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Policy Statement

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.

Background and Justification

In today's data-driven educational landscape, PSU relies heavily on accurate and timely data to fulfill its mission and objectives. Centralized data management is crucial for maintaining data integrity, ensuring accessibility, and enhancing security. Clear governance and a unified data dictionary support these goals and enable data-driven decision-making and reporting.

The policy emphasizes the pivotal role of data in PSU's decision-making, accountability, and operational efficiency. Timely data availability, clear governance, standardization, and security measures are essential components of this data-centric approach.

Scope and Purpose

Scope: This policy applies to all data-related activities within CSI and DQAD, including data collection, storage, access, dissemination, and security. It governs institutional and departmental data and outlines the roles and responsibilities of data custodians, data stewards, and data owners across the university.

Purpose: The policy ensures data integrity, accuracy, and availability to support PSU's mission and goals by centralizing data management, assigning responsibilities to CSI, establishing proactive data collection, maintaining a unified data dictionary, regulating personal data, overseeing data sharing, and ensuring system integration while upholding privacy and security standards.

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

Principles of the Policy

• Data Privacy and Compliance: PSU identifies personal and sensitive data related to students, faculty, and academic/administrative units.
• Data Quality and Accuracy: CSI follows standards for accurate and complete data.
• Data Ownership and Accountability: CSI clearly defines the entities responsible for providing and managing data.
• Data Access and Sharing: CSI clearly defines roles for accessing data related to students, employees, and academic/administrative units.
• Data Retention and Deletion: CSI defines data retention policies for different types of data.
• Data Transparency and Consent: CSI follows a process for obtaining and managing consent for data processing.
• Ethical Considerations: CSI considers the ethical implications of data collection and usage, ensuring alignment with PSU values and ethics.

Definitions

Data Dictionary and Data Definitions: DQAD ensures uniformity and integrity of data across campus. CSI shall develop a unified data dictionary for all campus data, clearly defining variables and generated KPIs. The dictionary will be updated and maintained regularly.

Access Control: Only authorized entities and individuals can access the database at their authorization levels.

Consistency Checks: Ensure that data definitions are unified and share the same meaning across campus.

Redundancy Checks: Avoid duplications and additional overhead costs.

Tracking: Based on time frames and schedules.

Security Measures: Protect the system against hacking and tampering.

Center for Statistics and Information (CSI): A control and coordination center overseeing data creation, storage, access, and dissemination.

Authorized CSI Director: Person in charge of the data warehouse with responsibilities and terms of reference specified by DQAD.

Data Owners: Academic leaders or administrators responsible for creating, storing, and managing specific data types.

Data Stewards: Administrators with direct operational responsibility for one or more types of institutional data.

Data Custodian: CSI is considered the data custodian under DQAD.

Responsibilities and Implementation Strategies

Responsibilities

• Data owners are responsible for providing timely data to CSI.
• CSI is responsible for the integrity, consistency, security, and accuracy of data.
• CSI is the sole entity responsible for coordinating the data collection and management process.
• Academic and administrative leaders are responsible for utilizing relevant data for effective decision-making.

Implementation Strategies

Data Collection Policy and Process:

• PSU establishes and maintains a central data warehouse, accessible by authorized entities and individuals.
• CSI adopts a proactive data collection process ensuring all required data and reports are available on the warehouse in a timely manner.
• CSI implements a notification system that regularly notifies data custodians and beneficiaries regarding deadlines and the availability of data or reports.

Institutional Data Collection: At the beginning of each academic year, DQAD (through its centers) identifies the required institutional data and reports and raises a request to CSI. The request specifies:

• The types of required data and reports.
• The format of the data and reports, with clear specifications for items and variables.
• Time frame for the availability of the data and reports.
• Data owners or custodians responsible for preparing the data.

For regular requests: CSI ensures requests are properly sent to DQAD, updates schedules, and notifies respective parties.

For new requests: CSI implements requests in cooperation with the ITC unit and applies the above steps.

On-Demand (Ad hoc) Data Collection: In addition to regular data requests, the university administration, units, or individuals may issue data requests based on arising circumstances. All ad-hoc requests are channeled through DQAD. CSI evaluates requests, coordinates preparation and availability, and reviews requests for consistency and lack of redundancy.

Department and Unit Level Data Collection Management: All departments and units participate in preparing and managing institutional data. They share collected data related to their activities and quality processes with CSI to integrate into the warehouse. To ensure consistency and avoid redundancy, units coordinate data collection with CSI. Each unit/department appoints a data custodian and a data steward to oversee collection and management.

Privacy and Ethical Considerations: Personal data will only be collected and processed with informed consent and for the stated purpose. Individuals will be informed of intended use. All staff and researchers accessing personal data must be informed about data privacy and ethics. Any research or project using CSI data must abide by ethical standards, ensuring respect for individuals and protection of rights.

Data Sharing: CSI may share data with third parties only under an approved agreement ensuring ethical use and protection. Shared data will be anonymized or pseudonymized unless explicit consent is provided. All external sharing requests must be reviewed and approved by the CSI Director and the Dean of DQAD.

Integration with Other Systems: When adopting new systems, data-custodian units will ensure integration is feasible without compromising integrity, accuracy, or security. All integrations must comply with PSU data privacy standards. Periodic reviews will ensure integrated systems continue to meet privacy, security, and functionality requirements.

Communication: Data beneficiaries and stewards shall not communicate directly with data custodians since all data will be available in the warehouse. CSI implements notifications for registered consumers regarding availability and updates. CSI provides a reporting mechanism (e.g., Power BI) for authorized entities to extract data and generate reports and summaries when required.

Procedures for Handling Policy Violation

All violations performed by stakeholders will be handled according to the student, faculty, or personnel governing by-laws.

References

• PSU Internal Data Management Guidelines
• NCAAA Data and Reporting Standards