Career Pathways Database Revisions

Career Pathways Database Revisions

Robert Strobbe JrData Management Specialist

Valencia College

Robert Strobbe Jr, Career Pathways Database Revisions 2

Summary• Original database has been in use for over 15 years• Developers added tables, forms, reports but rarely made

adjustments to existing ones to accommodate• Result: Bloated system with data redundancy, high risk of

errors, and lack of intuitiveness• Solution: Refactor tables to Third Normal Form; add

foreign keys to all tables and define relationships; Revise or replace forms to be more intuitive; split database into front end and back end files• Additionally, make changes to development copy of front

end and then deploy when finished testing


Table Design: OriginalFIELDS, KEYS, AND RELATIONSHIPS

• Most tables in First Normal Form

• Very few primary keys defined

• Over 20 tables in use (not all shown here), only two with defined relationship

• Several fields no longer even in use, but were carried over to each year’s database

• Poor table naming conventions


Table Design: RevisedFIELDS, KEYS, AND RELATIONSHIPS

• Mostly refactored to Third Normal Form

• Added primary and foreign keys to existing and new tables

• Related most tables to at least one other (some look-up tables not shown)

• Implemented more consistent, descriptive naming conventions


Report Design: OriginalNAMING, NUMBER OF REPORTS

• Like the database’s tables, most reports used poor naming conventions.

• Many reports that were no longer used were carried over to each year’s database.

• Nearly 20 reports used almost identical designs, requiring them all to be edited if common elements needed to be changed.


Report Design: RevisedNAMING, NUMBER OF REPORTS

• Reports renamed to be concise yet clear

• Unused reports removed to backup database

• “Main” Cover Sheet report designed to hold common elements, and unique elements converted to sub-reports. These are then added to the main report at runtime

• New reports including results summary for participating teachers, a “waiver” for those that did not return any results, and list of enrolled students for Program Chairs


Form Design: OriginalGENERATING COVER SHEETS

• Rudimentary form for selecting Cover Sheet reports to generate

• User could only choose by Assessment Area

• No options even to select specific school or to reprint Cover Sheets that had already been run


Form Design: ReplacedGENERATING COVER SHEETS

• Created form that displays each batch of Cover Sheets not yet printed

• Added combo boxes to filter list for specific Assessment Area and schools

• Included option to show and re-print sheets that had been printed previously

• List at bottom indicates those batches that were printed in current session, allowing user to reset them in case of printing error


Form Design: OriginalENTERING ASSESSMENT RESULTS

• Complicated, unclear data entry process

• Source table poorly designed

• Could not navigate to specific class, only area and school

• Convoluted steps for adding / removing assessment results


Form Design: ReplacementENTERING ASSESSMENT RESULTS

• Table design: Unique batch numbers for each class

• Combo boxes to filter batch list and “Jump” box to go directly to a specific batch by number

• Student list for easy navigation• Batch list to navigate classes• Contextual filters in combo

boxes• Auto-population tools to reduce

amount of data entry• Statistics for current batch to

keep track of progress


Form Design: OriginalREPORTING ASSESSMENT RESULTS

• To generate a “report” of assessment results, a form button launches an input box

• User types in the name of the desired school, and a datasheet for that school is opened

• User has to know exactly how the school name appears in the underlying table, or an error would occur

• Name in underlying table could vary year to year, or within one


Form Design: ReplacedREPORTING ASSESSMENT RESULTS

• New form uses combo boxes to choose criteria specifying which reports to run

• Each combo box depends on the others; for example, if Freedom is chosen for School, only Freedom’s teachers will be available for criteria

• Can export to spreadsheet or generate formatted report

• If report, status window indicates generation progress


Report Design: OriginalREPORTING ASSESSMENT RESULTS

• Results report for teachers was built by running a SELECT query and copying the resulting data sheet into Microsoft Excel

• Multiple fields contained redundant data

• One file per school, one tab per program area; no grouping of teacher or class period


Report Design: Replaced (Print)REPORTING ASSESSMENT RESULTS

• Formatted report includes a summary of its contents by teacher

• Each page includes identifying header and dated footer

• Results are grouped by program area, by teacher, and by class period

• Spreadsheet version has nearly the same layout


Report Design: Replaced (File)REPORTING ASSESSMENT RESULTS

• Reports can also be exported to Excel workbooks

• All tab setup, data extraction, and table formatting is done automatically

• File for each school, tab for each teacher / program area

• Like printed report, includes a summary of all results


More to ComePLANNED FUTURE IMPROVEMENTSCurrent Version Planned RevisionsEach year’s data is kept in its own copy of the database; historic data, with duplications, is in a “cumulative” file

Compare, combine, and refactor all enrollment and results table to one definitive back end file

Student records are searched by opening a table and using Find tool

Design form to search by several criteria and which also displays more useful information in one place (nearly done!)

Multiple databases being used for similar processes, data duplicated

Move auxiliary processes to main database; refactor as needed so data is in as few places as necessary

Much of the poor quality data has been fixed, but there is much more to go

Fix misspelled data, standardize mailing address formats, set all text to the correct case

Database uses Access’s antiquated “switchboard” style navigation screen

Implement newer Access navigation forms for better accessibility

Career Pathways Database Revisions

Data & Analytics