NEDSS Frequently Asked Questions

Unfortunately, with Windows, errors can happen for numerous reasons. So, unless you’ve rebooted your system, logged into NEDSS again, and then are able to reproduce the error there is not much to work with. 

If you are able to reproduce the issue on your own workstation and also on another workstation in your area, then we need to consider that it may be something with the NBS, and a step-by-step procedure of what you were doing, what you entered, and the last button pressed is usually very helpful and please send screen shot!

Great troubleshooting tip for Desktop IT support.

Reset internet explorer by going to [Tools], [Internet Options], [Advanced] and then click on Reset. This will clear out all cookies, temp files, etc., it will keep the favorites. If there is a Domain policy that these computers use, you will also need to make sure that these systems are not subjected to a policy that may affect the default IE settings.

Another tip, this helps if the user profile is corrupt.

Login to the workstation as a user with administrator rights (a user that has never logged into the workstation before) and then login to NEDSS.

NEDSS note

NEDSS is now run in cloud-like environment, once connected, it is the same for everyone. The only differences are your Workstation setup and/or the Network you are coming from.

NEDSS is most likely not down, as it has a 99.9% uptime in the last 7 years. Usually, the causes are outside the NEDSS network.
If you are logging in from a Local Health Department the NEDSS Base System is an intranet application, not internet, hosted exclusively within the security of the DSHS network.

Currently there is only one way of connecting if you are not already located within the DSHS intranet. 

1. (A) Contact your IT Network personnel and find your public facing IP range all the NEDSS users at your facility will be using.
   (B) Verify that they have checked their router/switch/firewall to make sure NEDSS traffic is not being routed to a legacy T1/TALHO connect.

Issues that some of our other LHD’s found.

• “There was a static route on one of the switches pointing them to an invalid gateway. This department used to have their own internet connection and now they route through us.”
• “We put an allow in our Proxy. The proxy was blocking the secure website. Thanks for your help.”
• “Found that our firewall needed to be open inbound and outbound for port 8009.”
• “It is an issue with her computer specifically. Other computers on our network can get to the site.”

Once you get the two parts of above information, forward that information to nedss@dshs.texas.gov. On this end our DSHS Network Operations team will configure our network to allow traffic from that range to access NEDSS. 

(*Internet Explorer v10 you may get a black screen).

(For Internet Explorer 8, 9, 10)
This is likely due to the Internet Explorer “Compatibility View” setting. It is the green icon at the top of the page that looks like a torn piece of paper. Click on it and it will turn a shade greyer.

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This should fix your issue with your reports.

(For Internet Explorer v11)
Go to [Tools], [Compatibility View Settings] and add “state.tx.us” to the list of websites.

You did not break anything; the NEDSS Base System only supports and works with Internet Explorer, version 7 or higher.

Possibilities for slow performance:

1. Local Workstation Virus or Spamware.
2. Local area congestion, local bandwidth maxed out. (streaming video, virus, excessive downloads).
3. Malfunctioning local switch or router.
4. Poorly configured local switch or router.
5. Malfunctioning or low speed NIC (Network Interface Card) on the local workstation.
6. Outdated local workstation.

The NEDSS Base System is an intranet application, not internet, hosted exclusively within the security of the DSHS network. Only computers that are either physically located within or whose network is securely cross walked to the DSHS network are able to access the NBS.

Each morning, I run a private report we created in NBS that lists the new cases for the day. When I ran the report this morning, there were cases listed from yesterday for which I had already approved notification. However, the names on the NBS notifications queue seem to be current. Why is this happening?

Notifications are still being processed by CDC at the same time the report you run in the morning is created. We have delayed the start time for this process as long as possible so that all reports get completed by morning. Please keep in mind that all reports are a snapshot, and if the current database does not exactly follow what you are seeing it is likely due to changes that have been made to the system since the creation of the datamart/report.

I am having difficultly running reports. In the past when I exported the report, it will automatically ask me if I want to open the file or save it which allowed me to save it as an excel document with the variables in the appropriate columns. Now when I try to export a report, it automatically opens the report in a web based excel spreadsheet with all of the column variables squished together in one column. It no longer asks me if I want to save or open the file. Any idea why this is happening? Is there a setting I need to change on my computer?

Usually this is caused by the file type “CSV” not being associated or incorrectly with Excel within your Windows environment. Go to Windows Explorer (not internet explorer), tools, folder options, file types. Look for CSV and if it’s not associated with excel, make Excel the association. If it is associated, delete it, it will have to be re-associated. In NEDSS, do an export, once the report is saved to your hard drive try to open the file and it will query you what to open it with, find Excel. Things may not go exactly as described above, but the issue is with the association, and the way Excel thinks it’s supposed to open up an csv, so you might have to play with that until it worked as desired.

Adobe Acrobat is a very fickle program as it’s one of those that work for some and not for others. Click on [F5] and/or [Ctrl]+[F5] if you have a gray screen.  If this doesn’t fix the issue, either it needs to be upgraded or uninstalled and reinstalled, if that doesn’t work, search the Adobe Acrobat site for patches that involve printing problems.

Acrobat 9.4.2: If you are using Acrobat 9.4.2, view Printing problems | Acrobat 9.4.2 update.

Reader 10.1.2: If you recently updated to Reader 10.1.2, first view Printing issues | Reader 10.1.2

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This is because the report is requesting too much data from the server at one time. Try and refine your report request by not selecting all on the [basic filter] or setting a date requirement on the [advanced filter].​​