Data Governance

All data and report requests are centralized and reviewed by the office of Institutional Research (IR) prior to distribution. A quality control process was implemented to ensure that reports and data requests are generally reviewed at least twice by different personnel in IR and/or Information Technology (IT) prior to release to requestors. To enhance ease of access, an online electronic data request form was created and has been utilized to maintain request centrality and quality control since. In 2020 alone, more than 200 individual data requests were fulfilled through IR.

All existing processes and components of external reporting, including queries and draft documentation were reviewed and revised as appropriate in addition to reporting procedures. IPEDS survey and WVHEPC data submissions were realigned to ensure consistent reporting between the two. new reporting procedures resulting in external reports being submitted on-time or early. WVHEPC data submissions have since received commendations from WVHEPC’s Director of Information Systems for increased organization and data quality. Institutional Research was able to effectively resolve data aggregate discrepancies between WVHEPC and IPEDS graduation surveys such that recent WVHEPC graduation files have been correct.

Internal reports available through reporting schemas such as Argos were reorganized consistent with oversight from the Data Governance taskforce into Functional (i.e. everyday use) reports and Strategic (those containing data utilized for external reporting or to guide strategic initiatives) reports. As a result, the Data Governance taskforce has reviewed, removed or revised all Strategic reports available to deans, faculty, and Executive Leadership. Prior to COVID-19, internal reporting was in the process of being revised for effectiveness and efficiency. 

This initiative comprising collaborations across Student Services, Information Technology, and Institutional Research addressed previous inconsistencies in data entry and cumbersome customization processes in Banner, and included the following:

• Updated courses with the appropriate department and school or college codes.
• Reconfigured coding schemes and data fields in Banner to support the Academic Reorganization at the University. This involved a significant amount of data types in Banner - each school had at least one new department created, all new Program codes for each major were created, new department codes for each school and college were created, and the majors were tied to the appropriate department.
• Adjustments to academic history within Banner to more accurately reflect Fairmont State University’s courses and programs.

IR and IT collaborated on a survey of University faculty and staff to identify training needs related to tools and programs which utilize institutional data, and to recognize opportunities to enhance the analytic capacity of the institution through reports, briefs, and presentations. This survey resulted in additional data literacy-related presentations being incorporated into ongoing faculty and professional development sessions roughly every Fall and Spring semester.

A centralized data dictionary containing more than 900 definitions utilized in official reporting (IPEDS, HEPC, USNWR, etc.) and for internal use has been established and is in the process of being adapted to ensure that coding and query practices across campus are consistent in Phase 2. All reports originating from the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness are standardized in the style and type of content presented; each report includes descriptions of information presented in the report and data definitions to improve the readability of reports.