Surveys involve the conversion of the survey instruments (questionnaires, permission forms, etc.) into machine readable form. Such a process consists of functional modules, each designed to facilitate this conversion, and through which each instrument passes. It is desirable to know the location of each document in this flow, and to know the aggregate movement of documents through the process. This information pinpoints problem areas in the flow, signals completion of database construction, and identifies the status of any given document.

The Research Triangle Institute is currently conducting the Health Insurance Employer Survey (HIES), a subsurvey of the National Medical Care Expenditure Survey (NMCES). The HIES is designed to detail the health insurance coverage of the 39,000 people participating in NMCES. The HIES involved the collection of 47,000 documents of which there are 10 different types.