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AIMS Help: Reporting & Impact

Part of the program evaluation process is reporting of our efforts and our impacts. The following resources outline the reporting system for Arkansas Extension.

The Arkansas Information Management System (AIMS) is Extension's reporting web application. Data such as time and contacts are collected within AIMS for various purposes, including impact reporting, resource accountability, and federal reporting. All Extension employees who conduct and assist with educational programming for our clientele should be reporting their efforts in AIMS.

Need assistance getting started in AIMS or maybe have a specific question? See the resources below for tips sheets, guides, and FAQ answers.

You can find information on how to report to AIMS indicators here.

If you need assistance with AIMS, contact Emily Smith, CPED Program Associate, at 501-671-2138 or elsmith@uada.edu. You can also contact Dr. Jeantyl Norze, Associate Professor of Organizational Accountability & Evaluation at jnorze@uada.edu. 

Basic AIMS Information:

County Update Report:

Writing Impacts:

AIMS Frequently Asked Questions

AIMS is due monthly on the 5th of each month. The regular monthly deadline cuts off at midnight. The year end deadline of October 5th will cut off at 4:30 p.m. each year.

Total number of working days in FY24- 248 (1984 hours)

As you start planning and reporting for the FY2024 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. These numbers are not a maximum or minimum that must be reported, but just a reference point.

Month Days Hours

October 2023

21

168

November 2023**

20

160

December 2023

17

136

January 2024

20

160

February 2024

20

160

March 2024

22

176

April 2024

21

168

May 2024

21

168

June 2024

22

176

July 2024

20

160

August 2024

23

184

September 2024

21

168

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

**November's total reflects if the Governor declares Friday, Nov. 24, 2023, a state holiday.

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According to USDA, those who identify as Middle Eastern are considered white for the purpose of demographic reporting.

"A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East"

As you keep working through this year's reporting, you may be wondering about these two lines on your My Reporting page in AIMS:

Arrows Pointing to Integrated Extension & Research and Multi-State Extension Activity Data Fields

These two boxes are commonly overlooked when reporting on AIMS, but carry a lot of importance.

  • Integrated time reflects work done that supports both Extension and Research work, such as assisting with research trials. Extension receives funding to carry out these integrated activities and must report back to NIFA at the end of the program year.
  • Multi-State time reflects work done that crosses statelines. One example would be the Four State Fair or National 4-H Congress. This time also must be reported back to NIFA at the year end.


Things to remember when you have done any work that falls into these categories are:

  • Report your Integrated or Multi-State time in BOTH the Program Planning & Delivery Time and the respective box (Integrated or Multi-State). For example, if you spent four hours in a committee meeting for a multistate program, report those four hours in Program Planning & Delivery box, as well as in the Multi-State Extension Activity box.
  • Multi-State Activity time must also be tied to a named program (i.e. eXtension or Mid-South Entomologists), so please select the program from the pre-populated drop-down menu that will appear once you enter in your time. If your program is not listed, please select "Other" and name the program in the text box.
  • If you forget to enter in your Integrated and/or Multi-state time, do not worry. You can add it in now to catch up. Just keep in mind, the Program Planning & Delivery Time must be GREATER or EQUAL TO the amount you place in Integrated and Multi-state. So if you are catching up and you forgot the enter two hours in Integrated, make sure you have two hours to report in that same objective area. Do not duplicate your hours you have already reported.

In events where multiple topic sessions are being presented (i.e. Best Care), then each presenter reports contacts and time into AIMS. Only include how many people were actually present for that particular session, not all attending the event.

In events where a single topic is presented by multiple presenters (i.e. consuming more dairy), then only one person reports the contacts, but everyone reports their time.

Per Independent Sector's website, the current value of a volunteer hour is $31.80. (Updated April 2023)

Adults

Audience type.  Typically 19 years of age and older, unless 4-H members which can include those 19 years of age.

Age

Age is collected for youth contacts.

AIMS

Arkansas Information Management System (AIMS) is the online accountability database for the University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture - Extension.

AIMS Help

“Just in Time” informational UAEX web page for AIMS users

Audience

The clientele group you target your program towards (i.e. youth, SNAP recipients, farmers)

Change User

Supervisor link which allows a supervisor to view reporting by each of the employees they supervise

Civil Rights Audience (Category)

The program audience under which the educational efforts would best fit.

Contacts - Direct

A contact made in which a person can be certain the educational message was received and processed. All Face‐to‐Face contacts are direct. Phone, email, mail, and social media engagement are also direct contacts when they are in response to a question or request.

Contacts - Indirect

A contact made in which a person CANNOT be certain the educational message was received and processed. Indirect contact methods include: newsletters, radio, TV, print articles, Social Media post reach, and Website visitors.

