Addition Candidates

Sections that could potentially be added to the schedule to meet student need. Situations where the demand indicates that you could fill at least another half section based on average section size.

 

Additional Seats Needed

Demand for seats needed in excess of the seats offered.

 

Analysis Courses

All courses that will satisfy currently unmet program rules that the student is eligible to take in the analysis term.

 

Analysis Term

The academic term selected for the Analytics tool to examine. This is often a new, upcoming term created by a roll forward process.

 

Applied Credits

Applied credits are credits in a student’s history that apply to a program rule in their program of study.

 

Failing and withdrawal grades are neither wasted nor applied.  They are not counted.

 

When sectioning for future terms, existing sandbox planned courses in the sandbox chain for students are treated as applied credits for new sandboxes. Any course in progress or otherwise scheduled by a previous sandbox is counted and applied.

 

Average Capacity

Average maximum enrollment per section for the term.

 

Average Course Load per Student

Average number of courses associated per student for the analysis term.

 

Average Load (Hrs.)

Average number of credit hours assigned to a student by the analysis run.

 

Average Seats

Average seats offered over the historical like terms.  Total maximum enrollments divided by the number of sections offered.

 

Average Section Size

If analysis term courses are planned, reports may use average section size (total seats offered divided by sections offered) to determine capacity. If no sections are offered, the baseline term average section size is used.

 

Balanced Course Ratio

Courses wherein enrollment ratio is between 70 and 95 percent of seats offered as a ratio of all courses.

 

Base Predictive

Base Predictive Data performs statistical analysis of student progression through programs and is a way to generate and save copies of this base analysis data for re-use.

 

Baseline Analysis

This analysis type assesses student demand for courses by comparing enrollments for course offerings in the analysis term to those in the last selected “like” term.

 

Baseline Demand

Course demand based on actual enrollment in last like term.

 

Baseline Need

Demand or seats needed based on the baseline analysis type

 

Blended Historical Demand

Average demand from historical analysis (baseline and historical trend).

 

Capacity Standard Deviation

Population Standard Deviation of the max enrollment values of all sections in the course. A low standard deviation shows that section max-enrollments of a course tend to be close to the average, whereas high standard deviations can indicate the data is spread over a large range of values.

 

Category

Indicates the category of review that should be completed for the courses in that grouping.  Addition, Reduction, Elimination, and No action needed.

 

Courses Offered

Number of unique courses offered in the term

 

Courses per Student

Average number of courses assigned to a student by the Analytics run.

 

Critical

Refers to addition candidates and highlights courses that may impact a students' ability to progress through the program.

 

Critical Addition Candidates

Critical students are those with 100% requirement rating (meaning it’s an absolute requirement) and have > 50% probability of taking the course in the upcoming term.  So, they are students with the greatest need of taking the course.  Critical addition candidates are situations where there are more critical students than seats offered.

 

Critical Path

A series of dependent (pre-requisite) courses that a student must take in order by a specific term to graduate on time.

 

Critical Students

Number of students who have the course as a pure or absolute requirement and are likely (greater than 50% probability) to take it in the analysis term.

 

Demand

The probability that the student will take the course during the analysis term. This probability reflects academic history, eligibility and (in the case of Predictive Analysis) student preference and/or offering tendencies of the institution. The sum of Demand for all students for each course is the global result of Program Analysis.

 

Difference

The difference between the planned seats and projected need (a negative number indicates undersupply.  A positive number indicates oversupply).

 

Efficiency Candidates

Courses, as a result of Program Analysis or Simulated Registration, that are considered candidates for schedule changes

 

Elimination Candidates

Courses that could potentially be removed from a schedule entirely as long as graduation requirements are not compromised. The criteria used is any course with a total enrollment less than 10 and less than 50% enrollment ratio (total enrollment < 10 and ((total enrollment / max enrollment) < .5))

 

Enrollment Ratio

Average enrollment divided by average course enrollment cap (last like term).

 

Estimated Load

Average credit hour load per student estimated in Platinum prior to the Analytics run.

 

Estimated Savings

Product of the number of sections removed from the schedule and a basic cost per section (usually $4,000).

 

Estimated Students Impacted

Number of students that may have access to an additional course based on the additional sections offered.

 

Excess Seats

Total unused seats of a course (Total Max Enroll - Total Enrollment).

 

Fill Ratio

Ratio of average enrollment or max enrollment to the average room capacity. This is based on either actual or max enrollment, depending on the specified report parameter ((Max) Enrollment/Room Capacity).

 

Helpful Courses

Total number of courses that the student has the potential to take to satisfy a degree rule. For example, if the rule states that a student should take 1 of 3 possible courses, only one of three would be considered helpful, although all three have potential demand.

 

Helpful Hours

Combined credit hours of the student's potential Helpful Courses in the analysis term.

 

Historical Average Section Enrollment

Average section enrollment for the historical like terms.

 

Historical Average Section Seats

Average section max enrollment or seats offered for the historical like terms.

 

Historical Baseline Analysis

What did we offer last like term and what did our students take?

