Program Activity, Project, and Language Updates for FY23
FY23 updates to delivery methods, demographics, project names, languages, and survey question types across multiple PEARS modules.
Several changes took effect for FY 2023 across Program Activities, Indirect Activities, PSE Site Activities, and Social Marketing Campaigns. These updates affect delivery methods, demographic categories, project tracking, language fields, and survey question types.
Program Activity Updates
Delivery Method
Delivery Method changes
The delivery method field was redesigned from four single-select options to three checkboxes. Multiple delivery methods can now be selected for a single program activity.
Previous options (single-select):
Face-to-face
Webinar/online
Mix of face-to-face and webinar/online
Other
New options (multi-select checkboxes):
In person
Virtual, live online
Virtual, self-directed & interactive
Site Field
Site field changes
The site field is now optional for virtual activities and required when "In person" is selected. A new organization setting — Always Require Program Activity Site — can enforce the site requirement regardless of delivery method.
Sessions
Session data changes
Session data collection varies by delivery method. Virtual self-directed activities use new session data fields. The interactive multimedia toggle was replaced with a virtual session toggle, which defaults to "on" for virtual-only activities.
Demographics Updates
Age Categories — SNAP-Ed
SNAP-Ed age category changes
Age and gender are now collected as separate fields. Changes to age categories include:
The 5-17 age group now includes optional subcategories: 5-7, 8-10, 11-13, and 14-17
"60 years or older" replaced with "60-75 years" and "76 years or older"
New "Prefer not to respond" and "Unknown" categories added
Age Categories — Extension
Extension age category changes
Extension age categories are largely unchanged, except the 60+ group is split into 60-75 and 76+ to match SNAP-Ed categories.
Gender Options
Gender option changes
Both SNAP-Ed and Extension now use the same gender options:
Female
Male
Non-binary
Prefer not to respond
Project Updates (SNAP-Ed Only)
Project Name field changes
A new required Project Name field was added to Program Activities, Indirect Activities, PSE Site Activities, and Social Marketing Campaigns. Administrators can customize the list of available project names through the Manage Lists administration page.
Languages Update
Languages field changes
A new required Languages field was added to Program Activities, Indirect Activities, and Social Marketing Campaigns. English is selected by default but can be removed. Multiple languages can be selected. An Other option is available for languages not listed.
Survey Updates
Survey question type changes
Multiple new question types were added for age and gender data collection, including:
Age (Numerical) — Collects age as a number.
Age SNAP-Ed and Age Extension variants — Includes standard and Spanish language versions.
Age Youth and Age Adult — Targeted age categories.
Gender — Updated types with a self-describe feature.
Spanish language variants are available for most demographic question types. Existing age and gender question types were given an "OLD --" prefix and hidden from new survey creation to distinguish them from the updated versions.
TIP: These changes apply to new records created on or after the start of FY 2023. Existing records are not modified unless manually updated.
Related Documentation
Program Activities — Create and manage program activity records
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