Ethnicity

A self-identified group connected to specific groups of people who share a common linguistic, religious and/or cultural heritage. (AIMS categories- Hispanic/Latino, Non-Hispanic/Latino, Undisclosed)

Event

Utilized mainly with SNAP-Ed, events allow you to schedule an event within a specific objective and then report your time and contacts at a later time

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

FY

Fiscal Year - AIMS uses the Federal Program Year which runs from October 1 to September 30. Identified by the year it ends in (i.e. FY24 started Oct. 2023, ends Sept. 2024)

Gender

 Male, Female, or Undisclosed

Goal

 A more specific area within a broader program area (i.e. “4-H Youth Development” is a goal within “Increasing Opportunities for Families & Youth”)

Hours Accountability Report

Supervisor’s Report- View the hours reported by each of the employees under the supervisor

Impact (as a term)

Long term changes for individuals, groups, communities, organizations, communities, or systems which relate to economic, social, or environmental conditions

Impact (button within AIMS)

Location in which county employees are able to upload their completed County Program Impact Report

Indicators

Includes both Output and Outcome indicators.  They are indicators of program effort and program success.

Integrated Extension & Research Time

Time spent working on programs in collaboration with Arkansas Experiment Station (AES) researchers

Internal Division of Agriculture Contacts

Contacts with Division of Agriculture employees (these contacts are NOT reported within your program contacts)

-These numbers are for the reporter’s purposes only and will not be utilized on the state or federal level.

IPOW

Individual Plan of Work

IPOW Summary

Shows a summary of all the program areas in an individual’s Plan of Work, including planned audience numbers and types, months of the year, and educational methods.

Methods- Direct

Direct, real time delivery of educational information/material (you know the person received the information)

Methods- Indirect

Methods in which a person CANNOT be certain the educational message was received and processed. Indirect contact methods include: newsletters, brochures, radio, TV, print articles, Social Media post reach, and Website visitors.

Multi-State Extension Activity Time

Extension Activity Sponsored by Arkansas Extension in collaboration with other states

My Plan

Page for Creating/Modifying an Individual Plan of Work.  Contains a detail list of the content for each Planned Program.

My Reporting

Page for reporting time and effort.

myReporting - Notes

This allows you to leave yourself notes related to the events you are reporting about. NOTE: When you pull a Notes Report, it will NOT include the contact or hour information you entered. If you will need that information, please include it in the text of your note.

myReporting- Contacts

An educational contact, direct or indirect, made in support or as a result of educational efforts.

myReporting- Volunteers

This is where you report the contacts you have had with volunteers and the number of hours your volunteers contributed to that objective. Remember, these do not have to be “official” volunteers, but can include the time of someone who has just assisted you in the program.

NIFA POW

National Institute of Food & Agriculture Plan of Work- State POW updated and submitted yearly

NIFA ROA

National Institute of Food & Agriculture Report of Accomplishments- State accountability report submitted yearly

Objective

 A sub-category of a program area’s goal.

Outcome

Results or changes for individuals, groups, communities, organizations, communities, or systems in response to Extension’s educational efforts/programming

Output

Activities, services, events and products that reach people who participate or who are targeted (thing WE do)

Planned Program

These are the over-arching programs that we collect time and effort towards.

Planning Unit

The department or county in which are housed. Reports pulled by the planning unit will include data reported by all individuals in the unit.

Program Area Impact Report (PDF)

These impact report templates are formatted to include an overall view of the program area as well as a program highlight impact story.

Program Investment Report

Supervisor’s Report- View the hours and contacts reported by each of the employees under the supervisor, as well as the option to see statewide investments

Program Planning & Delivery Time

All time spent on activities and tasks in support of educational efforts.

Race

A group identity historically related to a local geographic or global human population traditionally distinguished as a group by genetically transmitted physical characteristics, i.e. skin color, facial characteristics, color, and texture of hair, etc.

Results

Page for results reports, including programmatic, planning, civil rights, and SNAP.

Time Frame

Time frame in which you would like the reports to reflect

Total Number of Direct Contacts by Method

The TOTAL number of contact made for that method (i.e. you held 2 meetings with 8 participants and 15 participants for a total of 23 direct contacts for meetings)

Total Number of Times the Method Is Used

The number of individual instances of that methods (i.e. # of individual meetings conducted)

Volunteer Audience Type

Categorizes the type of volunteer for reporting purposes.  

Volunteerism- Boards/Commissions/ Advisory Councils

This includes unpaid support for any extension program through those members of boards, committees, commissions, & advisory councils.

Volunteerism- Direct Service

This includes unpaid support for any extension program through hands-on, face to face, client service such as tutoring, mentoring, visiting the elderly, distributing food, 4-H project leader, 4-H club leader, camp counselor, etc.

Volunteerism- Indirect Service

This includes unpaid support for any extension program through drives, collections, fund-raisers, clean-ups environmental projects, construction, etc. through means other than face to face.

Volunteerism- Service Learning

This includes volunteer participation in subject matter seminars or other self-directed learning to meet 4-H or Master Gardener commitments or to support the delivery of other CES programs. This can include monthly meetings, self-study, content research, etc.

Youth

Audience type.  Divided into groups 5-8 years; 9-13 years; 14-19 years.

 

Publications

  • County Impact Writing Guide

    Whether it is for the end of the year impact, local stakeholder impacts, or just a promotional product, impacts follow the same general guidelines. This guide outlines the information county programs should include in an impact.

  • Impact Guide for State Programs

    Writing impacts for a state program follows the same guidelines as any other impact with just a few other considerations. This guide outlines the information impacts for state and regional programs should include.

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