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    HEI Data Submissions

    Data Formatting Conventions
    Revised April 30, 1998

Most fields require the entry of values that fill all character spaces allotted to that field. There are some fields, however, for which the entry will not completely fill the field. The following guidelines are the general rules for coding numeric and alphanumeric values that do not completely fill their fields. Any exception to these rules will be specifically noted in the data format column of the data fields section in HEI data submissions documents. 

Numeric Fields Indicating Quantity  

When a value indicating quantity will not fill the field, right-justify the value and zero-fill the spaces to the left of the number. For example, if a value represents $405,982 and there are 10 character spaces in the field, it should be entered as "0000405982." Or if a value represents 3.5 credit hours and there are three character spaces in the field and the value is to be entered in tenths, it should be entered as "035." 

Numeric Fields Indicating Negative Quantity  

When a value indicating quantity is a negative number, enter a negative symbol (-) in the first character position (beginning from the left), right-justify the value, and zero-fill the spaces to the left of the number. For example, if a value represents negative $36,759 and there are 10 character spaces in the field, it should be entered as "-000036759." 

Numeric Fields Indicating Identity

When a value indicating identity will not fill the field, left-justify the value and leave spaces to the right of the value blank. For example, if a Faculty Identifier is 777999 and there are nine character spaces in the field, it should be entered as "777999bbb" (b equals blank space). 

Alphanumeric Fields

Alphanumeric fields are case sensitive and blank sensitive. For example, the following Course Identifier entries would be read differently: 

Mathb101 
Math101 
MATHb101 
MATH101 

A blank must not appear in the left-most character of the field. When an entry has blanks as part of the value, left-justify the field. 

A particular entry must appear exactly the same in all data files. For example, the Course Identifier must be identical in the Course Sections Taught (ST), Course Section Schedule (CS) Course Inventory (CI), Course Enrollment (CN), and Cross Registration (XR) files, and Off-campus Course Sections (OC), Flexibly Scheduled Course Sections (FS) lists. 
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http://regents.ohio.gov/hei/datasubdoc/general/dataformat.html
Last updated April 30, 1998