The Pennsylvania State University - Administrative Information Services, a unit of Information Technology Services

Mandatory Training

The two mandatory training opportunities are:

  1. Data warehouse training for new users
  2. Training Introduction Review
  3. Required Student related training

All Data Warehouse Mandatory Training

All new users to the Data Warehouse are required to go through a mandatory training course. Its purpose is to help a new user understand the concept of a data warehouse, understand the terminology, know where to find information that might be helpful to them, and to understand what policies apply when they are using the data warehouse.

To request access, please refer to the Access to Data Warehouse Mandatory Training page.

Training Introduction Review

Listed below are links to various Data Warehouse training modules. You may view any module to learn more about that specific topic. These modules also provide a preview of the mandatory training for new users.

If you need to request access to the data warehouse, you are required to take the official mandatory training course and pass the exam.

Student-Related FERPA Training

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 governs how educational institutions control and safeguard their student records. All employees of educational institutions who have access to student records must abide by FERPA requirements; therefore, it is essential that Penn State employees with access to student records understand their responsibilities with respect to FERPA. 

In order to assist Data Warehouse users in gaining an understanding of FERPA, the Office of the University Registrar has developed an on-line FERPA tutorial and quiz available in ANGEL. New users to the Data Warehouse, who are requesting access to any data base containing student data, will be required to complete the tutorial and pass the quiz with a grade of 70% or higher. Changes have been made to the Administrative Information Services (AIS) Access Form and to the Data Warehouse access request e-mail templates to reflect this new requirement. The ITS Security Office will not set up the user’s access until the tutorial has been successfully completed.

In addition, beginning in February 2009, current users of the Data Warehouse with access to student data will be notified that they must successfully complete the tutorial in order for their access to remain active. Users will be notified in groups of 100 and will be given 30 days to complete the tutorial and pass the quiz. If they do not, then their access to student data on the Data Warehouse will be removed and they will have to re-apply for access as a new user. Again, the ITS Security Office will be monitoring these users and enforcing the requirement. It is expected to take approximately a year to cycle through all current Data Warehouse users who have access to student data.

The tutorial was developed and is administered in ANGEL and consists of eight instructional modules and a 20-question quiz. The quiz questions are randomly generated from a pool of questions, so no two quizzes are exactly alike. Instructions for finding the tutorial on ANGEL are:

  1. Go to https://cms.psu.edu/frames.aspx
  2. Press the “Logon” button and log in with your Penn State access account
  3. Under My Groups, click on “Find a group”
  4. In the Keyword Search box, enter “ferpa” and click on the Search button
  5. Click on the “FERPA – Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act” link
  6. Click on each module, read the material, and when finished, take the quiz

Depending on the user’s prior knowledge of FERPA, the tutorial and quiz should take a maximum of 60 minutes to complete. Users may take the quiz as many times as necessary to achieve a satisfactory grade. It’s important to note that quiz scores are private and can be viewed only by ITS Security Office Personnel and only for purposes of determining successful completion prior to granting access. 

Access and Security Representatives (ASRs) are important to this process because of the role they play in recommending system access for users in their units. ASRs have been notified via e-mail of this new requirement and have been strongly urged to take the tutorial and quiz to improve their understanding of FERPA.

The Office of the University Registrar is available to answer questions regarding FERPA or this new requirement. Please contact Ross Brode at rbb2@psu.edu or 814-865-6572. The Registrar’s Office would like to thank the members of the University community for their cooperation and for their assistance in improving Penn State’s FERPA compliance.

Content Questions: AIS Support | Support Questions: AIS Support