CDR Liaisons are the institutional representatives responsible for the coordination of all activities at their institutions that relate to the preparation and submission of the Central Data Request (CDR). As a part of these coordination responsibilities, Liaisons work with functional area staff (such as Admissions, Financial Aid, and Registrar’s Offices) and information technology staff to ensure the accuracy and completeness of CDR data submissions for their institution. The Office of Policy Analysis and Research (OPAR) also works with the Liaisons in preparing/validating reports to the U.S. Department of Education, State government, the Board of Regents, and other constituencies. This document summarizes the primary roles of the Liaison, other related responsibilities, and major analytical services provided by OPAR that may be of use to the Liaisons. A major resource for CDR Liaisons is the CDR Manual.
Primary Role/Responsibility/Delegation
The CDR Liaison is responsible for the preparation and submission of mid-term (6th week) student and curricular data (reflecting enrollments as of the date of record) and post-term student data. This data is submitted for the summer, fall, winter (if applicable), and spring terms. The CDR Liaison also assists the Financial Aid Office, when necessary, in preparing and submitting the annual financial aid CDR. A submission schedule is provided annually that outlines the various submission dates and deadlines.
Contact: Jennifer White, (608) 262-2623, jwhite@uwsa.edu
CEUS, the CDR editing software, is used to edit and correct the data once it has been submitted. The CDR Liaison is responsible for editing and signing off on each submission. They may edit the submissions themselves or designate another person to handle this process. All critical edits (ending in ‘1’) must be addressed and resolved. The non-critical edits (ending in ‘2’) should be examined and any erroneous records should be updated. Data element and edit descriptions can be found in the CDR Manual on the OPAR website.
Contact: Jennifer White, (608) 262-2623, jwhite@uwsa.edu
Early in the fall semester, OPAR requests that each UW institution submit a preliminary enrollment report. This report is specifically for the UW System President to provide systemwide enrollment data to the Board of Regents early in the fall term. Detail is generally by student level, entrance status, and residency.
The report is based on the census date (10th day) headcount and FTE (full-time equivalent) enrollments for both the state supported and total populations. The state supported enrollments include a) GPR and remedial funded headcounts and b) GPR only supported FTE. The total enrollment figures include a) all headcount enrollments (less those exclusively studying abroad) and b) all FTE (less all study abroad credit activity).
Responsibility: Submit enrollment detail as requested on survey form
Related items: Fall CDR student and curricular submission
Contact: Jing Chen, (608) 262-1751, jchen@uwsa.edu
IPEDS is a collection of integrated institutional level surveys on enrollments, financial aid, degree completions and graduation rates, faculty/staff, and finances. The data collection is administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a subsidiary of the U.S. Department of Education. Participation is federally mandated for all Title IV institutions. OPAR coordinates the generation and submission of all IPEDS surveys on behalf of each UW institution through the systemwide data systems (e.g. CDR, SFS, HR) and other central sources. Each UW institution has an IPEDS Keyholder (usually designated as the CDR Liaison) who is responsible for reviewing the data submitted (via the IPEDS web-based collection system) and collectively working with OPAR to resolve any concerns or questions. In the summer of each year, the IPEDS help-desk emails the known keyholder with a year specific login id and password. Each year, the keyholder must register for that specific academic year’s collection to review, print, and save their survey data.
Responsibility: Registration and review
Related items: College Navigator, Data Feedback Reports, IPEDS Data Center
Contact: Dennis Rhodes, (608) 261-1434, drhodes@uwsa.edu
Each year, OPAR prepares this legislatively mandated report on undergraduate course drop rates. CDR Liaisons are asked to provide the completed credits for students at their institution for the same population of students as included on the 6th week CDR submission. The report compares credits for which students were enrolled on the 6th week CDR submissions (for fall and spring terms) with credits that these students completed at the end of the term.
Responsibility: Submit completed credit information
Contact: Jing Chen, (608) 265-9795, jchen@uwsa.edu
Every three years, OPAR prepares a required report for the Board of Regents on math and English remediation. The report includes information on UW System new freshmen who were identified as needing math or English remediation on the 6th week CDR submissions, completion of the remediation identified on the post-term CDR submissions, and associated retention/graduation rates. CDR Liaisons may be called upon to verify the information for students from their institution.
Responsibility: Ensure that data is submitted, verify information
Contact: Jing Chen, (608) 265-9795, jchen@uwsa.edu
Related Roles/Responsibilities
Each year, OPAR coordinates updates to the Accountability Dashboard. To facilitate each cycle of updates, OPAR asks UW Chancellors to designate an accountability contact person at their institution to assist with the preparation of institutional case studies to meet legislative reporting requirements. Preparation, editing, and review of the case studies generally takes place through the spring semester, with publication in summer. The Institution Highlights section of the dashboard links to websites at each institution demonstrating their unique mission and context. Attention is needed to maintain these links and their associated content. CDR Liaisons can act as a resource to the accountability contact on issues related to case studies, Institution Highlights links/websites, and common measures derived from CDR data.
Responsibility: Facilitate communication, act as a resource
Related items: OPAR Coordinated Systemwide Surveys
Contact: Dennis Rhodes, (608) 261-1434, drhodes@uwsa.edu
MAAD includes data that identify and describe students who have applied for degree-seeking undergraduate enrollment at one of the UW institutions. Each month, institutions submit a file with information about applicants and the admission action taken on each application. OPAR works with a group of MAAD Contacts, primarily staff in Admissions Offices, to coordinate the submissions. Additional information about MAAD and associated data elements can be found in the CDR Manual.
