ST_DEGREE_TERM column definitions . Pennant Student Records Home . Data Warehouse Home

STUDENT DEGREE TERM table

(dwngss_ps.st_degree_term)

Explanation

Contains one row per student per curriculum per term. A student can be in multiple concurrent programs in a term; each one will have its own row in this table.

Source

The warehouse ST_DEGREE_TERM table is refreshed in batch mode from the Operational Data Store (ODS), which gets its data from the Banner database. The ODS source tables are UPENN_ODS.SATURN_SORLCUR, UPENN_ODS.SATURN_SGBSTDN, UPENN_ODS.SATURN_SORLFOS and UPENN_ODS.SATURN_SHRDGMR, and to get the Penn_ID, SATURN_SPRIDEN. In the online Pennant system, the data about students' addresses can be viewed on the SGAADVR form.

Common Uses

• Identify all of the programs a student is in, in a given term.
• Find students who are in a specified program.

Cautions and notes

• Curriculum information in the source database is stored as "term-effective." In the warehouse, to facilitate reporting, curriculum information is stored term-by-term.
• While each program (each curriculum) has its own row in this table for each term, the majors displayed in this table are just the primary major for the student in each curriculum. Students can have more than one major associated with a curriculum. For all the student's majors, see the ST_MAJOR_MINOR table.
• Exit Actions in the ST_DEGREE_TERM table include all types of exits -- leaves, withdraws, drops, etc., -- EXCEPT graduation. Graduation is not stored as an exit action. See instead the Graduation Term, and also the Student Status in the ST_TERM table. Graduated students will have a Student Status of 'IG,' for Inactive Graduated. See also the Expected Grauation Term in the ST_DEGREE_PURSUAL table.
• Some things in this table can also be found elsewhere in other tables. For example, the PhD_Term column is based on a student's attributes, and thus the same information can be found in the ST_ATTRIBUTE table.
• Student level should not be confused with degree level. Degree level is an attribute of the degree. Student level, on the other hand, is an important and much-used field across numerous Banner functions. Student level is matched against the level(s) at which courses are offered, to determine elibility for registering in the courses. The courses students took at a particular level will all appear on the same transcript. Students in multiple levels will have multiple transcripts. Student level is also one of the elements used to drive degree requirements.
• In the source database, credits are stored in Banner Units. Wherever possible, in the warehouse we store the credits in both Banner Units and the converted Penn Native Currency. The types of currency used at Penn are:
  
  Course Units (equivalent to 1 Banner Unit)
  Semester Hours (nearly equivalent to 3 Banner Units)
  Credit Hours (nearly equivalent to 6 Banner Units)
  To avoid rounding issues, the calculations between Banner Units and Penn Native Currency is being handled via a central function in the Operational Data Store (ODS). Downstream systems are strongly encouraged to consume the Penn Native Currency credit as-is from the warehouse, and not try to do the translation calculation as a separate step in other non-Pennant sytems.

ST_DEGREE_TERM column definitions . Pennant Student Records Home . Data Warehouse Home