This memorandum documents updates that have been made to the plan for the 2020 Census Response Processing Operation (RPO) since the release of the Response Processing Operation Detailed Operational Plan (DOP) v2.0 on November 25, 2019.

• There were impacts on the Response Processing Operation from COVID-19. The extension of census field operations resulted in changes to the schedule and the manner in which data review was conducted. Additional steps were implemented to perform a thorough review of response data and to address unique data anomalies that surfaced during data review to maintain quality throughout the process. These will be described below.
• The off-campus administrative records (AdRec) enumeration that was implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic occurred in late summer of 2020. Colleges and universities were contacted in an attempt to collect data for individuals living off-campus that may not have been captured previously. This unplanned operation resulted in the creation of additional AdRec enumeration data that was generated outside of the planned AdRec process and incorporated into the final processing.
• In the DOP 5.2.1 Inputs section under Count Review Operation (CRO), it states “CRO [reviews] findings for the Decennial Response File (DRF) (specifically for DRF2, which results from post-processing of the response data), the Census Unedited File (CUF), and the Census Edited File.”1 The staff of the two divisions that assist with review of census data files—Population Division and Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division—started their review with partial DRF1s that were created prior to the start of RPO post-processing and while 2020 Census data collection was still ongoing, and of the DRF1. Originally, the review was to begin with the DRF2 and continue through the CUF and the Census Edited File (CEF).
  
  The objective of edit and characteristic imputation is to ensure that each record in the CEF is filled with a valid values. In the DOP 5.2.3 Outputs section under Program Management operation (PM), it states “Completion memos provided for distribution include the following examples: 2020 CUF Review Completion Memo… 2020 CEF Review Completion Memo…” The list of files reviewed and documented through Stateside Review Completion Memos was expanded to include the DRF1 and DRF2, to split out the CUF review into CUF1 and CUF2, and also include the CEF).
• Under DOP 5.3.1.3 Update and Finalize Decennial Response File (DRF) [RPO 19-3.1.1.3]: Extensive reviews provided an opportunity to resolve issues related to (1) the enumeration at group quarters and (2) individuals that were not resolved by the planned post-processing steps. Anomalies include but are not limited to group quarter (GQ) undercount, overcount, and duplicates. Throughout the review process, anomalies found as a result of subject matter and expert data review were resolved during DRF processing using best practices and to maintain quality.
• Under DOP 5.3.2 Create and Deliver Census Unedited File (CUF) for Stateside/PR [RPO 19-3.1.2]: Enumeration at Transitory Locations (ETL) and Late Address Adds were reviewed independently in order to make the necessary updates to the address list under schedule constraints related to operations delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Under 5.3.3 Create and Deliver Census Edited File (CEF) for Stateside/PR [RPO 19-3.1.3]: Throughout the review process, additional steps were taken to resolve anomalies that were unanticipated but identified during this step of the processing using best practices and to maintain quality.