DRAFT DATA REQUEST POLICY FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
A. Definition of Administrative Data
North Central State College’s data base consists of information critical to the success of the
institution as a whole. The institution data base is shared data, managed within a conceptual
framework. It is likely that the institution data base will be distributed across processing units
both within and outside the institution. Data may be digital text, graphics, images, sound, or
video. The institution regards data that are maintained in support of a functional unit's operation
as part of the institution's administrative data base if they meet any of the following criteria:
1. if at least two administrative operations of the institution use the data and consider the data
essential;
2. if integration of related information requires the data;
3. if the institution must ensure the integrity of the data to comply with legal and administrative
requirements for supporting statistical and historical information externally;
4. if a broad cross section of users refers to or maintains the data; or
5. if the institution needs the data to plan
Some examples of administrative data include student course grades, employee salary
information, and the institution's Fact Book. Administrative data does not include personal
electronic mail, calendar information and similar material. In addition, the college has access to
various external databases that can assist college staff in making decisions.
B. Data Stewards and Custodians
Data Stewards are senior institution officials who have planning and policy-level responsibility
for data within their functional areas. Data Stewards as a group (the Committee of Data
Stewards, co-chaired by the Director of Information Technology and the Director of Institutional
Research or their designee) are responsible for recommending policies, procedures, and
guidelines for institution-wide data administrative activities. The Data Stewards assign data
elements to categories of administrative data and recommend sets of administrative data for
digital "publication" through the college’. Data Custodians are those individuals directly
responsible for creating, maintaining, and using data to support the institution's operation and its
information needs.
C. Request Procedures
1. This section governs requests to both the Institutional Research Department and the
Information Technology Department in an attempt to better coordinate the response process.
This new policy shall be publicized over various NC State communication channels,
including announcements at departmental meetings and update announcements and training
sessions at Fall Convocation. It is the intent of this section to improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of responses to data requests.
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2. All requestors shall first be referred to the NC State IR website to review publicly available
resources. It is possible a large percentage of the answers to questions may be found in these
materials. The IR department will collaborate with other Data Stewards and Custodians to
continuously build and maintain an online “datamart” that provides data snapshots that are
captured from a fixed point in time. These snapshots, often presented in a longitudinal
format, will represent the most commonly requested items. Data from external sources will
also be made available on this site.
3. A comprehensive directory describing data from the IR website will be made available to all
website users to ease their search. In addition, the IR department welcomes “quick”
questions for those who need assistance with preparing a data request or navigating through
the online resources.
4. If the requestor cannot find the required data from online resources, they can complete and
submit an online data request form. In addition to telephone guidance, the IR Department
will provide significant online guidance to help end users complete the form. The following
is a potential guidance example of some of the most common requests for posting:
Category
Topic you would like
information about.
Data Available
Summarize By
Information available in a particular Ways in which the data can be organized
category.
and sorted.
Enrollment
duplicated headcount
unduplicated headcount
student credit hours
term
college
campus
course prefix
full-time/part-time instructor
instructor
Faculty
classes
mailing address
workload
term
college
campus
course prefix
full-time/part-time instructor
instructor
Class
schedule
term
college
campus
division
course prefix
full-time/part-time instructor
instructor
day/time
room number
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Students
sex
declared program
credit load
graduate
term
college
campus
course prefix
5. With online and personal assistance, the requestor shall complete the form. The purpose of
the form is to receive, monitor and track data requests. Requestors will be asked to provide as
much detail as possible to ensure an accurate interpretation of the request. The more
information provided, the more quickly the request will be completed and returned.
