Data Data Data

Intros…

• Phil Bettendorf / Level DataBackground: Teacher, PowerSchool Admin, Network Admin,

programmer, systems engineer

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Agenda1. Understanding Powerschool internals – review

2. Export via DDE and analysis in Excel

3. Another method to get at data… Bonus!!!

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Background…Scope part 1

Power School

Admin

http://your URL/admin

Subs

http://your URL/subs

Teachers

http://your URL/teachers

TeachersWeb based

Web based Web based

Parents

http://your URL/public

Data

Web based

ElectronicGradebook

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“As an important step of knowledge discovery in databases, data mining is a process of analyzing data in order to discover implicit, but potentially useful information and uncover previously unknown patterns and relationships hidden in data, which has been applied in many fields. “

http://www2.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/IITA.Workshops.2008.235

Background…Definition

How can we achieve this in Powerschool?

1. DDE Exports

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Background…DDE provides us a tool to pull information out of Powerschool for analysis.

Bridging the “Data Gap” is only inhibited by creativity… Don’t be limited to traditional methods; think “outside the box” !!!

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Data-DrivenDecision Process

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PowerSchool Schema

Put the following in your URL bar:– http://<IP address>/admin/home?ac=structure

There are over 195

tables within

Powerschool that

all are related in one

way or another

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Field 1

Field 2

ID

Feeder 1 ID

Feeder 2 ID

Feeder 3 ID

Feeder X ID

Feeder 1 IDFeeder 2 ID Feeder 3 ID

Feeder X ID

Table relationships

CC Table

ID

DateEnrolled

DateLeft

StudentID

SchoolID

SectionID

TermID

Student Table

ID

Schools Table

ID

Section Table

ID

Terms

Table

ID

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Exporting Data From PowerSchool Using DDE - DDE stands for Direct Database Export and can be found by going to System, Direct Database Export.  Since it's part of the System pages, not everyone may be able to access it depending on security privileges.  DDE lets you view information in the various database tables that make up the PowerSchool database and export that information out to a file that can be opened by Excel.  DDE does not allow you to make any changes to the database directly - something known as DDA (Direct Database Access) allows you to do that instead. 

-Matt Fruend

DDE / DDA

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DDE Background

• Direct Data Export (DDE)• Why use DDE?

– Export or filter information not easily obtained through the PowerSchool interface

– Track down data issues (technical staff)

• Effective management of student data via database interface requires:

» Knowledge of data elements» Knowledge of table relationships

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DDE Backgrounddata elements

• Data are stored for efficiency; not convenience

• Foreign key naming (most of the time)– The letters ID are added to the name of the field

• Examples / foreign keys:– TermID is stored internally as a # in all feeder

tables and the term name is defined in Terms– SchoolID is stored internally as a # in all feeder

tables and the school name is defined in Schools– StudentID is stored internally as a # in all feeder

tables and the students name is defined in the Student table

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DDE Backgrounddata elements

• Knowing which primary keys are stored as a foreign key in a related table allows the DDE user to export information that makes sense (ie Semester 1 instead of 1601)

• There are some caveats to the foreign key naming. An example…

– The Sections table has a field called Teacher. It contains the ID of the Teacher; not the teacher name.

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DDE Backgrounddata elements

• Another example of storing data for efficiency… lookup values vs. literals:

» Examples:» FTE (stored as # but might mean “Full Time”)» Attendance codes (stored as a # but might

mean “A” for Absent)

• Another example are defined values that are not stored anywhere; they just “are”

– Enroll_status in the student table» 0 = active, 2 = transferred, etc.

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DDE Backgrounddata elements

• Related tables• How to link up tables• Next slide will show an example of the CC

(enrollment) table and related tables.

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Enrollment table

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DDA

• What is DDA?– Ability to modify/delete data

• Who needs to use DDA?– Authorized technical support contacts

• Why would you want to use DDA?– Fix corrupt data as a result of a system bug or a

user error– Some use it as a “quick fix” without regard to

related table data. Can cause bigger problems!

• Recommendation– Give at most 1 person in your district access to

DDA

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Exporting out of DDE

• Live examples of getting data from Powerschool with DDE

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Pivot tables

• Allows analysis of vast amounts of data into concise views

• Who is the target audience?

• DDE exports provide the source for these tables

• Important note: Pivot tables are built on static data sets… But there is a way for them to be dynamic…

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Pivot tables – building a dynamic

pivot table

• Dynamic pivot tables start with a data set defined with a named range and a formula that will ebb and flow with number of rows in the range.

=OFFSET(‘{sheetname}'!$A$1,0,0,COUNTA('{sheetname}'!$A:$A),COUNTA('{sheetname}'!$1:$1))

{sheetname} refers to the sheet that the data resides in.

Note: 2007 Excel allows you to change a data source range, but it is not dynamic. You have to change the range each time rows grow and shrink

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Other ways to get at data…

Match Function

This is one of the more under-utilized features in the Powerschool admins “data” mining arsenal…

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Data are stored in individual “buckets” that are specific to a functional area within the system. Each “bucket” of information (table) has connectors to other “buckets” of information (table) so that the data makes sense.

The Match functions works by being able to extract related data that is associated from one table to another related table.

This is one of the more under-utilized features in the Powerschool admins “data” mining arsenal…

Match Function

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Match function overview…

Process:Start with the Source table – filter the

selection for which you want the match Go to the Target table – select all… Then Match to the table that holds the selection for which the match is to happen. note: there must be a relationship between the tables

Match Function

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Match back to the Student table…

If the result of a Match function is student centric, and you want theability to manage the group (browse, create a stored selection), performa Match back to the Student table… Powerschool maintains thecurrent selection from DDE to the front page of the application for theuser performing the Match function…

Match FunctionExercise

StoredGrades -> Student

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Resources

• Excel Pivot table– http://www.ozgrid.com/Excel/PivotTables/ExCreatePiv1.htm

• Informing Practices and Improving Results with Data-Driven Decisions

– http://www.nsba.org/site/docs/9200/9154.pdf