Responsibility: Facilitate communication, act as a resource
Contact: Dan Younan, (608) 890-3529, dyounan@uwsa.edu
UW System Administration via OPAR typically helps coordinate systemwide NSSE administration every 3 years. Results are used in the UW System Accountability Dashboard and legislative reporting requirements, and a variety of purposes at the campus level. While additional systemwide surveys may be implemented, the NSSE is the survey most frequently coordinated by OPAR. Additional questions and/or reports are often included, which are then distributed to UW institutions via CDR Liaisons. CDR Liaisons are responsible for ensuring that the appropriate individuals on their campus are aware of the data products from these surveys.
National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) survey: UWSA intends to request systemwide participation every three years, barring unforeseen circumstances. Typically, the Provost is asked to designate a NSSE contact person for their institution. CDR Liaisons can help the NSSE contact with any issues related to acquiring an address list of enrolled students to whom the survey is administered.
Responsibility: Facilitate communication, act as a resource
Related items: Accountability
Contact: Todd Bailey, (608) 263-3743, tbailey@uwsa.edu
TIS uses a database of undergraduate courses offered at UW institutions (and Wisconsin Technical Colleges (WTC)) and course equivalencies that show how the courses transfer to other UW’s and WTC’s. This information is provided to students via the TIS website. OPAR staff are part of the TIS team who work with TIS Contacts at the UW institutions to coordinate the associated data submissions.
Responsibility: Facilitate communication, act as a resource
Related items: TIS website
Contact: Todd Bailey, (608) 263-3743, tbailey@uwsa.edu
Ling Ning, (608) 263-2728, lning@uwsa.edu
OPAR Analytical Products/Services for CDR Liaisons
OPAR provides a number of products and services to UW institutions. The following list includes OPAR products and services that may be particularly useful to CDR Liaisons.
After CDR data has been edited and verified, it is moved from a production to an analytical database. This database includes student, curricular, and financial aid data since the mid-70’s. CDR Liaisons may obtain access to their institutional data in the analytical database.
Contact OPAR Data Area Manager:
Student Data, Sue Buth, (608) 262-1751, sbuth@uwsa.edu
Curricular Data, Sue Buth, (608) 262-1751, sbuth@uwsa.edu
Financial Aid Data, Todd Bailey, (608) 263-3743, tbailey@uwsa.edu
IAIS, like its predecessor, PMIS (Planning and Management Information System), is an analytical tool that draws together data from the CDR, budget, financial, and payroll systems to provide information on state-funded instructional activity. IAIS provides UW System Administration and UW System institutions with information to assist in general management, academic planning, and budget planning efforts. Standard analytical reports provide information on the production of student credit hours, instructional costs, and faculty teaching loads. IAIS is available to all UW institutions for their individual purposes. Both prepared reports, as well as access to raw data at various levels of aggregation, are available for ad hoc analysis. Contact OPAR for the IAIS application installation instructions, system requirements, and an authorization form.
Contact: Sue Buth, (608) 262-1751, sbuth@uwsa.edu
Jing Chen, (608) 265-9795, jchen@uwsa.edu
OPAR uses CDR data to calculate fall-to-fall retention rates and annual graduation rates (bachelor’s) of New Freshmen entering full-time. Some of these rates appear on the OPAR website and in publications such as the accountability reports. In addition, OPAR produces tabular reports with rates for a variety of subpopulations (race/ethnicity, gender, high school rank, and others). These reports are typically generated after the fall CDR post-term is finalized (late March). They are electronically distributed to CDR Liaisons. CDR Liaisons can help ensure that appropriate staff members on their campus are aware of these reports, but should exercise discretion in making them available, since, in some cases, small cell sizes may allow the identification of individual students.
Contact: Jing Chen, (608) 265-9795, jchen@uwsa.edu
David Blough, (608) 265-9796, dblough@uwsa.edu
Each year, OPAR posts a set of standard reports to its website. The majority of the reports provide information on fall enrollments, student headcount, and FTE. Ten-year trend data is provided as well as data broken out by race/ethnicity, gender, age, classification, and entrance status. Additional reports provide information on the degrees conferred by UW institutions.
Please note that student statistics has been generally replaced by the trends in enrollment dashboard for enrollment reporting needs, and as such, will no longer be updated for enrollment data beyond Fall 2017.
Related items: Enrollments Dashboard
Contact: Policy Analysis and Research
Acronyms
CBO Chief Business Officer
CDR Central Data Request
CEUS CDR Edit/Update System
COOL College Opportunities On-Line (now College Navigator)
FTE Full-time Equivalent
GPR General Purpose Revenue
HR Human Resources
IAIS Instructional Analysis Information System
IPEDS Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
MAAD Multiple Application and Admissions Database
M/D Multicultural and Disadvantaged
NCAA National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCES National Center for Education Statistics
NSSE National Survey of Student Engagement
OPAR Office of Policy Analysis and Research
PAS Peer Analysis System (now IPEDS Data Center)
PMIS Planning and Management Information System
SFS Shared Financial Systems
TIS Transfer Information System
UWSA University of Wisconsin System Administration
WTC Wisconsin Technical College