Database Views

Data submitted through the Central Data Request (CDR) are stored in a data warehouse maintained by the Universities of Wisconsin Administration (UWSA). Authorized staff at Universities of Wisconsin may access the data warehouse through several database views.

Authorization

As data custodian, OPAR reserves the right to grant or deny access to CDR database views. Because the CDR contains individual student records subject to federal privacy laws, access to CDR database views is granted only to UW staff whose assigned duties include working with equivalent student records at their UW institution. To request data access, complete a Data Access Authorization Request form.

Accessing the Views

Authorized users can access CDR database views in several ways.

  • Use the CEUS or IAIS applications, if you already have them installed
  • Use other database and statistical software packages, once an Oracle connection client is installed. For assistance, contact Jennifer White, in OPAR.

Tips for Using CDR Database Views

The CDR database is very large. It contains student and curricular data from all institutions starting in 1973-74 and financial aid data from 1977-78. Here are some tips to make access go more smoothly:

  • Filter or aggregate data before you download it. Many client tools typically retrieve all the data to the local computer before running an analysis. Since the CDR is a very large database, use the WHERE or GROUP BY clauses of the initial SQL retrieval statement to filter or aggregate the data before downloading it to your local computer.
  • Test your queries on a single year. Some queries – even those that filter or aggregate data – may take as long as 30 minutes to run if they select many years of data. Before querying all years of interest, test your query on a single year.

Documentation