RPG Release: Enhancements to Major Codes Report

November 24, 2020

The Report Prioritization Group just released two enhancements to the BI Portal report Major Codes.

This report helps advisers complete the change of major process, and these updates were designed to make it easier to find the info you need to complete the new Docusign web form: Change of Major Forms

This update was requested by a UW adviser and several advisers contributed feedback to the update. Thank you for your help!

Change Summary:

Based on user feedback, we updated the Major Codes filters and columns in the following ways:

Filter Updates

Here’s the filter before:

In the old version of the report, the “Include only Current Codes” filter was causing confusion. We heard things like:

  • What is a current code?
  • What if a code is active for 2 more quarters? Why is it being excluded?

We updated the filter to allow you to choose from three specific statuses for Major Codes:

  • Active
  • No longer active
  • Not yet active

A Major Code is considered “No longer active” if it has an end date in the past. A Major Code is considered “Not yet active” if it has a start date in the future. All other Major codes are considered Active, whether they have no end date, or whether their end date is in a future quarter.

New Columns

We also updated the column order to improve the usability and added several new columns:

  • Major:
    • We added a column “Major” with the full Major label as a reference to help you quickly identify the major you’re interested in.
    • We moved the Major Name to the 2nd column, also as a quick reference.
  • College:
    • We added the College name to the College column as a reference.
  • Degree Level and Type:
    • We added these fields because the form requires it.
  • Start and End Quarter:
    • We broke these out as separate columns so they’d be more readable.
  • Department Name and FAS Org Number:
    • We added these fields for departments that need to cross-reference department info in the FAS financial system.

Questions?

This report references important institutional concepts like Change of Major, Student Major and many others. If you have questions about the meaning of these or any other terms, please explore the links or find more detail in the Knowledge Navigator.

As always, if you have any questions, please write help@uw.edu and put “BI Portal Report Question: Major Codes Report” in the subject line.