Teamwork makes a census snapshot possible
The biggest group project happening behind the scenes at Washington State University has been underway for the past month in the Office of Strategy, Planning, and Analysis (OSPA)— the census 10-day snapshot at the beginning of the fall term.
The census 10-day snapshot is a data snapshot taken of the student information system on the 10th day of the beginning of the term. It’s a snapshot of all registered students across the university, system wide.
The snapshot captures data like the number of students registered, their program, the type of student (e.g. whether a student is a first-year first-term student, a transfer student, graduate student), what type of school a student last attended, what classes they’re registered for, majors declared. Essentially, all the student data that is gathered and is necessary for state and federal reporting for higher education institutions that receive federal financial aid (Title IV funding).
System-wide group project
It is an all-hands-on-deck type of project for the data analysts in OSPA, but the hard work begins weeks before the actual snapshot as analysts perform extensive pre-checks to flag any data that might be problematic.
While other departments are preparing to welcome back students, the analysts in OSPA are reviewing data validation dashboards and contacting other offices to clean and prepare all the data that a new semester generates to check the accuracy and quality of the data—to validate—before processing the data.
“We don’t just push a button! There’s a lot of work and behind the scenes data cleaning, and communication between our department and different colleges and offices to start from an accurate place,” said Stephanie Kane, Assistant Vice President of System Analytics and Reporting.
This year’s census data report was led by data and strategy associate, Pavan Dhanireddy, with guidance from Stephanie Kane and Jon Walter, and the whole crew of data and strategy associates on hand in OSPA to assist in data validation.
Double and triple checked
If data validation means checking the accuracy and quality of the data, then what exactly does that mean for a census snapshot? It means our analysts are looking for different types of inaccuracies to ensure that data is accurately coded for federal reporting.
Some examples of data validation include ensuring that students are not enrolled in inactive or unapproved courses, that the student’s program matches their tuition group, and that first-time first-year students have a high school as their last attended institution and an appropriate high school GPA.
On accuracy and validation, Stephanie Kane shared, “things that cause issues or cause the data to get tripped up happen because things change. The institution is always evolving—we add majors or programs— we change things. So, all that new information has to be considered and how that new data and new information is represented has to be accounted for.”
Constant collaboration
The bulk of the group project is analyzed and processed by the data analysts in the office of Strategy, Planning, and Analysis, but it’s a full system-wide group project because the data isn’t OSPA’s data. It’s the university’s data.
A data-point that might need further investigation, or a figure that needs to be corrected, that correction happens with the unit that creates that datapoint. OSPA might identify the issue, but then there’s the necessary communication back and forth between OSPA and different colleges or units to address any issues or corrections.
We all work together to ensure that we’re working with the most accurate data. It really feels like the biggest group project across the system!
Snapshot numbers for forecasts, trends
A snapshot provides a moment frozen in time and creates a consistent snapshot and allows for trend analysis and is useful for projections and recognizing patterns.
The census electronic records are the basis for all the institution numbers for student data, so not only is it a big group project, but it’s a big group project that forms the basis for all our other reporting, decision-making, and trend analysis. Information gathered during the census snapshot is the same information that is used for other surveys and reports like the Common Data Set, college guides, and peer comparisons.
We have a great team in the office of Strategy, Planning, and Analysis and excellent partners across the Washington State University system to collaborate with. Learn more about WSU’s fall 2024 enrollment numbers.
About the Author
Eija Sumner is the Strategic Communication Coordinator in the Office of Strategy, Planning, and Analysis (OSPA) at Washington State University.