User’s Guide

Course Inventory Report

Active and Experimental Courses

Author: Chris Langdon
Department: Regents Information Systems (“RIS”)
Date: July 1st, 2005

Update: August 6, 2009 - Tim Shumaker
Rev: 1.6

Document History:

Change By / Date / Rev. / Comment
Chris Langdon / 05/13/2005 / 1.0 / Initial version.
Chris Langdon / 06/16/2005 / 1.1 / Updated screen shots and technical details to support Beta 2.
Chris Langdon / 06/17/2005 / 1.2 / Minor changes based on user feedback.
Chris Langdon / 06/21/2005 / 1.3 / Removed information regarding security. A decision was made whereby security is not required for this report. Also updated screen shots with latest version from web.
Chris Langdon / 06/28/2005 / 1.4 / Updated address for web site.
Chris Langdon / 07/01/2005 / 1.5 / Minor changes to wording. Added addition to Limitations section. Added new section called Tool Tips.
Tim Shumaker / 8/06/2009 / 1.6 / Added department to the report selection options and display on the detailed report. Changed as needed.

Overview:

This document is to provide a description of the “Course Inventory Report – Active and Experimental Courses” along with general usage guidelines. Lastly, tips are outlined to help the user optimize queries.

Intended Audience:

This document is intended for those general users of the web-based “Course Inventory Report – Active and Experimental Courses” report. It is assumed the reader has minimum, computer related and technical knowledge. The reader must have a basic understanding of the overall purpose of this report.

Methodology:

The report provides an easy interface to a rather large set of data by using a web browser and database combination. Because most of today’s computer users are accustomed to web browsers, the method by which this report is generated is very similar to using some of today’s popular web sites for research and/or shopping.

The report is separated into three sections:

1.  Query Attributes – User configurable options influencing the base result-set.

2.  Base Result-Set – An overview listing of course information based on the query attributes.

3.  Detail Result-Set – Specific detailed information of one item selected from the base result-set listing.

Getting Started:

The presentation of this report is geared for Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 6.0 or greater or Netscape, version 7.0 or greater. Alternative web browsers such as Opera and Firefox should work but are not specifically supported.

The web address for the report is http://www.sdbor.edu/administration/ris/reporting/. Navigating to this web site will give you the following display.

Query Attributes:

By defining query attributes, one is given the flexibility to drill-down on specific course information. Simply click the “Course Inventory Report” link to access the “Query Attributes” page.

Once navigated to the “Course Inventory Report” web page, a series of custom options are displayed. By default, Steps 1 and 2 are required. The default values for Step 1 and 2 are to search only “Common” and “Active” courses. To customize Step 1 and 2, simply select an item from the drop-down menu. Tip: A red asterisk (“*”) indicates a required field.

Step 3 allows for a series of options to be customized. By default, all drill-down criteria is set to “DEFAULT ALL” – meaning all items are displayed in the report. The more options customized, the quicker the report is generated. Tip: Drill-down on as many options as possible to narrow the amount of data searched and retrieved. For example, if a report related to USD only is needed, be sure to choose “USD” in the “By Course Location:” drop-down menu.

Step 4 controls how the report is displayed by allowing for one or more sort criteria. By default, the report is sorted by “Course Subject” and “Course Number”. One or more options can be selected. Tip: Use the CTRL key to select multiple sort criteria while clicking the item with the left mouse button.

Once all options are selected, the final step is to click the “Submit Query” button. A report is generated with the base result-set.

Base Result-Set:

The base result-set is a high-level listing of course information based on the query attributes. If no courses meet the query attributes, a message is displayed indicating “there is no course information matching your search criteria.”

The major elements of the base result-set are total course count and an overview of the course details, i.e. course type, subject, status, etc.

In the upper-right most column of the base result-set, the timestamp indicates the last time data was synchronized with the Student Information System - Colleague. Note: Due to technical complexities, results are not real-time. Results are typically 24 hours old.

Additional detailed information is available for each course listed in the base result-set. Clicking the “View” button will display the detail result-set. This process can be repeated for each course.

Detail Result-Set:

The detail result-set is just that – the details of a particular course. Additional items to those listed in the base result-set are displayed, such as pre- and co-requisites, instructional methods and course description.

Using the “<Back” button will navigate to the base result-set, allowing one to “View” details of another course.

Tool Tips:

Tool Tips are used as a simple help system in the report. Tool Tips are primarily used to define terms that are not readily known or available, i.e. Classification of Instruction Programs (“CIP”).

By hovering the mouse pointer over the “More Information” icon, a Tool Tip is displayed with additional information to aid the user in better understanding reporting elements.

Limitations and Issues:

The following are known limitations and issues with the current version of the “Course Inventory Report – Active and Experimental Courses”:

1.  The user doesn’t have the ability to configure the order in which a report is sorted. A user can select which items to sort but can’t select a priority for each sorting criteria.

2.  An issue has been identified whereby some “Pre-Requisite” fields are truncated. The root cause is unknown at this time and is expected to be fixed in the next version.

3.  There is an issue with the Course Descriptions data where some times the longer descriptions are split somewhere in the middle and flipped. All the data is there and correct. This is an issue with the Safari-Datatel ODBC driver and is being looked into.

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