What is IRIS?

IRIS is an easy-to-use application that assists higher education institutions with the aggregation of IPEDS IPEDS stands for Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. It is a system of 12 interrelated surveys conducted annually by the National Center for Education Statistics within the United States Department of Education. Components of the 12 surveys are collected over the Fall, Winter, and Spring reporting periods each year. The completion of all IPEDS surveys is mandatory for all institutions that participate in any federal assistance program authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act. IRIS provides a way for you to electronically collect, submit, and report against IPEDS data. survey data for review, approval, and submission to the Department of Education. IRIS stores all information securely in the cloud, making it simple for multiple simultaneous users from across your institution to review and share survey data. Users receive electronic notifications whenever an action is required, allowing the survey to proceed smoothly through each step of the process from creation to final approval.

The survey data comes from a selection of Argos DataBlocks provided by Evisions. Institutional Research users run each DataBlock and upload its output into IRIS, which validates the input and uses it to fill out the necessary IPEDs surveys for your institution. Users from various departments can then collaborate to review and correct the data before final approval.

IRIS assists with data validation by ensuring all required information is present and in the appropriate format. IRIS also compares the current data with your institution's data from the previous year, highlighting any inconsistencies for review. Multiple users can comment on individual data points, assign and track tasks, and monitor the completion status of the surveys.

Once a survey has been completed, you can download the data in a single file for easy upload into the IPEDS data portal.

IRIS:

  • Provides a comprehensive electronic solution for your IPEDS-related activities.
  • Tracks and manages IPEDS surveys in a single location.
  • Saves time by reducing manual entry, automating your survey submissions, improving your survey process, and working solely off of targeted data.
  • Saves money and eases the burden on IT with a secure, centralized solution.
  • Increases data accuracy, reducing the chance of penalties and negative press.
  • Allows you to easily compare your IPEDS data against industry benchmarks.

System Requirements

  • Display with 1024x768 or higher resolution.
  • Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome for PC.
  • Safari, Firefox, or Chrome for Mac.

IRIS Help

The IRIS Help is designed to answer questions about the application and explain its features. Use the menu in the upper right to navigate through the different help sections.

If you cannot find an answer to your question here, you should review the Support Resources page, which contains links to additional resources such as the Knowledge Base, product forums, and customer support.

New Features

For full details, refer to the release notes.

Version 1.7

  • Support for importing data from Evisions DORIS for use in IPEDS surveys.

Version 1.6.2

  • Validation error messages enhanced to provide more specific information for troubleshooting. 

Version 1.6.1

  • Added support for display of IPEDS reports via the Evisions IPEDS Visualizations application for Salesforce.
  • Updated the Outcome Measures survey to exclude individuals with a status of Unknown. 
  • Updated the 200% Grad Rates survey calculations to correctly use the historical data.

Version 1.6

  • Added 2017-18 prior year values to the following 2018-19 surveys:
    • Completions
    • 12-month Enrollment (all versions)
    • Finance for non-degree-granting public institutions using GASB reporting standards
    • Finance for non-degree-granting private, not-for-profit institutions and public institutions using FASB reporting standards
    • Finance for non-degree-granting private, for-profit institutions
  • Updated survey forms for the 2019-2020 collection period.
  • Removed validations pertaining to field DA02 in Part A of the Institutional Characteristics survey, due to its removal from the import specification.

PDF Downloads

 

Helpful Links