UDS FAQs

From the ‘Welcome" page (the one that opens when you log in to the EHBs), click All under “My Tasks” (or just click the Tasks tab in the Top Navigation panel from anywhere in the EHB). The ‘Pending Tasks - List' page opens. Experienced users should be able to locate their UDS report in the list of pending tasks. If not, click Submissions in the Left Navigation panel to open the ‘Submissions - Incomplete List' page. Users should be able to locate their UDS reports there.

If you have already worked on your UDS report, you should be able to go right back to it as soon as you log in to the EHBs. On the ‘Welcome' page, look under “Recently Accessed” and you should find a link to your report.

First, be sure you are on the ‘Not Completed Tasks page.’ If you do not see anything listed, you can reach out to the BPHC Helpline (877-464-4772) for assistance in accessing tasks and ensuring you have the correct access in the EHBs. Choose the requestor type, question type (EHBs), and BPHC subcategory (Uniform Data System).

The downloadable offline excel sheet will have all the Tables and separate Funding stream sheet (if applicable). This excel will contain all field names and cells where user fills in data.

You can find steps to download and upload the Offline Excel template on the ‘Wiki help page’: https://help.hrsa.gov/x/MwBVB. See key words: Offline Excel Feature.

When you upload the offline excel file into UDS it will overwrite any data currently on the tables you upload.

Any tabs that are left blank will overwrite the data in UDS when uploaded. This is an easy way to delete old data, but should be used with caution so you do not accidentally delete data.  If you are only working on 1 or 2 tables, we suggest only downloading those 2 tables. Then you can upload and only overwrite those two tables, and not overwrite what other co-workers are completing. 

If you download all tables, then the system will upload them all at one time. We suggest only downloading the tables you plan to work on so you do not accidentally overwrite other data.

There are no validation checks for offline Excel. Once you upload the Excel file into UDS, validation checks will run at that time. However, there are checks for offline HTML.

You can find the tracking number on the ‘Status Overview page’ between “Notes and Due date” and it will start with your activity code. Your tracking number includes the grant number and year.

Yes, you can enter table level comments on both the Offline Excel and Offline HTML files.

First, collect the data, open the report, and then complete all the tables. Save your work frequently as you go. Take note of any error messages the system displays when you save your work, and address the errors. When you finish data entry for a table, click Save and Continue. Make sure the system moves the table's status to "Complete." (Remember, for tables in the universal and grant reports, this will not happen until the universal and all grant-report tables are marked as complete.)

Next, run the Data Audit report and address any issues (the system calls them "edits") it identifies. Correct errors and correct or explain exceptions. Then run the report again, clearing any new edits it identifies. Repeat until running the Data Audit report generates no edits. Review and submit your report.

Finally, working with your reviewer, complete any change requests and resubmit your report. Repeat these steps as necessary until the report is accepted.

Data entry is required in fields marked with an asterisk.

Note that data entry is expected in every report table. If you try to mark a table as complete without entering data in all fields, the system will ask you to explain why you left fields empty.

Yes, but only so long as you save your work at frequent intervals. The system currently does not support “auto save.” Given the length of the UDS tables, you should save your work often, to protect against accidental loss of data. Click the Save button to save changes and remain on the current page, or click the Save and Continue button to save your changes and continue to the next page.

Feel free to keep the report open as long as you need to, but please be advised that the system will log you out – and you will lose any changes you have not saved – after 30 minutes of inactivity. So save your work often.

Yes, multiple users can enter data simultaneously as long as they are working on different sections of the report. If you and another user are simultaneously making data changes to the same section of the report, then you will receive an error message: “Another user may have changed one or more of the items you are attempting to update. Please try again by going back, refreshing the page and taking the desired action.” If you get this error, please navigate out of the page and try accessing it again. If this error persists over time, then please contact the BPHC Hel Center Program Support line; 1-877-974-HELP (4357); 8:00am to 8:00pm ET, Monday through Friday (except federal holidays); Submit a ticket to the BPC Health Center Support through the BPHC Contact Form.

