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

Supports the management of identity and authentication for individuals associated with the University.

Student

Supports all phases of a student’s relationship with the University from expression of interest through alumni status.