Mandatory questions in the form include:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
Contact name
E-mail
Phone
Fax
Department (Checkbox by)
i.
President’s Office
ii.
Office of Vice President Learning
iii.
Business, Liberal Arts and Education
iv.
Health Science and Public Service
v.
Technology and Workforce Development
vi.
President’s Office
vii.
Learning Support/Retention Division
viii. Institutional Advancement Division
ix.
Business Services Division
x.
College Foundation
Vice President, Faculty, Staff or Other (Checkbox)
Date of Request (if not automatically tabulated by system)
Have you checked the IR website (Yes/No Checkbox)
Have we provided this data to you in the past?
Date service required
Recurring request? (Yes/No Checkbox) If yes, put another checkbox for frequency
(Monthly, Quarterly, Annual)
Category of Request. Have a drop-down box. Choose one:
ii. Achieving the Dream/Student Success
iii. Accreditation
iv. Student Outcomes Assessment
v. Strategic Planning
vi. Institutional Effectiveness
vii. Program Evaluation
viii. Instructional Analysis
ix. Curriculum Development
x. Enrollment Management and Retention
xi. Resource Management
xii. Admissions Recruitment
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xiii.
xiv.
xv.
xvi.
xvii.
Fundraising
Alumni Relations
Grant Support
Accountability and Performance Measure
CCSSE/SENSE Student Surveys
l.
What research question will the information answer? (Narrative)
m.
Please provide a very detailed description of the data selection criteria (e.g,
freshmen only), as well as time period (e.g., Fall 2008, Academic Year 03-04). Also
describe the layout and grouping of data (e.g., sorted by ethnicity). Also, if you need our
help in completing items from a form or survey, please provide a copy of the actual form
or survey and any relevant instructions or definitions. (Narrative, allow for upload)
n.
Does your request require any extensive level of data collection, manipulation,
disaggregation/separation, analysis/synthesis or report preparation? It may be possible to
expedite simpler requests such as program rosters. (Checkbox Yes/No)
o.
How will this data impact decision-making at NC State? (Narrative)
p.
Intended use of data. (Checkbox for Internal Use, External Use, Both Internal and
External, For Inclusion in Public Announcement)
q.
File format preferred (Checkbox for MS Excel, MS Word, PDF, SPSS, Other
Please Specify)
r.
Presentation of data (Checkbox for Table, Bar Graph, Line Graph, Pie Chart, List,
Text/Written Description, Other/Specify)
s.
Have you already been in contact with someone from Institutional Research or
Information Technology regarding your data request? If so, please click on the name
below (Checkbox for Tom, Sheila, Ted, Edmund, Bobby)
t.
Preferred delivery format (Checkbox for E-mail or Snail Mail)
u.
How will the confidentiality and security of the information be assured
(Narrative)
6. The requestor shall receive an automated statement back acknowledging receipt and that an
IR/IT staffer would follow up with them within two business days. Other language in the
response may include: “Requests will be processed as soon as possible in accordance with
the Data Request Response Policy. Depending on the complexity of the request, time of
year, and the volume of requests being received it may take anywhere from 3 days to several
weeks.”
D. Response Procedures
1. Both the IR and IT departments have historically responded to data requests. Generally, the
IT department limits its responses to requests for data out of the SIS system that require little
manipulation, analysis, synthesis, etc. A prime example would be a request for a class roster
or current list of majors. The IR and IT departments are attempting to eliminate the need for
an intermediary to process such reports through eventually creating “end-user” reports
straight out of the student SIS system through Report-Writer software. Until this extensive
programming is completed, the IT department will continue to play a role in helping process
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these requests given the resource constraints in the IR office. For the short-term, IT will also
facilitate submission of SIS data to the state HEI system, as well as ATD/JBL reporting.
2. The IR/IT Offices will support College decision-makers and constituent groups (as outlined
in the table below) by providing necessary data, data analysis, and surveys for decisionmaking and/or informational purposes. The IR/IT will accurately and objectively report on
point-in-time reflections of institutional performance and related trend analysis, especially
those externally mandated. Another key dimension of IR/IT activity will be responses to ad
hoc requests for information. Concurrent with regularly scheduled reports, IR/IT will
generally adhere to the following priority basis of information generated for reports or ad hoc
requests (based on client groups). Data requests from individuals/committees in the first row
would be processed with the highest priority. Requests from groups and individuals in the
second row who have been assigned medium priority would be processed according to the
following considerations:




