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Archives: Service News

News content type for use by UW-IT Services on IT Connect

IdCardWS Release: New Response Codes added to Card Endpoint

Update (10/20/2021): IdCardWS updates to add new Response Codes are now in production.

We are introducing new response codes to the Card Endpoint in IDCardWS. The following is an overview of these changes:

Response Code Description Notes
403 Forbidden ID Card is not eligible for requested use
400 Bad Request Request contains unrecognized characters

For more detailed information, please see the IdCardWS Card Resource Documentation.
When released to Production, these changes will be reflected in the IDCardWS Swagger documentation.

Opportunity to Evaluate:
These changes are in the IdCardWS EVAL environment and available for you to test. Please go to the IdCardWS Environments page for instructions on connecting to this environment. We are scheduled to release these new Response Code changes into Production during the week of Oct 18, 2021. 

Support:
Please contact us at idcardws-support@uw.edu

Release: BI Cubes Infrastructure Upgrade Saves you Time and Frustration!

UPDATE: The Business Intelligence (BI) team in UW-IT Enterprise Reporting and Analytics (ERA) has completed our cubes infrastructure upgrade.

Here is what you need to know:

  1. Now when you connect to “cubes.uw.edu” you can access the following cubes:
    • Financial Activity 2007-2021
    • ResearchAdminData
    • UW Spend
    • UW Admissions
    • BI Usage
  2. We will be retiring our old cubes in October; currently they can still be accessed on edwbissas1.s.uw.edu server.

If you connect to and query data cubes, or work on a team that partners with the BI Team to support cubes on the BI Portal, the latest upgrade brings you many benefits! Click below to read more:

For Cube Users: Improved User Experience

Finance Cube Users:

For users of the UW Financial Activity Cubes (2007 – 2019) this upgrade also brings you several benefits.

  • We are aligning the 2007 – 2021 cube models. After this work is complete, when you connect to the current biennium cube (2019/2021) or an older cube (2007-2017), you’ll be able to work with the same data elements in a consistent model!

If you already have a finance cube connection to an Excel workbook, you may experience an interruption, and have to re-enter your connection information. If you experience any problems, please don’t hesitate to write us at help@uw.edu!

Finance Cube FAQ:

  1. Why are you only including the 2019 and 2021 finance cubes in this release?
    • We are aligning the cube models or “schemas” for the 2007-2021 finance cubes, and we will release these to the new production environment iteratively over the coming weeks.
    • It takes time to test these cubes, so we’re releasing them as they’re available and tested. We did not want to hold off on one “big-bang” release, but rather want to make these tools available as they’re ready.
    • If you need to access the 2007-2017 Biennium Financial Activity cubes before July 30, you can still connect to them through this server: “edwbissas1.s.uw.edu”
    • Here are the steps to follow:
      • Open Excel and choose the data tab at the top:
        1. Click the “Data” tab, then choose “Get Data”, then “From Analysis Services”
        2. If you don’t see those options based on your Excel version, then alternatively, click “Data”, choose “From Other Sources”, then “From Analysis Services”
        3. Click “Next”
        4. You should see a dropdown in the Wizard with the 2007 – 2019 Biennium Cubes
        5. Choose the “Financial Accounting Biennium <Year>” option , then click “Finish”
      • If you have any trouble connecting write us at help@uw.edu and someone from my team will help get you set up!
  2. When will the Financial Activity Cube for the 2021 Biennium be ready?
    • We were able to complete the testing for the 2021 cube and include it in our initial release on July 14.
    • We originally targeted July 30, 2021 for the release date for the Financial Activity Cube Biennium 2021. However, based on user feedback we prioritized an earlier release.
  3. Are you changing the finance cube perspectives?
    1. We will keep the “Financial Accounting Office” perspective
    2. We are removing the “Decision Support Center” perspective
      1. If you previously had a connection to this perspective, you will experience an error. You will need to update your connection.
      2. You can do this by going to: Data> Properties (Queries and Connections)>Definition tab
      3. Update the “Command Text”:
        1. From: “Decision Support Center”
        2. To: “Model”
  4. How do I connect to the 2021 Biennium Financial Activity Cube?
    1. To create a new cube connection, please follow these steps:
      1. Open Excel
      2. Click the “Data” tab, then choose “Get Data”, then “From Analysis Services”
      3. If you don’t see those options based in your version of Excel, then alternatively, click “Data”, choose “From Other Sources”, then “From Analysis Services”
      4. For the server name please enter “cubes.uw.edu”
        1. If you log into your computer with your netid and password choose “Use Windows Authentication”
          1. If you log in with some other username and password choose “Use the following username and password”, then type:
            1. User Name: NETID\yourUWNetid
            2. Password: Your netid password
        2. Click “Next”
        3. You should see a dropdown in the Wizard with the “Financial Activity Biennium 2021” Cube, choose that one.
      5. Finally, choose the “Financial Accounting Biennium 2021” option , then click “Finish”

RAD Cube Users:

Create a new RAD connection

To create a new connection to the RAD cube, please follow these steps:

