Biggest Challenges Faced by a Data Analytics and Reporting Manager at University of San Diego
As a Data Analytics and Reporting Manager, Christian's biggest challenges revolve around data quality and acquisition, noting issues with "missing data, messy data," and the need to merge data from multiple sources, such as appointments, demographics, and enrollment, which is a significant challenge. Compounding this is the difficulty in obtaining student survey responses due to length, lack of incentives, and students simply deleting requests, forcing Christian to rely on "the kindness of their heart," which can be unreliable.
Data Management, Data Integrity, Data Sources, Survey Response Rates, Stakeholder Engagement
Advizer Information
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Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
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Christian Guerra
Data Analytics and Reporting Manager
University of San Diego
Cal State University Los Angeles
UC Riverside - PhD
Anthropology, Sociology, Criminal Justice
Education
Data and Analytics
Transfer Student, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Dealing with missing and messy data, including fixing typos, is a significant challenge.
2. Integrating data from multiple sources (e.g., appointments, demographics, enrollment) is complex and requires merging data from different systems.
3. Motivating students to complete surveys is difficult due to restrictions on incentives and survey length, leading to low response rates.
Transcript
What is your biggest challenge in your role?
What is your biggest challenge in your role?
My biggest challenge is missing or messy data. I often have to fix a lot of typos within the data.
Another huge problem is that we gather data from multiple sources. For instance, our appointments might be in one data source, our demographics in another, and our enrollment data in a third.
It becomes a challenge with every additional data source because we eventually have to merge all of them together. That is probably my biggest challenge.
Another challenge is getting students to answer the surveys. We send emails and text messages urging them to please take them.
Additionally, we can't incentivize students to complete many of these surveys. We have to ask them from the kindness of their heart to please take the survey. There are many rules we have to follow for these rankings.
So, for some surveys, we simply cannot make them take it. We have to ask them politely. A lot of students just read the emails and delete them.
Also, many of these surveys are really long, making it hard to get them to take the surveys.