How To Use This Glossary

Using Search Boxes

The quickest way to find information in the SDSU Data Glossary is to look it up directly. On every page there is a Search box located in the upper right of the window in the header navigation. You will also find a Search box with the same functionality on the Main Page of the SDSU Data Glossary. Enter key words and phrases into the Search box and press Enter or Return or click the magnifying glass icon or Search or Look Up button.

Search Results

If a page has the same title as what you entered, you jump straight to that page. Otherwise, it searches all pages on the SDSU Data Glossary, and presents a list of pages that matched your search terms, or a message informing you that no page has all the key words and phrases. When multiple pages have a keyword in a title, they will be listed in the Search results under "Page title matches". When multiple pages have a keyword on the page, they will be listed in the Search results under "Page text matches". If your keyword/phrase is not found, you will receive the message There were no results matching the query.

Optimizing Your Results

• The Search box searches all pages on the wiki with some restrictions. The article content is searched in its raw (wikitext) form - i.e., it searches the text that appears in the edit box when a user with edit rights clicks "Edit source", not the rendered page seen on "Read". This means that some content coming from an included template on the page (e.g. the section headers in the metadata box) may not be picked up in search results, although links and values in the metadata box will be picked up in search results.

• The search functionality can be considered to operate on whole words, separated by spaces or other punctuation marks. If your search term includes the word 'book', the results will not include pages that only have the word 'books' or 'booklet'. If your search term includes the term 'inter', the results will not include pages that only have the word 'international', but they may include pages that have the term 'inter-national'.

• The search does have additional functionality for wildcard search. You may use the asterisk * as a wildcard in your search. For example, 'acade' will return nothing, but 'acade*' will return any mentions of 'academic'. The results will only include pages that contain all the words in your search.

• You can search for a phrase using double quotes. A phrase can be considered to consist of whole words, so the phrase 'Academic Disqualification' will not be found by a search for "Acad Disq", but it will be found by a search for "Academic Disqualification".

Browsing Search Box Links

The following resources are available via link within the main search box:

• ASIR Dashboards Index: A list of ASIR Dashboards and Reports with descriptions of each
• Common Acronyms: A list of Common Acronyms used at SDSU
• ASIR Tableau Server Dashboards: ASIR Tableau Server Home Page
• List of Elements: A full list of all ASIR Data Elements included in the glossary

Browsing for Data Elements

You can browse for data elements in the SDSU Data Glossary by:

• Initial Letter (alphabetical),
• Where Data Element Appears

Browsing by Initial Letter

From the Main Page, use the links in the Browse by Initial Letter box. Glossary elements are organized in these pages by the letter the term begins with. For example, clicking on A takes you to a page where all of the glossary elements beginning with the letter “A” are organized in alphabetical order. To navigate to a glossary element page from this list, click on the linked element in the list.

Browsing by Where Data Element Appears

From the Main Page, use the links in the Browse by Where Data Element Appears box. Glossary elements are organized in these pages by dashboards, reports, and other locations where the elements appear. For example, clicking on "Academic Program Review Dashboard" takes you to a page where all of the glossary elements that appear on the Academic Program Review Dashboard are organized in alphabetical order. To navigate to a glossary element page from this list, click on the linked element in the list.

What Information Might be Found on a Data Element Page?

Not every element will have all of the following information. Only information relevant to that specific element will be available.

• Element Name: Name of the Data Element
• Element Definition: Definition of the Data Element
• Table of Contents: Allows you to quickly see which pieces of information are available for the element. You may skip directly to that information by clicking the link. You may hide the Table of Contents by clicking "hide"
• Business Rules: A Business Rule is a statement that imposes parameters on the reporting of data element information to preserve data integrity and accuracy and ensure conformity to standards.
• Logical Transformation/Calculation: Details the steps used to obtain the element value through IF/THEN logic and/or mathematical calculation.
• Examples: Displays the values of the element that can be found in dashboards and reports. Not all values will be in all dashboards and reports. There is a wide variety of possible example values.
• Where Data Element Appears: Provides a list of dashboards and reports in which the element appears.
• See Also: This section provides a list of related data elements. Clicking on any of the related element names to go to that element’s page.
• Definition Source: Displays the specific quote or text from which the element definition was taken or developed.
• References: displays the source material or publication(s) within which the definition source or information necessary to develop the element definition was located.

Sidebar Links

Additional Resources are available to you via links on the Sidebar.

• SDSU Data Glossary Logo: Click the SDSU Data Glossary link to return directly to the Main Page from any other page
• Common Acronyms: A table of Common Acronyms used at SDSU
• ASIR Dashboards Index: A list of ASIR Dashboards and Reports with descriptions of each
• ASIR Dashboards Help Guides: Help Guides and Help Videos for the ASIR Dashboards and Reports
• Submit User Feedback: An online form to submit issues and suggestions regarding the SDSU Data Glossary
• Help Resources: ASIR’s Help page for assistance with dashboard navigation and printing reports
• Contact ASIR: ASIR’s Contact information for further assistance with dashboard navigation
• External Links: External resources available to find definitions and information about terminology you may encounter that is not defined in the SDSU Data Glossary, ASIR website and tableau server dashboard links, and additional offices, departments, and pages within SDSU that may be of use in data projects
• Printable Version: PDF version of SDSU Glossary pages for easy printing
• Cite this Page: Bibliographic details and multiple citation styles for SDSU Glossary pages