  1. Open Excel
  2. Click the “Data” tab, then choose “Get Data”, then “From Analysis Services”
  3. If you don’t see those options based in your version of Excel, then alternatively, click “Data”, choose “From Other Sources”, then “From Analysis Services”
  4. For the server name please enter “cubes.uw.edu”
    1. If you log into your computer with your netid and password choose “Use Windows Authentication”
      1. If you log in with some other username and password choose “Use the following username and password”, then type:
        1. User Name: NETID\yourUWNetid
        2. Password: Your netid password
    2. Click “Next”
    3. You should see a dropdown in the Wizard with the “Research Admin Data” Cube, choose that one.
  5. Finally, choose the “Model” option , then click “Finish”

Update an existing RAD connection

If you have an existing connection to the RAD cube, you will need to update it. When you refresh your connection, you may see an error like this:

To resolve this error:

  1. Open you workbook and click into the pivot table area
  2. Click Data
  3. Then Properties (in Queries and Connections)
  4. You’ll see three tabs there, choose “Definition”
  5. In Command Text, you should see “RAD”
  6. Delete “RAD” and type “Model”
  7. Then click OK, then you’ll get a prompt saying “are you sure?” and click “Yes”

What you’ve done is update your “connection properties”. Once you update the connection you should be able to refresh the data, and you should not have to update this connection again!

If you have any trouble with these instructions, please write us at help@uw.edu with “RAD Cube Connection Issues”

Admissions Cube Users:

For UW Admissions Cube users, here’s the first thing you need to know:

No more RunAs “your netid” to connect!

We released the UW Admissions cube on a technology platform that made it unnecessarily hard for our users to get connected to the UW Admissions Cube. Many dedicated early adopters patiently powered through the connection steps while we guided them over Zoom. Those days are behind us. Now to connect to the UW Admissions cube you only need three things:

  1. An analysis tool like Excel or Tableau
  2. An EDW data access role that has sufficient access
  3. Be on the UW network, either physically connected, or through a VPN connection like Husky OnNet

This also means you no longer have to connect to the “edwbissas1.s.uw.edu\tabular” server! Instead, simply go to cubes.uw.edu and you’ll connect to the UW Admissions or any other cube you have access to run!

UW Spend Cube:

In this cutover we also released the new UW Spend Cube. You can read more about the cube and how to get connected here:

For BI Partner Teams: Latest Software and Hardware

If you partner with our team to support data tools on the BI Portal, you need to know about some of the changes we’ve made and how they impact our shared work!

Latest SQL Server and SSAS Versions

With this tech refresh, we’ve made the following upgrades:

  • Migrated to Windows Managed Virtual Machines (VMs) for all of our BI infrastructure
  • Upgraded to the latest software versions:
    • SQL Server 2019
    • SSAS 2019

Tabular Conversion:

Additionally, for all of our BI Portal Cubes, we’ve converted the models from OLAP (multi-dimensional) models to Tabular models. We invested in converting our models to tabular for 3 reasons:

  1. The Future: Microsoft is moving away from multi-dimensional models and is promoting tabular models.
  2. Azure: Tabular models are a prerequisite for hosting cubes on Microsoft Azure Analysis Services (AAS). We don’t currently have a plan for migrating to Azure, but we are in the early phases of exploring a move.
  3. Power BI: Tabular models can be data sources for Power BI reports and dashboards. We don’t currently have a plan for implementing Power BI, but we are exploring the platform.

BI Usage Cube

We’ve redesigned and rebranded the “EDWAdminMart” cube as the “BI Usage Cube”. We made the following changes:

  1. For performance reasons, we reduced the scope of data to a rolling 5 year window
  2. We removed several little-used measures around “new users”
  3. We updated labels to be more user friendly:
    1. “RS” becomes “Reports”
    2. “AS” becomes “Cubes”

The BI Usage Cube is designed for the BI team and our partner organizations to use to analyze BI Portal tool usage. If you have any questions about how to connect to and use it, please write help@uw.edu with “BI Usage Cube” in the subject line.

How does this impact you?

If we partner to support reports or cubes in the BI Portal, you might be impacted by this upgrade. If you are planning any changes to cubes that we partner to support, then we ask you to consider upgrading to the latest software versions to avoid compatibility issues.

Questions?

Whether you’re a BI Portal user or a partner development team, if you have any questions about this tech refresh, please write help@uw.edu with “BI Portal Infrastructure Upgrade” in the subject line.

PrintNightmare Update

Summary: The print spooler remains disabled on Managed Workstation computers due to a serious vulnerability discovered at the end of June.  Yesterday, Microsoft identified an additional vulnerability in the print spooler.  While Microsoft has released a patch, that patch is only a fix for the original vulnerability, and additional patches and mitigations are required.  We are continuing to identify those mitigations and are awaiting an update from Microsoft on when a new patch will be available.  Additional details are below and we will provide further updates as available.  

As mentioned in the CISO’s most recent update, it was believed that there are 4 conditions necessary to re-enable the Print Spooler safely:

  1. Installation of the July 6 patch associated with CVE-2021-34527
  2. Point and Print hardened, and
  3. Registry key contained in the July 6 update is set, and
  4. Inbound remote printing disabled

Ensuring that all these conditions are met, especially with so many Managed Workstations on remote networks is challenging and the consequences for not meeting them can be severe; which is why Managed Workstation is approaching re-enabling the Print Spooler with caution.

