Open Source Dynamic Fact Book: Construction Kit

Dr. S. Wickes Westcott III

& Nancy T. James

Clemson University

Fact Book Demonstration

Current Fact Book Specialized view with restricted access

for the Provost’s Office Programmers may adjust behavior or

add functions to meet local needs Cooperating Institutions may share

innovations and refinements

Tour of Fact Book and Provost Fact Book

Functional Parts of System

Client view of data or graph

Fact Book Viewer (factbook.cgi)Perl program controlled by configuration data

Summary data (mySQL database)Derived from transactional data archives

Show factbook.cgi

Configurations Control Views

Web view

factbook.cgi

Configuration information mySQL database

My Fact Book Maker

Show FB Maker, and empty form

Process SQL from MS Access

Develop query in MS Access Copy SQL and paste in FB Maker form Click link to process MS Access query Revised query will appear in form and

should be compatible with mySQL Some additional changes may be

required if query is complex

Show query in MS Access

SQL View of Access Query

SELECT Enrollment.Race, Sum(IIf([Level_Code]=1,[Enrolled],0)) AS Freshman, Sum(IIf([Level_Code]=2,[Enrolled],0)) AS Sophomore, Sum(IIf([Level_Code]=3,[Enrolled],0)) AS Junior, Sum(IIf([Level_Code]=4,[Enrolled],0)) AS Senior, Sum(IIf([Level_Code]=5,[Enrolled],0)) AS ['Unclassified Undergraduate'], Sum(IIf([Level_Code]=7,[Enrolled],0)) AS Masters, Sum(IIf([Level_Code]=8,[Enrolled],0)) AS Doctoral, Sum(IIf([Level_Code]=9,[Enrolled],0)) AS ['Unclassified Graduate'], Sum(Enrollment.Enrolled) AS Total

FROM ((Enrollment INNER JOIN Majors ON Enrollment.Major_Code = Majors.Major_Code) INNER JOIN Departments ON Majors.Dept_Code = Departments.Dept_Code) INNER JOIN Colleges ON Departments.College_Abbrv = Colleges.College_Abbrv

GROUP BY Enrollment.Race;

Paste query in FB Maker and process

Construction of Views

My Fact Book Maker provides web form to construct each view

Configurations included in kit provide examples and if you choose to use the included database table organization, they may be used without changes.

Each configuration controls many aspects of the view to allow maximum flexibility for display of the information.

Show parts of a saved configuration in FB Maker

Configuration Components

Web site formatting and styles Default navigation header Title and footnotes Table header and footer SQL query for data Formatting of table body Drill-down controls Graphs of longitudinal data

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Loaded Data Populates Views

Show Access database with linked tables

Web view

factbook.cgi

Configuration information mySQL database

Load summary data

Key YearMajorCode Gender

RaceCode

Citizenship State Level

Regisstatus

EnrollStatus Resid

DegreeLevel Enrolled

1 2000 000 F 1 AM XX 5 7 Full 2 14 2

2 2000 000 F 1 AS XX 5 7 Full 2 14 3

3 2000 000 F 1 CH XX 5 7 Part 2 14 1

4 2000 000 F 1 EC XX 5 7 Full 2 14 2

5 2000 000 F 1 GM XX 5 7 Full 2 14 2

6 2000 000 F 1 KZ XX 5 7 Full 2 14 2

7 2000 000 F 1 PO XX 5 7 Full 2 14 2

8 2000 000 F 1 RO XX 5 7 Part 2 14 1

9 2000 000 F 1 SP XX 5 7 Full 2 14 4

10 2000 000 F 1 SP XX 5 7 Part 2 14 1

11 2000 000 F 1 UK XX 5 7 Full 2 14 3

12 2000 000 F 1 UP XX 5 7 Full 2 14 2

Sample of Database Table

Database Tables

Include every category that will be used for a view

Counts or values are summed to all combinations of the categories

This summarization reduces the number of records per term and should improve response time for view construction

Possible views are limited only by the ability to construct a suitable query

Show mySQL tables included

Data Sources

Fall term freeze for students Fall term freezes for faculty and staff Fall term graduate assistants By term freeze for student credit hours Degrees awarded by graduation term Graduation and retention cohort success Fiscal year expenditures and revenues

Show Access load process

Load to Database

MS Access with direct links to the mySQL database can be used to gather the data, summarize it and upload to the database.

Integrate with normal archive and reporting systems

Unlikely to require significant staff time to complete the periodic load.

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Automatic Update of Views

As new data is added to the database, the views display the most recent information as the default

A select lists allow access to historical data and drill down to organization

Annual updates can be completed in the time it takes to summarize the archived data

Show use of url in static pages

Navigation System

Show Navigation Maker and database table

Web view

factbook.cgi

Configuration mySQL database

navigation.cgi

My Navigation Maker Navigation database

My Navigation Maker

1 Annual Views [+] 1a Students [+]

1a1 Enrollment [+] 1a1a Race and Gender [+]

1a1a1 University  (FB_GenderRace.conf) 1a1a2 by College    (FB_CollegeGenderRace.conf) 1a1a3 by Major    (FB_MajorGenderRace.conf) 1a1a4 by Level    (FB_LevelGenderRace.conf)

1a1b Enrollment Status[+] 1a1b1 by Major    (FB_FTPTbyMajor.conf) 1a1b2 by Level    (FB_FTPTbyLevel.conf) 1a1b3 by Gender    (FB_FTPTbyGender.conf)

Navigation Outline

Annual Views [-] Students [-]

Enrollment [-] Total [-]

Race and Gender [+] Enrollment Status [+] Class Level [+]

Freshmen [+] Transfer [+]

Student Credit Hours [+] Degrees Awarded [+]

Employees [+] Finances [+]

Trends [+]

My Navigation Maker

Provides a graphic interface for construction of data record that produces the navigation outline

Views called from the outline automatically prepare link back to that section of the outline

Outline configuration data is available for search engine that could offer another approach for navigation

Show Navigation Outline, link to view and back

Review major features

Next slide

Web view

factbook.cgi

Configuration information

mySQL database

navigation.cgi

Support Many Views Efficiently

Configuration for each view is constructed once and does not require annual update

The url for any view can be used in a link from any web site and the views are still up to date

Client web pages can incorporate view links to provide convenient access to targeted information

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Most Important Advantages

Automatic update of all views when data added to database

Low maintenance for constructed views allows support of many views

Drill-down allows support of all programs Views can be included in links from

many pages

Advantages

Increased views exponentially Reduced time of factbook preparation

from 2 months to 1 day! Easily set up specialized views for

colleges, departments and administration; automated responses for surveys and program reviews

Uses Open Source software, so there is little direct cost involved

Obstacles

Initial time investment(Final design, create database tables, create queries in Access, transfer sql to Fact Book Maker, create configurations)

Basic knowledge of Microsoft Access, HTML and SQL

Willingness to experiment! Technical support to provide web server

space and access to a mySQL database

Resources

Factbook Construction Kit can be found at:http://www.clemson.edu/oirweb1/myFactBook/factbook.htm

phpMyAdmin (https://sourceforge.net/projects/phpmyadmin/) mySQL (http://www.mysql.com/) Perl (http://www.perl.org/)

Wickes Westcott - westc@clemson.edu or 864-656-0585Nancy James - ntjames@clemson.edu or 864-656-0584

My Fact Book - Overview

Ask for questions

Web view

factbook.cgi

Configuration information mySQL database

My Fact Book Maker Load summary data