Report Certification Project Documentation

Issue Summary

As datasets, data marts, and reports are created in Power BI and documented in Data Cookbook, it would be helpful for end users if they were provided a means of discerning between documented reports and validated reports. Current documentation is sometimes interpreted in the following way: the act of producing documentation entails the report having been validated. However, validation is a separate process that involves checking the reliability of the source data itself (data variables and data quality), the validity of the measures and calculations applied to those data points, and agreement that the presented report covers the data that can and should answer the questions relevant to that report.

Phase I: Certification Process

1. Created a certification seal to indicate that a report has been through a rigorous validation process 

2. Developed certification requirements outlined in the Report Certification proposal 

3. Created a framework for documentation from the certification process which is available to report consumers (linked from the seal on any given report)

Phase II: Pilot Certification

The report chosen as the pilot certification was the IPEDS Fall Enrollment Report.