Data compilation and standardization were conducted through the Geobiodiversity Database from 2013 to 2017. The raw dataset contained 266,110 local Cambrian to Triassic records of 45,318 taxonomic units from 3,766 published stratigraphic sections. These were collected from all major Chinese tectonic plates. The authors spent three years verifying the taxonomic assignments into a consistent paleontological taxonomic classification system. Identifications to genus or higher taxonomic ranks were omitted. All non-marine fossil groups (e.g., plants, vertebrates, pollen, spores) were also removed. Species recovered from only a single locality were removed after a few test calculations in order to partially standardize the sampling and research efforts and avoid the "monograph effect". The final dataset retained after all standardization procedures included 116,060 local records of the stratigraphic ranges of 11,268 species in 3,112 published stratigraphic sections. 

The CONOP.SAGA program was designed for high-performance computing of geological time scale and biodiversity analysis in 2017. We designed a special hybrid algorithm that combined simulated annealing and a genetic algorithm to overcome the limitations of classic CONOP program designed by Pete Sadler.