DARS/Faculty&Staff - DARS Data Visualizations

Outlines how to access and tips for using the DARS data visualizations in Tableau.

Overview

Below are the steps for accessing and using the DARS data visualizations created by the Office of the Registrar in Tableau.
  1. Access the Tableau Workbook(s)
  2. Tips for using the Degree Audit: Requirement Completion Workbook

Access the Tableau Workbook(s)

Faculty, staff, and advisors who have permissions to use Advising Gateway may log into DARS by following these steps:

Step 1: 

Go to RADAR, UW–Madison's Repository of Administrative Dashboards and Reports, at https://search.data.wisc.edu/ and enter "Degree Audit" into the Search bar.
Image of a search bar with "Degree Audit" entered into it

Step 2:

Identify which of the "Degree Audit" visualizations you wish to use and click on the title in the first field.
screenshot of list of visualizations with box around the options for Tableau Title Link
Note: Only those faculty/staff authorized to view "Student Record Data Restricted" are able to access this workbook. To request this level of access, please use the form on this page. 

Tips for using the Degree Audit: Requirement Completion 

The Degree Audit: Requirement Completion workbook provides information regarding the completion status of curricular requirements according to the Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS). Data is refreshed nightly and represents a student's progress toward each of their declared plans as of 5 p.m. the day before. Students declared in plans that are not set up in DARS (e.g. "Intended" majors) are not included in this workbook. 

Caution: This workbook should not be used during the Final Grading Period.

1. Navigate from left to right

Due to the volume of data contained within this workbook, it is recommended that users of this workbook set any filters on the (1) Completion Status by Requirement and Sub-requirement tab first. Those filters will be automatically applied to the (2) Completion Status by Student and (3) Data Exporter tabs. 
Workbook Home Page with numbers identifying Tabs

2. Use the filters!

  • Filters are displayed on the left side of each tab.
  • The filters on the top section represent student data pulled from InfoAccess:
    InfoAccess Filter List
    • Each student is associated with just one Max Enrolled Term but may be associated with more than one Plan School/College, Plan, and/or Subplan.
  • The filters on the bottom section represent student data pulled from DARS:
    DARS Filter List
    • DARS assumes successful completion of in-progress and future-enrolled courses.
When accessing the workbook, the first two filters, Max Enrolled Term and Plan School/College, are set by default to the current term and the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, respectively. Max Enrolled Term is the only required filter. However, due to the volume of data in this workbook, selecting all Plan School/College filter options at once may cause the workbook to load the data slowly or fail to load entirely. 
A common first step to filtering is to begin on the (1) Completion Status by Requirement and Sub-requirement tab and filter on at least one Plan, like so:
Plan Filter Selected and pop up of requirements

3. You can access a student's DARS report

Clicking on a student's name on the (2) Completion Status by Student tab will open DARS Web in a new tab in the browser and automatically pull up the plans for the selected student. This may be useful when trying to determine if a recent enrollment change not yet reflected in the data (e.g. a change made after 5 p.m. the previous day) has impacted the student's degree audit. 

4. Explore the Data Exporter tab for more information

The (3) Data Exporter tab provides additional data elements not available in the first two tabs, including: 

  • Student Campus ID
  • Student Email Address
  • Student Matriculation Term
  • Student Academic Level
  • Student FERPA Flag
  • Degree Requirement First Catalog Year and Term
  • Degree Requirement Catalog Year and Term
  • Degree Requirement Completed Sub-reqs
  • Degree Requirement Needs Sub-reqs
  • Degree Requirement Earned + In Progress Course Count
  • Degree Requirement Needs Course Count
  • Degree Requirement Earned + In Progress Credits
  • Degree Requirement Needs Credits
  • Degree Requirement Earned GPA
  • Degree Requirement Needs GPA
  • Degree Sub-requirement Earned + In Progress Course Count
  • Degree Sub-requirement Needs Course Count
  • Degree Sub-requirement Earned + In Progress Credits
  • Degree Sub-requirement Needs Credits
  • Degree Sub-requirement Earned GPA
  • Degree Sub-requirement Needs GPA

Keywords:
dars, DARS, degree, degrees, degree planner 
Doc ID:
123556
Owned by:
Anne E. in Office of the Registrar
Created:
2023-01-25
Updated:
2024-05-30
Sites:
Office of the Registrar