Certified Data Sources

What is a Certified Data Source?

The Data Intelligence & Analytics (DIA) team has led the effort to define, validate, and develop Certified Data Sources as verified datasets within the Monarch Data Core for official reporting and strategic decision-making. 

By pulling data exclusively from defined systems of record and enabling appropriate governance, we eliminate the risks of data silos and conflicting metrics and definitions. This structure provides our business partners with a single source of truth鈥痚nsuring that every dashboard and report is backed by documented logic and stakeholder-approved definitions.

Certified data is a prerequisite for trustworthy reporting. Stakeholders should use these sources for all formal analysis when available. 

Mandatory Standards for Certified Data Sources

To achieve and maintain certification, a data source must satisfy the following requirements:

  1. Authoritative Origin: Data must be sourced exclusively from institutional systems of record.
  2. Complete Data Documentation: Every data element, metric, and transformation logic must be fully defined and documented.
  3. Operational Consistency: Data documentation must ensure unambiguous, consistent interpretation across the institution.
  4. Validated Governance: Sources must provide verifiable evidence of review and approval via Monarch Data Core protocols. (e.g., certification checklist, standards, and data quality validation etc.)
  5. Structural Integrity: The dataset must be architected specifically to enforce reliable, standardized reporting. 

Data Governance Program

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Data Governance Program

Benefits of Using Certified Data Sources

Trusted Decision-Making

Enables confident, data-informed decisions using validated and aligned data 

Consistent Metrics Across the Institution

Eliminates conflicting numbers across dashboards and reports

Increased Transparency and Accountability

Provides clear ownership, documentation, and approval processes 

Improved Data Quality and Reliability

Enforces data quality checks, monitoring, and controlled transformation logic 

Streamlined Reporting and Compliance

Supports alignment with institutional reporting (e.g., IR, SCHEV, IPEDS) using approved and validated datasets

Scalable and Reusable Data Assets

Reduces duplication and supports reuse across dashboards and analysis

Important Note - Certification confirms that a dataset is documented and approved for institutional reporting. It does not replace appropriate reviews for specific analytical or operational use cases.