This document summarizes a presentation about using the Argos reporting tool to access and analyze data from the Degree Works database. The presentation covers using the Oracle data dictionary to view metadata on Degree Works tables and columns, examples of querying useful dictionary views, and how to link Argos reports back to the underlying Degree Works views by examining the HTML source of student audits. An example report on advisor notes in Degree Works is provided to demonstrate the process.

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Advanced Argos Reporting for
Degree Works
Josh Whitlock
East Tennessee State University
April 10, 2015
Session ID: 12296

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Session rules of etiquette
• Please turn off your cell phone/pager
• If you must leave the session early, please do so as discreetly as possible
• Please avoid side conversation during the session
Thank you for your cooperation!

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1 Introduction
2 Finding Degree Works Table Information
3 Selected Data Dictionary Views
4 Linking Reports Back to Views
5 Summary
Agenda

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Introduction
• Purpose of this Presentation
• Provide method of understanding the Degree Works database better
through the Argos reporting tool.
• Benefits of Attending this Session
• Learn about the Data Dictionary which can be accessed in any Oracle
database, not just Degree Works

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Finding Degree Works Table
Information

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Argos & Degree Works
• Degree Works provides good reports
– Data is per student though
– Never enough data when you’ve got a problem
• Advantages of Argos
– Aggregated data
– Helpful in debugging problems

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Argos & Degree Works
• How do you know what to pull from
where?
– Visual Designer
• See schemas and tables
– One table at a time
– Lots of tables
– No “search for a column” option
– Lose your SQL if you were using “Free Type”

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Visual Designer

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Visual Designer

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Data Dictionary
• What if you could get all of the column
names, table names, etc. into one,
searchable Excel file?
– Use the Oracle metadata / data dictionary
• All_objects
• All_tables
• All_tab_cols
• All_views

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Data Dictionary
• The data dictionary is part of the SYS schema in
Oracle
• Contains information about database objects
• There are some caveats in searching the data
dictionary in Argos though
– Invalid Class Typecast exception

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Selected Data Dictionary Views

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Data Dictionary
• All_objects
– Get all of the objects that are available

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All_objects

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Data Dictionary
• All_tables
– Get all of the tables that are available

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All_tables

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Data Dictionary
• All_tab_cols
– Get all of the tables that are available along
with the columns in those tables

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All_tab_cols

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Data Dictionary
• All_views
– View source code for all Views

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All_views

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All_views
• Memo?
– When you execute the report, you will see the
text of the view in the CSV file

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All_views
• The original query does not actually pull all
of the text

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All_views
• Work around?
– Use xmltable

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All_views - xmltable

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Caveats
• Invalid Class Typecast

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Caveats
• Work around to exception
– Specify column names in query

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Caveats
• Schema for Degree Works tables is
Dwschema
• Narrow your query by the schema owner
to get all the relevant tables

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Data Dictionary
• Dictionary for Data Dictionary?
– Sys.dictionary

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Other Useful Views
• Sys.all_tab_comments
• Sys.all_col_comments
– Currently DegreeWorks does not have any
comments on DWSCHEMA tables or columns
• It would be nice to have

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Linking Reports Back to Views

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Linking Reports Back to Views
• You’ve got easy access to all the views…
so what?
– How do you link what you see on a degree
audit back to the right view?
– Clues are in the HTML source

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Notes Report
• The Need:
– Advisors are entering notes into Degree Works
– Several Issues:
• Notes are not synced with Banner… should they be?
• How many notes are there currently?
• Which department is entering the most notes?
• Which advisor is entering the most notes?

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Basic Steps for Creating Report
• Perform a program audit in Degree Works for a student
with notes
• Identify where the data on the audit is coming from
– Look at the HTML source for the audit
– Search your new metadata CSV file
• Create the report
– Visual Designer or Free-Type SQL

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Notes Report

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Notes Report

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Notes Report

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Notes Report

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Notes Report

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Notes Report

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Notes Report

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Notes Report

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Notes Report

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Notes Report

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Final Argos Report

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Summary
• The Data Dictionary can be used to quickly find where data is
stored in the database.
• The Degree Works front-end interface provides clues for
finding the back-end data.

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Questions & Answers

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Thank you!
Josh Whitlock
whitlocj@etsu.edu
Evelyn Roach
roache@etsu.edu
Please complete the online session evaluation form.
Session ID 12296