The installation of the July 6 patch is occurring on Managed Workstations via Windows Update for Business.  The other 3 conditions have been added to Managed Workstation Group Policy (which requires a MWS computer to connect to the UW network via the MWS VPN).

We expect the disabling of inbound printing will break printers that are shared from an individual’s workstation.  Sharing a printer from a workstation is not recommended for security reasons. However, we recognize there may be scenarios where this configuration is needed, so we’re working on a mitigation for that scenario. If you have printers shared from workstations please let us know.

To further complicate the discussion, yesterday evening Microsoft released a new advisory, confirming what some researchers had identified; the July 6 patch does not resolve all issues associated with the PrintNightmare vulnerability.  Up until this advisory, Microsoft had been adamant that the July 6 patch fully resolved all issues.

Just how much additional risk that represents and whether the measures outlined are sufficient isn’t clear.  At this time, the only true mitigation remains leaving the print spooler disabled everywhere, even with the current workaround/exception process, that isn’t a viable strategy.  We’ve asked Microsoft for additional information, including when we can expect a patch, and we’re discussing other mitigations options.

We hope to have additional information from Microsoft early next week, regarding either a timeline for an additional patch, or additional mitigations to apply to workstations and will send an update at that time.

As we work to make this happen, the best thing you can do to help is confirm that all of your workstations have installed their pending Windows Updates and completed the subsequent restarts.

UWSDBDataStore changes for August 9,2021

The EDW team will perform housecleaning on the UWSBDataStore  on August 9, 2021. This is to make some column names, data types and nullability constraints to be exactly aligned to the source system.

Please take note of the changes below which may affect your queries and reports.

Send all questions and concerns to help@uw.edu, with the subject line: “UWSDBDataStore Changes 08.09.2021“.

Column Rename

TABLE NAME OLD COLUMN NAME NEW COLUMN NAME
sys_tbl_39_calendar fifth_yr_reg_dt_c2 fifth_yr_rg_dt_c2

Data Type Change

TABLE NAME COLUMN NAME OLD DATA TYPE NEW DATA TYPE
APPLHISTAdmInst appl_qtr smallint tinyint
APPLHISTAdmInst inst_type smallint tinyint
APPLHISTAdmInst system_key decimal int
APPLHISTAdmInst trans_campus smallint tinyint
APPLHISTAdmInst trans_required smallint bit
APPLHISTApplication aa_degree smallint bit
APPLHISTApplication advance_payment smallint bit
APPLHISTApplication ai_college smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication ai_high_sch smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication appl_branch smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication appl_evening smallint bit
APPLHISTApplication appl_fee smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication appl_no smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication appl_qtr smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication appl_status smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication chosen_inst_rsn smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication class smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication conditional smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication deg_lvl_goal smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication direct_transfer smallint bit
APPLHISTApplication eop_group smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication fac_staff_adm smallint bit
APPLHISTApplication grad_status smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication honors_requested smallint bit
APPLHISTApplication hs_def_arts smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication hs_def_english smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication hs_def_for_lang smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication hs_def_math smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication hs_def_science smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication hs_def_soc_sci smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication hs_for_lang_type smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication hs_for_lang_yrs smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication hs_math_level smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication hs_yrs_arts smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication hs_yrs_english smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication hs_yrs_for_lang smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication hs_yrs_math smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication hs_yrs_science smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication hs_yrs_soc_sci smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication int_financl_stat smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication int_foreign_type smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication int_teaching_asst smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication last_school_type smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication ncr_code smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication paid_waived smallint bit
APPLHISTApplication pts_activities smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication pts_cult_divers smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication pts_econ_disadv smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication pts_other_disadv smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication pts_parent_educ smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication pts_under_rep smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication rank_acad_overall smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication rank_activities smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication rank_cult_divers smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication rank_econ_disadv smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication rank_essay_qual smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication rank_other_disadv smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication rank_parent_educ smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication rank_sup_overall smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication rank_under_rep smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication resident smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication special_program smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplication system_key decimal int
APPLHISTApplMajor appl_no smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplMajor appl_qtr smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplMajor branch smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplMajor deg_level smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplMajor deg_type smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplMajor evening smallint bit
APPLHISTApplMajor pathway smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplMajor system_key decimal int
APPLHISTApplReqMajor appl_no smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplReqMajor appl_qtr smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplReqMajor req_branch smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplReqMajor req_deg_level smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplReqMajor req_deg_type smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplReqMajor req_evening smallint bit
APPLHISTApplReqMajor req_pathway smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplReqMajor system_key decimal int
APPLHISTApplSports appl_no smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplSports appl_qtr smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplSports sport_code smallint tinyint
APPLHISTApplSports system_key decimal int
APPLHISTStudent appl_no smallint tinyint
APPLHISTStudent appl_qtr smallint tinyint
APPLHISTStudent child_of_alum smallint bit
APPLHISTStudent esl_req_100a smallint tinyint
APPLHISTStudent esl_req_100b smallint tinyint
APPLHISTStudent esl_req_100c smallint tinyint
APPLHISTStudent esl_req_101a smallint tinyint
APPLHISTStudent esl_req_101b smallint tinyint
APPLHISTStudent esl_req_102 smallint tinyint
APPLHISTStudent fac_staff_admit smallint bit
APPLHISTStudent req_esl_diag_test smallint tinyint
APPLHISTStudent req_speak smallint tinyint
APPLHISTStudent sex smallint bit
APPLHISTStudent system_key decimal int
APPLHISTStudentEthnic appl_qtr smallint tinyint
APPLHISTStudentEthnic system_key decimal int
APPLHISTStudentHispanic appl_qtr smallint tinyint
APPLHISTStudentHispanic system_key decimal int
APPLHISTStudentHold appl_qtr smallint tinyint
APPLHISTStudentHold hold_type smallint tinyint
APPLHISTStudentHold system_key decimal int
APPLHISTTestScores appl_qtr smallint tinyint
APPLHISTTestScores non_stand_admin smallint bit
APPLHISTTestScores revised_score smallint bit
APPLHISTTestScores system_key decimal int
APPLHISTTestScores test_pctile smallint tinyint
APPLHISTTestScores test_source smallint tinyint
APPLHISTTransfer appl_qtr smallint tinyint
APPLHISTTransfer system_key decimal int
sa_wd_sum_tran wd_sum_proc_date datetime int
sa_wd_sum_tran wd_sum_trans_date datetime int
sys_tbl_19_disability_grp table_subkey smallint tinyint
sys_tbl_19_disability_grp table_type smallint tinyint