There are a few ways a team can enter data collaboratively.

• Each team member can download only the Offline Excel or Offline HTML tables they want to work on and then upload those back into UDS.
• If you want to use one master Offline Excel file with all tables, you can share that one file and have team members complete their tables on the same file. We do not suggest copying and pasting data on tables from one Excel file to another, as there could be errors introduced during the transfer.
• If you want to use the Offline HTML file as your master copy, you can share that one file with each team member to complete their tales on the same file.
• You can also use the Offline HTML file as your master copy and have each team member complete an Excel file for their tables. Once each team member completes their downloaded Offline Excel file, you can import those into the Offline HTML file to compile everyone’s data.

Data should be submitted for all sections of the UDS report. Note that some of the UDS tables have a data correlation with other tables in the report, and that you will need to complete all correlated tables and sections before you can resolve associated edit checks. Please work with your reviewer to resolve any unreported data.

Yes, if there is helpful information, explanations, or justifications you want to add for the reviewer/auditor to see, use the ‘Report Comments’ field (from the left menu) to add your comments.

There are two types of edits: errors and exceptions. Errors represent problems in data entry, normally triggered when the data audit detects that numbers don't add up from table to table. You can't explain an error; you can only correct it, so the system doesn't give you the option to explain.

The other type of edit is an exception. Exceptions represent questionable data, such as numbers that are unusually high or low, or significantly at variance with what you may have reported previously. This may be due to a data entry error, or it may be that the numbers reflect a change in the program activity. In the latter case, the reviewer would want to know why. For this reason, you have the option to correct or explain an exception, whichever is appropriate.

In the Data Audit Report, the screen is laid out in a tabular format, with the edits displayed in rows under a set of column headings. See the figures that accompany the article Executing the Data Audit Report and Clearing an Edit. The last column to the right is “Action,” and it displays the action the system believes you would most likely want to take. That is always “Fix Table.” In the case of a data audit exception, if you want to enter an explanation, you would click the Down Arrow next to the default action in the Options column. That pulls down the Context menu, and on the Context menu, you would choose Add/Edit Explanation.

In this case, either the table is not in the “Completed” status or there are no edits pertaining to the table that apply to your report. Check that the status is “Completed” on the ‘Status Overview' page.

There are several types of edits, as described in the answer to another question on this page. Edits may appear for mathematical errors or data integrity issues across tables, grants, and reporting years. Please ensure that you have entered the data correctly as per instructions in the edit message. Provide clear explanations where appropriate. If you are still unable to resolve the edit, then please contact the UDS Support Center (udshelp330@bphcdata.net or 1-877-464-4772).

There could be multiple reasons why you see edits on the Data Audit report:

• You have revised the data on a table which caused new edits to fire;
• You have completed new tables, which caused edits related to those tables to fire;
• You need to rerun the Data Audit Report. (If you cleared an edit by following the link from the Data Audit report, the edit is automatically removed. If you cleared it in any other way, rerun the audit report to remove it.)

Before submitting your report you can compare data from previous years (ex: for the 2021 report you can compare to 2020 or earlier). Once you have submitted your data, you will be able to compare between different versions for that year (ex: other versions of the 2021 report).

You will be able to submit the report when Contact Information, Patients by ZIP Code, and all the tables in the report, EHR Information and Report Comments are in “Complete” status. The status of all sections is located on the ‘Status Overview' page in the report.

You must also run the Data Audit report and clear all edits.

If you still cannot submit, please get in touch with the BPHC Helpline; 1-877-974-4772; 7:00am to 8:00pm ET, Monday through Friday; Submit Web Request Form. 

Status information is displayed on the 'Submissions - All' page. Click the Expand button to the left of the Submission Name to view the Program Specific Status for the report.

When your report is submitted successfully, it will no longer appear as a pending task in the EHBs. You can track your report through the ‘Submissions – All' page or your grant portfolio, where its status will have moved to “Submitted” and you will not be able to edit it anymore. Also, during the submission process, you will be taken to a ‘Confirmation' page, which displays a tracking number. You can use this tracking number as a reference for any future communication with BPHC or your reviewer.

