Batch Number and Cycle Processed
Until 2006, each written letter or recovery report was processed in a batch of approximately 100 reports and assigned a batch number. Reports called in to the 1-800 number and reported on the band reporting website are strictly electronic reports and were given a five digit batch number comprised of the year and Julian date. The Cycle Processed indicates the week of the year that the recovery was processed. The batch number was once used to locate original or microfilmed reports. These numbers are in the comments field of encounter reports and the batch number is represented as B#xxxxx and cycle processed is represented as C#xxxx. When the BBL switched to the Oracle relational database from the HP hierarchical database, batch numbers and cycles processed were no longer used.
In 2010-2011 the BBL digitized all paper and microfilm encounter report records and indexed them by their band number, increasing the accessibility and efficiency of locating the original copy of these records. While the batch number and cycle processed are now irrelevant when trying to locate the original copy of a report sent in by postal mail, these numbers are retained in the comments on encounter reports given that they also provide a historical account of when the record was processed.