Institutional Data
What is Institutional Data?
At GW, institutional data (or information) is defined as data in any form, location, or unit that meets one or more of the following criteria:
- Legal Obligation: If there are laws or regulations that require the university to manage certain data responsibly, that data is considered institutional. For example, student records must be handled according to privacy laws.
- Relevance to University Operations: Data that is important for planning, managing, operating, documenting, staffing, or auditing major administrative functions or multiple units within the university falls under this category. This could include financial records, employee information, or strategic plans.
- Official University Reports: Any data included in official reports produced by the university is considered institutional. These reports might be used for accreditation, compliance, or public disclosure.
- Derived Data: If any data is used to create or derive other data that meets the above criteria, it is also considered institutional. For instance, if raw data is used to generate a report that is included in official university documentation, both the raw data and the report are institutional.
Note: Institutional data excludes data generated by research, or data owned or generated by a party outside the university when used in research, conducted at the university, under the auspices of the university, or with university resources.
Institutional Data Categories
- Advancement and Alumni Affairs
Includes all aspects of alumni and development data.
- Facilities
Includes the facilities services data of the University including space-planning data, construction, maintenance and operational data, reservations and physical-descriptive data.
- Financial
Data related to the management of fiscal resources of the University.
- Human Resources
Supports the management of employee resources of the University.
- Information Technology
Supports the provisioning and management of the technology infrastructure provided by the Division of Information Technology.
- Library & Information Resources
Supports the management activities and information-resource-collection activities of the University libraries.
- Organizational
Reflects the internal organizational structure of the University and identifies hierarchical relationships among individual entities.
- Person Registry
Supports the management of identity and authentication for individuals associated with the University.
- Research
Includes records that represent grants & contracts (proposals and awards) the University has received and executed.
- Student
Supports all phases of a student’s relationship with the University from expression of interest through alumni status.
Institutional Data and Gen AI
GW IT recognizes the benefits of using AI technologies, such as Generative AI (Gen AI) tools, in enhancing teaching, research, and daily business processes.
GW Data Governance is committed to raising awareness across the university community about the responsible and ethical use of AI technologies. This includes promoting alignment with GW policies, standards, and guidelines to safeguard institutional data assets while supporting innovation.
Learn more about AI Guidance & Best Practices
If you have questions about classifying data, review the GW Data Classification Guide or contact your Data Steward.
Researchers who may need to enter any data other than public (low risk) into a generative AI tool or service as part of their research programs should consult the GW OVPR Office.
Incident Reporting
All Data Users are responsible for reporting unauthorized access, data misuse, or potential privacy and/or security incidents. Report a data incident or email incident
gwu [dot] edu (incident@gwu.edu)