Enumerator Database Management System (EDMS)
Overview of the Enumerator Database Management System (EDMS), a joint IPA and Global Poverty Research Lab platform that manages enumerator registration, screening, recruitment, training, and performance monitoring across the enumerator lifecycle.
- EDMS is a joint IPA and Global Poverty Research Lab (GPRL) platform that manages the full enumerator lifecycle: registration, screening, recruitment, training, and performance monitoring.
- The workflow moves through three connected stages, and each stage feeds the next so the database grows more useful with every project cycle.
- Scores from audio audits, high-frequency checks, backchecks, and field monitoring flow back into the database, giving country offices an evidence-based record of every enumerator’s performance.
Overview
The Enumerator Database Management System (EDMS) is a joint initiative of Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and the Global Poverty Research Lab (GPRL). The system is a centralized platform that manages the full lifecycle of enumerators, from first registration through screening, recruitment, training, and performance monitoring during data collection. High-quality data depends on hiring and retaining skilled enumerators, and EDMS gives country offices a single, evidence-based record of every enumerator’s qualification and performance.
The workflow moves through three connected stages. First, applicants register and complete screening to enter the database. Second, projects recruit and train enumerators from the database when data collection is planned. Third, the system tracks enumerator performance throughout data collection and writes quality scores back to the database. Each stage feeds the next, so the database grows more useful with every project cycle.
Stage one: Registration and Screening
Every applicant enters the system through a centralized application process. The applicant first completes an Enrollment and Profiling form, providing information including national identification and uploading documents necessary for validating their identity and qualification.
The workflow then branches depending on whether the applicant is new to IPA. Returning enumerators instead update their existing profile through the enrollment form. When a returning enumerator reports a new skill, the system routes them into screening so the claim can be verified.
New enumerators who complete the enrollment form take an online aptitude test. After passing the aptitude test, they attend an in-person interview. During the interview, the interviewer verifies the applicant’s identity and qualification and administers a language screening test. An applicant who passes the interview is added to the enumerator database and is qualified to be hired on projects. Applicants who fail the aptitude test may retake it after a two-week grace period, and applicants who fail the interview may retake it after six months.
Applicants who pass are asked for consent, and those who grant it are included in the study sample. This consent step ensures that IPA can include such enumerators as subjects of any methods studies.
Enumerators who do not consent are still eligible for employment at IPA.
Stage two: Recruitment and Training
Recruitment begins when a project sends a recruitment request form to human resources (HR). The system first checks whether the database holds enough qualified candidates for the request. If it does not, the country office advertises the position internally to widen the pool. Qualified enumerators are notified about the opportunity and register their interest through a recruitment opt-in form.
The project then shortlists, groups, and ranks the enumerators who opted in. Shortlisted enumerators receive a training invitation and confirm their availability through a training opt-in form. If too few enumerators opt in for training, the project selects additional trainees from a ranked backup list. This backup mechanism protects project timelines when interest is lower than expected.
After the training group is confirmed, the project sends a training request form to HR. Where required, HR issues training contracts to the selected enumerators. An enumerator who declines a training contract is replaced from the backup list, so that the training can proceed with a full cohort.
Performance during a training is assessed through six instruments:
- Training attendance form
- Role play evaluations
- Field practice evaluations
- Training quizzes
- Supervisor evaluation form
- Response entry test
Together these instruments measure attendance, practical skills, subject knowledge, supervisor judgment, and data entry accuracy. Enumerators who do not pass the training assessment are dropped from recruitment, and their results remain in the database to guide future selection.
Enumerators who pass receive an employment contract. After contracts are accepted, the project submits a data collection launch form in the system for data collection to begin.
Stage three: Data Collection and Quality Monitoring
Submission of the data collection launch form activates the monitoring stage of the system. During data collection, the system tracks enumerator performance through four quality assurance methods, applied according to the project design:
- Audio audits: generate audit metadata that the system converts into an audio audit score.
- High-frequency checks (HFCs): produce correction data that yield an HFC score.
- Backchecks (BCs): compare original responses against reinterview output to produce a BC score.
- Field monitoring visits: recorded on a monitoring form and converted into a monitoring score.
A feedback form also captures qualitative observations throughout data collection.
All scores flow back into the enumerator database at the end of this stage. Each enumerator’s record therefore reflects measured performance on real projects, not only screening and training results.
How the system supports decision making
The value of EDMS compounds across project cycles. When the next project submits a recruitment request, rankings draw on verified identity, screening results, training assessments, and field performance scores from an enumerator’s prior work. Country offices can staff projects faster because qualified candidates are already screened and consented. Decision points in the workflow, such as screening outcomes, contract acceptance, and training results, are recorded on standard forms. This preserves the reasoning behind each staffing decision in the database. Projects gain a documented, auditable basis for hiring, retention, and replacement decisions.
The system also standardizes enumerator management across country offices. Every office follows the same registration, screening, training, and monitoring workflow, which makes enumerator quality comparable across projects and countries.