CRISFRMS News June, 1997

CRISFRMS PROGRAM UPDATE - DIRECTOR'S REPORT BY ACCESSION
CRIS WEB FORMS - HOW TO TEST FOR YOUR SITE
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
========================================================

CRISFRMS PROGRAM UPDATE - DIRECTOR'S REPORT BY ACCESSION

Another interim version of CRISFRMS, 6.4h is available now for 
generating the Director's Report by accession number (you can 
still generate the report by project number as well).  This is 
NOT the required version that will be available later this 
summer.  Hopefully we will have ready in July, a version of 
CRISFRMS that WILL BE REQUIRED!  It will be required because 
it will be generating a new file format that CRIS will need 
in order to post your data more quickly to the CRISTEL World 
Wide Web server.  Obtain this and all versions of CRISFRMS
from the web site at:  http://ctr.uvm.edu/cris and look for
the "Program Update" link under "Using CRISFRMS".


CRIS WEB FORMS - HOW TO TEST FOR YOUR SITE

Things are changing so quickly that it's difficult to keep you 
posted via this newsletter.  The AD-421 Web Forms process underwent
considerable change this spring, and is just about ready for
use this year.  We'd like your input, and advise that you might
want to start taking a look now at how this process will work.

There are a number of reasons why you might want to use the Web
Forms instead of the CRISFRMS program, and many of them were
listed on handouts at the CSREES meeting in San Antonio in April
(also available on the web site under "Using CRIS Web Forms", the
"Administrative summary" link).  But here are a few more reasons:

   - the Web forms provide a summary table of reports and a 
     publications count

   - if you use CRISFRMS this upcoming year, you WILL be required
     to update to CRISFRMS 6.5, which will now generate 3 instead
     of 2 files that you must submit to CRIS.

Here's how to proceed if you want to look this process over:

- Go to the "Using CRIS Web Forms" link at http://ctr.uvm.edu/cris.

- Select the "Administrative functions" link and read what those
  are all about... try them using the site called TEST.  For TEST,
  the site password is "test" and the administrative password is
  "admtest."

- Be sure to check out the link to "edit your site information"-- that
  is where you can set your own passwords and other site-specific
  information (please don't change the TEST passwords, though).

- Also select the "AD-421 Progress/Termination Report" link under 
  "Enter CRIS Web Forms", as this is what PIs or others actually
  entering the reports will be using.  Go through the forms with the 
  site password, then try it again using the administrative
  password up to the Project Selection screen -- this screen is
  slightly different if you use the administrative password.

- if you have questions or want to try it with your own data, contact
  Sue Lang (slang@zoo.uvm.edu) or Pat Downer (pdowner@zoo.uvm.edu).
  We can set you up with last year's checklist so you can see 
  approximately what it will be like to use it this year.  If you used
  the webforms last year, your admin password is simply the digit 5
  in front of your site password from last year.  You should change
  the admin password first thing.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

There are FAQ pages for both the CRISFRMS program and for the 
Web Forms on the CRISFRMS web site at http://ctr.uvm.edu/cris.

Here's a problem that surfaced recently.  If you are just getting
around to updating to Windows95 and are still using a version of
CRISFRMS older than 6.2, you will need to update your version of
CRISFRMS.  Older versions are not completely compatible with Win95,
but you may not notice it... the problem is that multiple projects
are not written to the files for CRIS.  

So, while it is generally ok to use older versions, the policy is 
that when you begin to experience problems, it's time to upgrade.  
If you are still using Windows 3.1, or no Windows at all, then you 
can continue to use older versions until later this summer when 
CRISFRMS 6.5 WILL BE REQUIRED for everyone using CRISFRMS to submit
data to CRIS.