Reporting from the SIS
This section of the website contains information about reporting from the new Student Information System. If you do not find the information you need here, please call 4-HELP, followed by 3, then 1, or write 4Help@virginia.edu.
QUICK LINKS
- Announcements
- General Information
- Reporting Q and A Sessions
- Reporting Roles
- Data Catalog
- Discoverer Plus
- Other Reporting Tools
- Password Changes
Information Warehouse Bursar and Financial Aid Data Added to SIS Reporting Database
February 1, 2012
The ISIS Bursar and Financial Aid data formerly located in the Information Warehouse is now available through the SIS Reporting Database. Student Financial Systems reviewed the users who had access to this data and determined who should continue to have access going forward. If you were given access, you were sent a separate email with instructions. If no account was created for you and you still need access to this data, you will need to submit a SIS Access Request form (see the SIS Access page for instuctions.) You will need to request one or both of the following SIS roles:
- UV SF ISIS Warehouse Reporting - for ISIS Bursar data
- UV FA ISIS Warehouse Reporting - for ISIS Financial Aid data
The Bursar and Financial Aid Pre-Defined Reports will now be available via the following link:
www.sis.virginia.edu/reports/isis
If you normally access this data using ODBC or other access methods other than the Pre-Defined Reports, you may continue to do so. You will need to modify your Data Source or other logic to connect to database CSRPT rather than IWP01. See the information on Other Reporting Tools below for additional details on connecting to CSRPT.
The names and structure of the views are the same as they were in the Information Warehouse:
The data contained is also the same as it was in the Information Warehouse, with one addition. Each view now contains the column
Student_System_Id, which contains the SIS ID for the person, if one is available.
This data is not available through Discoverer Plus.
If you have any questions, please write the SIS Reporting Team at RPTSupport@virginia.edu, or plan to attend one of our weekly Q&A sessions.
Ad hoc reporting from the Student Information System is done from the Reporting Database, also known as CSRPT. CSRPT is a copy of the production Student Information System database that is created specifically for reporting.
This copy is completely refreshed each night. Thus, each morning the data should be completely up to date, and (aside from unplanned downtimes) it should never be more than 24 hours out of date.
Each night the production SIS database is backed up beginning at 1:00 AM. When this backup completes, generally around 1:30 AM, the Reporting Database refresh begins. While the refresh is in progress, the Reporting Database is unavailable. The refresh is normally complete before 6:00 AM.
An ITS Token connected to the JointVPN profile is required for all access to CSRPT.
The Reporting Database should not be confused with the Integrated System's Operational Data Store (ODS), which contains Financial and Human Resources Data.
Do you need assistance with a reporting task? Weekly times have been scheduled when the SIS reporting team will be available to answer your questions and assist you with any reporting problems you may have. There is no agenda, simply bring your questions and we will do our best to help you. Note: if you wish the reports team to look at a Discoverer workbook you have created, please share the workbook with user SS prior to the Q and A session.
Please note this will not be a training session, but is intended for those who have already been through Reports training and have additional questions.
Except as noted below, all the Q and A sessions will be located in room 3007 in the ISDS-SIS offices at 2211 Hydraulic Road. All sessions are on Wednesdays and are in the afternoon unless noted with an AM below. Morning sessions are scheduled from 8 to 9 AM; afternoon sessions are scheduled from 4 - 5 PM. It is not necessary to come for the whole time; feel free to drop in any time during that period and leave whenever you like. The currently scheduled dates are:
- February 1, 2012
- February 8, 2012
- February 15, 2012 AM
- February 22, 2012
- February 29, 2012
- March 7, 2012 AM
- March 14, 2012
- March 21, 2012
- March 28, 2012 AM
- April 4, 2012
- April 11, 2012
- April 18, 2012 AM
- April 25, 2012
- May 2, 2012
- May 9, 2012 AM
- May 16, 2012
- May 23, 2012
- May 30, 2012 AM
- June 6, 2012
- June 13, 2012
- June 20, 2012 AM
- June 27, 2012
- July 11, 2012 AM
- July 18, 2012
- July 25, 2012
- August 1, 2012 AM
- August 8, 2012
- August 15, 2012
- August 22, 2012 AM
- August 29, 2012
- September 5, 2012
- September 12, 2012 AM
- September 19, 2012
- September 26, 2012
- October 3, 2012 AM
- October 10, 2012
- October 17, 2012
- October 24, 2012 AM
- October 31, 2012
- November 7, 2012
- November 14, 2012 AM
- November 28, 2012
- December 5, 2012 AM
- December 12, 2012
- December 19, 2012
If you need assistance with reporting at other times, please contact your Local Expert, if available, or contact the SIS Help Desk at 4-HELP, followed by 3, then 1, or 4Help@virginia.edu.
In order for an account to be created for you on CSRPT, you must request and be granted one or more of the Student Information System reporting roles. Many of these roles require training before the access can be granted. For a listing of the most common roles, see the SIS Roles Library. (The Reporting roles end with the word Reporting.) The SIS Data Catalog also has information on all the reporting roles.
Click here to access the SIS Data Catalog (VPN required) is here.
The SIS Data Catalog is similar in appearance and functionality to the legacy Information Warehouse's Information Catalog, but there are a number of differences. The Data Catalog has two modes: the Discoverer mode (the default) and the Database mode. The Discoverer mode shows the data as it appears in Discoverer, with business areas, folders and item names as they appear in Discoverer. In the Database mode, the views and columns appear as they do through tools other than Discoverer. (Many roles and views are not defined in Discoverer, and therefore only appear in the Database mode.)
