2006 IRSP Collection Tool Instructions

Last updated: June 20, 2006

Please read these instructions completely before using the tool. Also, please refer to the separate instruction manual with template for preparation of the 2006 IRSP.

General

Who Should Access the Tool

The information resources strategic plan (IRSP) Collection Tool is to be used by Information Resources Managers (IRMs) of state agencies and institutions of higher education that are required to submit IRSPs to DIR. IRMs may choose to delegate some of the work of preparing IRSP information and entering it using the tool.

How to Access the Tool

IRMs received an e-mail on May 31, 2006 containing a link to the tool. This link contained an authentication key that is unique to each agency, allowing that agency’s data to be stored and recalled in multiple sessions throughout the reporting period.

How the Tool Works

The IRSP Collection Tool uses a hosted web survey system offered by Inquisite, Inc. It is more intuitive and user-friendly than previous data collection instruments developed in-house by DIR. During the reporting period all agency-submitted data will be securely stored and maintained, and will be accessible only by the submitting agency and DIR. At the conclusion of the IRSP reporting period all agency-submitted IRSP data will be removed from Inquisite’s servers and loaded into a database at DIR. All IRSP data submitted by an agency will be considered provisional until DIR receives approval from the agency’s executive director or the president, chancellor, or vice chancellor of the institution of higher education.

Approaches to Using the Tool

The IRM may choose to use the tool incrementally throughout the IRSP preparation process. Information can be entered in any desired order, and can be reviewed and updated at any time.

Alternatively, the IRM may choose to collect IRSP information “offline” in a word processing document. See IRSP Instructions & Template for one method of offline data collection. This approach may make it easier for multiple staff to participate in IRSP preparation, review and approval. After finalization of the content, the IRM or a delegated staff would transfer the information into the collection tool, using electronic copy/paste for all text and narrative content.

A combination of these two approaches may also be used.

Tool Functions

Bookmark

The first time your agency accesses this tool, you will be asked on the “Welcome” page to click the “Save” button and to use your browser to “save a bookmark”. This bookmark will contain both your agency’s unique authentication key and another unique key that identifies the location of your agency’s data in the Inquisite database. It is essential that you save this bookmark and use it to initiate future IRSP Collection Tool sessions. You can copy this bookmark if you want to access the tool from another browser or another computer, or if you want to delegate use of the tool to another person.

Navigation

On the bottom left of each page is a drop menu that allows the user to move directly to any page of the tool. The pages are named according to the IRSP question number(s) contained on the page. Information can be entered in any desired order. “<Back” and “Next>” buttons are also provided to move forward and backward one page at a time.

Note that when navigating pages some pages may be skipped. This is because the tool has determined that you do not need to complete the skipped pages. For example, in the applications section if you have entered three separate applications and answered No to the question “Do you have any additional applications?”, then the tool will skip over the remaining blank application pages.

Save

A “Save” button appears at the bottom of each page. Clicking this button causes all the data you have entered on the page to be saved on the server. Note that clicking “Next” or “Back” also has the effect of saving whatever you have entered.

Review

A “Review” button appears at the bottom of the last page of the tool. This button generates a report showing all the IRSP questions and all the responses you have entered so far. You may view, print, or save this report. Although the button only appears on the last page, you can go to this page and generate this report at any time during the reporting period.

Links

On the left side of each survey screen are several IRSP resource links:

• IRSP Instructions & Template. The instruction manual for preparation of the IRSP. Beyond the IRSP questions themselves, it contains additional guidance and a glossary of terms. DIR recommends that a printed copy of this manual be available when using the collection tool. It includes an RTF document that can be used as a template for collecting IRSP content offline. Note that two sections (applications and databases) are to be repeated as often as needed by the agency.
• Tool Instructions. This link points to the document you are currently reading. Clicking this link ant checking the “last updated” line at the top will ensure that you are looking at the latest version.
• Contact DIR. This is a link for e-mailing any IRSP-related question to DIR. DIR staff will respond to these questions as soon as possible, usually within two business days. You may also want to refer to the IRSP FAQ page to see if the question you have may have already been answered.

Notes

Browser Requirements

The Inquisite-based IRSP Collection Tool requires an Internet Explorer 5.5/Firefox 1.0 or later web browser. Certain ease-of-use features within the tool (dynamic skip logic and clickable answer ranking) require that “JavaScript” be enabled, although the tool will work without these features.

Field Types

Spaces are provided to enter an answer for each question:

• Round “radio buttons” indicate that a single answer must be selected from a defined list.
• Square “check boxes” indicate that one or more answers may be selected from a defined list.
• Single-line text boxes allow up to 255 alphanumeric characters to be typed or pasted in.
• Multi-line text boxes allow up to 4,096 alphanumeric characters to be typed or pasted in.
• Rank questions have a square for each list item to enter a numeric rank (1, 2, 3 etc). If your browser has JavaScript enabled, clicking the boxes in order will automatically fill in the rank.
• Menu boxes allow a single selection from a drop-menu.

Completion Process

After all the IRSP information is entered into the tool and validated and approved by the IRM, the final step in the completion process is for the agency’s executive director or the president, chancellor, or vice chancellor of the institution of higher education to approve the plan and to transmit this approval to DIR. DIR will communicate the procedures to address this statutory requirement once developed.