An annual snapshot of NED is taken on the last workday of June and filters are applied (see below) to define the Census. The Census includes staff who occupy NIH-controlled facilities on a regular basis. "Staff" includes Employees (FTEs), Contractors, Guest Researchers, Fellowship Appointments, Tenants, and Volunteers. No distinction is made for part-time or limited-term employees, each of whom is counted as a whole number. The Census excludes those that do not work in NIH controlled space, Contractors and Volunteers who do not have an NIH network account, and Summer Students. A copy of your IC's official Census data can be obtained from the Division of Facilities Planning, Office of Research Facilities (see below for contact information).

The Census is used for NIH Master Planning and for more specific space and other planning purposes by the ICs. The Census is also used for calculating certain central service charges to the ICs and utilization rates for administrative space. Data is used for such activities as forecasting space needs, planning future transportation and parking needs, and developing programs for employees and site amenities.

An IC can view their current Census at any time (not just the June 30 NED snapshot) by viewing a report titled "Census Report". The IC can see who is included in their Census Report with the filters applied. The Census Report is available from the nSight HR link on the nVision page​. The nSight HR link is found in the nVision Quick Links column on the left side of the screen. nVision and nSightHR both require users to be registered. The Census Report can be filtered and is searchable in a variety of ways, including: by employee, employee NIH ID number, by type of employee, by SAC (HN code), by location, etc.