basic Economics - (BASIC/W)
Canada Primary Source Database (DBCAND)
Commodities -- Crops (CI/CROPS)
Commodities -- Foods (CI/FOODS)
Commodities -- Financials (CI/FINANCIALS)
Commodities -- Industrials (CI/INDUSTRIALS)
Commodities -- Metals (CI/METALS)
Direction of Trade -- IMF (IMFDOT)
Dow Jones World Stock Market Index (INDEX/DOW)
Financial Markets Indexes (INDEX/DATA)
Flow of Funds (FFUNDS)
France Database (FR)
Germany Database (GY)
International Automotive Database (AUTODB)
International Economic Database (DRIINTL)
International Financial Statistics - IMF (IMF)
Italy Economic -- Banca d'Italia (IT/BDIT)
Italy Economic -- Confindustria (IT/CONFIN)
Money Market and Fixed Income Database (FACS/DATA)
Netherlands Database (NL)
OECD Main Economic Indicators Database (OECDMEI)
OECD National Accounts Database (OECDNIA)
South Africa Data Base (SA)
Spain Database (SP)
United Kingdom Database (UK)
U.S. and Canadian Equities Database (DRISEC)
U.S. Central Database (USCEN)
U.S. Central - National Association of Realtors (USCEN/NAR)
U.S. Industrial and Regional Economic Database (MARKETS)
U.S. Prices Database (USPRICE)

These instructions will enable you to retrieve one or more time series of data but do not exhaust the full capability of the program. Additionally, the user must install the Webstract client software on his or her computer. For information and installation instructions, please go to http://www.lib.umich.edu/nsds/numeric_data/webstract.html . Installation will install the client and place a shortbut on your desktop

Start with 'Search'

Double click on the Webstract icon to go directly to the Search Screen. Select 'Basic Search'. (The 'Category Seach' function is not available to the University of Michigan.) Type any words you need to search. Simply enter a space to separate words; quotes or underscores are not necessary. Choose the ‘Seriesname Entry’ radio button if you know the series name; otherwise make certain that the button marked 'Keywords' is checked.

A list of items that match your search will be shown. To navigate through the list, click on the single arrow key for next page or previous page, double arrow key for the first page or the last page. For more information about the series, mark the ‘Show Detail’ box at the top of the screen.

Select series by highlighting the series and clicking on ‘Add Selection(s) to Order’.The selected item will be removed from the list and the number of selected items is shown at the upper right corner of the screen. You can highlight several series and add them at the same time.

To search one or more specific databases:

Click on Database Selections.

Click on the phrase best describing your area of interest.

Highlight the name of the database you want to search. Databases available to us are listed at the top of this page. Due to a recent update of the Webstract software, only those databases to which we have access--those on the list above--should appear.

Click on the 'Search' button on the taskbar to return to searching; Webstract will conduct the search using only the database you have chosen.

To retrieve data

Click on the 'Layout' button in the menu bar. Descriptions of the selected series will appear on the right side of the screen.

Click on 'Destination' on the left side of the screen to specify where returned data will go. If downloading the data, you can specify you own file name by clicking the button at the bottom. You can also choose the way of separating values (e.g., space separated values). If you are using Webstract in the Documents Center or Numeric & Spatial Data Services, do not select Excel as a destination. Choose Notepad or the download option. If choosing Notepad, save as an Excel file. If using the download feature, you will get a .csv file which opens easily in Excel.

Click on 'Interval & Freq.' to specify the frequency and interval for returned data. (Not all series are available for all frequencies. Be sure to check the frequency as described in the section on data requests below).

There are two options for specifying the interval:

First option: Type the starting year and chose an ending period among current period, previous period and specific date(You need to type the date using either time series notation(yyyy:pp) or a calendar date.

Second option: Choose the number of periods to current period or previous period.

Destination, interval and frequency will be shown at the upper right corner of the screen.

Click on 'Format' to select the data format including the order of data, labels, format for date labels and some extra options by dragging and dropping. The result of extra options will be shown after the list of data when you display the data.

Click on 'Data Request' for information about the selected series. This is the same display as the one which can be seen in the first visit to ‘Layout Specs’. Any of the items can be deleted by highlighting and clicking the "Delete" button in the menu bar.

To look at the data, click on 'Retrieve' button at the top of the screen.

To see how to convert the frequency or change the converting method, click on 'Data Request' and 'Adjust Series' at the bottom of the 'specification' window . Adjust series options show series-documentation and access options which include the frequencies available and the destination frequency you selected in Interval & Freq. of Specification window. To see more detail about converting methods click on 'Explain' button.

Click on ‘Retrieve’ button at the top of the screen to retrieve the series in the specified format.

Documentation

Some documentation for the databanks is available online. To access it go to http://www.globalinsight.com. Login with username DIONNE and password Or1on. In the middle of the screen is a box with a heading Former DRI with a link to data documentation. It may also be necessary to consult printed sources, such as the print version of International Financial Statistics for information on how data are collected.

Note: You may need to do some experimenting if you are using a Library version of the data. For example, to translate series names from the International Financial Statistics, you will need to substitute & for the dots in the printed version and include the country number. Series 76e.d for Colombia becomes L76E&D@C233 with & replacing . and the country code for Colombia following the @. (Please see More IFS Hints for further guidance with this database.)