Reporting Needs

Reporting needs include dashboards, workbooks, reports, summaries, lists, crosstabs, and more. Reporting needs can be operational (for immediate action) or analytical (trend analysis, exception identification, auditing, data clean up, etc). A reporting tool uses current, future and past data to display information without any option for data entry via that tool.

Activity Hub data is available to meet reporting needs via Cognos or Tableau only.

You can request to become a report developer for a specific activity hub here: Blink > Data Sources.

Reporting FAQ

Q: How do I know if I have a reporting need or a data integration need?

A: Ask yourself, does anyone manually enter data into your application. If the answer is no, then you have a reporting need. If the answer is yes, then you may have a data integration need.

Q: I have a reporting need. Now what?

A: Best practice is to (1) request that your data be added to an Activity Hub and (2) add your data to Cognos or Tableau while you wait for your data to be added to an Activity Hub. See Adding New Data for Blending in Cognos or Tableau

Q: Can’t I just download the data into Excel and upload it into my application?

A: No. Cognos and Tableau are not data integration tools. Queries for large data sets are taxing for both Cognos and Tableau, which will impact your fellow users and can cause us to cancel all running reports. There is a query size limit set on the Activity Hubs to discourage large data downloads.

Data Integration Needs

Data integration is the movement of data between the Activity Hub and operational tools. Operational tools are used on a daily basis and required manual data entry by those using the tool. Examples of operational tools are the Student Information System, Oracle and Kuali. A data warehouse is not an operational tool.

Activity Hub data is available to meet data integration needs via Column Groups only. Cognos and Tableau are NOT data integration tools.

Data integration tools include Nifi and APIs.

Data integration developers are members of ITS who can write calls using Nifi or APIs to the column groups. You can request data integration services by Submitting a Ticket to IT Services.

Data Integration FAQ

Q: How do I get started as a data integrator?

You must be a member of ITS who has completed FERPA training. See https://ucsdcollab.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/AH/pages/12487881 for more details.

Q: How do I request a data integrator?

Email busintel@ucsd.edu with your project information and data integration needs. BIA will help get your set up with the correct resources.

Q: What data is available via data integration?

A: Any data in an Activity Hub can be added to a column group. The data integration will then pull the data from the column group.

Q: Can anyone subscribe to an API?

A: No. There is an approval route after the API subscription and only data integration developers with Activity Hub access will be approved.

Q: How do I test my data integration?

A: There are two ways. The first is to build a matching report off the Activity Hub view using Cognos or Tableau. This will ensure the content of the column group is what you need and also help you identify any filters you may need. The second test is to run your call against the column group.

Q: Regarding data currently offered in Activity Hubs, how will it be affected when new Systems are implemented.  Will there be changes to existing AH field types, field names and/or field definitions?  For example, SAH data changes for with the new SIS.

A:  When new Systems are implemented we don't forsee any changes to existing AH field types, field names and/or field definitions. We do anticipate that there will be new fields and some fields will no longer be populated. As much as possible we will make changes in the underlying tables so that report users and data integration processes are not affected.