Institutional Definition Initiative
Differing definitions of terms used across The Ohio State University can lead to inconsistencies in data reporting and analysis, making it more challenging for data-informed decisions to be made.
The Ohio State Data Governance team has launched a new initiative to standardize institutional definitions to increase clarity and accuracy in data reporting and analysis. As part of this effort team is facilitating the development of working groups, consisting of subject matter experts and data stewards, from across the university and medical center to create these institutional definitions.
Working in batches of related terms, the team will solicit new working group members for each new category. One batch of terms will be worked on at a time, and each batch will consist of several terms.
Check out the "What is a Business Glossary" explainer video from data catalog provider data.world to learn more.
Definitions that have been finalized are posted on the Approved Institutional Definitions webpage.
Current Definition Batch
The Data Governance team is ready to convene the working group for the next institutional definition session. Attend the upcoming session using the registration information below.
- Tuesday, November 28 at 10 a.m. - The terms to be discussed include Race and Ethnicity with a focus on how race and ethnicity are defined in terms of reporting.
- To better scope our discussion, we will work on defining race and ethnicity for use in surveys and reporting, such as IPEDS and Workday. Use the registration link to attend this drafting session.
Future Definition Categories
- Employee
- Learner
- Alumni
- Donor
- Visitor
Interested in being part of the evolving working groups?
The Data Governance team relies on faculty and staff participation in this project. Please fill out this Qualtrics survey to be notified of upcoming opportunities to develop institutional definitions.