the nature of the request. What real consequence might befall NC State if this request
were not satisfied on the requestor deadline?
the degree to which the request supports the Colleges’ Strategic Initiatives,
the scope of the request, and
the magnitude of demand/volume for services at the time the request is submitted.
Constituent Group
Priority Level
High
Priority
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

College President
Vice Presidents









Accreditation/AQIP
Planning Advisory Committee
Academic Council
Core Team/DEI Intervention Teams
Program Review Committee
Enrollment Development Committee
Workforce Development
Diversity/Poverty Committee
Grants Support

Medium
Priority
Lower
Priority
















External Agencies in Support of
Partnerships or Agreements (e.g., Ohio
Skills Bank, SPARC P-16)
Assessment Committee
Curriculum Committee
Semester Conversion Committees
College Budget Committee
Individual Program Directors
Technology Learning Committee
Faculty Caucus
Manager’s Advisory Council
Staff Caucus
Kee Hall Plus Committee
In-Service Planning Committee
Facilities Committee
Other Internal Ad Hoc Committees
Other Government Departments or
Agencies
Individual employees or students
External individuals or committees
E. Delegation of Requests Amongst IR and IT
1. As noted before, all requests will come through the online system. The request data will be
automatically downloaded into a log tracking database on a private page. The Director of
Institutional Research will review the request against the priority criteria and assign the
initial priority level, in consultation if necessary with the Vice President of Institutional
Advancement, who herself may seek counsel of the President’s staff for a major request
question.
2. Based on the complexity of the request, the IR Director may recommend that the IT
Department handle certain requests and shall refer such request to the Director of IT or his
delegate. The IT Department will respond on their ability to process such a request and the
staff member assigned. The assigned lead staffer will be noted in the tracking database.
3.
Once a determination has been made as to the responsible department/staffer, within two
business days staffer shall review the request form and: acknowledge receipt of the request
and determine if additional guidance is required from the requestor. Based upon this
information, and the priority level of the request, the staffer will estimate the time necessary
to complete the task and negotiate a deadline with the requestor. It is very likely this will
require a follow-up communication.
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4.
The assigned staffer will then update the online tracking database based on the
communication with the requestor. To assist with recurring/future requests by IT or IR, the
log should also be updated with the base information source, including where to find
documented scripts/macros, if available, for future replication.
5. In addition to the online log, the basic project information will be added to a Project Log
spreadsheet for purposes of day-to-day management tracking. IR staff will log their hours
each day by project, which shall be tallied up at each month’s end and/or project completion.
6. The IR Department will review status requests on a weekly basis and provide feedback to
requestors within a week of deadline of project status. If the deadline is not going to be met,
the Director shall contact the requestor and request an extension.
7. Upon completion of the project, the completion date shall be noted in both the online and
spreadsheet Project Log. The final report, assuming all confidential information has been
omitted, shall be uploaded to the searchable database on the IR website.
E. Denials of Requests
1. The IR Director must provide a written record of the reasons for denial of any access request.
E-mail records are acceptable. Reasons for denial might include, but are not limited to:
a. Request pertains to information on individual students, faculty or staff, especially
concerning violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
b. The information is protected from dissemination by the College’s Collective
Bargaining Agreement with the American Association of University Professors
c. If the information is for publication, data on extremely small populations that may
reveal student identity will not be released. Unique identifiers will be utilized to
conceal student identity.
d. The request seeks a summative judgment about a particular program, institutional
process, or individual staff member
e. Are outside the mandate of IR (e.g., financial statements)
f. Would consume an inordinate level of available resources (e.g., major projects for
which dedicated resources would normally be required)
g. Are not of direct benefit to the planning processes of the institution
h. Are from external individuals for their specific research (or other) purposes (e.g.,
graduate students)
2. Communication to the requestor in these instances will be from the Director of Institutional
Research upon consultation with the requestor’s Vice President and if needed, the President’s
Staff.
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Procedures.DocxH:\Request Policies And Procedures\Guiding Policy\NC State Draft Policy On
Request Procedures.Docx
F. Responsibilities of Users
1. Use of administrative data only in the conduct of institution business. The institution
expressly forbids the disclosure of unpublished administrative data or the distribution of such
data in any medium, except as required by an employee's job responsibilities and approved
in advance by the Data Steward. In this context, disclosure means giving the data to persons
not previously authorized to have access to it. The institution also forbids the access or use of
any administrative data for one's own personal gain or profit, for the personal gain or profit
of others, or to satisfy personal curiosity.
2. Maintenance of confidentiality and privacy. Users will respect the confidentiality and
privacy of individuals whose records they access, observe any ethical restrictions that apply
to data to which they have access, and abide by applicable laws and policies with respect to
access, use, or disclosure of information. All data users having access to legally restricted or
limited-access data will formally acknowledge (by signed statement or some other means)
their understanding of the level of access provided and their responsibility to maintain the
confidentiality of data they access. Each data user will be responsible for the consequences
of any misuse.
3. Protection of data. Users will comply with all reasonable protection and control procedures
for administrative data to which they have been granted access.
4. Accurate presentation of data. Users will be responsible for the accurate presentation of
administrative data, and will be responsible for the consequences of any intentional
misrepresentation of that data.
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