The Message Center

Provides a way for ODE to publish messages for all users, a specific organization type (e.g. community schools or school districts) or a specific LEA. The published messages appear at the top of the first UI page displayed, when the user logs in to the Data Collector. Unread messages are highlighted. Each message has a time frame, during which it appears in the message center. For users who have access to multiple LEAs at the Data Collector, there is a Messages tab, for viewing these messages.

(Ticket #VRF-519. Addressed in 2.1.6)

The Resources tab

Provides a way for ODE to aggregate, within the Data Collector, links for documentation and other resources, related to EMIS processes. Each resource in the Resources tab has a brief description and a link to the resource.

(Ticket #VRF-550. Addressed in 2.1.6)

ODE-initiated archiving of Level 2 Reports

Provides a way for ODE to signal all Data Collectors to archive a specific Level 2 Report, for all LEAs. Level 2 tables distribution is suspended until these archives complete. Since ODE knows when a critical point in time occurs, for a specific Level 2 report, ODE will initiate the archiving of these reports (see below for how they can be viewed by users). Currently some people download a Level 2 report daily, not knowing on which day the critical point in time will fall.

(Ticket #VRF-541. Addressed in 2.1.6)

Redefining the meaning of the term "archive" and the new Archives tab

In the new release the Archives tab is used for showing ODE-initiated archives of Level 2 Reports (see the feature above) and for files archived, for each LEA, when a collection request is permanently deleted from the Data Collector (these files contain: the latest submission, the data which would have been previewed, the collected data, and all the Level 2 reports defined by the collection request). In the prior release these "archived files when a collection request is deleted" were shown in the Received Files page (of the Reports tab), along with the files actually received from ODE. What used to be shown in the Archives tab is now integrated into the Submissions tab, as the Recent Submissions and Previews page.

(Ticket #VRF-551. Addressed in 2.1.6)

The Highlights and Recent page in the Reports tab

In addition to the pages offered by the Reports tab in the prior release (Level 1 and Level 2 reports and received files), the Reports tab now offers the Highlights and Recent page. This page is in the context of a single LEA and is aimed at more casual users of the Data Collector, than the EMIS coordinators (other pages on the Reports tab allow viewing reports across multiple LEAs, when a user has access to multiple LEAs). This page lists reports highlighted by ODE at the top, then lists all the Level 2 reports and received files, in reverse chronological order (most recent first), for which the user is authorized. The ability for ODE to highlight specific reports is also new in this release.

(Ticket #VRF-518, #VRF-533. Addressed in 2.1.6)

Help links and health icons for Level 2 reports and received files

In the new release ODE can associate a help link and a "health status" for each Level 2 report, and each file distributed by ODE. The help link is a URL for documentation, associated with the report or file. When the link is clicked the document opens in another tab in the browser. The health status icon is an OK, info, warning or error icon, with a tool-tip shown when a user hovers the mouse over the icon.

(Ticket VRF-524. Addressed in 2.1.6)

Improve performance of collecting data from flat files

In the new release, when collecting data from flat files, the Data Collector reads the files in reverse chronological order (most recent file first, based on the last modified time stamp). It stops reading files when it has found a file for each record type defined in the collection request. In the prior releases, the Data Collector read all the files in the flat files data source folder. The new approach can significantly improve performance when the data source folder contains a lot of older files, which are ignored, because newer files contains data for the record types. With the new approach these older files are ignored without their contents having been read.

(Ticket #VRF-547. Addressed in 2.1.6)