Terminology
The following sections define some of the important concepts and terms as they are used within DORIS.
Entity
The term entity refers to a construct used within the Evisions Data Model. An entity has characteristics that exist as attribute and value pairs. An example would be a "Student" entity, which includes an attribute first name, and another attribute gender. A specific student in the system may have a value of John for the first name attribute, and a value of M or male for the gender attribute. Actual entities have many attributes and values.
If you are familiar with database terminology, an entity is similar to a table within the database.
For example, if a table is like a building, an entity is a blueprint for that building.
The entities used within DORIS and the attributes that define them are determined by the Evisions Data Model. That is, the associated table and schema for an entity that are managed by Evisions.
Data Model
The Evisions Data Model provides a standard framework for the data that is associated with an entity. It defines the table fields and allowed values for each entity. The current Evisions Data Model online reference is available here.
This reference includes:
- Sample SQL queries for each entity that can be copied and pasted into the Query Editor.
- A list of the fields in the entity, along with a description of each.
- A list of the enum values for each field, if applicable.
- Identification of any fields that have been deprecated, as well as how to update existing queries.
Data Source
A data source is a large repository of data, typically a database or legacy CSV file, that you will extract data from to characterize your entities.
For each entity, you specify a data source that you will extract data from. This data source should contain all of the information about the entity. Often this is an instance of a Banner database, but could be another source.
See Working with Data Sources for more information.
Contact your administrator or your Evisions representative if you are unsure which data source to use.
Deprecated (field)
A deprecated field is either no longer supported, or is going to become unsupported in the near future.
Groups
Groups are sets of related IPEDS surveys. When you filter the entitles by groups, you can see all of the entities that are used by one or more of the surveys in the group.
Ingestion
Ingestion is the process of gathering the data from the data source, bringing it into DORIS, and aligning it with the Evisions Data Model. Ingestion takes place at two different points in the process:
- Preview ingestion happens when you test your query against the data source. The preview ingestion gathers a sample of the data and displays it so that you can match the source field names with the target field names for the entity you are working with.
- Data source ingestion is a process that extracts all of the data for each of the configured (managed) entities. This ingestion process can take a significant amount of time so it is often scheduled for off-hours. You can also start a data source ingestion manually by selecting the Sync Data button on the Entities page.
Mapping (the Data)
During configuration of each entity, you run a test query to gather some sample data from the data source. Then you map that data to the data model for the entity.
Publish (an Entity)
When you publish an entity, you make the entity and it's associated data available to another application, such as Evisions IRIS.
Within DORIS, you can publish an entity, and unpublish it later if you need to make changes.
Query
A query is code that extracts a specific set of data from a database. In the case of DORIS, the query is written in SQL, and determines which data is extracted from the data source to use for an entity.
When you manage the data for an entity, you need to use a query to gather sample data from the data source that you will use to create an association between the data source field names (shown at the top of each column) with the target field names for the entity.
See also: