ListServ

Sent on behalf of Joe Rogers

Date:                  September 29, 2025

To:                       NAACCR ListServ members

From:                 Joseph D. Rogers, M.S.

               Team Lead: Informatics, Data Science, and Applications Team

                              Cancer Surveillance Branch

                              Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, NCCDPHP, CDC

 Subject:           Release of CDC NPCR's Exchange Plus 2.7

We are very pleased to announce that Exchange Plus 2.7 is now available!  The CDC NPCR Registry Plus web page for Exchange Plus has been updated and the most up to date installation and information is available through the Registry Plus Knowledgebase Exchange Plus page.

Exchange Plus is a tool for reading and writing data exchange files formatted according to the NAACCR XML Data Exchange Standard.  Exchange Plus was developed to work with analytic software tools such as R and SAS, which do not accept NAACCR-formatted XML data files as inputs, but can accept flat and delimited files produced by this application to perform data manipulation, statistical calculation, and graphical display.

The previous Exchange Plus v2.6 can continue to be used as the NAACCR Data Exchange Standard. XML Specifications for Cancer Registry Records remains unchanged at version 1.8, and Exchange Plus v2.7 consists of bug fixes and enhancements. 

The following key updates have been included in this release of Exchange Plus:

• Load Fields from Script option added to XML to Delimited module and the export wizard in the Data Explorer module
• Data Explorer: standardized substring function syntax, addition of clickable link to populate with prior data source name, allowance of annotations and comments when running scripts, and other enhancements
• Linkage Function: separated configuration file to two versions, one for abstract level and the other for consolidated data items
• Mapping Function: fixes and enhancements to translation functions and code editor interface

 Please refer to the official Release Notes for details of all fixes and enhancements.

 Tasks performed by Exchange Plus include:

• Create User Dictionaries/Dictionary Maintenance. This module is intended to help users who are not XML experts produce valid NAACCR XML dictionaries. This audience includes metafile administrators who may be asked to define a user dictionary based upon customized data items collected by their registry. The previous v2.6 of Exchange Plus can be used to create NAACCR v26 user dictionary given no change in the NAACCR XML Data Exchange Standard.
• Convert. This set of three modules converts data exchange files from the flat-buffer format to NAACCR XML format (NAACCR v18 only), from NAACCR XML format to flat-buffer format, and from NAACCR XML format to delimited format.
• Run EDITS. This module runs EDITS against a NAACCR XML data file and creates a GenEDITS-style report (detail and summary). Please note that this function does not replace GenEDITS Plus which can run edits on XML files directly, has several more options to configure edits, and is optimized for performance on large files.
• Import, View, Update, Export NAACCR Data. This module allows users to import NAACCR files, view the data in a grid, update individual records in grid cells or apply batch updates for file manipulation, export updated files with or without application of filter criteria, anonymize confidential data, and includes a feature to split files by number of records or by a field value. Multiple NAACCR files can be combined into one data source. Central registries using CRS Plus can specify connection string to the CRS Plus database and run linkage on all records in the data source against all abstracts or consolidated records in the CRS Plus database. This feature is helpful for case finding, completeness, and prioritization of data to determine if records exist in the database prior to importing into CRS Plus.
• Validation. This module runs schema validation to verify the XML file is a valid NAACCR XML document and that the file does not contain any data items that are not defined in the base or user-defined dictionary. It also validates the data type and length of each data item and produces a validation report.
• Data File Mapping. This module converts any kind of delimited file or fixed column position file to the current NAACCR XML file and also maps data items with different code and format structure to NAACCR standard codes to assist registries with data linkages and prepare data to write to the database in the NAACCR standard format.

 For more information about CDC NPCR's Exchange Plus, please visit our product websites at the following locations: Exchange Plus | NPCR | CDC  and Registry Plus Knowledgebase Exchange Plus

The install contains a PDF version of the updated Exchange Plus Manual that can be accessed from the Help menu in the task bar.  We encourage central registries to review existing local data items to determine if reporting needs have changed, and to prepare user dictionaries for NAACCR v26 if the dictionaries have not been created to date.  Please note that users are not required to upgrade but instead can use Exchange Plus v2.6 to create and update user defined dictionaries for NAACCR v26 due to no change in the NAACCR Data Exchange Standard since the release of Exchange Plus 2.6. 

As a reminder, a User Dictionary Clearinghouse is hosted on the NAACCR website to show examples of user dictionaries from other central registries and to provide the template that will help central registries gather information needed to define their own XML User Dictionary. Central registries with registry-specific data items are encouraged to fill out the Excel template available at XML User Dictionary - NAACCR and upload it to the XML Dictionary Submission Portal with a corresponding XML User Dictionary so that registry software vendors can get access to these required files to prepare customized software applications and to deploy their NAACCR v26 changes in a timely manner.

 ALL issues or support questions should be sent directly to the Helpdesk at cancerinformatics@cdc.gov.

 Please share this information with other members of your team, as appropriate.

 Thank you,

Joe Rogers