UNCG Data Governance | Report Certification

Report Certification

Certification

Report certification is the process to confirm the accuracy, authority, and trustworthiness of a report. The aim of report certification is to instill greater confidence in decision-support data and improve productivity for knowledge workers, managers, report developers and data governance professionals.

Report certification at UNCG is crucial for maintaining quality, credibility, and accountability. It verifies adherence to established review processes, promotes transparency, and ensures trustworthiness.

Please see Submit a Catalog and Report Certification Request using ServiceNow for a detailed how-to guide on submitting a report certification request. PDF: Submit a Catalog and Report Certification Request How-To-Guide

Submit a Report Certification Request

Report Certification Criteria

A report must meet one or more of the following to qualify for report certification:

The report supports business decision making and/or key business processes, regardless of frequency.
The report supports administrative decision making; and/or
The report is used as a source for answering public information requests.
The report is not described above but is in Data Central.

Report Certification Steps

The following is a list of steps that are central to the report certification process:

Confirm validation took place at time of development or publication.
The report follows the Report Authoring Guidelines.
The report must be cataloged.
The catalog record is complete and accurate.
The report’s metrics are complete and accurate.
The data lineage is complete and accurate.

The Report Certification Process

The Report Certification Process document offers a detailed look at the report certification workflow. The following link is accessible to UNCG affiliates. If you are not affiliated with UNCG, please email us to request a copy. PDF: Report Certification Process

A report is considered certified for a term of five years, at which time it will need to be reviewed for recertification. The recertification process may be initiated by either the EDG team, the report requestor, or owner.

A step in the report certification process is confirming the report follows the Report Authoring Guidelines. The Report Authoring Guidelines were identified by the Report Authoring Working Group, a sub-group of the Data Reporting Communications Group. The guidelines identify descriptive information that must accompany a report based on output type. PDF: Report Authoring Guidelines

Definitions

Terms below are sourced from the University Global Report Catalog Glossary, a prioritized list of business terms, acronyms and their meanings related to cataloging reports in the data catalog tool.

A document that is prepared on request one-time, usually for a specific use or to answer a precise question. Note: Different departments across campus may refer to ad hoc reports in different ways. For many, ad hoc refers to a one-time report. For some, ad hoc refers to a report run one-time a year by request (or infrequently, but more than once). In report certification, we are defining this from the perspective that ad hoc is run one-time.

The standards a report must meet to qualify for certification.

A report that has met the qualifications outlined by the report certification process and is accurate, trustworthy, and authoritative.

Includes the Chancellor, the Chancellor’s Council, Associate Vice Chancellors, Provost, and Associate Vice Provosts.

A process to confirm the accuracy, authority, and trustworthiness of a report. The aim of report certification is to instill greater confidence in decision-support data and improve productivity for knowledge workers, managers, report developers and data governance professionals.