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This FAQ is a living document and will be updated periodically.  The information here pertains specifically to SPOT and might not hold true for other data areas.

 

For an FAQ about the MicroStrategy tool, please click here.

 

What is the difference between a document and a report?

A SPOT report contains one specific set of data based on the selected attributes (e.g., Term, Department), prompts, filters, metrics (e.g., Response Mean), and so on.  A report can be set to display as a grid, graph, or grid-graph combination.

A SPOT document is a high-quality, print-ready document that can display multiple grid and graph reports at the same time, along with images and text, headers and footers, and so on.

 

What is the difference between SPOT Reporter, SPOT Analyst, and SPOT Steward?

There is only one SPOT Steward.  This is the data steward that assigns each user a role in the system.  The roles control which features are available to the user.

 

 

SPOT Reporter

SPOT AnalystSPOT Steward
Brief DescriptionRun existing documents

Create new documents
and datasets

Manage user roles and
data access
Documents   
  • Run documents
yes

yes

yes
  • Export to Excel, PDF, HTML
yesyesyes
  • Print documents
yesyesyes
  • Create new documents
noyesyes
  • Notes
readupdateupdate
    
Reports   
  • Access datasets
noyesyes
  • Create and edit reports
noyesyes
    
Other   
  • User preferences
noyesyes
  • Create personal views of documents
yesyesyes
  • History list
yesyesyes
  • Share email links
yesyesyes

 

What if I want row-level data?

Submit a TD ticket and we'll get the data for you.

 

Why do the numbers in my report differ from what I expected?

The data you see might differ slightly from what you expect.  Here are some common culprits:

  • We count some things differently now than in the past.  This change was made to provide more consistent results in the long term.  For example, enrollment was a number that could change over the course of time due to late adds and drops.  We now use Possible Participants, which counts the students who were sent a SPOT survey.
  • Accidentally choosing the incorrect filters (e.g., picking Term 201401 instead of 201409).  
  • Mismatched attributes and level metrics on report grid:  For example, a metric might be locked to calculate at the Department level.  If you put that metric on a report that shows instructors, the same metric value will be shown for each instructor in a particular department.

 

Why isn't my ad hoc instructor report working as expected?

Sometimes the SPOT Instructor Key attribute has to be in the report objects to help MicroStrategy figure out how to join instructor data to SPOT response data. E.g., When a report contains section-level attributes but lacks section-level metrics, the instructors and sections might be incorrectly joined.  Adding the SPOT Instructor Key attribute to the report objects should fix this; the attribute does not have to appear on the grid itself.



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