An Overview of Data in SIRIS

This page includes a high-level overview of the data we have in SIRIS and our subject areas. This is not an all-inclusive guide – we recommend exploring each subject area adhoc space on your own, and reaching out to our team for a training session or “tour” of SIRIS!

The SIRIS Data Ecosystem

The visual below summarizes what data areas each subject area falls into. As you can see, many subject areas combine data from multiple sources – for example, the Student Class Enrollment subject area joins student, course/class, and academic organization data.

What is a Subject Area? 

In SIRIS, a Subject Area is a specific topic of data that has been designed and curated. For example, the Student Advising Subject Area contains data about students’ advisors, including relevant information about the students and advisors themselves. Subject Areas can be queried by creating an adhoc report in OBIEE; the SIRIS team uses these subject areas to create the reports and dashboards accessed by our Dashboard and Aggregate users. Below is a list of all the subject areas in SIRIS and a short description:

STU - ADV - Student Advising
Detailed information on student advising, including advisor information and student academic plans.
Advising Data Reference Guide

STU - CLS - Class Offering
Classes and courses offered, including zero enrollment class section.

STU - CLS - Student Class Enrollment
Student enrollment in classes, including drops, waitlist, units, etc.

STU - ENR - Census Enrollment
Student term/plan enrollment as captured on specific census dates.

STU - ENR - Plan Enrollment
Student plan enrollment information, general student academic and personal information, all Academic Structure fields.

STU - GradFund - Graduate Student Funding
Detailed information on graduate student funding, including source information and student academic plans. 
Requires additional prerequisites, learn about accessing the subject area.
Graduate Student Funding Reference Guide

STU - INSTR - Instruction by Any Class Section
Detailed information on who teaches, including enrollment by section.

STU - INSTR - Instruction by Main Class Section
Detailed information on who teaches, including main class enrollment.

STU – PostDoc – Postdoctoral Appointments
Information on postdoctoral appointments, including dates and sponsor details.

STU - REF - Academic Structure
Reference information about academic careers, programs, plans, degrees, terms, acad orgs, etc.
Understanding Academic Structure

How Much History Is There?

We rely on what is in PeopleSoft, so for the years before PeopleSoft (PS) was implemented (usually the 2002-2003 year is considered the first full PS year), it depends on whether or not the data was converted from the prior legacy system NSI (Network for Student Information). Academic history (what programs/plans students were in) is pretty good, at least for the PS years, but other kinds of history (e.g. citizenship) may be non-existent or spotty.

The table below summarizes the time frame for data in SIRIS by subject area. Note that the time periods are represented by academic term code.

Learn More:

• Untangling Ambiguity: When to Use Which Subject Area for Your Ad hoc Query
• Ad Hoc Query Templates
• FAQs for Ad Hoc Users
• Ad Hoc User Corner
• Resources Page