Updating Yearly Data to support the ABET Reporting Suite

Accurate and complete Yearly Data records are essential for generating reliable ABET reports in Faculty Success. This article walks Faculty Success Administrators through the process of verifying that Yearly Data records exist for the faculty members in your ABET-accredited programs, validating that the ABET-specific fields are populated, and loading data using a CSV import.

This article is intended for Faculty Success Administrators responsible for preparing ABET accreditation materials.

Why Yearly Data Matters for ABET

The Yearly Data screen in Faculty Success stores the administrative faculty information that feeds several ABET report columns. Unlike activity data entered by faculty themselves, this information is typically managed administratively and should be reviewed and updated by Faculty Success Administrators ahead of each accreditation cycle.

Other activity screens, such as Degrees, Professional Positions, and Publications/Intellectual Contributions are typically maintained by faculty and are not covered in this article. Each individual report article identifies the screens it draws from and what data is expected. 

Note: For questions about loading Scheduled Teaching records in bulk, contact Watermark Support for assistance.

Step 1: Verify That Yearly Data Records Exist

Before loading any ABET field data, confirm that Yearly Data records exist for the faculty in your ABET-accredited programs for the target academic year. The date range you use in this step should match the date range you intend to use when running your ABET reports, as described in the individual report articles.

Export Existing Yearly Data Records

1. Navigate to the Reports utility from the navigation bar.
2. Select Create a New Report in the upper-right corner, then choose Export Data from the pop-up window.
3. Set the report parameters as follows:
   • Date Range: Enter the start and end dates that match your intended ABET report date range (typically the academic year for which your Self-Study Report is being prepared).
   • Whom to Include: Select By Group and limit the report to your Engineering college or department. This ensures you are reviewing only the faculty whose data will appear in the ABET reports.
   • Data to Include: Click Change Selection, uncheck Include All, then expand Common Items and select Yearly Data. Click Save.
4. Click Run Report. A CSV file will download to your computer.

Open the CSV file and review the results. If the file is empty or does not contain records for the expected faculty, those faculty members do not have Yearly Data records for the selected date range. In that case, follow the process described in Creating New Yearly Data Records Using Export Data Report and CSV Data Import to create records in bulk before continuing with this article.

If Yearly Data records exist for the expected faculty, continue to Step 2.

Step 2: Validate and Load ABET Field Data

With Yearly Data records confirmed, the next step is to verify that the ABET-specific fields are populated for each faculty member. Review the CSV file from Step 1 and check the following columns:

• Level of Activity fields: ABET_ORG, ABET_DEV, ABET_CONSULT - required for ANSAC, ETAC, and CAC programs.
• CAC-only Level of Activity fields: ABET_CONTRIBUTE, ABET_OTHER - required for CAC programs only.
• Competency and Currency narrative: ABET_COMP - required for CAC programs only.
• Percent of Time Dedicated to the School's Mission: DEDMISS - required for ANSAC, ETAC, and CAC programs.

If any of these fields are blank for faculty members who require them, prepare a CSV import file using the template provided below to load the missing values in bulk.

Preparing the Import File

Download the ABET Yearly Data Import Template attached to this article. The template contains the following columns:

Populate the template using the faculty data from your Step 1 export as a reference. Each row represents one faculty member's Yearly Data record for the target academic year. Columns may be left blank for values that are not applicable to a given faculty member or commission. You do not need to remove columns from the template, as blank cells will be ignored during the import.

Note: The Level of Activity ratings (H, M, or L) should reflect an average across the year prior to the accreditation visit and the two preceding years, or a three-year lookback period. Faculty Success does not calculate this average automatically. The value entered in each field is the value the report will display. Coordinate with your department heads or faculty to confirm these values before importing.

Submitting the Import

1. Save your completed CSV file.
2. Navigate to Tools in the navigation bar and select Work Requests.
3. Select Data Import from the Request Type dropdown.
4. Follow the steps in Overview of Importing CSV Data Into Faculty Success to complete your Work Request and attach the file.

Important: When prompted to select how the import should handle matching records, choose Update existing records wherever a match exists. If a match is not found, skip the row. This ensures the import updates only the ABET fields on existing Yearly Data records without creating duplicate records or overwriting College and Department/Program assignments.

Once the import is complete, run another Export Data report using the same parameters from Step 1 to confirm the ABET fields have been populated as expected. Review the ABET_ORG, ABET_DEV, ABET_CONSULT, and other applicable columns to confirm values are present for all faculty members who require them.

Step 3: Verify the Report Output

With Yearly Data records confirmed and ABET fields populated, run a test of the ABET Table 6-1 Faculty Qualifications (CAC) report as a verification step. The CAC version is recommended for this check because it includes all possible Table 6-1 columns, making it the most comprehensive indicator of data completeness across all commissions.

Use the same date range applied in Steps 1 and 2. Review the report output to confirm:

• All expected faculty members appear in the report.
• Rank, Tenure Status, and FT/PT columns are populated.
• Level of Activity columns display H, M, or L values for applicable faculty.
• The Competency and Currency narrative section contains text for CAC faculty.

If any faculty members are missing from the report or have blank values in expected columns, return to the relevant step above and correct the data before running your final reports for submission. For detailed guidance on what each column draws from, see ABET Table 6-1 Faculty Qualifications.