The Graduate Funding (GF) Data Collection contains data from the Grad Funding application. This includes information about stipends for schools that use the GF application to report on budgeted stipends, as well as allocations for the payment of tuition, fees, health insurance and other planned funding for graduate students. For allocation payment, the amounts that are disbursed by term can be mapped to the corresponding General Ledger account to which the funding will be posted.
ATTENTION: All users of Student Data, whether they write their own queries, or use data or reports extracted by someone else, agree to abide by University policy regarding confidentiality of student records, and by the Family Educational and Right to Privacy Act. Failure to abide by the policies and laws governing student data can result in disciplinary action, including termination.
Tables are listed in alphabetical order. Select Table to obtain the explantion, common uses, primary keys, indexed data elements, and related tables for a table. Select Elements to obtain the definition, list of values, formats, and not null values for each data element in the table. A description of table and data element terminology is in the document What the Warehouse Contains.
Looking for a specific element or caution? Try the searching the collection documentation for particular keywords (search page will open in a new tab).
| GF_ACADEMIC_PROGRAM Table - Elements |
GF_COMMENT Table - Elements |
GF_STUDENT Table - Elements |
| GF_ACCOUNT Table - Elements |
GF_COMMENT_TYPE Table - Elements |
GF_STUDENT_ADVISOR Table - Elements |
| GF_ACCOUNT_GROUP Table - Elements |
GF_CHARGE_TYPE Table - Elements |
GF_STUDENT_PROGRAM Table - Elements |
| GF_ADVISOR Table - Elements |
GF_CLEARING_ACCOUNT_DETAIL Table - Elements |
GF_STUDENT_TAG Table - Elements |
| GF_ALLOCATION_CHARGE Table - Elements |
GF_CLEARING_ACCOUNT_SUMMARY Table - Elements |
GF_TAG Table - Elements |
| GF_ALLOCATION_CHARGE_SUMMARY Table - Elements |
GF_DISTRIB_CHARGE_PAYMENT Table - Elements |
GF_TERM Table - Elements |
| GF_ALLOCATION_FUNDING_SOURCE Table - Elements |
GF_DISTRIB_STIPEND Table - Elements |
GF_TOTAL_ALLOCATION_V Table - Elements |
| GF_ALLOCATION_TYPE Table - Elements |
GF_EXEMPTION Table - Elements |
|
| GF_ALLOCATION_STIPEND Table - Elements |
GF_STIPEND_TYPE Table - Elements |
Related Student tables included in the GradFunding universe:
| DEGREE Table Elements |
MAJOR Table Elements |
SPECIAL PROGRAM Table Element |
| DIVISION Table Elements |
SCHOOL Table Elements |
Related employee data included in the GradFunding universe:
| JOB_CLASS_GENERAL_V Table Elements |
Related GL reference tables included in the GF universe:
| CENTER_REF_CODES Table Elements |
FUND_CODES Table Elements |
ORG_CODES Table Element |
| CNAC_CODES Table Elements |
OBJECT_CODES Table Elements |
PROGRAM_CODES Table Elements |
The Grad Funding (GF_) tables are refreshed on a daily basis, Monday through Friday, at approximately 7 PM.
Source of the Data
The sources of the data is the online Grad Funding system. In addition, some tables used by the GradFunding BusinessObjects universe are sourced from SRS and the General Ledger data collections.
Time Span Covered
The GF data collection stores from fiscal year 2015 and on. Select records from years previous to fiscal 2015 are also available, in cases where older funding was entered by participating schools.
The Grad Funding (GF) Business Objects WebIntelligence universe is described in the Grad Funding diagram; the diagram shows how the tables are joined in the GradFunding universe. For people who write their own queries, this diagram demonstrates the ways tables can be joined in this data collection. Another suggested way to understand the relationships between the GF tables is to examine the logic used in the pre-written queries, available via BI Launch Pad in the Public Documents.
The Disbursement payment and Reimbursement payment data flow diagrams are included here for reference; these describe the source system's processes. To understand these flows, you need to complete the Grad Funding Module 7: Disbursement and Reimbursement training.
The BusinessObjects universe for the collection is GradFunding. An initial set of Corporate Reports is available in BI Launch Pad, under Public Folders/Grad Funding. They include:
- Prompts for School and Term:
- SCHOOL: may be run for one school or multiple schools. Uses the SRS school codes in the prompt. If prompt is not answered, the report will run for all schools.
