Multi-Item: Tabular Report

Multi-Item: Tabular Report

This article will be most useful for academic administrators and Concourse admins.

Overview

The Multi-item: Tabular Report is a feature that allows users to examine multiple categories of syllabus content simultaneously across large sets of syllabi. It displays syllabus content in a data table that allows users to quickly review and compare content, thus streamlining quality assurance, auditing, accreditation, and other internal processes. 

Each course selected for inclusion in the syllabus set is represented as a row in the data table. Columns, from left to right, include the following data about each course:
  1. Course Title
  2. Course Identifier
  3. Each item category selected for the report is represented in its own subsequent column.
The Multi-item Tabular Report is a data table

For users who would like to compare content across multiple item categories on smaller syllabus sets or for users who want to more closely examine the formatting and context of item categories, the Multi-item: Snippets Report may be a better option.

Before You Begin

Before you start using the Multi-item: Tabular Report in your Concourse system, you should be aware of the following:
  1. If the main navigation is displayed to users, then any user who can access the Report Center is able to generate a Multi-item: Tabular Report.
  2. When an item category is selected for inclusion in the Multi-item: Tabular Report, not only will the top-level item be included–so will its sub-items. For example, if Contact Information is selected, then its sub-items, Contact Entry and Office Hours, will also be displayed in the Multi-item: Tabular Report. 
  3. Users cannot generate a Multi-item: Tabular Report just for sub-items. If an item category is selected, all content in that item category will be included in the report.
  4. Comments are not displayed in the data table. If users would like to access comments, they must do so on each syllabus individually.
  5. The Multi-item: Tabular Report renders content with its formatting intact. In other words, a data table will be generated that includes headings, bulleted and ordered lists, tables, and other stylistic elements within each cell. Depending on the number of item categories that are selected and the unique formatting of content within those item categories, the data table may appear with varying column widths and an expansive horizontal scroll. To make the tabular data easier to consume, only select the item categories that are necessary for your reporting purposes.
  6. CSV files of Multi-item: Tabular Reports may be downloaded. Multi-item: Tabular Report CSV files contain html tags. Be aware that the content in the CSV file will contain html notation, such as: 
    1. <p>This course introduces learners to…</p>
    2. <ul><li>Course Outcome 1…</li><li>Course Outcome 2…</li></ul>
  7. Users may toggle to the Snippets view of the report by selecting the Snippets View link in the upper-right corner of the Multi-item: Tabular Report page.
The Snippets View button
With these notes in mind, let’s generate a Multi-item: Tabular Report.

Generating a Multi-Item: Tabular Report

To locate the Multi-item: Tabular Report, select Reports in the main navigation bar. In the Reports Center, locate the first set of reports, Content Reports. Select View> in the Multi-item: Tabular panel. To generate a Multi-item: Tabular Report:
  1. Select the item categories that you wish to include in the report and then Next.
  2. On the following page, enter criteria for the courses/syllabi to be included in the report and then Search.
    1. For more precise results, select +Advanced to reveal more search parameters.
    2. You can narrow your search by subject, domain, session/year, delivery method, and more.
  3. In the Results pane on the right side of the screen, select the syllabi to include in the report. Either:
    1. select the syllabi manually by checking the checkbox to the left of the syllabus title and then choosing Selected Results at the bottom of the page, or
    2. scroll to the bottom of the page and choose All Results to generate a data table that includes all syllabi matching your search criteria.
  4. On the resulting page, a table will appear that includes syllabus content from the selected item categories and courses.
Users who would like to download the entire data table should select Download Extended CSV in the upper-right corner of the Multi-item: Tabular Report page. Continue reading to learn reasons data might seem to be missing from this report.

Missing Data

Users are able to select any item category and syllabi for inclusion in the Multi-item: Tabular Report, regardless of their group and domain permissions. If the user does not have permission to view an item category or a syllabus or if the content does not exist, the Tabular Report will not display the content as expected. The following conditions lead to what might be perceived as “missing data” in this report:
  1. If the item category on a selected syllabus does not contain content, that cell in the data table will be empty.
  2. If the user does not have permission to view and/or edit the item category on a selected syllabus, that cell in the data table will be empty.
  3. If the user does not have permission to view and/or edit a selected course, that course will not appear as a row in the data table.
  4. If a selected course does not contain any content for all selected item categories, the course will not appear as a row in the data table.

Best Practices and Recommendations

Keep these final recommendations in mind before you generate a Multi-item: Tabular Report.

  1. The Multi-item: Tabular Report is most useful for comparing large data sets,  across departments or schools. If a user needs to compare content from multiple item categories on a smaller scale, or if they need to view formatting or context, they should use the Multi-item: Snippets Report.
  2. Review group permissions in your Concourse system to ensure that anyone generating a Multi-item: Tabular Report can view and/or edit only approved item categories.
  3. If the Audit feature is enabled in your Concourse system, review Concourse’s Audit support article and consider how the Multi-item: Tabular Report can improve your workflow.
Check out our help article on the Multi-item: Snippets Report for more information about the alternate visualization of this report, which is useful for smaller, more targeted syllabus sets.


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