Overview

Ball State uses two official snapshots each Fall and Spring term for IRDS reporting:

• Fall
  • Week-1 Snapshot: one week into the term (preliminary).
  • Final Fall Census: October 15 (official final) → IRDS freezes the data after quality assurance checks.
• Spring
  • Week-1 Snapshot: one week into the term (preliminary).
  • Final Spring Census: 8 weeks into the term (official final) → IRDS freezes after quality assurance checks.

After IRDS completes quality checks on the final snapshot (Oct 15 for Fall; 8-weeks-in for Spring), we freeze the file. Frozen means the official counts for that timepoint won’t change. Live, operational systems will continue to change, but our published “final” counts do not retroactively update.

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Important Scope Note

IRDS census dates apply to IRDS reporting.

IRDS census dates are only tangentially related to, for example, Financial Aid census/recalculation dates and other operational deadlines that drive awarding, disbursement, refunds, compliance processes, or eligibility determinations. Different offices use different dates and rules for their determination of appropriate census dates.

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What types of data exist?

• Frozen data = locked snapshot. IRDS captures the data from our live transactional systems as of a specific date/time (detailed above) and creates data files that do not change.
• Live data = current. Tableau dashboards and data warehouse extracts update nightly and may differ from frozen data.
• Published = published reports we distribute for campus use or for high stakes reporting (e.g., fact sheets, CDS, IPEDS). These reports are usually sourced from frozen data.

Example this year: IRDS marked Fall 2025 “frozen” on October 21, 2025 after post-census QA. Many, though not all, Fall counts we publish from that point forward will reference the Oct 15 census, not the live data.

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Why numbers you see in September can differ from numbers you see in November

Pursuant to the above description there are three different main categories of data (frozen, live, published).

Those sources will generally not fully agree with each other due,usually, to one of three causes:

1. Different timepoints: Week-1 vs. Final Census (Oct 15 for Fall; 8-weeks-in for spring).
2. Different sources: IRDS does not provide official support Argos but it is in use at BSU and will almost always differ from our data warehouse for many reasons. Various systems have built in reporting tools that will usually produce different data from data warehouse sources. In short, if the source is different, so is the data output.
3. Quality corrections: after census, IRDS may resolve rare issues that change the categorization of data. The frozen overall counts tied to the census date do not change; differences reflect minor reclassifications.

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How to request data for different needs:

Using precise language in your ticket or email will help, below are a few samples:

For a Fall term:

“Please provide Fall {YEAR} headcount enrollment from the IRDS Final Fall Census (Oct 15) frozen data.”

For a Spring term:

“Please provide Spring {YEAR} headcount enrollment from the IRDS Final Spring Census (8-weeks-in) frozen data.”

For preliminary needs before the final census points:

“Provide {Fall/Spring} {YEAR} Week-1 Snapshot numbers, labeled Preliminary.”

For data where the precise date isn’t as critical or when very preliminary data is needed:

“Provide Live data (current) counts, labeled with the run date and a note that figures may change. (Note, in cases like this you may be directed to our Tableau dashboard environment which is always updated with the most recent data.)”

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Which number should I use?

• For things like public/official reporting, accreditation reporting, other compliance reporting, and any case where it is important to be able to point definitively back to an unchanging data source → Final Census frozen capture
• For early messaging, analysis, interventions that must occur before the final census point → Week-1 Snapshot (Preliminary).
• For operational needs tied to current data → Live data (as-of date clearly labeled).

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How to Request Data

By far the best way to request data is to use our ClickUp form. This will send your request directly to our process flow with almost no chance of it being misplaced.

The next best way is to email us at irds@bsu.edu. You can also email individuals in IRDS or call via phone but with the caution that requests of this type have much less visibility and are more easily misplaced (though we do our best not to misplace them).