In either format you can see all the available security roles, and click on them to see the data that is contained within that role. Likewise (in the Discoverer mode) you can select a Business Area to see what it contains. Selecting a view (folder) will display the columns (items) it contains and information about them.
By default, the Catalog displays all data available in the Reporting Database. However, you may wish to see only the data that is currently available to you. By entering a computing id in the Single User View box, you will see the reporting roles that person currently has, and only the data that they are able to see.
Roles, views, and columns may also now have descriptions which will display in the Catalog. We will be adding more descriptions over time. However, it is not our goal to necessarily have a description for every column--in some cases the meaning is obvious from the name of the column. If you find that a description is missing that you would find helpful, let us know at RPTSupport@virginia.edu and we will try to add it.
If an item in a view displays as a link, that means that additional information is available by selecting the link. The additional information might be a more extensive description, or a list of all the possible values the item might have.
A nice feature of the Data Catalog is that when new data elements (roles, views, columns) are added to the Reporting Database, the Catalog will update automatically, and so always be up-to-date. (Descriptions have to be added manually.)
In addition, the descriptions we create for folders and items (in the Discoverer view) will also be visible within Discoverer itself, so you will not be required to always go to the Catalog to see them. When you are on the Select Items tab of the Workbook Wizard, and click on a folder or item, the description displays near the bottom of the dialog box. However, Discoverer only displays a limited number of characters, so you may want to go to the Catalog for more information about folders.
There is also a Search feature available in the Catalog. By clicking the Catalog Search at the top or bottom of any Catalog page, you are taken to a Search Page where you can enter your search text. The Catalog will search Role, View and Column names and definitions and return the results to you.
If you find any problems using the Catalog, or have suggestions for its improvement, please let us know at RPTSupport@virginia.edu.
To access the Catalog, you must be logged in to JointVPN using your ITS Token. The Catalog can be accessed directly by creating a shortcut to:
http://www.sis.virginia.edu/reports/catalog
Oracle Discoverer Plus is the primary tool which will be supported for reporting from the Student Information System Reporting Database.
To use Discoverer Plus, you must first login to the VPN profile JointVPN using an ITS Token.
Discoverer Plus is then accessed from the main SIS Page, by clicking the Discoverer SIS icon.
The first time you use Discoverer, software may be downloaded to your PC, and you may need to modify your pop-up blocker settings. See the First Time Login and Java Installation Guide for detailed instructions.
Training on Reporting Database data using Discoverer Plus is managed by the Employee Development division of University Human Resources. For information and additional useful documents, please see Discoverer for SIS .
The Discoverer Scheduling Manager provides a convenient way to run reports in the background or during off hours, so that you can do other things while your reports run. For a detailed document explaining how to use the Scheduling Manager, download Using the Scheduling Manager in Discoverer Plus.
Discoverer workbooks that have been created by the SIS Reports team appear in Discoverer Plus owned by user SS. However, Rebecca Garver has also created a large number of workbooks for Student Records users with the UV SR Acad User Reporting role. Her reports are owned by user RFG. A document is available which lists these workbooks and the tabs they contain:
- RFG Workbooks for Student Records Academic Users (Updated 05/09/2011)
- RFG Workbooks for Student Records Non-Academic Users (Updated 02/07/2011)
While Discoverer Plus is the primary tool being supported for use with the Reporting Database, other tools may be used as well. Such tools include SAS for Windows and ODBC tools such as Microsoft Access and Microsoft Query (an Excel add-in). These tools are only recommended for those who already have expertise in using them. The SIS Reporting team will not be able to assist with problems you may encounter while using other tools.
To use any of these other tools, you will need to have Oracle client software installed. You may already have a client installed from previously using the SIS Reporting Database or other databases; however, because the Reporting Database was upgraded to version 11g on June 4, 2011, we recommend that you install the IS Oracle Client for 11g if you have not already done so. This will also install an up-to-date ODBC driver and create three ODBC System Data Sources for you:
- SIS Oracle 11g Client - for connecting to the SIS Reporting Database
- HrFin ODS Oracle 11g Client - for connecting to the HR/Finance ODS
- HrFin Prod Oracle 11g Client - for connecting to the production instance of HR/Finance, if you have access
Please note that if you access the reporting database from another tool, the names of the reporting objects will differ from what from what you see in Discoverer. Each will be preceded by sysadm.uv_ . So for example, AD_Applicants will appear as sysadm.uv_ad_applicants or SYSADM.UV_AD_APPLICANTS in another tool. Case does not matter.
When your account on the Reporting Database is initially created, you will not be able to login until you change the password from the one that we give you. If you login to Discoverer, it will prompt you to change your password. Or, you can use the Password Change webpage to change your password.
Password should begin with a letter, and be composed of letters and numbers. A minimum of 8 characters are recommended for an adequately secure password.
Because we are also requiring you to use an ITS Token to access the Reporting Database, we will not require you to change this password after the initial login. However, to change your password at any time, you can use the Password Change webpage. You can access the Password Change page directly using the URL http://www.sis.virginia.edu/reports/chpass.
Should you forget your password, call 4-HELP, followed by 3, then 1, and ask to have your Reporting Database password reset. They will give you a new expired password, and you will then be able to change it when you log in to Discoverer, or by using the Password Change page.
Note: Please remember that your Reporting Database password is distinct and separate from your password to the Student Information System itself. Changing your password in the Student Information System will not change your Reporting Database password, and vice versa.