Student Operational Reporting Help

Blink Pages 

Browse Blink's Student Operational Reporting pages for guidance on dashboards and reports.

Content includes general pages as well as pages for each individual report and reporting category. To view the report-specific pages, please click on the associated reporting category.

The Get Started page includes access information, a tutorial on How to Run a Report and much more!

Weekly Student Reporting Office Hours 

Attend the weekly Student Operational Reporting Support Office Hours.

Weekly: Wednesdays, 11am-noon
Zoom Link: Click the button in the header of student operational reports.

To protect our student information, access to the office hours will require access to the reports. The zoom link is available in the prompt page header of the student operational reports. Users must be logged into Zoom to join.

Business Analytics Hub (BAH)

View answers to your frequently asked questions on the Business Analytics Hub Help page.

Student BAH Report Field Mapping

To facilitate the switch from old to new terminology the report-specific Blink pages contain a list of field names as they appeared in the old Querylink report and how it is named in the new BAH/Cognos report. It includes a description of any calculations being performed by the report.

Activity Hub Field List With Definitions

The Activity Hub Field List dashboard is available with all Activity Hub fields. While not all definitions are there yet, more and more are being added.

What is "SIS Data Source"?

A required Display Option that tells the report which system (ISIS or TSS) the report will pull data from. The option is being added to reports as the TSS data becomes available. 

To view the rollout schedule, please visit Current and Future Report Development.

Visit the Enterpriese Systems Renewal (ESR) website to learn more about the Student Information System project.

Why does it exist?

The transition from ISIS to TSS is being rolled out in phases.

• FA26 is the first term where TSS is the official system of record.
• WI26, SP26 and all Summer 2026 terms remain in ISIS.

Because the transition is staggered, the recommended source will change over time. During the implementation period, reports may need to reference both systems.

Once the transition is complete, TSS will contain the most current and complete information for recent students (approximately the last 10 years).

Options & When to Use Them

Information below subject to change.

• System of Record By Term – recommended during the transition

  • Shows ISIS data for WI26, SP26 and all 2026 Summer terms.
  • Shows TSS data for FA26 and all future terms.
  • This option will retire after the transition is fully complete.
    
    

• Prioritize TSS – recommended after the transition

  • Uses TSS data when a student’s academic history is loaded there.
  • Falls back to ISIS only for students without a complete TSS record.
  • Provides the most current information once TSS is the official system of record (FA26+).
    
    

• TSS Only – use when you are comfortable with possible gaps for pre‑FA26 terms.

  • During the cut-over period, records prior to FA26 may be incomplete.
  • Approximately 10 years of students will have been loaded; older data should use “Prioritize TSS.”
    
    

• ISIS Only – legacy option for students not migrated to TSS.

  • No FA26+ data will be available.
  • Useful when student’s record never migrated to TSS.
  • Useful when reviewing historic course versions.
  • Useful when reviewing historic accounts receivable transactions.
  • Not recommended after the transition as data will be stale.
    
    

• Both (duplicates) – comparison view

  • Displays separate rows for the same student form ISIS and TSS.
  • Helpful for side‑by‑side comparison.
    
    

Key Takeaway

• Pre‑FA26 (during transition): System of Record By Term is the safest default.
• FA26 and beyond: Use Prioritize TSS for the most complete and current data across recent history.

Services & Support

Contact us using the "Make a Request" or "Ask Question / Report Issue" buttons on the Student tab of the Business Analytics Hub.

Weekly Student Reporting Office Hours

Join us Wednesday mornings to ask questions or learn some new tips and tricks.

Weekly: Wednesdays, 11am-noon
Zoom Link: Click the button in the header of student operational reports.

To protect our student information, access to the office hours will require access to the reports. The zoom link is available in the prompt page header of the student operational reports. Users must be logged into Zoom to join.

Reporting One-on-One Sessions 

Sign up for a Reporting One-on-One Session with a member of the Student Operational Reporting Team who can answer questions about student reporting.  

Sign up for a reporting one-on-one session directly on Calendly.

Most Data is Updated Nightly

Student Operational Reports rely on information from the Business Analytics Hub. The Hubs are updated nightly, so updates made the prior day should be reflected in the reports. To view changes made the same day, please check the source system (ISIS, TSS, CourseLeaf, etc.).

The one exception to the above is Waitlist data. Waitlist data is linked directly from the source system and is LIVE!!

If you a change from the prior day is missing, please check the following websites to see if there was a problem with the Network or Data Load that may have impacted the nightly update.

• Systems Status
  This website is updated with known issues impacting UCSD systems, data network and more. It is a great resource to check if there is planned or unplanned issues at UCSD.
  
• Activity Hubs MT Status Report
  This dashboard shows the date and time of the last success update for each activity hub as well as a color indicating whether or not there were issues with the update.

No Data Found

This message is displayed when a report is run with prompt selections (filters) that result in no results.  UCSD has been around for many years so sometimes a filter value you select is no longer used resulting in the No Data Found issue. 

To fix, simplify the request by removing some of the filters until you get data. This will help you identify which filter is causing you to not get data, then carefully review the options to ensure you are adding a filter that makes sense.

Common Cognos Error Messages

See the Bugs & Outages page maintained by the BI & Financial Reporting Team to view a list of common Cognos errors including:

• Unable to load requested view.
• Unable to load requested view. Displaying home view instead.
• Module metadata request failed.
• The permissions assigned to you may limit report functionality.

 Slow Run Times or Out of Memory

If you need to generate a large amount of data, the report may run very slowly or you may get a memory limit error.  In either case, it can be helpful to use the “run in background” option. This can be setup from the Search Results, Contents, or Favorites folders within Cognos (not from within the report itself).

Quick reference steps:

1. Locate the report in Cognos either via folder navigation or using the search bar at the top
2. Open the report action menu using the three dots or right clicking on the report name. Select “Run as”.
3. Turn on the “Run in background” option
4. Select your preferred output
5. In the Delivery section, select “Send report by email”
6. Click the “Run” button
7. Enter your prompt selections as normal
8. Wait to be notified via email that your report is ready.

Reconciliation Challenges

When reconciling against the official Institutional Research reports (or any other report), it's essential to ensure you're comparing like to like. Common errors that create discrepancies include comparing census data with end of term (non-census) data, using different filters, and timing differences.

To ensure accurate reconciliation, verify that you're using the same type of data (census or end of term), applying the same filters, and comparing data from the same time period.

There are two occasions when Cognos will display an error message containing the text "Unable to load requested view." The table below shows examples of these error messages, what they mean and how to resolve them: