By the Numbers: An Update from the IPEDS Help Desk Jamie Isaac

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By the Numbers An Update from the IPEDS Help
DeskJamie Isaac Janice Kelly-ReidRTI
InternationalMay 8, 2007 Presented at the
2007 SHEEO/NCES Network Conference and IPEDS
WorkshopSt. Petersburg, FL
3040 Cornwallis Road P.O. Box 12194
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA
27709
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IPEDS Help Desk
- Operated since July 2000 by RTI International
- Help Desk agents are specially hired and
trained to serve IPEDS customers - Open weekdays
830am to 500pm Eastern time - Open evenings and
weekends during the final ten days of each
collection
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What is the Role of the Help Desk?

• Typically, we have 16-18 staff, many of them
  seasoned veterans. We operate out of our Call
  Center in north Raleigh, NC.
• Respond to phone calls and emails.
• Make prompting (reminder) calls during the last 2
  weeks of each collection.
• Review and migrate all survey data after locked
  and complete. At minimum, this means careful
  review of the edit reports and caveats.
• We can enter special notes for individual
  schools, so let us know if special treatment is
  needed for a particular reason.

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Meet the Help Desk
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Help Desk Activity
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Help Desk Activity 2006-07 Collection Year
Through May 4, 2007
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Inbound Call volume

• Collection Year

Through May 4, 2007
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Outbound Call volume

• Collection Year

Through May 4, 2007
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Communicating via Telephone
Help Desk Call Activity by Type
Responding to Voicemail (2)
Bounced Email Follow-Up (7)
Inbound Help Desk Calls (44)
Not Registered Prompt (9)
Data Issue Follow-Up (14)
No Data Prompt (24)
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Data Submission Issues
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Last Minute Submissions

• Still a big problem!
• The collection system becomes overloaded during
  the last few days of each collection, resulting
  in sluggish system response. It takes longer to
  enter data on these days.
• Increasing numbers of institutions are waiting
  until the end of the collection to enter their
  data.

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Last Week Submissions
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Data Review Issues
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Data Review Issues

• Data Review by Help Desk Staff prior to migration
  to PAS
• Following completion of all locks, all edit error
  messages and their respective explanations are
  reviewed.
• We pay special attention to the caveats, since
  many of these are posted to COOL, and often have
  problems such as
• Typos, grammar problems, run-on sentences
• Acting as explanations (and sometimes bad ones at
  that) or instructions
• Make no sense when compared with the data

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Reviewing Edit Explanations and Caveats
Caveats
Edit Explanations
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Reviewing Edit Explanations and Caveats
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Reviewing Edit Explanations and Caveats

• Reasons for larger numbers of IC edits
• Multiple consistency checks against other
  surveys.
• Multiple range and threshold checks on pricing
  data (compounded by collecting multiple years of
  historical data).
• Reasons for larger numbers of HR edits
• Multiple consistency checks against components
  within HR survey.
• Multiple checks for missing benefits data (but
  not all institutions provide all types of
  benefits).
• Wide range (diversity) of salaries and of benefit
  costs often trigger range-check edits (high
  numbers of false-positives and false-negatives).

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Data Review Issues

• In summary
• Please know that edit explanations must explain
  the issue, otherwise the school will be
  contacted. Please avoid such things as
• Data are correct
• Verified
• OK
• Thank you for your assistance in reviewing
  caveats and edit explanations to make sure that
  they are appropriate.

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Announcing the New...
IPEDS Data Tools Help Desk!
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What is the Role of the Data Tools Help Desk?

• Officially opened on March 5, 2007. No widespread
  announcement (so far).
• Currently, 2-3 staff working as needed,
  responding to phone calls and emails.
• Assists IPEDS users and others by familiarizing
  them with the IPEDS data tools and/or assisting
  with outputting data files.
• Includes the following tools resources
• Peer Analysis System (PAS)
• Executive Peer Tool (ExPT)
• College Opportunities On-Line Locator (COOL)
• Data Analysis System (DAS)
• Other NCES data sources and publications

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IPEDS Data Tools Help Desk

• Toll-Free 1-866-558-0658
• Email ipedstools_at_rti.org
• Representatives on-duty
• Mon-Fri 830am-500pm Eastern

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Data Tools Help Desk 3/5/07 5/4/07
Phone Calls
Emails
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Just For Fun

• Top Ten Things that the IPEDS Help Desk can NOT
  help you with
• 10. Locating the nearest Starbucks
• well, actually we probably could help you with
  that
• 9. Choosing a dissertation topic
• 8. Finding that aggravating syntax error in
  your SAS code
• 7. Taxes even if you do them on-line
• 6. Prognosticating the future of Race/Ethnicity
  categories

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Just For Fun

• Top Ten Things that the IPEDS Help Desk can NOT
  help you with
• 5. Finding a really good recipe for Quiche
  Lorraine
• 4. Locating your paper copy of your 1975 GRS
  survey submission
• 3. Speeding up your PeopleSoft conversion
• 2. Convincing your president that its not YOUR
  fault that your IPEDS survey wasnt locked!

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Just For Fun

• And the Number One Thing that the IPEDS Help Desk
  can NOT help you with
• 1. Making the system go faster on those last few
  days of the collection (There IS a limit to how
  fast we can pedal)

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In Closing
Thank you for your assistance in making IPEDS
successful!
and finally.
As usual, we have a gift of appreciation and one
that will help you remember our new Data Tools
Help Desk phone number email!