CRIS Forms News November, 1997 GETTING YOUR FY97 CHECKLIST AD-421 WEB FORMS AD-416/417/662 WEB FORMS CRISFRMS VER. 6.5 -- REQUIRED UPDATE! PREPARING FOR THE FY97 REPORTING PERIOD ====================================================== GETTING YOUR FY97 CHECKLIST http://ctr.uvm.edu/cris All FY 97 CRIS checklists are now available on the web site using the "1997 Checklist" link. Unlike past years, you don't need to download any data or programs to print it, just use the web. The default checklist looks like the old one, but there is an option for a full text list that includes all the project identifying information. In some cases, the changeover at CRIS from the old data system to the new one on the Web, has caused a delay in processing changes requested on the Program of Research. If you did not submit your Program of Research until after the August 15 deadline, those changes are not going to appear on the checklist at this time. Also, 416s sent to CRIS after October 1 will not be on the checklist. Remember, the CRIS checklist is a snapshot in time. It can only include what had been processed at CRIS at the time the files were generated, while in reality, CRIS is a dynamic system that changes constantly. Projects that started after October 1 are too new to need a report anyway. AD-421 WEB FORMS The AD-421 Web Forms are intended to help collect AD-421 data from PIs. Please try it and see if you think you would find it helpful. You can enter a test report using the TEST site. Be sure to select the "Administrative functions" link to see what the Administrative user needs to do to manage the process. Then if you think it will work for you, and you want to become a participating site, contact Sue Lang (slang@zoo.uvm.edu) before December 1. You must have tried the TEST, and be ready to provide the name and email address of the person who will be your site contact. This person will be responsible for managing the process, and must be willing to check their email regularly. It is an easy process, but you need to take the time to read the text describing how to use the system. Unlike last year, you do NOT need to use CRISFRMS at all to enter, print, review, or submit AD-421s to CRIS if you are using the Web forms. You can also combine use of the Web forms with CRISFRMS. Data entered using the Web forms can be input into CRISFRMS, OR you can just submit what you collect using CRISFRMS separately from what you collect using the Web forms. AD-416/417/662 WEB FORMS You may now use the AD-416/417/662 Web forms to collect data if you are a Web forms participating site. This is still in development but the functions for submitting to CRIS will be ready soon. CRISFRMS VER. 6.5 -- REQUIRED UPDATE! The current version of CRISFRMS is now 6.5. You MUST upgrade to version 6.5 in order to use CRISFRMS to submit AD-416/417 or AD-421 data to CRIS. You can still use older versions to collect and manage data, but you MUST USE 6.5 to generate the files that are sent to CRIS! However, at the point that you experience problems using older versions, you must upgrade. You can get ver. 6.5 on the web site by choosing the "Program Update" link under "Using CRISFRMS". PREPARING FOR THE FY97 REPORTING PERIOD Every year we have to try to remember what we did last year, and what we learned to do or not to do... unless you took notes and now you can still find them a year later, you will probably forget. Here's a "brief" reminder of how it all should work if you are using CRISFRMS, followed by a much briefer reminder of how it all should work if you are using the Web forms. CRISFRMS: ========= Get your station checklist and print it out from the Web site. You can use the default text-mode list or the new version with full project information (the CRISFRMS checklists match the full project information version on the Web). Then use CRISFRMS 6.5 to print the same information using your CRISFRMS data (this will only be comparable if you have kept CRISFRMS data up-to-date AND have notified CRIS of all changes you have made in CRISFRMS as well. You print the checklist from CRISFRMS in the Custom Reports Menu accessed from the Project Management Menu, P Print, item 6. Custom Reports. By printing both the CRIS checklist on the Web and the checklist in CRISFRMS, you can compare the 2 lists and see what projects you may not have in your own CRISFMRS files, and make sure what you have agrees with what CRIS has. First, be sure to set this year's reporting period dates using "S--Set AD-421 Reporting Period" on the AD-421 MENU. Next, clean out last year's reports using "M--Modify for new year" on the AD-421 MENU. (If you have some reason to save last year's reports which are probably still in there, make a backup first.) You will want to delete last year's narrative and pubs so that you will know for sure who submitted reports this year and who didn't (if you have the old ones hanging around in there, you just won't know which year that represents). NOTE: If you have collected progress/termination reports for Competitive/Special Grants/Coop Agreements that are NOT on your regular annual reporting cycle, and you do NOT want to remove those reports nor change the reporting period dates, choose "B--Browse/Select before" you go into "M--Modify for new year" and select just Hatch or McSten or Evans-Allen, etc. projects. That way only these projects will be modified. If you are collecting data from departments or PIs directly, you need to give them instructions for getting data to you. Remember, CRISFRMS is a DOS program, and can import only ASCII text files (WordPerfect import could not be updated because the library for doing this no longer exists). So ask your PIs to send you ASCII text files created in Courier 12 point. Make your life easier by making sure PIs understand that only keyboard characters are allowed in the CRIS database (no Greek letters, no percent symbols, no math characters, no underline or bold or italics can be included). They also need to stick to the size limitations on narratives and publications (1520 characters max, and each citation can be only 240 characters max). There must be a blank line between each citation, and all citations must include the year between the authors and the rest of the information. Beyond that, it is up to you to provide any additional citation format guidelines if you wish. The new CRIS Web Forms automatically limit the total character length and eliminate symbols etc. by not letting the user go on until those offending items are corrected. PIs may find this annoying, but your life will be a lot easier. Also, the Web forms now allow up to 3200 characters in the narrative and unlimited publications If you want these extensions, you should use the Web forms. While CRISFRMS allows more than 1520 characters to be input, the checking processes will tell you you are beyond the limit. If you really know how to use CRISFRMS, you can deal with longer narratives and pubs, but we cannot support that undocumented feature. Also if you use the '---' feature to indicate the end of publications intended for CRIS, it will be ignored when the new file type is created for CRIS, and ALL the publications will be included in the new file for CRISTEL. When all the reports have been collected, and reviewed, use R--pRepare files for CRIS on the AD-421 MENU to prepare the files for CRIS. You MUST USE VERSION 6.5 to prepare the files for CRIS!! There are now 3 files that must be sent to CRIS, on diskette or by FTP: CRIS421.TER, CRIS421.PRO, and the new CRIS421.CST. Web Forms: ========== Get your station checklist and print it out from the Web site. You can use the default text-mode list or the new version with full project information. If you are collecting data from departments or PIs directly, you need to give them instructions for getting data to you. Print the customized instructions using the "Administrative functions." These can be edited if necessary. The new CRIS Web Forms automatically limit the total character length and eliminate symbols etc. by not letting the user go on until those offending items are corrected. PIs may find this annoying, but your life will be a lot easier. Also, the Web forms now allow up to 3200 characters in the narrative and unlimited publications. The publications must include the year and it should be located after the authors. PIs SHOULD see all the instructions they need when using the Web forms, including links to the CRIS manuals for explanations of things like patents and copyrights. If you find that they are having problems understanding something, let us know so we can make it better. When all the reports have been collected, and reviewed, use the "Submit to CRIS" link on the Administrative functions page.