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pdfInternational Price Program
U.S. Import/Export Price Indexes
Submitting Your Data
www.bls.gov/mxp
November 2019
Thank you for participating in the International Price Program (IPP) survey. This pamphlet provides you with
directions on how to enter your price and item information for the online IPP survey that you access through the
secure BLS Internet Data Collection Facility (IDCF). Even if the price has not changed, your confirmation of ‘no
change’ is required to accurately calculate price indexes. The quality of BLS data depends on your participation –
thank you!
Getting Started
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On a regular basis, you will receive an email from IPP.HelpDesk@bls.gov requesting that you provide prices
for the IPP survey. Click on the link in the email to access the secure BLS IDCF website.
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Log on to the IDCF site.
o
Enter your account number or your email address in the User ID field.
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Enter the password you previously created in the Password field.
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Click the I Accept button. You will be taken to the “Welcome to the Internet Data Collection
Facility” screen.
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Review your contact information to verify it is accurate. If any changes are needed, click on the Update
button, enter your changes, and click the Continue button to save changes.
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From the welcome screen, select “International Price Program” from the dropdown menu, then click the
Continue button to proceed to the IPP survey.
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On the “Welcome to the International Price Program” screen, click the Continue button to get started. You
will be directed to the “IPP Verify Contact Information” screen.
Providing Information to the International Price Program
On the “Verify Contact Information” screen, you will see your name, business affiliation, and contact information,
as well as the IPP-specific feature to provide an alternate contact name. Alternate Contact Information lets you
designate another person in your company to receive copies of IPP email correspondence. After you have reviewed
and updated contact information, click the Continue button or the Step 2 – Submit Item Price button shown below.
On the “Submit Item Price” screen, you will see your current list of items and previously provided prices. There are
three types of changes to review and update – Price Information, Item Information, and Comments. These sections
of the “Submit Item Price” screen are described on the following pages.
Price Information
Item Information
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Comments
Price Information
Review and update the information in the columns titled Previous Price, Current Price, and No Price Change.
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Previously provided price information can be revised if information has changed. Click in the price box in the
Previous Price column to access the Previous Price pop-up window and record any revision to price,
currency, price basis, as well as indicate if the item was not traded in that period.
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For each item, current price information must be provided.
•
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Click in the price box in the Current Price column to access the Current Price pop-up window
and record the item’s current period price, or indicate the item was not traded and provide an
estimated price. You can also update currency, price basis, discount and surcharge information.
o
Click the No Price Change box to record that the current price is the same as the price you
reported in the previous period.
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Click the box to the left of the column titled No Price Change if none of your items’ current prices
have changed from the previous period’s prices.
At each window or pop-up screen, remember to click the Submit button to save changes or Cancel to return
to the previous screen.
Item Information
Review the information in the columns titled Item Description and Item Status, and also in the link Review
More Item Price Factors. For each item, please review the information you previously provided and enter
updates if changes have occurred.
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Click in the Item Description box to record changes to an item’s description.
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Click the Review More Item Price Factors link to review and update additional item information.
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In the Item Status column, click the No Longer Offered button next to the item if you no longer trade an
item. This action opens the Report Item Discontinued pop-up window. Please provide a comparable
replacement item, if available.
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At each window or pop-up screen, remember to click the Submit button to save changes or Cancel to return
to the previous screen.
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Comments
In the Comments column, you can enter comments about each item or access messages from the IPP Industry
Analyst.
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Click the Add / View link to provide item-specific comments.
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Click the Message from analyst link to view the message from the IPP Industry Analyst and provide a
response.
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Click the Enter general comments link in the upper right of the screen to provide general comments.
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At each window or pop-up screen, remember to click the Submit button to save changes or Cancel to return
to the previous screen.
After you have updated price information, click the Continue button or the Step 3 – Verify Item Information
button shown below.
On the “Verify Item Information” screen, you will see your list of Completed Items. You may see a prompt to return
to the “Step 2” screen to provide prices for incomplete items.
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Click the Edit link in the Change Info column to review and change any information for a completed item.
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Click the Print versions: Summary or Detailed link at the top of the page to print a copy of information
you provided.
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Click the Finish button to submit your price and item information. Thank you!
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Important Facts to Know About Your Account
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If your account has no activity for more than 30 minutes, your session will time out. The data that you
entered will be saved. To continue, simply re-access your data by going to https://idcf.bls.gov and logging on
again.
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You can click on any underlined label to get field-specific help.
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Some mail servers may block emails originating from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. BLS recommends you add
IDC.HelpDesk@bls.gov and IPP.HelpDesk@bls.gov to your Contacts list to allow transmission.
Thank you for participating in the International Price Program Survey!
Your continued participation is essential to maintaining accurate measures of the U.S.
economy. BLS import and export price indexes are the official U.S. measure of price changes
and inflation of internationally traded goods and services. BLS data are available for free to
the public at www.bls.gov.
If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail us at: IPP.HelpDesk@bls.gov.
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| File Type | application/pdf |
| File Title | Submitting Your Data to the IPP |
| File Modified | 2021-10-08 |
| File Created | 2019-11-20 |