Working Days in FY2015

Now that October is winding down, we should be putting FY2014 behind us and focusing more on the new year.
As you start reporting for the FY2015 year, keep in mind how many days you should report each month. The chart below should help you make sure you are reporting the correct number of days each month.

* Note- Actual reported numbers will vary due to annual leave, sick leave, or working nights/weekends, etc

Number of Total Workdays for FY15- 247Number of Total Hours for FY15- 1976

Month	Days	Hours
October	23	184
November**	18	144
December	17	136
January	19	152
February	20	160
March	22	176
April	22	176
May	20	160
June	22	176
July	22	176
August	21	168
September	21	168

**November reflects a traditional Govenor's Declaration of the Friday after Thanksgiving. If it is not declared, then November will have 19 days and 152 hours.

AIMS is Open for IPOW Development!

*Insert Trumpet Blasts*

The FY2015 Plan of Work is available for planning purposes at http://aims.uaex.edu!

We have created a "FY15 IPOW Guide" that includes basic instructions on creating your IPOW and submitting it for approval. We have also created a video to walk you through the process as well.  Both pieces are linked below. 

Agents need to plan for 113 days in their IPOW (those with SNAP plans will end up with more than 113 in their IPOWs). Others need to check with their supervisor for their IPOW deadline and planning day requirements. 

We have posted a few more resources as well here on the blog and will be adding more in the coming days. 

If you have questions about a specific goal or objective, contact the specialist listed.

If you have any problems or questions about creating your Plan of Work, feel free to contact me by email or phone.

Instructions on How to Create Your IPOW are here:
FY2015 IPOW Creation- PDF
FY2015 IPOW Creation- Video

Instructions on Approving an IPOW are here:
FY2015 IPOW Approval- PDF
FY2015 IPOW Approval- Video

"New" Planned Program Areas for FY2015

In an effort to streamline our Extension Plan of Work with our Division of Agriculture Strategic Plan and our federal plan of work, we have renamed the planned program areas in AIMS. The content of our programs has not changed, but where goals and objectives are located has. You will find the content of each planned program area below:

FY2015 Planned Program Area Contents

Access to Safe & Nutritious Foods

GOAL# 1- Foods & Nutrition

GOAL# 2- EFNEP

GOAL # 3- Food Safety & Food Preservation

Agricultural Production & Processing

GOAL#1- Animal & Animal Products

GOAL#2- Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness

GOAL#3- Plant & Plant Products

GOAL #4- Agricultural Awareness

Community & Economic Development

GOAL# 1- Business Development

GOAL# 2- Community, Regional & Leadership Development

GOAL #3- Public Policy

Environment, Climate & Energy

GOAL# 1- Natural Resources & Environment

Opportunities for Families & Youth

GOAL# 1- 4-H Youth Development

GOAL# 2- 4-H Volunteer Development

GOAL #3- EHC

GOAL #4- Health & Aging

GOAL #5- Family Life

GOAL #6- Family Economics

SNAP-Ed

GOAL# 1- SNAP-Ed

As you start working in AIMS, feel free to contact Diane Mashburn with any questions you may have. dmashburn@uaex.edu or 501-671-2351

3 Days Left!

Only 3 days left for FY2014 AIMS data entry!

Remember AIMS will be closing at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 5, 2014. 

As a reminder, I have attached the impact template and how to pull end of the year reports tip sheets. Impact Templates can be downloaded from the MISC Extension Templates page. 

Support will be available until 6 p.m. tonight, Friday, October 3rd.

LIMITED SUPPORT will be available on Saturday and Sunday.

If you have not logged into AIMS recently, please check your password before the end of the day. The IT Call Center can assist you with password issues. 

Have questions about AIMS, the impact template, or reporting in general?

Password or Log-In Issues? Contact the Call Center at 1-866-779-3375 or callcenter@uaex.edu.

We are updating the AIMS Help site as issues/questions come up. http://aimshelp.blogspot.com/.

Please sign up for updates, if you would like to receive notifications of new content.

If you have any questions regarding where to put data in AIMS, a computer issue, or a general AIMS question, email aimshelp@uaex.edu or contact Diane Mashburn at 501-671-2351 or dmashburn@uaex.edu.

