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Troubleshooting Common Outcome Data Visualization (ODV) Formatting Errors
Troubleshooting Common Outcome Data Visualization (ODV) Formatting Errors

This article will describe how you can troubleshoot the most common ODV errors in your Outcomes data file.

Christina Butler avatar
Written by Christina Butler
Updated over a week ago

Let's review most common mistakes made in an Outcomes data upload and how to fix them:

  1. Column Header Names Don't Match Exactly

    1. You must ensure the headers (titles) of your columns match exactly to the ones outlined in our guidelines (NACE | MBA CSEA). They are case sensitive so if you accidentally lower case or capitalize a letter that does not match, the file will not upload successfully. Even using a different symbol, such as a short hyphen versus long hyphen, will cause your file not to process.

  2. Not Using 4-Digit Class Year for Graduation Date

    1. Please use graduation dates that are in the 4-digit class year format, such as 2023 and 2024, for the Graduation Date column. We cannot accept other date formats.

  3. Including Only One Graduation Year

    1. You now can include multiple graduation years and their outcomes in one file, so you can have a "master" outcomes file moving forward. This means you can include all graduation years, such as 2019-2023, in one file, instead of having to submit 5 separate outcomes file submissions.

  4. Missing a Required Column/Field

    1. There are 4 required columns you need to include your outcomes data file for it to process, so please ensure this information is in your file:

      1. Academic Division/School

      2. Program Name/Major

      3. Graduation Date

      4. Outcome Type

      5. make sure you're reviewing the required column in the outcomes formatting

  5. Outcome Types Do Not Match Exactly

    1. Under the Outcome Type column, you must use our values listed in the guidelines and they must match exactly. For example, you must use "Employed Full Time" not "employed full-time" - notice how one is written in sentence case with no dash, which is correct, compared to the second option.

    2. You may add your own unique values outside of these but make sure they are all consistent. For example, if you had "Gap Year" as another value you wanted to showcase, make sure all "Gap Year" values are written the same; if you had one value written as "Gap Year" and another value written as "gap year," it would display them as two separate values, which would affect your data.

  6. Missing Spelling Errors

    1. Grammatical error and mistakes will also cause your outcomes data file not to upload correctly.

  7. Not Submitting a CSV File

    1. Please make sure to submit a CSV file to us, not an Excel or Google spreadsheet file.

  8. Using Placeholders like "Undefined" or "Unknown"

    1. Leave optional fields blank if no data is available. Avoid using placeholders like 'undefined'. Your ODV module already manages some common placeholders, including Unspecified, N/A, NA, and Unknown and cleans them).

  9. Including Multiple Student Types in One File

    1. You can only include one student type per file, meaning that you can only include Undergraduate Student outcomes in your file, not Masters Student outcomes too, or vice versa.

    2. If you want to feature more than one student type, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager to learn more about setting up another ODV module.

If you have any further questions, please submit a support request.

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