Nullability Change

TABLE NAME COLUMN NAME IS NULLABLE (OLD) IS NULLABLE (NEW)
APPLHISTStudent child_of_alum YES NO
APPLHISTStudent fac_staff_admit YES NO
APPLHISTStudent sex YES NO
APPLHISTTestScores non_stand_admin YES NO
APPLHISTTestScores revised_score YES NO
budget_resources br_block_budget YES NO
budget_resources br_boolean_14 YES NO
budget_resources br_boolean_15 YES NO
budget_resources br_boolean_16 YES NO
budget_resources br_budget_active YES NO
budget_resources br_ovr_budget_cd YES NO
budget_resources br_ovr_campus YES NO
budget_resources br_ovr_class YES NO
budget_resources br_ovr_college YES NO
budget_resources br_ovr_deg_level YES NO
budget_resources br_ovr_deg_type YES NO
budget_resources br_ovr_dependency YES NO
budget_resources br_ovr_enroll_st YES NO
budget_resources br_ovr_major_abbr YES NO
budget_resources br_ovr_pathway YES NO
budget_resources br_ovr_resident YES NO
dl_supl_plus sp_borr_ssn YES NO
dl_supl_plus sp_std_ssn YES NO
du_plus du_ssnorig YES NO
sa_account account_flag_21 YES NO
sa_account account_flag_22 YES NO
sa_account hold_late_fee YES NO
sa_distribution distr_esf_forf YES NO
sa_distribution distr_fas_interfa YES NO
sa_distribution distr_flag5 YES NO
sa_distribution distr_flag6 YES NO
sa_distribution distr_flag7 YES NO
sa_distribution distr_flag8 YES NO
sa_distribution distr_forfeiture YES NO
sa_sf_fund disb_to_upass YES NO
sa_wd_sum_tran wd_sum_trans_date YES NO
sf_book_table book_class YES NO
sf_book_table book_grad_status YES NO
sf_book_table book_major_abbr YES NO
sf_book_table book_term_code YES NO
sf_book_table book_year_code YES NO
sf_budget_codes bc_budget_code YES NO
sf_budget_codes bc_commuter YES NO
sf_budget_codes bc_marital YES NO
sf_budget_codes bc_no_fam_members YES NO
sf_budget_codes bc_no_in_college YES NO
sf_budget_codes bc_year_code YES NO
sf_evaluation addl_unsub_elig YES NO
sf_evaluation adj_gross_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation appl_acknowledged YES NO
sf_evaluation budget_calculated YES NO
sf_evaluation bus_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation cash_ass_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation commuter YES NO
sf_evaluation dad_inc_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation evening YES NO
sf_evaluation faf_boolean_6 YES NO
sf_evaluation faf_boolean_7 YES NO
sf_evaluation faf_boolean_8 YES NO
sf_evaluation farm_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation folder YES NO
sf_evaluation grad_minority YES NO
sf_evaluation mom_inc_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation mtf_select_flg YES NO
sf_evaluation no_coll_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation no_fam_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation no_tax_exmp_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation oth_untax_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation ovrd_p_pc_zero YES NO
sf_evaluation ovrd_s_sc_zero YES NO
sf_evaluation p_bus_nw_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_chld_sp_rcv_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_chld_sup_pd_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_co_op_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation p_combat_pay_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_educ_credts_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_farm_nw_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_grt_sch_aid_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_interst_inc_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_inv_nw_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_ira_distrib_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_ira_pmt_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_mil_clrg_al_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_ned_bsd_emp_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_othr_untxd_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_pension_pmt_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_untxd_pens_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_vet_non_ed_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_wka_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation p_wka_untax_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_wkb_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation p_wkb_inc_exc_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation p_wkc_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation re_inv_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation s_adj_gross_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation s_bus_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation s_bus_nw_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_cash_ass_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation s_chld_sp_rcv_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_chld_sup_pd_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_co_op_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation