Processing Overview

This chart shows how document processing varies according to format of the original. Paper documents are imaged and stored offline. Electronic documents are attached directly to the database record and are available online.

The Development Experience System (DEXS) is a family of databases containing bibliographic information on a wide range of USAID program and technical documentation. Known as the Agency's "Institutional Memory," the major components of the DEXS include the DOCS database, containing records for more than 156900 technical documents (DOCS is searchable from this site); PROJECTS, devoted to Agency programmatic documentation; and INV, which contains abbreviated records for older Agency documents.

Document Triage
When a document is received at the DEC, it is reviewed to determine if we already have it in the system or if it is too old for inclusion in the Document portion of the DEXS. Duplicates are discarded; older documents are queued for processing into the Inventory database; a physical copy of the document is stored offline in a warehouse facility.

Cataloging, Abstracting and Indexing
Once a document has been identified as suitable for inclusion in the DEXS, a complete descriptive bibliographic record is created for it. Design documents and key technical reports are abstracted; all documents are thoroughly indexed using descriptors from the USAID Thesaurus.

Imaging Paper Copy Documents
After cataloging, documents submitted in paper copy are sent to the DEC's scanning department for imaging. Currently, copies of imaged documents are available only by requesting them through the DEC's Document Distribution Unit.

Loading Electronic Documents
Electronic documents can be made available to Agency users with access to the AIDNet much more efficiently. Documents submitted as WordPerfect, PDF or ASCII text files have their full text attached to their DEXS database record. This means that the full text of the document will appear on screen with its record when it is called up though a DEXS database search, and that the full text is completely indexed and searchable. In addition, the original electronic file for that document can be downloaded to your local drive through the DEXS database interface, simply by clicking the "Download" button in the DEXS toolbar. Note that the full text feature of DEXS is not currently available in the web implementation of the database available for public use on this site.