•Baseline Sections – the sections offered by the institution in the last like term

•Historical Baseline Projected Need – the census or active enrollment (the higher of the two) for the course in the last like term

 

Historical Fill

Another term for enrollment ratio.  Total enrollment divided by total max enrollment for each course.

 

Historical Net Sections

Sections that may need to be adjusted based on the category type.  Positive numbers are potential additions and negative numbers are potential reductions.  Calculated based on the delta between sections needed and sections offered. For historical demand only.

 

Historical Total Enrollment

Average course max enrollment or seats offered for the historical like terms.

 

Historical Trend Analysis

This analysis type assesses student demand for courses by comparing enrollments for course offerings in the analysis term to those in multiple selected “like” terms. This provides non-student-specific quantitative trending information from historical demand. In other words, how many students took x courses in x terms?

 

Historical Trend Demand

Course demand calculated from mathematical trend of like terms in the analysis.

 

Impacted Student Registrations

For Program Analysis, Simulated registration the group of students that could be impacted by scheduling changes based on those analysis runs

 

Like Mean Performance

Mean values for each metric among all 'like' institutions compared.  Example:  four year public.

 

Like Terms

Historical terms against which the Analytics tool will compare the analysis term (i.e, when an upcoming fall term is being analyzed, it will be compared with 3-5 previous fall terms). For example, like terms for Fall 2012 would be Fall 2011, Fall 2010 and Fall 2009. “Like” terms are used for historical analysis and elements of program analysis.

 

Likely Students

Students who have a greater than fifty percent probability of taking the course in the analysis term.

 

Load

Potential hours taken by a student during the analysis term.

 

Load Variance

The difference between the student's Estimated Load and the sum of the student's demand during the analysis term (Estimated Load - Load).

 

Marginal (candidates)

Refers to addition, reduction, and elimination candidates and highlights those that should be reviewed but may not require action. Program analysis – All other addition candidates, Simulated Registration – All other courses with conflicts

 

Mean Performance

Mean values for each metric among all institutions compared.

 

Moderate (candidates)

Refers to addition, reduction, and elimination candidates and highlights those that should be reviewed. Program analysis – under supply is >= 50, Simulated Registration – conflict of any type where more than 50 unique students are impacted (and not prime or critical)

 

Net Sections

Sections that may need to be adjusted based on the category type.  Positive numbers are potential additions and negative numbers are potential reductions.  Calculated based on the delta between sections needed and sections offered.

 

Off-Grid Usage

Scheduling during non-standard or inconsistent times/durations that are not considered to be part of “standard” meeting patterns.

 

Off-Grid Waste

The amount of capacity (in hours/week and % of total classroom capacity) that is wasted by meeting pattern overlap (using on-grid grid meeting patterns as the reference point).

 

Original Supply

Seats offered from the student information system if Analytics adjusted the seats offered to account practices of holding seats

 

Overage

Total of hours offered in excess of allowed weekly prime time hours (if a subject is allotted four prime time hours, and there are six hours offered during prime time, the overage would be "2").

 

Overloaded Course Ratio

Courses wherein blended demand is greater than 96 percent of seats offered as a ratio of all courses.

 

Oversupply

Over-supply occurs when the number of students needing the course is less than available seats in the roll-forward schedule.

 

Pent up Demand

The demand for a course that may not be evident without reviewing student program rules. For example, if 150 nursing majors need to take a required biology course and the institution offers 100 seats per term, 50 students are prevented from moving effectively on their degree paths.

 

Percentile of All Institutions

Percentile ranking of this institution in comparison with peers.

 

Planned Seats

Number of seats offered for the analysis term.

 

Planned Sections

Sections planned for analysis term.

 

Predictive Program Analysis

Predictive program analysis is a way to combine the value of program analysis with the value of historical trend analysis to determine a more realistic projected demand for courses for certain institutions.

 

Prime (candidates)

Likely students are those that have > 50% probability of taking the course in the upcoming term (don’t necessarily have it as a 100% requirement).  Prime addition candidates are situations where there are more likely students than seats offered.

 

Prime Ratio (or Prime Time Ratio)

The percent of total average weekly room hours (by subject) offered during prime time (Prime room hours / Total Room Hours).

 

Prime Room Hours

Average weekly hours occurring in the user specified prime time. If prime time is M - R, 10a - 3p, a class that meets on MW from 9a to 11a would get counted for four total room hours, but only TWO prime room hours.

 

Prime Room Hour Utilization

Percentage of the prime room hours used in that room / building. The prime week hours are entered as a user defined parameter when the report is run. (Prime Room Hours / (# of Rooms in room / building*Prime Week))

 

Prime Time

The most popular days and times for section offerings, where room utilization is often disproportionately compacted.

 

Program

Academic program used in the Analytic run. Each student is grouped into one program.

 

Program Analysis

Program Analysis looks at individual, active students’ academic career progress to determine those courses that students are eligible to take in the analysis term and that will satisfy currently unmet program rules. Course demand is assessed by inferring the probability of students taking these courses.