Don't know how to find indicator data to enter? Contact the specialist listed for the objective under which that indicator falls.

NOTE:

IPOW development and approvals are not going to be available until AIMS is reopened next week.

AIMS will be closed at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 5th, and will be reopened by October 8th.

Please remember NOT to report any of your October numbers until AIMS opens back up. 

Only 5 days Left to Enter Data into AIMS

Less Than One Week Left! 

The end of the program year is today, which means ALL program data (time, contacts, indicators, impact reports, etc.) are due into AIMS by 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 5, 2014. AIMS will then be closed until October 8th.

Support will be available until 4:30 p.m. today through Thursday and additional support will be available until 6 p.m. on Friday, October 3rd.

LIMITED SUPPORT will be available on Saturday and Sunday.

If you have not logged into AIMS recently, please check your password before the end of the week. The IT Call Center can assist you with password issues. 

Have questions about AIMS, the impact template, or reporting in general?

Password or Log-In Issues? Contact the Call Center at 1-866-779-3375 or callcenter@uaex.edu.

We are updating the AIMS Help site as issues/questions come up. http://aimshelp.blogspot.com/.

Please sign up for updates, if you would like to receive notifications of new content.

Instructions and impact template files can be found on the Program and Staff Development Impact page http://uaex.edu/support-units/program-staff-development/program-evaluation/impact.aspx. 

You can also access template files at http://www.uaex.edu/extension-policies/templates/misc.aspx (MISC 097). 

If you have any questions regarding where to put data in AIMS, a computer issue, or a general AIMS question, email aimshelp@uaex.edu or contact Diane Mashburn at 501-671-2351 or dmashburn@uaex.edu.

Don't know how to find indicator data to enter? Contact the specialist listed for the objective under which that indicator falls.

NOTE:

IPOW development and approvals are not going to be available until AIMS is reopened next week.

AIMS will be closed at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 5th, and will be reopened by October 8th.

Please remember NOT to report any of your October numbers until AIMS opens back up. 

UPDATED: How Much is a Volunteer's Time Worth?

I am hearing that many of you are working on your impact reports and starting to take a look at your year as a whole. One great indicator is the amount of volunteer time has been contributed to your programs and how much that time is worth.

This year, the amount an hour of volunteer's time is worth has been adjusted. So please use this figure in all your reports and impacts that you create.

For FY2014, one hour of volunteer time in the state of Arkansas is worth $22.55. 

The value of a volunteer's time is calculated by Independent Sector, which is a Washington, D.C. think tank who establishes a dollar value of a volunteer's time and the Arkansas Division of Community Service and Nonprofit Support (a division of DHS) utilizes this figure.

So please use this figure in all your reports and impacts that you create. If you have any questions about the current figure, feel free to contact Program and Staff Development at 501-671-2086.

Impact Reporting Doesn't Begin in September

Impact reporting doesn't begin in September, it starts when your programs are being planned.  It continues along every step of your program.  Since we are preparing for the final stages of this year's impact reporting... I wanted to share a few tips found on North Dakota State University Extension's site:

As you think about what was accomplished, ask yourself these questions:

Impact Still Relevant

While not everything from 2003 is still relevant...
When it comes to Impacts and Program Development, this Journal of Extension article still is: 

 

Just a little heads up - impact reports will be due on October 5th again this year.  I will do my best to have information to get your prepared here on the AIMS Help site.

 

"Because funding is no longer 'automatic,' proving value and relevance is more important than ever." (Diem, 2003)

 

Follow the AIMS Help blog to keep up with the latest in regards to the Arkansas Extension impact.

 

It Happened... Your Impacts...

It happened… Tony prepared to meet with several legislators and wanted copies of your Impact reports.  Guess what?  As Amy reviewed the county impact reports for printing, there were several that she deemed unacceptable for Tony’s use (I am paraphrasing!).  Just in case you didn’t know, you can go in and see what everyone sees.  Here is how:

Log on to AIMS – http://aims.uaex.edu

Scroll over results and select “FY2012 and above”

Scroll all the way down to Section V. Impact Reports and select “More…”

• 

(Hold down the Control key to manually override pop-up blockers.)