s_combat_pay_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_educ_credts_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_farm_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation s_farm_nw_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_grt_sch_aid_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_interst_inc_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_inv_nw_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_ira_distrib_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_ira_pmt_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_mil_clrg_al_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_ned_bsd_emp_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_no_coll_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_no_fam_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_no_tax_exmp_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_oth_untax_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation s_othr_nn_rpt_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_othr_untxd_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_pension_pmt_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_re_inv_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation s_ss_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation s_untxd_pens_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_us_tax_inc_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_vet_mth_amt_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_vet_no_mth_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_vet_non_ed_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_wka_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation s_wka_untax_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_wkb_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation s_wkb_inc_exc_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation s_wkc_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation ser_corrected_rev YES NO
sf_evaluation sf_boolean_20 YES NO
sf_evaluation sf_boolean_21 YES NO
sf_evaluation sf_boolean_22 YES NO
sf_evaluation sf_boolean_23 YES NO
sf_evaluation sf_boolean_24 YES NO
sf_evaluation sps_inc_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation ss_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation std_inc_blank YES NO
sf_evaluation sumr_pr_stdnt YES NO
sf_evaluation system_key YES NO
sf_evaluation us_tax_inc_blk YES NO
sf_evaluation year_code YES NO
sf_room_board_tbl rb_budget_code YES NO
sf_room_board_tbl rb_grad_status YES NO
sf_room_board_tbl rb_term_code YES NO
sf_room_board_tbl rb_year_code YES NO
sf_transportation tt_branch YES NO
sf_transportation tt_budget_code YES NO
sf_transportation tt_class YES NO
sf_transportation tt_grad_status YES NO
sf_transportation tt_major YES NO
sf_transportation tt_term_code YES NO
sf_transportation tt_year_code YES NO
sf_tuition t_branch YES NO
sf_tuition t_class YES NO
sf_tuition t_grad_tier YES NO
sf_tuition t_major YES NO
sf_tuition t_resident YES NO
sf_tuition t_start_qtr YES NO
sf_tuition t_start_yr YES NO
sf_tuition t_term_code YES NO
sf_tuition t_year_code YES NO
sf_tuition_except te_branch YES NO
sf_tuition_except te_class YES NO
sf_tuition_except te_deg_level YES NO
sf_tuition_except te_deg_type YES NO
sf_tuition_except te_dist_learning YES NO
sf_tuition_except te_major YES NO
sf_tuition_except te_pathway YES NO
sf_tuition_except te_resident YES NO
sf_tuition_except te_start_qtr YES NO
sf_tuition_except te_start_yr YES NO
sf_tuition_except te_term_code YES NO
sf_tuition_except te_year_code YES NO
sr_degree deg_hlth_sciences YES NO
sr_degree deg_visa_inelig YES NO
sr_enroll_confirm ec_appl_type YES NO
sr_enroll_confirm ec_campus YES NO
sr_enroll_confirm ec_last_eff_qtr YES NO
sr_enroll_confirm ec_last_eff_yr YES NO
sr_stu_disability stu_disab_acc_6 YES NO
sr_stu_disability stu_disab_acc_7 YES NO
sr_stu_disability stu_disab_acc_8 YES NO
sr_stu_disability stu_disab_alt_fmt YES NO
sr_stu_disability stu_disab_capt YES NO
sr_stu_disability stu_disab_cr_ld YES NO
sr_stu_disability stu_disab_pri_reg YES NO
sr_stu_disability stu_disab_reloc YES NO
student_1 disab_regis_prio YES NO
student_1 disability_regis YES NO
sys_tbl_19_disability_grp record_type YES NO
sys_tbl_21_ethnic ethnic_inactive YES NO
tra97_student tra97_s_flag_5 YES NO
tra97_student tra97_s_flag_6 YES NO
tra97_student tra97_s_flag_7 YES NO
tra97_student tra97_s_flag_8 YES NO
tra97_student tra97_s_grad_deg YES NO
tra97_student tra97_s_half_time YES NO
tra97_student tra97_s_ssn_chgd YES NO
tra97_student tra97_s_zero_ssn YES NO
tra97_transaction tra97_t_deleted YES NO
tra97_transaction tra97_t_flag_4 YES NO
tra97_transaction tra97_t_flag_5 YES NO
tra97_transaction tra97_t_flag_6 YES NO
tra97_transaction tra97_t_flag_7 YES NO
tra97_transaction tra97_t_flag_8 YES NO
tra97_transaction tra97_t_next_yr YES NO
tra97_transaction tra97_t_prior_yr YES NO

 

 

 

 

 

UW Spend Cube Now Available

The UW Spend cube is now available. This story will prepare you to connect to and analyze UW Spend data! Jump to a section to learn more:

What is the UW Spend Cube?