 

Program Need

Demand or seats needed based on the program analysis type where seats are determined based on a review of students' degree audit information

 

Projected Need

The sum of student demand for all students for each course in the Program Analysis. This projected need is the probability that individual students will take the course during the analysis term. This probability reflects academic history, eligibility and (in the case of Predictive Analysis) student preference and/or offering tendencies of the institution.

 

Real Students

Active students with registration records.

 

Reduction Candidates

Sections that could potentially be removed from the schedule without negatively impacting student need.

 

Requirement Rating

The likelihood that a student needs to take a particular course at some point during the completion his/her program. This value could also be described as the pure probability and is used in the calculation of an adjusted probability.

 

Room Hour Utilization

Percentage of the standard hours used. (Room Hours / Standard Hours).

 

Room Hours

Number of section hours scheduled in that room during the selected date range. Room hours are rounded up to the next quarter hour (a class meeting from 8:00a to 9:40a would get counted as 1.75 hours).

 

Savings Potential

Potential savings used when multiplying efficiency candidates by a per section cost.

 

Seat Fill

Percent of seats in use when room is scheduled (Actual or Max Enrollment / Capacity).

 

Seats (or Seats Offered)

Number of seats offered in the term being analyzed.

 

Sections Needed

Estimated number of needed sections in the analysis term based on dividing blended demand divided by average baseline max enrollment (if average baseline max enrollment is 0 or null, baseline max enrollment is divided by 15 for this calculation).

 

Simulated Registration

This process models the competitive, open registration process used by traditional four-year institutions. It provides a pre-registration “sandbox” to model an academic schedule based on information derived from Analytics combined with course demand and need.

 

Simulated Students

Students added to an analysis to mimic incoming freshmen, transfer and returning class.

 

Space Bottleneck

A scheduling deficit caused by a scarce resource or heavily used meeting pattern. A bottleneck is indicated when a section has suitable rooms but none that are available or 80 percent utilization or higher of a particular room type.

 

Standard Deviation Percentage

Percentage of Capacity Standard Deviation compared to Average Max. Enroll. This shows the relationship of the standard deviation compared to the size of the class.

 

Statistical Excess Seats

Seats offered for courses in excess of Projected Need

 

Student PIDM

Student ID of actual students in the system. If the student is registered, the term "Registered" will appear next to the PIDM. Simulated students are identified by the term "Simulated Student" rather than a PIDM.

 

Student Success Candidates

Another term for addition candidates or sections that may need to be added to the schedule to meet student need.

 

Student Survey Analysis (coming soon)

The Student Academic Planner Analysis assesses course demand through a direct online survey of individual students on their desired/needed courses and availability for an upcoming academic term. This data can come from Ad Astra’s Academic Planner, or from other planners. The combined survey data feeds into the Platinum Analytics analysis run to provide key insights from the student perspective.

 

Student Total

Total number of students in the academic program (includes both actual and simulated students).

 

Students with Demand

Students who have the course as some sort of requirement and are eligible to complete the course in the analysis term.

 

Students with Invalid Programs

Students that are not associated with a valid academic program. These students are part of the Students without Probability group.

 

Students with No Valid Rules

Students that have an associated program but no valid rules. These students are part of the Students without Probability group.

 

Students with No Valid Areas

Students that have an associated program but no valid areas. These students are part of the Students without Probability group.

 

Students without Probability

Students that do not have a valid program, valid rules or areas, or statistically significant probability to take courses in the analysis term.

 

Students without Significant Probability

Students that have a valid program and area but are either not eligible for remaining helpful course or have so many eligible courses for any remaining rules that their probability to take one of them is insignificant. These students are part of the Students without Probability group.

 

Students with Probability

Students that have statistical probability to take courses in the analysis term. (Total Analysis Students - Students without Probability)

 

Supply Source

Indicates whether the seats offered came directly from the student information system or if an adjustment was made

 

Total Enrollment

Total enrollment in all sections of the course.

 

Total Max Enrollment

Total max enrollment for all sections of the course.

 

Total Room Hours

Average number of weekly hours offered of that subject. Note, this is a weighted formula to adjust for class length. A class that meets from 8:00a to 9:00a on MWF for the entire specified term would get counted for three room hours (one hour each day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). If that same class met for only half of the specified term, it would only get counted for one and half hours of usage. Class hours are rounded up to the next quarter hour (a class meeting from 8:00a to 9:40a would get counted as 1.75 hours).

 

Total Students Imported

Students imported into Platinum Analytics from the SIS.

 

Total Students Not Analyzed

Students that are marked inactive in Astra Platinum prior to the analysis run because they were not in the prior/analysis term, they have graduated, or they are no longer alive.

 

Total Analysis Students

The difference between Total Students Imported and Total Students Not Analyzed. These are the students that will be included in the analysis run.

 

Undersupply

Under-supply is reported when the number of students needing the course exceeds available seats in the roll-forward schedule.

 

Validation Type

Assists with validating the results of the data based on the calculation of demand.

 

Wasted Credits

Any credit hours in a student's history that do not count toward a student's program of study (based on program rules, not a program template) are considered "wasted".  An example would be when transferring from one program to another, the student may have credits for courses that do not apply toward their new program.

 

Failing and withdrawal grades are neither wasted nor applied.  They are not counted.