Appendix C: Understand the Materials Ordering Life Cycle
Some students take tests using traditional paper-and-pencil forms. To administer these tests, students and test administrators need to receive test materials, such as forms, answer sheets, workbooks, or instruction guides.
TIDE automatically computes the quantities of test materials that your district or campus receives based on the number of eligible students. For example, if there are 1,000 students in your district eligible for a fourth-grade writing test, TIDE initiates an order for 1,000 test booklets and 1,000 answer sheets.
There are two windows for placing orders. The first window is for placing initial orders. This is the time during which you can review, confirm, and modify orders for materials and be guaranteed that they arrive at the district in time to distribute them to the campuses for the test. These orders arrive as a single shipment. For example, if your district plans to distribute workbooks to the campuses on May 1, and the time for order processing is two weeks, then the first window ends on April 15. On that date, TIDE accumulates all the orders and additional quantities and sends them to the printer.
On this Page
After the initial order window closes, the additional order window opens for placing additional orders. During this time, you can place additional orders for materials as described in the section Place Additional Orders. However, depending on when you place the order, there is no guarantee that they will arrive in time for the test. During this second window, TIDE transmits the orders to the printer on a daily basis.
Figure 38 shows a timeline illustrating the order windows. The additional order window extends after the test date; this allows districts to place orders for return materials.
Some campuses or districts have a policy of automatically approving orders for materials; others require approval for every order or for orders that exceed certain thresholds. TIDE transmits to the printer only those orders that are approved.
The quantity you receive may not be the same as you order. Some items come in packs of five or 20. For example, suppose writing answer booklets come in packs of five, and you order three booklets. In that case, you receive one pack of five answer booklets.
TIDE maintains a record of each order's status, labeling the order as pending approval, approved, or processing. These statuses appear in the Order History task, as described in the section View Order History.
Understand an Order's Status
In the normal workflow for an order, a test coordinator generates the order, then reviews and submits it for approval. Next, a state-level administrator reviews the order, approving or modifying it as appropriate. If approved, TIDE sends the order to the vendor, who prints and ships the order. (This is a typical scenario; some campus districts have different workflows for order processing.) Figure 39 illustrates the progression of an order and the associated status code. TIDE tracks the order through each stage and assigns a status code accordingly.
On the View Order History page (the section View Order History) TIDE displays an order's status depending on its most recent activity. Table 9 describes those statuses.
Table 9: Order Statuses
Status | Description |
|---|---|
Open | Order was generated by TIDE, awaiting review by a test coordinator. (Not applicable to additional orders.) |
Awaiting Approval | Order is awaiting approval. |
Rejected | Order was not approved. |
Approved | All line items in the order were approved. |
Processed | Order was transmitted to vendor. |
Partially Approved | At least one line item in the order was rejected. |
In Process | Order is approved, not yet transmitted to vendor. |
Canceled | Order was canceled. |