Unified
Reporting System
Instructions
The URS Web address: http://urs.oardc.ohio-state.edu/
Welcome to the
What are the benefits to you?
In 1999, the Unified Reporting System Task Force
reported that departments in the
1.
Providing a
single point portal to enter and retrieve your program/project information,
2.
Providing
frequently-used information about your appointment using existing personnel
databases,
3.
Providing a means
of copying and updating previous reports, and adding and editing
program/project information throughout the year in preparation for
performance review, annual department and other reports.
4.
Providing a
feedback channel to improve the system.
How does the Unified Reporting System work?
URS was created to collect information from all
faculty members and administrative professionals, regardless of appointment or
responsibilities. URS is a web-based
accountability and information system that can be accessed 24-hours a day,
seven days a week. On the URS Web pages,
you will be asked to report information about your teaching, research and
extension activities. This is the same
information you have traditionally provided in your Plan of Work/Report of
Results (extension), annual activity report statement (teaching and research)
and in your curriculum vitae. In fact,
this report will replace your Plan of
Work or annual activity report. You
will be able to save your work as you go along, add to it at a later time, and
edit it when your schedule permits. You
will also be able to generate your own personal reports. The information will reside in a database on
a password protected, secure server.
Public access will be restricted.
Department reports will be generated from a "snapshot" in time
of the master database. Report deadlines will be announced by department heads,
and you will be able to update and maintain the most current information
available.
Before you get started:
Keep this in mind.
This system was created to collect information from all faculty member
and administrative professionals, regardless of appointment or
responsibilities. Fill out the portions of the document that apply to you. You will be able to save your work as you go
along, add to it at a later time and edit it when your schedule permits. When you are done, you will be able to print
out a report. Take your time and be
sure to read the "Helps" for guidance and suggestions
For Additional Help:
For help with URS content questions, contact:
Thomas M. Archer, Leader
Program Development and Evaluation
Agricultural
Tel: 614.292.0179
Fax: 614.688.3807
Email: archer.3@osu.edu
OR
Debby Lewis, Program Accountability Specialist
Program Development and Evaluation
Agricultural
Tel: 614.292.5089
Fax: 614.688.3807
Email: lewis.205@osu.edu
For help with URS technical questions, contact:
D. J. “Chip” Styer, Systems Developer/Engineer
Director's Office,
The
Tel: 330.263.3706 (5.3706)
Fax: 330.263.3688
E-mail: Styer.21@osu.edu
Using URS
Logon:
If you have not used the system before, you need to
select "New User" on the home page. This allows you to register. To register, you need your OSU ID number
(8-digit number on your paycheck or BuckID), email
address (preferably your OSU email address, e.g. smith.1@osu.edu), a
self-specified user ID and a self-specified password. If you do not have your OSU ID, contact Chip
Styer (styer.21@osu.edu)
330.263.3706.
If you have used the system before, select
"System Login" on the home page.
Logon with the user ID and password you selected. If you have forgotten you user ID or password,
there is a link to request that it be emailed to you.
Screen Layout:
When you logon, the program opens a new browser window
on your desktop. The window is divided
into three frames. The upper-left frame
shows your URS menu options. On the first menu screen, you can choose the
report to edit or start a report for a new reporting year. On the subsequent menu screen, you select the
component to edit. The lower-left is a
status window. The right frame is the work area. This frame is the area where
you enter the information for each component.
Saving Data:
When you enter new information on a page or change
existing information, YOU MUST CLICK THE SAVE BUTTON. If you do not
click the save button, you will lose your work. Unfortunately, with Web programs, there is no
way to automatically remind you to save your work. Watch the status window when you click the
save button. The status window will warn
you if a problem has occurred.
1.
New entries may
have one or two save buttons (top/bottom of the screen). Both buttons save data
-- use either one.
2.
Screens for
previously entered component data may have multiple save buttons. Each entry for the component is contained in
a "box" along with its Save and Delete buttons. The Save button will only save the data
that is in the same box as the button.
Help:
Each entry page has on-line help. Click the "HELP" button in the
upper left corner of the work frame.
This button opens a separate window with general instructions and a
description of the fields for the specific component.
Feedback:
There is a feedback link in the menu frame. You can use this link to ask questions about
the system or make suggestions for future versions. Your questions and comments are sent to
members of the URS developmental committee.
Copy and Paste:
You can use any word processor to write the narrative
sections of you URS report and then "copy and paste" into URS. To copy and paste, you will need to have both
your word processor and URS running at the same time.
1.
Create the
narrative in a word processor document.
Use the word processor to check your spelling.
2.
Open a Web
browser; logon to URS; select the component to be edited.
3.
Click on the word
processor document. Highlight the text
to be copied; select "copy" in the word processor’s menu. You can also use Ctrl-C for Word documents.
4.
Click on the URS
Web page to bring it to the "top" of your desktop. Click in the text area for the entry you wish
to copy. "Paste" the text from
your word processor document. You can
use Ctrl-V to paste or select Edit/Paste from the browser menu.
5.
If you have other
text to copy, repeat steps 4 and 5, copying from your word processor document
and pasting to the URS report.
Spell
Checking and Editing:
To check the spelling on your URS report, copy and
paste the narrative that you want to spell check into a word processor. Open
the spell checker and check your document. Note: If you make corrections
or changes to the RTF file, those changes will NOT be made
to your online URS report. You should copy and paste changes and correction to
the online version (see "Copy and Paste" above).
