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Program & Program Learning Outcomes (PLO) File

This file is optional and should only be utilized if you intend to provide Programs & Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) via SFTP. It is recommended for institutions storing Programs & PLOs in their SIS or another third-party platform with easy export capabilities. If this does not apply, we advise manually updating your Programs or entering PLOs for each Program or using the Bulk Export/Import Template within the platform.

As a best practice, refrain from sending the Program & PLO File nightly as automated program revisions can impact some A&C Modules such as program assessments and data collections. It is ideal to provide the file only when necessary, such as just before each Academic year.

If you are in implementation, please discuss using this file with your implementation team, as most institutions choose an alternative method. Any row that does not have an exact code/XXXXXX match could potentially be duplicated and corrupt the data being collected. Please reach out to Assessment Support if you have questions.

If you are sending this file, please reference the CLO & PLO Files Validation article to understand how changes will be applied.

File Format:

Please note when creating the Data File in a text editor each column must be surrounded by double quotes and separated by a comma.

Example: "PLOCode", "PLOName", "PLODescription", "ProgramCode", "ProgramName", "CollegeCode", "DepartmentCode", "ProcessDate"

Example File Name: institution_plo.csv

General formatting requirements

  • Please exclude the following symbols from the descriptions in your PLOs and CLOs: “&” and “/”.

  • All fields are required for the outcome to be imported

  • One row per outcome

Required Data

Data Field

Data Type

Required | Optional

Description

Impact/Requirements

PLOCode

String

Required

Program Learning Outcome Code - A unique identifier for each program learning outcome

  • 20 Character Max

  • Code must be unique 

  • Visible in reports and faculty/student facing features

  • Example: “BBA PO 1”, “MBA 13 A”, etc.

PLOName

String

Required

Program Learning Outcome Title/Name -
Plain text identifier for each PLO

  • 150 Character Max

  • Name must be unique. 

  • Visible in reports and faculty/student facing features 

  • Example: “Produce Outcomes in Dynamic Environments”, “BBA PO 1”, etc.

PLODescription

String

Required

Program Learning Outcome Description - Long description of Program Learning Outcome

  • No Character Max

  • Visible in outcome sets and program outcome pages

  • Example: Produce desired outcomes in dynamic environments that leverage teamwork and leadership

ProgramCode

String

Required

Program Code -Unique identifier for the Program

  • 250 Character Max

  • Created by institution - not sourced from SIS

  • Visible in reports

  • Must be the same for every PLO belonging to this program 

  • Example:“MKP 1”

ProgramName

String

Required

Program Title/Name

  • Example: “Marketing Program”, “Marketing”, etc.

  • Must be the same for every PLO belonging to this program

CollegeCode

String

Required

College/Division code of the program (from your SIS)

  • Must match the code that is used for identifying college in the data files submitted via SFTP (for example: Course Catalog File )

  • Must be the same for every PLO belonging to this program 

  • Example: (College Of Business = BUS in platform, “BUS” for this field as well)

DepartmentCode

String

Required

Department/Unit code of the program(from your SIS)

  • Must match the code that is used for identifying department in the data files submitted via SFTP (for example: Course Catalog File )

  • Must be the same for every PLO belonging to this program

  • Example (Marketing = MK in platform, “MK” for this field as well)

ProcessDate

datetime

Required

Date in which the data was extracted (exported) expected format: YYYY-MM-DD i.e. 2024-02-24

Needed to validate that consecutive data loads should update existing records

Optional Data

Data Field

Data Type

Required | Optional

Description

Impact

DegreeCode

String

Optional

Comma separated list that matches off of the “MajorCode”+ underscore +“DegreeCode” field in Student Degree file


i.e “BIO_BS” for Biology, B.S.

A list of these combinations can be requested from HelioCampus if desired

Example:

“MajorCode” = “BIO”

“DegreeCode” = “BA”

The combination of these two fields from the student degree file connected by an underscore import to create the Academic Degree (i.e. BIO_BA)

Active

boolean

Optional

Expected Values:“true” or “false”.

Whether Program is active (Draft, In Revision, Published status) or not (Archived) status

If this field is not provided, will assume no archiving action is needed.

If marked “true”, Draft, In Revision, and Published status Programs will remain in their current state after applying any changes via this file. Archived Programs will NOT be affected as they do not accept updates via this file.

If marked “false”, archive the program if it is currently in Draft, In Revision, or Published. No change will be made for already archived programs

If a double quote needs to be used for the values, the escape character should be a double quote.

e.g., "This is a ""value"" with a double quote."