NIRC Badge Request

Overview

Prepare a complete, validated NIRC badge request, prefill the live form, and stop for a curator to review and submit. Never click Submit — badge sponsorship is an accountable act by a named Museum staff person, and the final click is theirs.

Keywords: badge, badge renewal, NIRC, ID badge, building access, door access, room access, Access Control, Scientific Affiliate, Visitor badge, Contractor badge, West Lot parking, affiliate, research associate.

Reference files

• references/form-fields.md — every question in form order, required/optional, all dropdown and radio options, and the browser quirks encountered when filling it. Read this before collecting answers or touching the browser; the form has been revised since 2024 and this file is where changes get recorded.
• references/config.example.yaml — placeholder config layout.

Workflow

Step 0 — Load config (bootstrap if missing)

Read ~/.config/nirc_badge_request/config.yaml.

• If it exists, load nirc_badge_form_url, nirc_key_form_url, and after_hours_approver.
• If it is missing, tell the user and walk them through creating it: copy the layout from references/config.example.yaml, ask for each value, and write the completed file to ~/.config/nirc_badge_request/config.yaml. Never store these values in the skill repo.

Where this file says "the approver" for after-hours access, use after_hours_approver.

Step 1 — Establish who is asking

The supervisor field names an accountable Museum staff person vouching for a non-staff individual, so standing matters before the work starts, not after.

• Curator — proceed normally.
• Other Museum staff — prepare the full draft, then state plainly that a curator must review and submit it. The draft is useful groundwork; don't refuse it.
• Not Museum staff — stop. The form accepts submissions only from Museum staff. Point them to their curator sponsor and offer to assemble the information that sponsor will need.

Step 2 — Confirm the channel

Catching a misrouted request here saves a bounce later:

• Staff, Intern, and Volunteer badges are handled by HR, not this form. Say so and stop.
• Keys go through the separate NIRC Key Request Form. A badge request may name rooms, but grants no keys.
• This form covers Scientific Affiliate, Visitor, and Contractor badges only.

Step 3 — Collect the information

Work from references/form-fields.md rather than memory.

For renewals, ask for the previous submission first. Google Forms emails a receipt from forms-receipts-noreply@google.com with the subject "NIRC Badge Request Form" containing every prior answer. Read it, then ask only what plausibly changed — dates, phone, emergency contact, room access, after-hours status. Confirming five fields beats re-asking eighteen. Check "Yes" on the renewal question.

Offer the paste option explicitly. Many people would rather hand over everything at once than answer serial questions. Tell them they can paste a table, a list, or the old receipt email, and that gaps will be asked about afterward. When asking directly, batch related fields into one question rather than going one at a time.

Step 4 — Validate

Raise each of these as a question rather than guessing:

A renewal requested well before expiry shortens the current term. Point this out and offer the continuous alternative (new term starting the day after the current badge ends) so the choice is deliberate.

Step 5 — Prefill the form in the browser

Open nirc_badge_form_url in the user's Chrome and fill every field so the curator reviews a populated form rather than a list of values to retype. Google Forms is a custom-widget UI, so the mechanics matter:

• Text, textarea, and date inputs are real inputs — read the page for element refs and set them with form_input. Dates take YYYY-MM-DD and render as MM/DD/YYYY.
• Checkboxes and radios are DIVs. form_input fails on them with "Element type DIV is not a supported form input" — click them instead, preferring element refs over coordinates.
• The "Record my email" checkbox at the top is required and is one of those DIVs. Confirm it took by looking for "A copy of your responses will be emailed to…" above the Submit button.
• The department dropdown needs two clicks and verification. The overlay animates in and often leaves a stale ghost painted over the page; a click that lands during the animation selects nothing and can trigger "This is a required question". Click to open, screenshot to confirm the options are fully rendered, then click the option — and scroll back afterward to confirm the field shows the chosen value rather than "Choose".
• Only elements near the viewport get refs, so read the page again after each scroll rather than reusing stale refs.
• Verify by scrolling through the whole form before handing off. Silent failures here are the expensive kind — they surface as a rejected submission.

Do not click Submit, and do not click Clear form.

Step 6 — Hand off

Deliver an answer sheet file alongside the prefilled form, in the form's own question order so it reads top to bottom:

# NIRC Badge Request — [Badgeholder name][, Renewal]
**Form:** [url]
**Prepared for submission by:** [curator name]

| # | Form question | Answer |
|---|---------------|--------|

## Before you submit
- [each validation flag that applies, and what to do about it]

## Notes
- [what was carried forward, and anything still unconfirmed]

Close with one line naming what still needs a human decision, and state explicitly that Submit has not been clicked.