Once your report is reviewed, your report will remain in “Submitted” status until all the reports for the year have been processed. Reports are typically processed by mid-May, after which the Program Specific Status of the reports processed successfully move to “Accepted.” You may also receive a notice from your reviewer after the review is complete.

You will have access, in read-only (HTML) format, to all UDS reports you submitted through the EHBs, going back to the 2007 reporting year. You will also have access to a series of reports that HRSA issues each year based on the data collected through UDS.

If you are a Health Center Program grantee, you can access your reports by going through your grant portfolio. After logging in to the HRSA EHBs, click the Grants tab in the Top Navigation panel to open your grant portfolio. Locate the grant for which you submitted your UDS report, and then click Grant Folder. When the ‘Grant Home' page opens, click Performance Reports. On the ‘Performance Reports - List' page, scroll down until you see your UDS report (you should see all the UDS reports you've submitted through the EHBs, going back to the 2007 reporting year). To view the report, click Performance Report under “Options.”

For the 2008 and subsequent reporting years, you have access to your UDS data in XML format and the following reports based on UDS data: UDS Health Center, State, National Summary Report, UDS National and State Rollups, UDS Health Center Trend Report, and UDS Health Center Performance Comparison Report. For the 2018 and subsequent reporting years, you also have access to your UDS data in Excel format.

After navigating to your UDS reports as described above, find the UDS report you submitted for the corresponding reporting period. Click Performance Report under “Options.” The report will open in a separate window. For 2018 and subsequent reporting years, the UDS data reports are available on same window. For 2017 and prior reporting years, click the Access reports and data related to your UDS submission link at the top to open the landing page for the UDS data reports.

If you are a Health Center Program look-alike, you can access your reports by going through your designation portfolio. After logging in to the HRSA EHBs, click the FQHC-LALs tab in the Top Navigation panel to open your list of registered organizations. Locate the organization for which you submitted your UDS report, and then click Look-Alike Folder link under the Options column. When the ‘Look-alike Home page’ opens, go to the left side menu and click View Portfolio. On the ‘Portfolio page,’ click Work on Performance Report under Submissions to open the list of all submissions. On the ‘Submissions-All page,’ use search filters to find the LAL submissions. You should see all the UDS reports you've submitted through the EHBs. To view the report, click Performance Reports under “Options” column.

For more information on UDS data reports, see the quick reference sheet Accessing Standard UDS Reports. You will find it under the Training Material link under References and Tools in the page header in your UDS report.

You will have access to your own latest comments in the final version, but not reviewer comments from previous year.

The UDS system is available for your aggregate data input and review starting January 1. The report is due by February 15, after which the reviewer will work with you to clarify and refine your data. This process may require revisions by the health center and may require time through the end of March, at which time the data must be finalized. During the month of April, the analysis of data reporting is done centrally. If any issue is identified during this month, your reviewer may contact you to address it. By mid-May, all the reports are processed and data is finalized. Reports are generated through the summer, starting with rollup reports in June.

You can find steps on accessing reports at the end of the year on the UDS pages through the QRS (under “Training Materials” in the “Resource” section).

Visit the UDS Resources page for the presentation slides and webinar recording.

The following resources are available:
If you need help with your EHB account, password, user role, or access privileges, please get in touch with the HRSA through the BPHC Contact Form: (https://hrsa.my.site.com/support/s/or 1-877-464-4772).

If you need technical system assistance, including on-screen errors (other than edits), and general system issues, please get in touch with the BPHC Helpline;  1-877-464-4772; 8:00 am to 8:00 pm ET, Monday through Friday; Submit a BPHC Contact Form Request.

If you need help with content-related questions, including reporting definitions, edit review, and interpreting UDS data and reports, please get in touch with the UDS Support Center (udshelp330@bphcdata.net or 1-877-464-4772).