Overview

PSU relies heavily on data to measure and monitor progress towards the achievement of its mission and goals. As such, the integrity, accuracy and validity of institutional and departmental data are of vital importance. Accordingly, PSU shall adopt a proactive, systematic data collection and management process to make sure that required data is available in a timely manner and with the expected levels of accuracy and integrity.

Data Dictionary & Data Definitions:

One of the major duties of the Deanship of Quality Assurance & Development (DQAD) is to ensure the uniformity and integrity of data across the campus. As such, the Center for Statistics and Information (CSI) shall develop a unified data dictionary for all data in the campus. The dictionary shall clearly provide definitions for variables and generated KPIs. The dictionary shall be updated and maintained on a regular basis.

Scope

PSU Data Warehouse Admin, Control and Access: DQAD has built a data warehouse accessible to only the authorized data custodians and consumers. The main stakeholder (or Data custodian) for the system is the DQAD-CSI.

Definitions

1. Access Control: whereby only authorized entities and individuals can access the data base on their levels of authorization
2. Consistency Checks: to ensure that data definitions are unified and have the same meaning across the campus
3. Redundancy Checks: to avoid duplications and additional overhead costs
4. Tracking: based on time frames and schedules
5. Security Measures: to protect the system against hacking and tampering
6. Center for Statistics and Information (CSI): is a control and coordination center that oversees the process of data creation, storage, access and dissemination.
7. Authorized CSI Director: The person in charge of the data warehouse with responsibilities and terms of reference clearly specified by the DQAD.
8. Data Owners: Academic leaders or administrators who are responsible for creating, storing, managing one or more types of data.
9. Data Stewards: Administrators with direct operational responsibility for one or more type of institutional data.
10. Data Custodian: The CSI is considered as data custodian under DQAD.

Data Collection Policy & Process:

• PSU establishes and maintains a central data warehouse, easily accessible by authorized entities and individuals
• The CSI is responsible for the integrity, consistency, security and accuracy of data
• The CSI is the sole entity responsible for the coordination of data collection and management process
• The CSI adopts a proactive data collection process (as explained below) whereby all required data and reports are available on the data warehouse in a timely manner.
• The CSI implements a notification system that regularly notifies data custodian and beneficiaries regarding deadlines and the availability of data or reports.

Institutional Data Collection

At the beginning of each academic year, DQAD, through its different centers, identifies the required institutional data and reports and raises a request to the CSI.
The request should specify the following:

1. The types of required data and reports
2. The format of the data and reports, with clear specifications for the data items and variables
3. Time frame for the availability of the data and report
4. Data owners or custodians (responsible for preparing the data).

For regular requests:

1. The CSI makes sure that the requests are properly sent to DQAD. /li>
2. The CSI updates the schedules and notifies the respective parties.

For new requests, the CSI implements the requests in cooperation with the eservices unit and applies all the above steps

On Demand (Ad hoc) Data Collection:

• In addition to the regular data requests, the University administration, units or individuals may issue data requests based on arising circumstances and demand.
• All types of ad-hoc data requests can be channeled through the DQAD.
• The CSI evaluates Ad hoc data requests as they arise and coordinates preparation and availability.
• The CSI reviews the data requests for consistency and lack of redundancy (no duplications)

Department and Unit Level Data Collection Management:

• All departments and units shall participate in the preparation and management of the institutional Data.
• In addition, units and departments shall share the collected data related to their activities and quality control processes with CSI in order to integrate all data with data the warehouse.
• To ensure consistency and avoid redundancy, units and departments shall coordinate their data collection activities with the CSI
• Each unit/department appoints a data custodian and a data steward to oversee data collection and management

Data Usage and Availability:

• Data beneficiaries and stewards shall not communicate directly with data custodians, since all data will be available on the data warehouse
• CSI implements an effective notification system that notifies all registered data consumers regarding availability and updates of data
• CSI implements a reporting mechanism, such as PowerBi, whereby authorized entities and individuals can generate short reports and summaries when required.