Setting Up Academic Statistics Periods
To set up academic statistics periods, use the Academic Statistics Period component (ACAD_STATS_PERIOD).
This section provides an overview of academic statistic periods and discusses how to define them.
An academic statistics period is the rule that the Consolidate Academic Statistics process (SRPCCONP) uses to control exactly when and how it will function. An academic statistics period defines the valid academic career and term combinations that the Consolidate Academic Statistics process uses to collect various academic statistics for students. An academic statistics period also defines the academic level and load rules and the statistics period type that the process uses.
The Consolidate Academic Statistics process locates the valid academic career and term combinations, based on the snapshot date for the academic statistics period. Valid academic career and term combinations can overlap each other and start and end independently yet can also roll up into one academic statistics period. You can even roll up different term values, such as semesters and quarters, into one academic statistics period.
Image: Example of an academic statistics period across terms
In the following diagram, the semester and quarter terms from different academic careers roll up into one academic statistics period:
The vertical line defines the valid academic career and term combinations for the academic statistics period. The Consolidate Academic Statistics process gathers data for students in all academic career and term combinations that the line passes through. If a student has only one academic career in these terms, the process calculation is straightforward. However, if a student has multiple academic careers in these terms, such as how Student A has LAW and MBA academic careers, the process uses the academic career with the lowest primacy number to calculate the student's academic statistics. In this scenario, the process uses LAW as the primary academic career for Student A and converts the student's MBA units from quarter units to semester units.
For information about NSC program level reporting, see Setting Up For NSC Program Level Reporting.
Page Name |
Definition Name |
Navigation |
Usage |
---|---|---|---|
Academic Statistics Period |
ACAD_STATS_PERIOD |
|
Describe an academic statistics period, including the statistics period type, academic load rule, consolidation trigger, and snapshot date. |
Access the Academic Statistics Period page (
).Image: Academic Statistics Period page
This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Academic Statistics Period page. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.
Setting Up Academic Statistics Periods
Field or Control |
Definition |
---|---|
Description and Short Description |
Enter a description and short description for this academic statistics period. The system uses these descriptions on various pages to identify this academic statistics period. The system also uses these descriptions for the header record of the NSC Extract report. The NSC requires that the header record of the extract include the academic term for the reported data, such as spring 2012 or fall 2012. Be sure to include this information in the descriptions as necessary. For NSC academic statistics periods, use descriptions such as Fall 2012-1st NSC Run, Fall 2012-2nd NSC Run, and Fall 2012-3rd NSC Run so that your institution can distinguish between the numerous runs of the NSC Extract report. The detailed descriptions are especially useful if you are running the NSC Extract process multiple times within the same reporting period. By specifying, on the Consolidated Statistics page, the academic statistics period used as the source for the previous NSC extract, you can easily distinguish between the statistics of the previous NSC extract and the next NSC extract. |
Statistics Period Type |
Select a statistics period type, which is a descriptor of an academic statistics period. The statistics period type identifies the type of reporting requirement for which you are using this academic statistics period. For example, you might have defined the statistics period type IP for IPEDS reporting, N for NSC reporting, and SR for the Student Record Census report. Because the statistics period type can affect the results of the Consolidate Academic Statistic process and the reports derived from these results, be sure that you select a statistics period type that meets your reporting needs. |
Academic Load Rule |
Select the academic load rule for the system to use when consolidating academic statistics. The Consolidate Academic Statistics process (SRPCCONP) uses your selection to calculate each student's academic load: full-time, half-time, part-time. Term Load Rule Applies: When you run the Consolidate Academic Statistics process for an academic statistics period in which you have set this field to Term Load Rule Applies and the Load Determination field on the Level/Load Rules Table page to Units, the Consolidate Academic Statistics process uses the defined academic load rules from the Academic Level Table page to calculate a student's academic load, NSC academic load, and financial aid load. If you have set the Load Determination field on the Level/Load Rules Table page to manual or default, the Consolidate Academic Statistics process uses the student's career-term record or the value you enter in the Default Academic Load field, respectively, to calculate the student's academic loads, regardless of the setting for this field. Contiguous Terms: Contiguous terms are consecutive terms in which you combine academic load information. Use this option for your academic load rule when you are combining student career-term records for consecutive terms. When you run the Consolidate Academic Statistics process for an academic statistics period in which you have set this field to Contiguous Terms, the Consolidate Academic Statistics process uses the defined contiguous-term academic load rules from the Statistics Period Load page to calculate a student's academic load, NSC academic load, and financial aid load. Thus, the process is able to accurately reflect each student's academic load for the combined terms. For example, if 12 units equals a full-time academic load for an individual-term academic load rule, but you want to combine two consecutive terms during the Consolidate Academic statistics process, indicate on the Statistics Period Load page that 24 units equals a full-time academic load. If you do not define contiguous-term academic load rules, the Consolidate Academic Statistics process will report anyone with 12 or more units as full-time for that academic statistics period, which might not accurately reflect your data. |
Consolidation Trigger |
Select from the following choices the consolidation trigger to instruct the Consolidate Academic Statistics process which snapshot date to use. The snapshot date is the date that the process uses to locate the valid academic career and term combinations for this academic statistics period. Note: If you select a consolidation trigger of As of Date or As of Today, the Consolidate Academic Statistics process takes the class start and end dates for all classes in which the student is actively enrolled and compares it to the snapshot date to determine if a student's class units should count towards her or his academic level and load calculation.
