Assistance Tracker Help Files
(Last update: August, 2006)

These help files are step-by-step instructions for using Assistance Tracker. Note that the images included in these help files took place before each specialist edited their requests on-line. Several of the fields, such as Subjects, may not be accurate.

Centers Contacts: Please contact the following persons to obtain help, report bugs, or suggest improvements:
ENTSC: anthony.burns@gnb.usda.gov, 336-370-3358
CNTSC: Emil.Horvath@ftw.usda.gov, 817-509-3221
WNTSC: Kathleen.Dobler@por.usda.gov, 503-273-2429
General: Emil.Horvath@ftw.usda.gov, 817-509-3221

Goal 1. Learn to search for requests.

Step 1. Go to the web site:
 Assistance Tracker

Step 2. Click on the following hyperlink found on the Home page:
 All National Technology Support Center Requests
The following image appears:

The top of the image includes Keyword, Subject, and Center search fields. These fields are used to carry out searches. The table holds the results of a search. The column headings in the table include (further definitions are available at Glossary):

1. Id: an identification number for the request
2. Request Title: a brief title field describing the request
3. Subject: the principle scientific discipline (i.e. Agronomy, Soils) associated with the request.
4. Specialist 1: the primary NTSC specialist in charge of the request
5. Function: Direct Technical Assistance, Technology Development, Technology Transfer and Training
6. Request Date: The date the request was received at a Center.

Additional fields that can be displayed (explained in the next step) include:

1. Special Development Team: NTSC team carrying out request
2. Specialist 2: a second specialist associated with the request
3. Specialist 3: a third specialist, often a team leader or team member, associated with a request
4. Status: Completed, In-progress, Ongoing, Pending
5. Level: Regional, National, State
6. Requestor Name: person, or entity, making request
7. Time Spent: hours spent working on request
8. Locations: locations associated with request
9. Date completed or last action date: date request completed, or the last date that an action was taken on the request
10. Is Formal Request?: true, if the request was made in writing
11. Comments: Short paragraph explaining request.

Step 3. Page through the Requests table by clicking on the page numbers found at the bottom of the table, as shown in the image below.

Sort the table by clicking on the column heading to be used for the sort. Set the columns that appear in the table by using the ‘Select Columns’ link (your browser must allow cookies to be stored).

Step 4. Carry out a keyword search by

1. Entering a word, or words, in the Keyword search field
2. Clicking on the button next to this field named “Go”.

The following image shows the results of this search.

Keywords can include any text, including words, phrases or sentences. The keywords derive from the 'Title', "Keywords", and "Locations" fields of requests. Keywords are indexed one time per night. This means that keywords won't work until the day after they have been added to, or edited within, a request. The keyword search uses a type of 'OR' syntax -if two keywords are entered, the search will return requests having keyword 1 OR keyword 2.

Step 5. Carry out a Subject and/or Center search by

1. Making a selection from either the ‘Subject’ drop down list or the ‘Center’ drop down list.
2. The selection will automatically start the search.
3. Keywords act in an "AND" relation with Subject and/or Center searches. For example, the keyword 'soils', subject 'agronomy', and center 'ENTSC' will return all requests which have the word 'soils' in their title or keywords fields, AND that have the subject 'agronomy', AND that took place in the ENTSC.

Most of the subjects found in the Subject list come from the NRCS Technical Resources page.

Goal 2. Learn to use a request.

Step 1. Open any request by clicking on any of the ‘Title’ hyperlinks found in the results table. These hyperlinks are the underlined fields found under the column named ‘Request (click title to view details)’.
The following image appears:

Each request includes the following fields:

1. Request: A request is the documentation made by an NTSC technical specialist after they have responded to a request for assistance.
2. Title: A title is a brief description, or summary, of a request. Titles are used for keyword searches.
3. Subject: A subject is a scientific subject matter category, such as 'soils' or 'agronomy', used for classifying a request. Many of these subjects correspond to the web sites listed on the NRCS Technical Resources web page. Subjects are used for subject matter searches.
4. Locations: Locations are the primary places associated with a request. They can be states, regions, or NRCS entities. International requests should use the "International" item.
5. Specialist 1, 2 and 3: Specialist 1 is the NTSC specialist who has primary responsibility for the request. Specialist 2 and Specialist 3 can be any specialists who have authority to edit the request. NTSC team leaders have expressed interest in being able to edit requests.
6. Request Date: A request date is the date the request was received at a Center.
7. Status: The status of a request can be one of the following:

Completed: The request has been completed.
In progress: The request is still being worked on.
Ongoing: The request is work that continues over longer periods of time.
Pending: The request has been received, but can't be worked on until some type of confirmation is received.
8. Level: The level of a request can be one of the following:
   Regional: The request involves more than one state.
   National: The request is national in scope.
   State: The request involves one state.
9. Function: The function of a request can be one of the following:
   Direct Assistance: providing direct assistance to staff and partners
   Technology Development: providing assistance by creating the technology for conservation planning and application.
   Technology Transfer and Training: providing assistance that helps make technology available, understood, and used.
10. Requestor Name: The primary contact person, or institution, associated with making a request.
11. Special Development Team: Name of the NRSC team associated with the request.
12. Date completed or last action taken: The date the request was finished, the date the request is projected to be completed, or the date that last action was taken on a request. When a request's completion can't be predicted, use the end of the current calendar year (i.e. 12/31/2005), or the last date that an action was taken on the request.
13. Time spent (hours): The approximate time spent by the specialist(s) responding to the request. This can be a projection over the life of the request.
14. Is Formal Request?: A formal request (true) is made in writing to a specialist, team leader, or Center director. An informal request (false) can be an email or phone call requesting assistance.

1. Comments: A comment goes into more explanation about what a request involved and how it was handled. All requests must have at least one comment explaining the nature of the request. This requirement is a courtesy to the people who are interested in knowing about the request.
2. Attachments: Attachments are documents and files that relate to a request. They can include trip reports, email messages, data, and other content. Their data format is not important (i.e. excel spreadsheets, word documents, text files), but attached documents can not exceed 20 megabyte (21000 kb) in size. For larger documents, add a comment with a hyperlink to the document.
3. History: The history of a request contains a running record of the principal changes made to a request. Old requests can be examined to see if any new attachments have been made, links updated, or edits made.
4. Notifications: This feature is not working yet (it requires an email server). When working, it will allow persons to add their name to a small mailing list that automatically informs them of major changes to a request.

1. Sub and Parent Requests: A Sub-Request is a 'child' of a 'parent' request. A 'Parent' request is a general, over-arching, or 'umbrella', request. The parent acts as a ‘grouping’, or ‘classification’, request. For example, requests involving the use of the RUSLE soil erosion prediction model could be 'children' of a 'parent' request that introduces the RUSLE model. Children requests could involve RUSLE training sessions, data collection, model reviews, or model enhancements.
2. Related Requests: A 'sibling' request contains information related to the current request. For example, a request involving a specific conservation practice can be linked to other requests dealing with the same practice.

Acknowledgement

Assistance Tracker is based upon a 'freeware' application developed by the Microsoft Corporation named 'IssueTracker'. Any faults with Assistance Tracker lie strictly in the way the NTSCs changed the orginal application.