Understanding Your Data
CEDAR tries to make institutional data easier to inspect at the unit level. The same source records can support several reasonable definitions, so the notes below explain what CEDAR is reading and what its numbers mean.
For a compact glossary of shared measures such as registered enrollment, DFW, early drops, waitlists, headcount, and credit hours, see What CEDAR Counts.
For a guide to why two CEDAR tabs may show different numbers from the same underlying data, see Why Numbers Differ Across Tabs.
Data Sources
CEDAR works with several types of institutional data:
Course Sections (DESR)
The Department Enrollment Status Report contains information about every course section:
- What courses are offered
- When and where they meet
- Who’s teaching them
- How many students were enrolled when the file was pulled
- Capacity and availability at that same snapshot
DESR enrollment and available seats. Section enrollment and available seats describe the retained DESR snapshot; crosslist handling depends on the displayed grouping.
Exclusions. Filters and home/crosslist handling determine which sections contribute; check the local section scope.
- Current registration and post-term history are different lifecycle snapshots and should not be treated as comparable census freezes.
Class Lists
Detailed student-level enrollment records:
- Which students are in which sections
- Registration status (registered, dropped, withdrawn)
- Final grades (for completed terms)
- Student demographics
Class-list registered enrollment. Distinct students still registered in the selected class-list group when the extract was pulled; only RE, RS, and RR statuses count.
Exclusions. Waitlists and all drops are excluded from registered enrollment.
- This is a snapshot, not a frozen census count. It describes final enrollment only after the term is complete.
CEDAR derives cedar_students$term from the Class Lists Academic Period Code field. When an analysis needs a student’s enrollment anchor, CEDAR may use the minimum observed class-list term for that student. This means “first observed class-list enrollment,” not a formal Banner matriculation or start-term field.
CEDAR also derives cedar_student_term_credits from Class Lists. This table summarizes each student’s observed UNM credits by term and is used by Pathways for movement-card credit timing and Common Pathways medians. Completed credits come from credit-earning outcomes; attempted credits come from observed registered course attempts.
Program Data
Information about student majors and minors:
- Primary and secondary majors
- Minors and concentrations
- Student level (freshman, sophomore, etc.)
- College affiliation
CEDAR derives program-history rows from Academic Studies data. The Academic Studies Academic Period becomes cedar_programs$term; program columns such as Major, Second Major, and their matching code fields become normalized program_name, major_code, program_code, and program_type values. CEDAR also carries context fields such as Student Population, Institution Credits Attempted, and Overall Credits Attempted into the program table. Those cumulative credit fields are pull-stamped and can repeat current totals across historical rows; they must not be read as the student’s credit position in a past term. Pathways uses class-list-derived UNM credit histories when it needs term-specific credit timing.
Pre-major status is computed inside CEDAR from program naming and code patterns. The Pathways > Major Changes tab treats a move from a selected pre-major into the matching selected full major as a conversion within the same program family, not as a departure to another major.
Degree Data
Records of degrees awarded:
- Degree type (BA, BS, MA, PhD, etc.)
- Program/major
- Graduation term
Key Concepts
Term Codes
CEDAR uses 6-digit term codes:
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| YYYY | Year |
| T | Term type (1=Spring, 6=Summer, 8=Fall) |
| S | Session (usually 0) |
Examples:
- 202510 = Spring 2025
- 202560 = Summer 2025
- 202580 = Fall 2025
Observed Dates vs. Formal Start Dates
Some Pathways views report timing in terms or credits. For entry-timing cards, the term count starts from the student’s first observed class-list enrollment in CEDAR. That anchor comes from Class Lists, not from a formal Banner admission, matriculation, or start-date field. Because of that, headline entry cards exclude records that are already present at the beginning of the available data window or that first appear with substantial prior UNM attempted credits.
Credits shown in Pathways movement cards come from class-list-derived UNM credit histories. Completed credits are based on observed credit-earning outcomes. Attempted credits are based on observed registered attempts. These figures do not include transfer credits or UNM coursework outside the loaded Class List window.
Some reference tables may still display Academic Studies cumulative credit fields as transfer-inclusive context. When those fields appear, they should be read as source-system context rather than the term-by-term credit timeline used by the timing cards.
Registration Status
Students can have different registration statuses:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Registered (RE/RS/RR) | Still registered when the Class List was pulled |
| Waitlisted (WL) | Waiting for a seat; excluded from registered enrollment |
| Early drop (DR/DD) | Left before the grade-consequence deadline; registration churn, not a DFW outcome |
| Late drop (DG/DW) | Left after the grade-consequence deadline; included in reconstructed census enrollment and treated as a withdrawal outcome unless the record is an audit |
Data Freshness
When Is Data Updated?
Refresh cadence is set by the institution operating CEDAR. The application does not guarantee a nightly schedule or a common extract time across its source tables. For DESR section data, CEDAR retains one snapshot per term; loading a newer DESR for that term replaces the older section rows rather than creating a snapshot history.
How Do I Know When Data Was Updated?
Check the Data & Usage page and the “as of” dates shown in reports and data tables. Read each date as the extraction time for that source. DESR, Class List, Academic Studies, and Degrees files can have different dates.
Common Data Questions
Why don’t my numbers match official reports?
Several factors can cause differences:
- Snapshot timing — CEDAR’s retained extracts may represent live registration or a post-term state; they are not certified census freezes
- Filters — You may have filters applied that exclude some data
- Definitions — Different systems may define metrics differently
- Grain and crosslisting — A view may count students, sections, courses, or crosslist partners differently
- Data edge — Grade-based views stop before newer enrollment-only terms
Use Why Numbers Differ Across Tabs as the reconciliation checklist.
CEDAR is designed for internal exploration, planning, and methodological transparency, not official external reporting. For IPEDS, state reports, or accreditation submissions, use your institutional data office; those reports depend on definitions and certification processes calibrated for those specific requirements.
What’s the census date?
The official census date is set by the institution and term; consult the registrar or Institutional Research calendar for the certified date. DESR fields such as census1 and census2 are dates, not stored enrollment counts. CEDAR does not contain a census-frozen roster.
Some analyses reconstruct a census-style course count from Class List status codes:
Reconstructed census enrollment. Class-list registered enrollment plus late drops (DG/DW) estimates the population that stayed beyond the early-drop period.
Exclusions. Early drops (DR/DD) and waitlists are excluded.
- No census-frozen count exists in the source. This reconstruction does not recover registration dates or actual peak occupancy.
How are crosslisted courses handled?
Crosslisted courses (same class offered under multiple subject codes) can be tricky:
- Enrollment may be split across listings
- Credit hours are counted for each listing
- Some reports “compress” crosslisted sections; others show them separately
Check if your view is using “compress crosslists” or showing them individually.
What about cancelled sections?
Most enrollment views focus on active sections. The Cancellations report instead analyzes cancelled (C) sections explicitly and states which removed or suspended records are outside its scope.
Limitations
What CEDAR Doesn’t Do
- Official reporting — Use institutional data for required reports
- Transactional registration — CEDAR reflects retained extracts on the local refresh schedule, not live Banner transactions
Data Privacy
CEDAR takes data privacy seriously:
- Data is aggregated for most analyses
- Student identifiers are replaced with one-way hashes during the CEDAR transformation
- User-facing views avoid exposing direct student identifiers
- Restricted instructor-level outcomes are password protected where they appear