University Office for Planning and Budgeting

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University Office for
Planning & Budgeting
Henry Administration Building,
Room 338
506 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801-3639

Email: uopb@uillinois.edu
Phone: (217) 333-6600
Fax: (217) 333-6355

University Office for Planning & Budgeting

Project Participation > Codebook Announcement

The following announcement describes the availability of Codebook information in the Information Warehouse and via the World Wide Web. The Codebook is the electronic system which records and maintains the official name, code, and history of administrative units (campus, college, department, and division) and instructional entities (curriculum, CIP, and degree). Those familiar with the Codebook may use the following URL to jump directly to the Codebook page on the Information Warehouse web site: http://www.pb.uillinois.edu/univdata/html/codebook.html.

Overview

Beginning August 3rd a new data source containing Codebook data will be available in the Information Warehouse. This data may be accessed in two ways: by connecting through a software program to the Information Warehouse or via an ordinary web browser. In addition to the actual data, a rather comprehensive body of information about the Codebook and Codebook data (metadata) is also available on the Web. This information describes the Codebook and the creation and maintenance of Codebook data, as well as providing extensive descriptions of the tables and fields.

The Codebook database in the Information Warehouse is comprised of eight tables containing data from the Official University Codebook and these tables are refreshed nightly.

  • CampusExtract - Official name, codes, and history of University campuses.
  • CollegeExtract - Official name, codes, and history of University colleges.
  • DepartmentExtract - Official name, codes, and history of University departments.
  • DivisionExtract - Official name, codes, and history of University divisions.
  • CIPExtract - Official federal name and codes of CIP codes in use at the University.
  • CurriculumExtract - Official name, codes, and history of University curriculums.
  • DegreeExtract - Official name, codes, and history of University degrees.
  • DocumentExtract - Table of comments associated with records in the other tables.

Access these tables in the same manner as any other Information Warehouse data source (described below) – though unlike other Information Warehouse products no special permission is needed to access the data. The tables are viewable by anyone with an Information Warehouse login.The Codebook web reports permit viewing and downloading of Codebook data via any standard web browser. One can display or save the results in a file suitable for importing into a database or spreadsheet. The following is a listing of the of the various reports:

  • Current or Historical Codebook - Codebook with filters by Campus, Unit or Entity, Date, or Name
  • Compressed Codebook - Comprehensive overview with a single record per entry showing the interval of existence with filters by Campus, Unit, or ID sort
  • Mapping - Currently maps Department and Colleges to Curriculum
  • Numeric Search - Tracks a unit or entity by all or a portion of its code
  • Name Search - Search based on a potion of a unit or entity name
  • Interactive SQL - Use to dynamically execute SQL queries against the Codebook extracts
  • Data Download - Comma delimited files containing the full set of records (current and historical) for each of the Codebook segments

We are soliciting comments or suggestions on the usefulness of each report, especially the experimental Compressed Codebook.

Recommended Use

We strongly recommend that you examine the metadata for the Codebook before connecting to the Codebook tables or web reports. This metadata covers how to use and interpret Codebook data, plus it delineates weaknesses in the data.

Individuals whose information needs are limited to looking up the ‘official' name for a unit or the proper form of a degree title will find the web reports their best entrance into the Codebook. When viewing the data in your browser, the web reports also permit a considerable degree of customization, allowing the user to choose a selective subset of the records.Individuals that require fuller information, or would like to integrate a local data system with the Codebook will be best served by connecting directly to the tables in the Information Warehouse. The Information Warehouse web site provides sample SQL showing how to interact dynamically with the Codebook tables. In addition the web site provides instructions on how to modify existing SAS programs running on the mainframe to use Information Warehouse Codebook data.

The Information Warehouse

The Information Warehouse is an environment comprised of a number of databases. Each database contains data from one or more University data source (such as UI Direct, UFAS, or Paymaster). To interact with any of these databases three primary conditions have to be met:

  1. An Information Warehouse login and password must be attainedSecurity permission to access a given database
  2. Connectivity software must be installed on your workstation.

For a full overview of these conditions see the new user page on the Information Warehouse web site at http://www.pb.uillinois.edu/univdata/html/new_users.html.

In summary the procedure requires you to contact your Unit Security Contact and request an IW login and password, and to request access to the data sources you wish to use. While you may download and install the connectivity software yourself (the process is quite easy), you may wish to ask your network administrator to perform this for you.Note that for the Codebook, no special security permission is required. You may access the web reports without an IW login and password. However, to access the database tables directly you must have an IW login and password and the connectivity software installed on your workstation.

Useful URL's