2. 1 3040 Cornwallis Road ■ P.O. Box 12194 ■ Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA 27709 By the Numbers: An Update from the IPEDS Help Desk Jamie Isaac & Janice Kelly-Reid RTI International May 8, 2007 Presented at the 2007 SHEEO/NCES Network Conference and IPEDS Workshop St. Petersburg, FL

3. 2 IPEDS Help Desk - Operated since July 2000 by RTI International - Help Desk agents are specially hired and trained to serve IPEDS customers - Open weekdays 8:30am to 5:00pm Eastern time - Open evenings and weekends during the final ten days of each collection

4. 3 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.

5. 4 Meet the Help Desk

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7. 6 Help Desk Activity – 2006-07 Collection Year *Through May 4, 2007

8. 7 Inbound Call volume Collection Year *Through May 4, 2007

9. 8 Outbound Call volume Collection Year *Through May 4, 2007

10. 9 Communicating via Telephone Inbound Help Desk Calls (44%) No Data Prompt (24%) Data Issue Follow-Up (14%) Not Registered Prompt (9%) Bounced Email Follow-Up (7%) Responding to Voicemail (2%) Help Desk Call Activity by Type

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12. 11 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.

13. 12 Last Week Submissions

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15. 14 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

16. 15 Reviewing Edit Explanations and Caveats Edit Explanations Caveats

17. 16 Reviewing Edit Explanations and Caveats

18. 17 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).

19. 18 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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21. 20 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

22. 21 IPEDS Data Tools Help Desk  Toll-Free: 1-866-558-0658  Email: ipedstools@rti.orgipedstools@rti.org  Representatives on-duty: Mon-Fri 8:30am-5:00pm Eastern

23. 22 Data Tools Help Desk – 3/5/07 – 5/4/07 Phone Calls Emails

24. 23 Just For Fun… Top Ten Things that the IPEDS Help Desk can NOT help you with: 10. Locating the nearest Starbuck’s …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

25. 24 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 it’s not YOUR fault that your IPEDS survey wasn’t locked! Just For Fun…

26. 25 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)

27. 26 In Closing… Thank you for your assistance in making IPEDS successful! As usual, we have a gift of appreciation… and one that will help you remember our new Data Tools Help Desk phone number & email! …and finally….