Many CBEDS coordinators have asked if it is possible to use the CBEDS Professional Assignment Information Form (PAIF) data entry assistant (DEA) software at individual school sites where a network is available. Although the CBEDS software is designed for use at the district level, it is possible to use the software at individual schools. To do this, the software must be installed at each workstation. All schools will be able to see all other school's data, so please advise individual school staff to only update data for their school.
Generally, an installation of the CBEDS software is performed at each school site. The specific steps necessary to use the CBEDS software at a school site are listed below.
- CBEDS coordinator installs software at each workstation that will be using the software (this may be multiple workstations at the district office or workstations at individual schools that access to the network drive).
- All workstation installs must be complete before data entry commences. (Subsequent installs may overwrite all databases).
- All workstation installs must be done so that the software is installed on to the same network drive and subdirectory. For example G:\SOFTWARE\PAIF2008.
- After all installs have been completed, the CBEDS coordinator should start the software for the first time and select the correct district and supply the password.
- After the district has been selected, multiple users may access the CBEDS software and do their updates. Note: The second person and subsequent persons using the software will receive a message about "backup already exists-ok to delete." They can answer "Yes" ok to delete.
- The CBEDS coordinator should verify that all data entry has been done by each site and that all "errors" have been resolved and all "warnings" have been reviewed.
- The CBEDS coordinator should review some of the summary reports available to verify that the data appear correct.
- The CBEDS coordinator should submit the district's data by using the "submit data via Internet" option in the "File" menu.
Note: There are some operations that require "exclusive" use of the data, meaning that only one user may be on the system at that time. These operations include: backing up when exiting, importing and exporting data, submitting data, reindexing (from the utility menu), and restoring from backup.
