Data Center Basics

Owned by Nicolette delMuro
Last updated: Feb 15, 2023 by Kendra Siebert
4 min read

Overview

The NSPA Member Data Center allows you to update information in the NSPA Exchange about your organization’s programs. This ensures that information shared with NSPA members and the public is consistent and correct.

Essential Factoids

A few things worth knowing:

  • The Data Center is available to all NSPA members, by request. If you do not see a button to Manage Data on the Member Site homepage, email support@scholarshipproviders.org and request access.

 

  • Within the Data Center, you can view your scholarship programs, add new programs, and make edits to existing programs. The navigation bar on the left rail mirrors the options shown on screen below and is collapsible.

 

  • Each record in the system represents one scholarship or financial aid program. If the program makes multiple awards per year, there is still only one record — we have a data field to indicate the number of awards.

 

  • To search for a specific scholarship your organization manages, use the search bar on the top left, or sort any of the available columns. To the right of each scholarship are the available options: View, Edit, and Remove. When selecting Remove, you’ll have the option to indicate if the scholarship is currently inactive but expected to return, or if the scholarship has ended. If you want to make a previously inactive program active again, please email support@scholarshipproviders.org with that request.

 

  • There are relatively few data points to maintain and all (except the program name) are optional. The data points include common values such as the application opening date, the application deadline, a URL for an online application, and so forth.

 

  • You get unlimited do-overs. You can make multiple edits before sending your data to the NSPA Data Team for review. Once you’ve submitted an edit, you’ll see a yellow icon appear beside Your Program Edits. This page will reflect any programs with recent edits, how many changes you’ve made, the previous value and the current value (highlighted in green), and allow you to revise further. When you’re ready to submit the program, use the button to Send All For Review and the NSPA Data Team will merge the update with the live database.

 

  • You can’t break the system or “ruin” live data. If you can break things, it’s our problem to fix, not yours! Any changes, additions, and deletions you make are done in a staging area and are reviewed by an NSPA Data Team member before being merged in the live database. And, even after review and integration with the live data, you can start a new set of edits — anytime. The NSPA Data Team works year-round and the site is open 24/7. So, there’s no deadline.

Options for Updating

The Data Center directly supports multiple options for updating data.

Option 1. Online, using the web-based form

This is suitable if you:

  • Are a program provider that offers relatively few programs.

  • Only have a few data points or a few records to update.

  • Prefer working entirely online vs. using spreadsheets.

Option 2. In Excel, using a provided template pre-filled with your existing data

This is suitable if you:

  • Are a program provider such as a community foundation that manages many programs.

  • Prefer making bulk updates via spreadsheet.

  • Want to import data from another system that can export to a spreadsheet format.

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