The purpose of this operational assessment is to provide results and analysis for the 2020 Census Update Leave (UL) operation. UL was designed to occur in geographic areas where the majority of housing units (HUs) either did not have mail delivered to the physical location of the HU, or the mail delivery information for the HU could not be verified. UL also occurred in areas affected by major or natural disasters.

The objectives of the operation were to update addresses and their locations and to digitally link and leave a 2020 Census Questionnaire Package at every housing unit to allow the household to self-respond. The 2020 Census Questionnaire Package optimized self-response by enabling people to respond online, by questionnaire, or by telephone.

This UL operation also included the use of enhanced collection methods. An automated address listing solution was developed along with the ability to digitally link a unique questionnaire ID to associate a self-response with the appropriate living quarter. The use of automated listing increased operational efficiency and accuracy, decreased the amount of time enumerators had to spend on data entry and it removed data capture errors resulting from poor penmanship.

The unique, unassigned document ID located on each questionnaire allowed them to be linked to any address and simplified the logistical process of supplying specific questionnaires in the field. It also gave field managers more flexibility with assigning and reassigning areas to work.

The results of the research presented in this assessment conclude that the UL operation achieved its core objectives to update addresses and their locations and to digitally link and leave a 2020 Census Questionnaire Package at every housing unit to allow the household to self-respond, and that the new method of associating a generic questionnaire ID to an address for self-response was successful.