Issue Summary
The purpose of this proposal was to outline a process for conducting a thorough review of UMS Common Data Set (CDS) Financial Aid reporting. This includes UMaine’s CDS Financial Aid template and the system SQR report, in order to revise data definitions, data sources, data transformations, and data calculations. The goal of this review was to ensure validity and reliability of reported data and build a foundation for additional financial aid analysis.
Background Information
Each year, Financial Aid, Institutional Research, and data personnel in IT complete multiple requests for Financial Aid data extracts and analyses. One such request is for the Common Data Set Financial Aid section, which includes detailed financial aid information aggregated into several key metrics. Some campuses complete this report by using the results from a system SQR report, while other campuses pull the data directly from PeopleSoft and aggregate it locally.
The System SQR report was created several years ago, is complex, and does not produce the same results as each of the campuses’ products resulting from individual data processing. In recent years, small adjustments have been made to the system SQR report when identified; this proposal was for a comprehensive review of all aspects of data definitions, sources, and calculations. As Financial Aid data requests increase in frequency, those involved in the Financial Aid CDS and other Financial Aid reporting could significantly benefit from such a thorough review of CDS definitions, sources, and processes to ensure accuracy and to create a CDS-based foundation to complete other Financial Aid reporting and analyses.
Resolution Summary
The workgroup cataloged the differences between the output from the UMS SQR and the output from the CDS Template (authored by UM). The workgroup investigated differences (when present) between the SQR output and template output to determine the underlying causes for the different outputs. In consultation with the definitions, the selection criteria, and calculations, it was determined that the UM template addressed many of the inaccuracies present in the UMS SQR report. The recommendation of the workgroup is to use the template logic to build out future Financial Aid CDS reporting in Power BI.
Future steps rely on the creation of a Financial Aid datamart, from which the template logic can be used to create a CDS Financial Aid Report in Power BI. The workgroup also recommended clear guidance on the usage/sharing of Financial Aid data across institutions for the purposes of report reviews and creation of new reports. This recommendation is a result of experience during this report review; namely, because not all institutions have the bandwidth to comb through the report results, and are not willing to grant access to workgroup members to do so, this report review could not trace all discrepancies in output across the CDS template and the SQR report.