The UW Spend cube is a powerful and flexible data and reporting tool that helps you easily access and analyze UW Spend data. Beginning in Summer 2020, the UW-IT Business Intelligence Team partnered with the Finance DATAGroup to prototype, build, and publish the “UW Spend Cube.” The DATAGroup had 2 cubes: a spend cube and a diversity cube. This project consolidated the two cubes into one using data available in the Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW).

This work was made possible by the prior efforts of the DATAGroup and the EDW Team to add Spend data to the EDW (IT Connect News Story). The data currently available in the EDW and consequently in the UW Spend Cube is from FY2017, i.e. July 1, 2016. For the older data, you may find that not all suppliers are in the EDW.  This is because purchases from these suppliers were paid using Procard and the spend activity is attributed to Procard rather than an individual supplier. Starting with July 20, 2017, using the TIN (Tax Identification Number) matching, the spend is attributed to the individual suppliers.

Who Should Use It?

The UW Spend Cube was built for anyone who needs to access UW spend data to do their work. This includes, but is not limited to Fiscal Techs, Departmental Administrators, and the UW Procurement Office.

During development we received feedback and input from campus stakeholders representing:

  • UW Finance DATAGroup
  • Research Compliance and Operations
  • Procurement Services
  • Office of Vice Provost Research
  • UW Facilities

Thank you to all of our campus stakeholders for your feedback, testing, and contributions!

How to Connect to the UW Spend Cube:

Unlike a report which you can run in the browser, you have to connect to a cube with an analysis tool (like Excel or Tableau). To connect to a data cube you must be connected to the UW network, either physically in the office or through a VPN (Virtual Private Network). We recommend the UW-IT supported Husky OnNet VPN. You can learn more about how to download and use this VPN on IT Connect: Download and use Husky OnNet

Connecting with Excel 2016:

These are the most common instructions for Excel users. However, if you’re using a different version of Excel, and you don’t see these options, then we have alternative steps below!

  • First, open up a new Excel workbook
  • On the top header click “Data.”
  • On the Data ribbon, choose “From Other Sources.”
  • Select “From Analysis Services” from the drop-down menu.
  • A pop-up, “Data Connection Wizard,” should appear on your screen with the first dialog box – Connect to Database Server:
    • For Server Name, copy and paste: cubes.uw.edu
    • Use Windows Authentication. If this does not work, select “Use the following User Name and password” and fill in your user name and password as follows:
      • User Name: netid\your UW NetID
      • Password: your password
    • Click “Next.”
  • On the “Select Database and Table” dialog box, select “UW Spend Cube” from the drop-down menu at the top. Click “Next.”
  • On the “Save Data Connection File and Finish” dialog box leave everything as is and click “Finish.”
  • You should now have a pop-up to import the data. Select where you want the table to be located on the worksheet (e.g. cell A1) and you can press “OK.”

Now you’re connected! Congratulations, the hardest part is over!

Connecting with Excel 365

  • First, open up a new Excel workbook:
    • On the top header, go to “Data.”
    • On the Data ribbon, click “Get Data.”
    • Choose “From Database,” then select “From Analysis Services.”
  • A pop-up, Data Connection Wizard, should appear on your screen with the first dialog box – Connect to Database Server:
    • For Server Name, copy and paste: cubes.uw.edu
    • Use Windows Authentication. If this does not work, select “Use the following User Name and password” and fill in your user name and password as follows:
      • User Name: netid\your UW NetID
      • Password: your password
    • Click “Next.”
  • On the “Select Database and Table” dialog box, select “UW Spend Cube” from the drop-down menu at the top. Click “Next.”
  • On the “Save Data Connection File and Finish” dialog box leave everything as is and click “Finish.”
  • You should now have a pop-up to import the data. Select where you want the table to be located on the worksheet (e.g. cell A1) and you can press OK.

That’s it! You’re connected and can begin dragging, dropping, and analyzing UW Spend data.

How to Learn More

If you’ve ever used an Excel Pivot table then we’re confident that you can learn the cube technology. But if you need help getting connected, understanding data definitions, or doing basic analysis, we have a solution for that!

Please visit our Reporting and Analytics Training space for self-service training content including:

You can also explore data definitions and business term definitions here in the Knowledge Navigator: UW Spend Cube Data Definitions

Finally, if you need help from someone on our team or if you’d like to request a demonstration for your department, please write to us at help@uw.edu and include “UW Spend Cube” in your subject line!

FWS v2 Release 3 is now available

Enterprise Web Services has just released an update for FWS v2 EVAL to support UW Finance Transformation.