You should see what Tony (or anyone else for that matter!) when they run a report for your county.  Are you okay with what they will find? 

Are they how you would want your county represented to the world?

FY2013 POW Approval Process

From your AIMS home screen (you will not need to assume your employee's ID):

First go to myPlan-

Then go to "Preview IPOW Summary FY 2013", select FY 2013-

Your Volunteer Data Matters

Why is it so important to have your volunteer data in AIMS? 
Check out this site and how your reported data compares to other Extension Services around the nation:  http://excellencedata.tamu.edu/Volunteer/

*To clarify their "Other" category includes our Extension Homemaker volunteers as well as all audiences other than 4-H and Master Gardeners.

Impact Photos Not Printing?

"I inserted a few photos as per your instructions in the online video. When I print my statement, the pictures don't print, but everything else does. Any reason for this?"

 

When the print dialog box is open… make sure that "Documents and Markups" is selected under Comments & Forms.  If it is only Documents, the pictures won't print.  If it still gives you trouble, give me a call.

 

Case of Writer's Block?

So you have a case of writer's block and can't seem to figure how to write your impact report??? 

Writing Better Outcomes (NIFA)



This link contains some ideas on writing your Impact report.  This presentation was developed by our Federal stakeholder, NIFA (National Institute of Food and Agriculture).  While it is intended for the NIFA Plan of Work and Report of Accomplishments, it is also good to think about for your Impact Reports.

Impact PDF - How to Pull Reports from AIMS

Wondering how to pull those Impact PDFs back out of AIMS?  Check out this video:

This can be useful tool for comparing reports or getting ideas for content, style, etc.  It is also a good idea to pull for your county/unit so that you can see what someone else will see when they are looking.

Inserting Photos in Impact PDF - How To Insert Photo (VIDEO)

In addition to the step-by-step instructions... Here is a video that walks you through inserting a photo into your Impact PDF templates:

So, What Is Baseline Data Report?

Baseline are the "what we did" (Outcomes are the "what happened as a result of what we did"). 

 

Often in AIMS since most outputs are captured in the myReporting- Contacts… Baseline ends up collecting non-duplicated numbers and activities. Grants, project enrollment and specific data regarding what was done that is not captured elsewhere. It could also collect data used to compare an external factor so that you could compare that across the time frame of the program.

 

So for instance:

AIMS (and Impacts Too!) Help

If you haven’t done so already… this time of year is a great time to get AIMS Help updates by email.  I will not be sending emails out to DL-ALL EMPLOYEES every time something new is added to help you with your end of the year (and beginning of the new year) reporting. 

 

I am also posting Impact Reporting resources, so AIMS Help is not just for AIMS reporters.  You can either sign up or bookmark it, so you can go check it out on a regular basis to see what’s been added.

 

If you want to stay in the know… I suggest you sign up on the right side of the AIMS Help page! 

 

Impact Back Page Offers Flexibility

If you are looking for more flexibility for your impact template... Look no further than the template for the second page.  This set of Microsoft Word documents complement the Program Area Impact PDF templates.

AIMS Closes October 5th

AIMS will close on October 5th, 2012 at 4:30p.m. Central time.
Be sure to have your data entered before the system shuts down.
At that time, the following major categories of data should be in the system:

FY12 Impact Training Centra Recordings

Links to the the ANR or FCS Impact Report Writing workshops conducted by Dr. Rick Cartwright and Dr. Anne Sortor respectively:

ANR-
http://webconference.tamus.edu/SiteRoots/main/User/PlaybackOptions.jhtml?s_id=00000116b52c00000138a7290601966b&cdurl=null&r_id=000000a22671000001393706dad59310&sessionid=1347397631250130502

FCS-
http://webconference.tamus.edu/SiteRoots/main/User/PlaybackOptions.jhtml?s_id=000000b5ad680000013912daf15b84e8&cdurl=null&r_id=000000b5ad680000013912daf15b8619&sessionid=1347397631250130502

If you have any other questions or are in need of additional resources, please let me know!