DTIC’s Latest Tool: SF 298 TR Submission Toolkit FLC Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference Thursday, September 21, 2006

DTIC Profile Repository for scientific & technical information Value added: DTIC-applied metadata & controlled vocabulary Database building & maintenance –More than two million technical reports –More than 300,000 progress reports –More than 15,000 registered DTIC users

DTIC Audience DTIC purpose: Support DoD R&D community with S&T Information: –Unclassified, Unlimited –Unclassified, Limited –Classified (up to secret) Access restricted to DoD & federal government Public access provided to portion of the collection: Scientific and Technical Information Network (STINET)

Alternatives NTIS –Selected public release (unclassified, unlimited) DTIC information provided –No registration required –All federal agencies Also accessible via –Science.gov –Firstgov

Once Upon a Time… Computers revolutionized storage and retrieval of S&T information –Paper process –Mail submission of documents/records Era of mainframe computers, dedicated terminals, and secure telephone land lines –Database development –Defense Research, Development, Test & Evaluation System (DROLS)

WWW Influence at DTIC First came the Web Next came the browser Then the WAIS search engine enabled searching for everyone 128 bit encryption facilitated secure searching and retrieval for unclassified but limited documents And last, “Born Digital” electronic submission: an idea whose time had come

Intake Issues SF298 (Report Documentation Page) required for each technical report Electronic versions of the 298 (.pdf & Word) made available, but only limited help No help for content on the form; instructions on form completion ONLY Challenge: Merge form with document for digital presentation

Reason for the Project Reports received without the 298 or with insufficient, inaccurate, or mediocre information delayed in-processing Intake and citation build required human intervention to either build a form or locate needed information Unsecured ( ) process for contractors could not protect limited information Poor data reduced effective retrieval

Idea: Improve the Process Use distance learning technology to build a process support tool Assist commercialization by improving SF 298 to help market contractor innovation Help SBIR (new) contractors unfamiliar with the process and form improve content Provide context sensitive supporting resources Enable intake without human intervention

Toolkit – Main Features Field-by-field help FAQs and Examples Avatar speaks Resources – links Required field verification Reviewer tracking Secure electronic input to DTIC

Toolkit Requirements DTIC registration required to build and upload form and report –DTIC uses LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) for DoD-wide registration –One time application/approval with renewals needed before form-fill access/upload Overcame security challenges –Tutorial open to everyone; no registration required –Uploading requires registration and processing through virus checking and other security

Marjorie Powell Wendy Hill