Five Year Forecast Submission Checklist

Owned by Sara Glore
Last updated: Mar 08, 2024
5 min read

The following procedure outlines the steps to be taken to submit your Five Year Forecast and Assumptions to Ohio Department of Education & Workforce via the EMIS-R Data Collector.

Forecast Line Numbers:

  • Fatal errors regarding rounding will be received for differences outside an acceptable threshold. These exceptions, along with any missing rows, will cause the collection to not be submitt-able to Ohio Department of Education & Workforce.  Please refer the EMIS Manual Section 7.2 for a listing of the line numbers permitted in the forecast.

Forecast Assumptions

  • Forecast assumptions (a.k.a notes) must be uploaded and included at the time you 'CERTIFY & SUBMIT' the forecast via the data collector. Forecast assumptions must be in TXT or PDF format. 

EMIS/FFE

  • 1. Log into EMIS/FFE  to convert your five year forecast spreadsheet to an EMIS-R supported file layout.

If your password has expired or you have forgotten your password, you can change and/or reset your password via the the "Forgot Password" link on the EMISFFE Log In box.  If you do not have an EMISFFE account or you cannot recall your username, please contact our Student Services/EMIS department student_support@nwoca.org for further assistance.   If your email address has changed, please contact our EMIS department so they can update your account.

  • 2. Delete any records currently in the Five Year Forecast (QF).

    • Click on the Five Year Forecast (QF) at the bottom of the list 

    • At the top click on 'Delete ALL FiveYearForecast
    • Click on Home

  •  3. Import Five Year Forecast Spreadsheet

    Spreadsheet must be saved as .CSV

    • Click on Five Year Forecast Spreadsheet Import 

    • Line up the column content to the appropriate column letter on your spreadsheet. 

      The number of rows at the top means the number of rows listed before the first forecast line number. For example if forecast line 1.01 is in row 12, then your number of rows at the top is 11.

    • Browse to find your forecast .CSV file 
    • Click on 'Import CSV file'
    • Click on 'Home' then 'Five-Year Forecast (QF) to verify your numbers. 
    • Click on Home to go back to the home screen
  •  4. Export Forecast

    • Click on 'Export Data

    • ' 

    • Select the appropriate Fiscal Year and the P - Five Year Forecast reporting period.

    • Click Export file at the bottom

    • Click 'Save' to save this DISTRICTIRN_FFE.SEQ file to a folder that you can find easily to upload the file into EMIS-R (data collector) later


An authorized person in the district (EMIS Coordinator, Treasurer, etc) will be running the data collection process and submitting the data to ODE via EMIS-R. The EMIS-R roles include the "collector", "reviewer" and "submitter". As Treasurer, you need to communicate with your EMIS Coordinator as to what role(s) you need in the process.

EMIS-R Data Collector 

If you have forgotten your username/password or it has expired please contact the EMIS department at student_support@nwoca.org or create a ticket to their department.

  • 6. Upload the Forecast flat file
    • Click on "Data Sources" (this tab is to the far right of the other tabs)
    • Then select "Other Data Sources"
    • Locate the Data Source for the Forecast period and click on "Manage"
      • Delete any files currently in the data source for the 'Forecast'
    • Click "Upload File" to select the forecast flat file currently stored on your computer (i.e. DISTRICTIRN_FFE.SEQ flat file from EMISFFE)
      • Browse to the file on your computer you want to upload into EMIS-R and click Open.
      • Then click on "Upload"
      • This completes the uploading of a file into EMIS-R.
  • 7. Collecting Forecast Data
    • Click on the "Collection Requests" tab in the data collector and locate the Forecast (period P) manifest. Click on "Start Collection".
    • Make sure the correct data source (Forecast) is checked. Then click on "Start Data Collection for all items checked below".
      • Click the "Collection Status" tab to check the status of your current collection
      • Once the collection is 'complete', click on the "Collection Request Tab" and then click on "Prepare" (under the forecast manifest) to prepare the collection for review. 

If the collected data encountered errors, a message will display with a direct link to the "Level I Validation Report". If the errors warrant changes to be made in the source system, you will need to start the process over with cancelling the current collection and then uploading the corrected file and re-collecting the data.
  • 8. Previewing collected data
    • Click on the "Collection Request" tab and then click on 'Preview Prepared Data' under 'Prepare Outputs' to view the data collected.
    • Checkmark the Detail and Missing boxes and a File Format of "CSV". Click on 'Generate Preview'.
      • It will display a list of the records included in the collection. Scan the "invalid" column for any records with invalid data.  If you double-click on a record type listed, it will display the details of the record via EXCEL.
      • When viewing a record type via EXCEL, a column labeled "Record is Valid" indicates whether or not the record will be included in the submission.
  • 9. Submitting the Forecast Data to ODE
    • Once you determine the data is ready to be submitted to ODE, click on the "Collection Requests" tab and then click on "Certify and Submit".
    • Attach the forecast assumptions/notes.  
      • Click on 'BROWSE' to select the file (may be in .TXT or PDF format) and then click on 'upload file'.  The 'Required File Status' should change to show the file was uploaded and will be included with the submission.
    • Once the assumptions/notes have been successfully uploaded, checkmark the "I certify this collection" box. Add any comments if desired.
    • Click on "Certify & Submit" at the bottom left-hand side of the screen. The data will then be submitted to ODE.
    • To review the status of your submission, click on the "Submission" tab. Click on the arrow to the left of the forecast reporting period to display the current status of the submissions you processed.