Submitting Your Report:
If your department chair or supervisor
requests a paper copy, use the My Web Report function, which is one of the
purple buttons within the menu portion of the screen. The Set Order
function can be used to arrange the URS Components in your desired report
order. When you click on the Web Report button, the report is
generated. It can be printed directly from the browser OR it can be saved
as a word processing document, and retrieved into the word processor for
further editing or printing (Looks best in Microsoft Word) OR e-mailed as an
attachment.
The First Time You Logon:
The first time you logon to the system, you have no activity
report data in the system. Accordingly, the menu gives you one selection:
"New Report". To start your
activity report, click on New Report. On the next screen, build an empty report
(see information on report dates below).
You now have initialized a report and can begin
entering data by selecting the various components from the Activity Report
Menu. If you have co-authored or been
added as a team member by another URS user, you may already have information in
some of the components in your “empty report”.
Report Dates and Activity Periods:
The standard yearly reporting period for departmental
annual reports in the
OSU Extension Reports for each year are due January
15 of the following year.
Subsequent Logons:
When you have a least one report in the system, the
initial menu gives you these options (green buttons):
3.
Create New Report
4.
Edit one of your
existing reports (represented by years).
New Report:
The Create New Report button in the upper left‑hand
frame allows you to generate a new report.
Either you can build an empty report, or you can copy a previous year's
report. The copy function allows you to
make a copy of an old report for the new reporting year. The advantage to making a copy is that you
can then edit the new report, adding or deleting information that may have
changed. This function was added to save
you work.
Edit Existing Reports:
This function allows you to edit an existing
report. Select the report year you want
to edit.
USER PROFILE UPDATE
By clicking on the User Profile Update (green button), which is located on the same screen as the Activity Reports, a user can modify personal URS settings. Setting updates that can be initiated by the user include:
Changes that will take place immediately:
Change
User Name
Change
User Password
Change
User e-mail Address
Changes that will take place after review of proposed
changes:
Change
User Address Information: Address,
Building Name, Room Number, City, State, Zip, Phone
Change
User Appointments: Appointment
Date, Appointment Length, Appointments
SEARCHING URS
You can search the Unified
Reporting System database by clicking on one of the purple buttons on the
bottom of the opening URS menu (before you create a report or edit an existing
report). Currently you can search Extension
Programs, Extension Presentations, Grant Reports, and Academic Activity
Reports. You can do a basic text search,
State-wide Team or Private Key search of any of these components. In addition, you can search Keywords used in
Extension Presentations or Programs.
When searching Extension programs, you may also search by Plan of
Action, Legislative District or County.
Select a year and click on the GO button to generate a report (this may
take a while depending on the amount of information returned by your
search). Once the report appears on your
screen, it allows you to click on the users name to generate and e-mail to
contact the person of interest. Make
sure you tell them you found the information in URS!
COMPONENTS
The following section lists the fields for each of the
URS components. If the selection is a
choice list, your options are listed.
PERSONAL INFO (click here):
This provides a drop down list of the next five
components (dark blue button).
APPOINTMENT (must click on the PERSONAL INFO Component
to see this as one of the drop down selections):
The appointment information is downloaded from the OSU
Human Resources database. You can
visually check whether or not the information is correct. If it is erroneous, see User Profile Update
as described above.
DATES FOR THIS REPORT (must click on the PERSONAL INFO
Component to see this as one of the drop down selections):
Edit the report dates, if necessary (i.e., report
date, activity year, and activity period).
See the Report Dates and Activity Period section explanation for report
dates. If you started mid-year or other
than January 1, you can put in your start date.
POSITION DESCRIPTION (must click on the PERSONAL INFO
Component to see this as one of the drop down selections):
In this section you can place your up-to-date Position Description. A narrative field is provided in which you could address items such as: Why the position exists; Overview of duties; Description of essential duties; Specific short-term assignments.
For Extension Educators, there is a field for Educator
Specialization. The default is Not
Applicable. However, if you are a
Listing of institutions and dates of your degrees.
Listing of your employment
experience.
CREDIT COURSES:
The purpose of this section is to describe the
activity of faculty involved in the delivery
of OSU Credit Courses to students, both on campus and
off campus
1 Sequence
#: (optional) If you enter a sequence number, your entries will be sorted
numerically by sequence number. Numbers can be decimal or integer.
2. Course
Number: The course number assigned by a department and listed in the class
schedule.
3. Title: Course title determined by the department and
listed in the class schedule.
4. Credit
Hours: Number of credits determined by the department for this course. For
variable credit courses, use the number of hours for which the majority of
students are registered.
5. Contact
Hours: Number of hours this class
meets including lab time.
6. Team
taught: Was this class team taught,
if so check the box and indicate the percentage of course responsibility you
carried.
7. Quarter(s): Check all boxes that apply.
8. Course Development and Revision
Activities: Give a brief description of your work on course development and
any revisions and updates to course curriculum.
9. Significant
Accomplishments and Impacts: Give a detailed description of the measurable
program outcomes and/or impacts on the public as a result of this course.
10. Synopsis of Student Evaluations: Give a
brief synopsis of the feedback received on student evaluations this year.
11. Synopsis of Peer Evaluations: If this
course curriculum has been peer reviewed, give a brief overview of the feedback
received.
TEACHING ACTIVITIES:
1 Sequence
#: (optional) If you enter a sequence number, your entries will be sorted
numerically by sequence number. Numbers can be decimal or integer.
2. Activity:
The pop-up box attached has activity options and the opportunity to add
additional activities by selecting "other." Make your selection from
the pop up list.
Activity Description
Critiques critical written
review of a scholarly work
Guest Lecturer any opportunity to lecture in a class othe