Last Updated: 3 November 2024
Please see our workshop for more information about this:
Supporting files here: https://github.com/joe-roy/flatfile_workshop
A flat file is an unformatted text file (.txt) that is either tab or comma delimited. We can accept these for enrollments, degrees awarded or tenured-tenure track faculty head counts in order to ease the reporting burden for institutions: Our current instructions are linked below. You will still need to fill in the excel sheet for the remainder of items.
We built this functionality at the request of institutions with large numbers of programs. It is sometimes easier, depending on the reporting system for enrollment and degrees awarded, to write a script that produces a structured CSV file (what we term “flatfiles”) that contains the fields described in the instructions and codebook here: ASEE College Profiles Flatfile Instructions. (These are unchanged for 2023). Our intention is to ease the reporting burden on institutions by allowing for direct data files to be configured for upload into our system.
Key Things to Remember:
- You must fill in department and program information in the excel sheet.
- All department names and program names must match exactly what is in any flatfile.
- While you do not have to report enrollment, degrees awarded and tenure-track faculty counts in the same format (i.e. you can report enrollment in a flatfile form and then faculty and degrees awarded in the excel sheets), you must report all information for each set of information in the same format (e.g. you can’t report some program enrollment via flatfile and then other program enrollment in the excel sheet).
- DO NOT USE THIS FORMAT UNLESS YOU ARE SCRIPTING THE PROCESS! IF YOU ARE MANUALLY ENTERING IN THESE FIELDS AND DATA — JUST USE THE EXCEL SHEET!
An example is here with R code to illustrate how to take a report and transform it to the structure we are requesting: https://github.com/joe-roy/flat_example
The data can be submitted here for the Profiles 2024 cycle: https://americansocietyforengineeringeducation.shinyapps.io/2024_flatfiles_upload
For this year, we can accept files in multi-line or long format with comma separated or tab delimited data. Review the instructions. Do not abbreviate the labels. Before filling this out, a data analyst should have available the full spreadsheet (see below) filled in for the program names on C.1, D.1 and E.1 (as appropriate, e.g. if there are no doctoral programs, E.1 will be blank):
For enrollment and degrees awarded, the program names in the flat file MUST MATCH those entered on C.1, D.1 and E.1 in this sheet. Any reported program that do not match on an institutional submission will be classified as “Other Engineering” or “Other Engineering Technology” for the discipline.
For faculty counts, the department names in the flat file MUST MATCH those entered on B.1 for the institutional spreadsheet submission. Any reported departments that do not match on an institutional submission will be classified as “Other Engineering” or “Other Engineering Technology” for the discipline.