2012 sair the pie maker - automating the fact book creation process

The Pie MakerAutomating the Fact Book Creation Process

David Onder & Alison Joseph

SAIR 2012

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• 9608 students

• Master’s Comprehensive

• Mountain location

• Residential and Distance

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Why did we do this?

Old process

• Access queries and SAS runs

• Manual data entry and formatting in Excel

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Problems

• Error prone

• Long time to complete

• Only one level of data

• Inconsistent formatting

• Lack of SAS skills

How could we fix this?

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Push Pullvs

Cons

• Lack of SAS skills

• Not easily pushed to web

Cons

• Pictures and column spacing

• Timing issues

Pros

• SAS is very powerful

• Easy to create multiple levels of

reports

Pros

• “Easy” to learn

• Handled by entry level

position and students

• Resists issues with staff

turnover

Gap Analysis

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Have

• Access DBs per term

• Existing Excel tables

and graphs

• Desire to overlap with

other IR processes

Need

• Combined Access DBs

• Automated Excel tables

and graphs

• Consistent, well-defined

format

General Approach

• Major revision to fact book look (see It’s Not About Pie…)

• Restructure existing Excel workbooks (standardized)

• Modify existing sheet as Report sheet (based on Process)

• Build Data sheet

• Build Process sheet based on Data (calculations here)

• Build Access queries

• Connect Excel Data sheet to Access query

• Build Factbook using Adobe InDesign

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Inspiration

Chart Junk and Graph Formatting• Edward Tufte

• Stephen Few

• Juice Analytics

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Formulas and Complex Graphs• Chandoo

• Jon Peltier

• Others

General layout and look and feel

Major Fact Book Revision

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Build New Pages

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Data Tab

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Process Tab

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Formulas

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• SUMIFS

• COUNTIFS

• AVERAGEIFS

• VLOOKUP

• SUMPRODUCT

• INDEX and OFFSET

Report Tab

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Access DB

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Excel Connection to Access DB

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Resources

• Edward Tufte (http://www.edwardtufte.com/)

– The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2001

• Stephen Few (http://www.perceptualedge.com/)

– Show Me the Numbers, 2004

– Information Dashboard Design, 2006

– Now you see it, 2009

• http://www.extremepresentation.com/design/charts/

• http://www.juiceanalytics.com/chart-chooser/

• Purna Duggirala (http://chandoo.org/wp/ ) – Excel help

• Jon Peltier (http://peltiertech.com) – Excel templates

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Contact Information

David Onder, Director of Assessment

dmonder@wcu.edu

Alison Joseph, Business and Technology Applications Analyst

ajoseph@wcu.edu

Office of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness

opie.wcu.edu, (828) 227-7239

Special thanks to Billy Hutchings (OIPE), Stephanie Virgo (former

WCU employee) and John Bradsher (student employee)

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