Change Summary:

  • Several new resources and fields have been added. See FWS v2 R3 Release Notes for details.
  • A new ability to search for specific Cost Centers based upon Cost Center Code.
  • Object Class now has a new structure that better aligns with and describes Object Class values.
  • Ledger Account now has a new data source that better describes Ledger Account values. Ledger Account Summary has been added as its own endpoint.
  • Activity And Event and Activity And Event Hierarchy resources have been changed to Activity and Activity Hierarchy respectively.
  • Initiative and Initiative Hierarchy resources have been changed to Institutional Initiative and Institutional Initiative Hierarchy respectively.

See our FWS v2 R3 Release Notes for a complete list of new features, changes, and bug fixes.

Additional resources, including a ‘Getting Started Guide’ to support your evaluation, are available on our FWS for Finance Transformation Support page.

Support:

  • Please submit support requests to fws-support@uw.edu with ‘FWS v2 EVAL’ in the subject line
  • Subscribe to fws-ft-users to stay current on upcoming deployments and changes
  • Subscribe to the FWS for Finance Transformation Support page; we will be adding new resources to this page periodically
  • We will support questions related to e.g. missing data, data structure, access/connection issues, and adding access for additional NetIds or Applications

For questions regarding data quality please contact UWFT at uwftask@uw.edu. 

Print Spooler Disabled Due to PrintNightmare

As a protection against critical, remotely exploitable vulnerabilities within the Windows Print Spooler, Managed Workstation has disabled the Print Spooler on all Managed Workstations.  This will affect your ability to print, including using “print to PDF” functionality, and may prevent some applications from working as well.

This was not a decision taken lightly — we are aware that it may have a wide range of impacts to our customers.  However, the risks this vulnerability poses to the University as a whole gave us no choice but to act.

Please contact us via help@uw.edu if this severely impacts your business continuity and we’ll work with you to find a viable solution.

For reference:

PrintNightmare, Critical Windows Print Spooler Vulnerability | CISA

VU#383432 – Microsoft Windows Print Spooler RpcAddPrinterDriverEx() function allows for RCE (cert.org)

RPG Release: Student Grade Reports – Missing “W” Grades Bug Resolved

The Report Prioritization Group (RPG) just released bug fixes on these BI Portal reports:

In this news story we provide a summary of the changes. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write help@uw.edu and put “BI Portal Report Question: Student Grade report” in the subject line.

Change Summary:

A user of the student grade report let us know that the two reports were excluding students that received a “W” grade. When they ran the report and chose “W” from the Course Grade Filter, the report returned no results in the dataset.

In researching this issue, we realized there was another issue with the report around “duplicate enrollment courses”. Additionally, some data was being unintentionally excluded based on registration statuses.

All of these issues were being caused by the same problem. We were pulling registration info into a report that should have been strictly built to source grade information from transcript records. All of these issues have been resolved. Now when you run the report, students that received “W” grades will be included in the report, and you’ll see duplicate enrollment grade information as expected.

In short, what you see on the report should match what you see on the transcript for a given student.

More Information on this update:

We made four updates to this report that you should know about:

  • Transcript Grades Only: 
    • We updated the report source to pull entirely from the “transcript” records. In the past, the report also pulled in registration information. The intent was to show all students, including students that have not yet received grades. However, this made the report unnecessarily complicated. So we pulled that part out and now the report is a strictly “transcript grades” report.
  • Resolved the Missing “W” Grades: 
    • Updating the source, resolved the primary bug with the report — the missing W grades. These were being excluded, or in the case of HW not reporting all cases, because these types of grades don’t have a registration status. Previously, the report only displayed records where the Reg Status = ‘A’, ‘C’, ‘R’, or blank, so we missed cases where it was ‘D’, ‘W’, etc.
  • Removed “Reg Status” column: 
    • This is a registration-related data element. Transcript pages in SDB and EARS don’t display this field, and it’s not relevant to transcripts, so this column was removed.
  • The report now displays Duplicate Enrollment information: 
    • Duplicate Enrollment can refer to two things:
      • Course Section Duplicate Enrollment (in Time Schedule): In the Time Schedule, duplicate enrollment refers to a student’s ability to register for multiple sections of a course in a single quarter. To do so, all sections must have the duplicate enrollment flag set to ‘Y’ (time_schedule.dup_enroll_allow). Students can be shown as being enrolled for Section A and B of a course.
      • Student Registration Duplicate Enrollment (in the registration process): Duplicate enrollment refers to multiple additions (“adds”) of a single section to a student’s registration record. This can either be because the student has dropped the section and is re-adding it, or because the section allows for duplicate enrollment in its Time Schedule record.
    • In the report, the duplicate enrollment information can display as identical rows for a student in a single course section. Meanwhile, course credits can be the same or different for each row.

Questions?

This report references important institutional concepts like “Registrar Drop, “Cumulative Grade Point Average” and many others. If you have questions about the meaning of these or any other terms, please explore the links or find more detail in the Knowledge Navigator.

As always, if you have any questions, please write help@uw.edu and put “BI Portal Report Question: Student Grade Report” in the subject line.

Also, to get one on one help and guidance, or to just meet the people who support the BI Portal, please join us on Fridays for Business Intelligence Office Hours.

