In fact, NSIP only uses electronic data entry. However, these computer forms also do automatic error-checking, so that the spreadsheet catches typos and other data errors when they are first entered, which makes these errors very easy to correct. Performance data flows from farms and ranches to the breed association offices and then to Virginia Tech University, where the actual EPD calculations take place. The EPD results then flow back to the breed association offices and then back to the individual farms and ranches. These spreadsheets have been developed by NSIP and are supplied to all the breed association offices and breeders.
Producers then send their completed spreadsheet to their respective breed association.
People at the breed association office combine all the files into a single large spreadsheet file. At Virginia Tech, geneticists run the complex software to calculate EPDs. They also archive all the NSIP databases in a secure mode. After these EPDs are calculated, the results are sent back to the breed associations. The breed office then uses these results to publish the breed sire summary and other genetic documents for the breed.