- TERM: may be run for one academic term or multiple terms. Uses the Banner term codes in the prompt. If the prompt is not answered, the report will run for all terms.
- Separate reports
- Allocated Charges and Distributed amounts can be included in the same query and compared, as in the first two tabs of this document. But Clearing Account amounts and related data must be in a separate query, and are displayed on the third tab as a separate report.
- Allocated, Distributed, Clearing Account
- Allocations by Fund and Org
- Prompts for School, Division, Major, Term and Fund:
- SCHOOL, DIVISION, and MAJOR ("grad group") use the SRS codes, and may be run for one or many. If prompt is not answered, the report will run for all.
- TERM: may be run for one academic term or multiple terms. Uses the Banner term codes in the prompt. If the prompt is not answered, the report will run for all terms.
- FUND: uses the General Ledger (BEN) fund codes.This prompt is designed to be used to identify specific funds using the wildcard percent sign %. For example, '4%' will return all allocations associated with fund codes that start with 4 (generally, these are endowments).
- Once the report is run, there are "quick filters" that can be used to view the results by Major, Charge Type, Package Year, COA Fund, Org, Program, or CREF.
- Prompts for School, Division, Major, Term and Fund:
- Summary Allocations by FY and term
- Prompts for Division, Major, and Fiscal Year:
- DIVISION and MAJOR ("grad group") use the SRS codes, and may be run for one or many. If the prompt is not answered, the report will run for all.
- FISCAL YEAR: each FY starts with the second summer term and runs through the first summer term of the following year. For example, FY 2016 includes Summer 2 of 2015, Fall of 2015, Spring of 2016 and Summer 1 of 2016.
- Once the report is run, there are "quick filters" that can be used to view the results by School, Division, Major, Package Year, Banner Term, and Package Name.
- Prompts for Division, Major, and Fiscal Year:
- You must complete the following three Knowledge Link courses before access to the Grad Funding collection will be granted:
- Information Privacy and Security at Penn (Annual Requirement)
- Family Education Rights and Privacy Act FERPA Overview – SRFS
- Grad Funding (Pennant Graduate Funding User Training - all modules)
- Knowledge Link courses are found at knowledgelink.upenn.edu - (PennKey login)
Additional data training for this collection is offered on an ad hoc basis -- please contact Enterprise Information & Analytics for assistance with specific training questions. You can also refer to the table and element documentation for information, cautions and tips.
- You must complete the following three Knowledge Link courses before access will be granted:
- Curriculum: Information Privacy and Security at Penn (Annual Requirement)
- Family Education Rights and Privacy Act FERPA Overview – SRFS
- 400 Pennant Graduate Funding User Training
- Knowledge Link courses are found at knowledgelink.upenn.edu - (PennKey login)
Access to the GF data in the warehouse will be given to users on a global basis, and will not be restricted by school or department. If a user has access to the tables they can see all transactions for all students in all schools.
Regulations and Policies on Student Data
Federal regulations regarding access to student data are spelled out in the Family Educational Right to Privacy Act (Buckley Amendment), commonly known as FERPA. For more information, see the FERPA information on the Penn Privacy site.
The University's policy on the Confidentiality of Student Records is available at http://www.upenn.edu/privacy/policies_publications.htm.
Releasing Data Outside the University
The only office that may release graduate funding is Student Financial Services (SFS). Requests for the data should be directed to SFS.
Releasing Data Within the University
Within the University, graduate funding data may be disclosed only if it is needed to do the business of the University, and only to those who need to know the information in order to do their jobs. If you are not sure whether to fulfill a request for data, contact Student Financial Services.
Query Results
If you save your query results in Excel, pdf, or any other local file type, you must see to it that any sensitive data stored on your peronal computer is safeguarded through physical security, access control software, or encryption. When a computer is left signed to an account, it is easy for someone to gain unauthorized access. Either sign off from your account before you leave your computer or restrict access by some other means (physical security or access control software).
For more information on security and privacy, contact the Office of Information Security.
If you have a question or comment about the GF data or data documentation, or have a suggestion for revising the documentation, please contact Enterprise Information & Analytics. For documentation published on the Web, please specify the URL for the documentation that needs to be updated.