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As of Date |
This field becomes available when you select As of Date or Consolidation Date in the Consolidation Trigger field. If you select As of Date as your consolidation trigger, the Consolidate Academic Statistics process uses this date as the snapshot date. If you select Consolidation Date as your consolidation trigger, the Consolidate Academic Statistics process uses the date in this field as the effective date for all records that it generates. The date in this field must be after the latest snapshot date in the grid in the lower portion of this page. This ensures that the academic statistics for all of the academic career and term combinations have been gathered and stored in the temporary holding table prior to consolidation. |
Aid Year |
This field is available when the NSC Report check box is selected for the statistics period type on the Academic Statistics Type page. The value that you enter here is used to retrieve Credential Level Cross Reference and Title IV Weeks values from Financial Aid setup data. |
Defining Valid Academic Career, Term, and Snapshot Date Combinations
When you define an academic statistics period to have Consolidation Date for its consolidation trigger, the system displays a grid in the lower portion of that page for you to enter the specific academic career, term, and snapshot date combinations to include in this academic statistics period. When you run the Take Recurring Term Snapshot process, it accepts as valid only the combinations on this grid for the given academic statistics period. The process gathers the most current statistics on students active in these academic career and term combinations as of the run date, then stores this data in a temporary holding table (PS_STDNT_CARTRM_PD) for future consolidation through the Consolidate Academic Statistics process.
To gather statistics that reflect different times of the year, you must run the Take Recurring Term Snapshot process on a regular basis because the statistics themselves are based on the run date, not the snapshot date.
For example, perhaps you have a fall semester and a spring semester for each of your academic careers and your want to combine the historic academic statistics for all of these academic career and term combinations so that you have year-long academic statistics for your entire academic institution.
In the grid, indicate that you want to take one snapshot in the fall term and one snapshot in the spring term for each academic career. Set the academic statistics period to a consolidation mode of insert so that you do not overwrite the data in the temporary holding table on subsequent runs of the Take Recurring Term Snapshot process.
On or shortly following each snapshot date for all of the academic career and term combinations listed for the academic statistics period, run the Take Recurring Term Snapshot process (through the Consolidated Statistics page) to capture the data current as of the run date for these academic career and term combinations. The process writes the data to the temporary holding table.
After running the Recurring Term Snapshot process for all of the academic career and term combinations listed for the academic statistics period, run the Consolidate Academic Statistics process to consolidate the academic statistics for this academic statistics period. The process consolidates each student's academic statistics for all applicable rows in the temporary holding table.
Field or Control |
Definition |
---|---|
Academic Career |
Select the academic career that the Take Recurring Term Snapshot process will consider as part of a valid combination for this academic statistics period. |
Term |
Select the term within the academic career that the Take Recurring Term Snapshot process will consider as part of a valid combination for this academic statistics period. |
Snapshot Date |
Select the date that the Take Recurring Term Snapshot process should be run for this academic career and term combination. For the process to consider this academic career and term combination valid, the term must be in progress as of the specified date. Note: If you select a consolidation trigger of As of Date or As of Today, the Consolidate Academic Statistics process takes the class start and end dates for all classes in which the student is actively enrolled and compares it to the snapshot date to determine if a student's class units should count towards her or his academic level and load calculation. |