UWSDBDataStore Reorg on June 5, 2021

The student database (SDB) will go through a reorganization on June 5, 2021 which will cause changes in the Enterprise Data Warehouse database, UWSDBDataStore. These changes to the objects will be available in the UWSDBDataStore on June 7, 2021.
However, data on the new objects will be available as soon as the Data Custodians submit the security role definitions and the SIS team loads the data.

(last modified: 05.28.2021)

*Please continuously monitor this site for the most current update.

Old Columns to be deleted

Table Name Column Name
sa_sf_fund fund_type
sr_instructor instr_hepps_dt
sr_stu_disability stu_disab_grp_cd
stu_disab_acc_5
sys_tbl_19_disability_grp disab_grp_desc

New columns to be added

Table Name Column Name Datatype
budget_resources br_budget_type smallint
sa_transaction op_dat_pay_ref_no char(30)
sf_evaluation verif_done char(1)
verif_date date
sf_history wsos_id char(9)
sr_stu_disability stu_disab_cat tinyint
stu_disab_grp char(2)
stu_disab_subgrp tinyint
stu_disab_reloc bit
sys_tbl_19_disability_grp dgrp_short_desc char(40)
dgrp_long_desc char(150)
sys_tbl_20_disability dcat_short_desc char(40)
dcat_long_desc char(150)
student_2 covid19_stat tinyint
covid19_stat_dt datetime
covid19_exp_dt datetime
covid19_comment char(75)
covid19_updt_dt datetime
covid19_updt_id char(12)
covid19_spare_1 char(12)
covid19_spare_2 char(12)
covid19_spare_3 char(12)
covid19_spare_4 int
covid19_spare_5 int
covid19_spare_6 int

New Table to be Added

Table Name Column Name Datatype
sys_tbl_22_disabl_subgrp table_type tinyint
table_key char(20)
record_type smallint
table_subkey tinyint
dsubgrp_shrt_desc char(40)
dsubgrp_long_desc char(150)
sf_fees sff_year_code smallint
sff_campus tinyint
sff_credit_hours tinyint
sff_fee_amt int

Existing Table to be renamed

Old Table Name New Table Name
sa_wd_sum_trans sa_wd_sum_tran
sys_tbl_24_resident_tbl sys_tbl_24_resident

The UW Microsoft sign in experience is changing

Over the next month, your Microsoft sign in experience for the UW will change to be simpler while remaining secure.

Check out the new experience rolling out next month. 

If you encounter an error when you sign in to Microsoft on June 17, check out the troubleshooting guide to learn what to do.

General communication about this change is being sent via UW Insider and IT Connect News for Students newsletters, with more technical information planned for Computing Directors, techsupport mailing list, and mi-announce mailing list.

Timeline

  • 5/20: UW-IT pilot: UW-IT moved to new experience
    • Status as of 5/25: Zero problems reported across several thousand accounts
  • 6/2: Pilot group 2: 30 percent of all active UW Microsoft accounts moved to new experience (UW NetIDs beginning with a through e)
  • 6/17: Complete removal of federation — all users not in a prior pilot will get the new experience

More information for technical contacts

  • Interactive sign in will shift from a federated sign in to cloud-based sign in. The experience will look slightly different but will be simpler and secure. Note: whether Duo is expected depends on whether the account has opted into ‘UW 2FA for the Web‘.
  • The pilots preview the cloud-based sign in experience without committing the entire tenant to the new experience. This helps us to minimize the possibility of a more significant interruption of service should we need to rollback the removal of federation on 6/17.
  • While your user account might be in a preview of the new experience, you may not see the experience for quite some time. This is because Entra ID interactive sign ins do not happen very often, because the authentication tokens are long-lived and responsive to security events, to improve the user experience without impacting overall security.
  • Users in the pilots who are previewing the cloud-based sign in experience can still end up with a federated sign in experience. This can happen via one of two possible scenarios:
    • If they have a client which can only perform legacy authentication, then their interactive sign in experience will fail back to federated sign in. Note: For the 6/2 pilot, we will automatically omit any user from the pilot who has had legacy authentication use in the past 30 days to reduce the chance of impact.
    • If a “domain_hint” query parameter is passed to an Entra ID application during sign in, then their interactive sign in experience will fail back to federated sign in. For example, https://outlook.office365.com/uw.edu includes the “uw.edu” domain hint parameter in the URL and would result in the federated experience, whereas https://outlook.office365.com/ would result in the new sign in experience.
  • User accounts which experience a Microsoft sign in issue can ask to be removed from the pilot experience, which will take approximately 1 hour. Please have any users who experience problems provide some basic Entra ID authentication troubleshooting information when sending an email to help@uw.edu, subject: “MS sign in transition”
  • On 6/17/2021 around 5pm, the UW Entra ID will remove the possibility of federated authentication with the UW IdP to complete this change. After this change, all users will have the new cloud-based sign in experience and no one will have the federated sign in experience. At that time:
    • Customers which are using a browser from a device which is not Entra ID registered to access applications *might* experience an error during a four hour window immediately following this change, while a service-side cache is cleared. Customers using native clients or from Entra ID registered devices *should not* experience any issues during this four hour period. Overall, we estimate that very few users will see this error.
    • Customers which have integrated applications in a way which requires federated authentication will break. Known examples include: