July 13, 2017

To the campus community:

Within the APASP Task Force timeline, the month of July and the first week of August, have been set aside for campus units to review the data metrics that will be produced from central sources by the Data Office and used for prioritization. I write to you today to explain how that process will work.

• A website has been created to house all central reports. Please visit the Data Validation webpage and review the data in the metrics report for your unit. Units have until July 31 to submit feedback and request changes to the reports posted.
• Over the course of the next 3-4 weeks the Data Office will be updating and modifying the reports presented to incorporate feedback we receive from the campus and/or directions from the APASP Task Force. You should plan to visit this website regularly. A list of reports that have been recently updated will be posted on the website.
• We are aware that we have some challenges concerning some of our internal practices presenting data in the exact fashion desired. That is an issue that a group of us will be working on for the future. For the APASP reporting, we need to get the data as clean as possible. We are asking units to review each metric applicable to your unit of analysis and provide feedback. This input will result in one of two situations:
  • A true data error or logic mistake has been found. In that case, the reports will be corrected and reposted.
  • The concern with the data is caused by incomplete recording of the information needed to provide a complete analysis. In this case, two solutions may materialize:
    • If it is possible to manually fix the source data and report accurately in the small window of time we have to prepare these reports, we will make every effort to accomplish do so.
    • If the Data Office cannot fix the source data, a footnote of the data challenge will be created and provided with the final data. In addition, the issue will be moved to a long range project to see if a permanent solution can be found so future reporting will be accurate.

• At this validation stage, the reports are prepared in a software that will either allow units to view metrics for the entire campus or drill down to a subset of the data. If you have trouble navigating the reports themselves, please do not hesitate to reach out by emailing APASP_Validation@mso.umt.edu to ask for guidance.
• Because the definitions and assumptions used to make the reports are critical to your ability to understand and validate the data, we are preparing two resources to help you:
  • Methodology explaining the reports will be added to the website as soon as possible.
  • The Data Office team will be available 2 hours a week for an open house for you to come and ask questions or receive support on how to read and analyze the reports. Details on when those times will happen will be posted on the website.
  • When creating the forms for units to complete for prioritization, the Task Force will extract data specific to each unit and embed it within each unit's individualized report template. Units will not have to enter any data manually. A comment box will also be available for units to provide additional information.
  • Finally because the data is in a draft form, we have placed it behind your NetID login. It will be moved to the public site once it has been finalized.

These next few weeks are going to be very busy for the Data Office and APASP Task Force members trying to finalize the data to be used for prioritization. Therefore I do ask that you use the tools we have created to ensure your feedback gets incorporated into the final reports. Please contact APASP_Validation@mso.umt.edu with any concerns or help you might need.

Thank you for your attention to this very important project!

Dawn Ressel, Associate VP/Chief Data Officer