Maryland Annual Collections - MAC2

Cyber Warrior System (CWS)

A. Collection Description

A Cyber Warrior Diversity Program was established by the General Assembly (Education Article §11–1401 - §11–1406) in 2018. The purpose of the program is to train students in computer networking and cybersecurity to achieve the following CompTIA certifications:

1. CompTIA A+;
2. CompTIA Network+; and
3. CompTIA Security+.

Five postsecondary institutions are eligible to participate in this program:

1. Baltimore City Community College;
2. Bowie State University;
3. Coppin State University;
4. Morgan State University; and
5. University Of Maryland, Eastern Shore.

B. Adhere to Due Dates and Record Frequency

Annual Due Dates:	December 1st
Collection Period:	July 1 st through December 31stof the same year
Record Frequency:	One row per student per enrollment or completion
	(BCCC, BSU, CSU, MSU, UMES only)

C. Comply with the Selection Criteria

On or before December 15th of each year each institution participating in the Cyber Warrior Diversity Program must submit an attestation letter to Dr. Emily A.A. Dow stating the number of students currently enrolled in that institution's Cyber Warrior Diversity Program and submit corresponding unit record data for those students through MHECs secure data web.

1. Who to include:

Only those students in the letter and data submission with enrollments between July 1st and December 31st of that calendar year (e.g. when reporting on December 15th, 2022, include only students enrolled between July 1st, 2022 and December 31st, 2022). This means that the Degree Date (DD112) must equal 0 (still enrolled) or be between July 1st and December 31st of that year.

2. Who to exclude:

Any students with degrees BEFORE July 1st must be excluded from the unit record submission and the attestation letter.

D. Helpful Insight

Helpful Insight to Reduce Errors – This list only includes select data elements or statements that are prone to errors. Please review the documentation page for full CWS layout links and details for more extensive reporting information.

1. Do not insert a space between commas when a data element is not reported.
2. Include only records in the CWS submission with enrollments between July 1 and December 31. Degree date must equal 0 (still enrolled) or be between July 1 and December 31. Any records with degrees BEFORE July 1 must be excluded from the unit record submission and the attestation letter.
3. Blank is not allowed for first name or last name.
4. If a student has no first name, enter NFN, for the first name
5. If a student has no last name, enter NLN, for the last name

E. Data Collection Websites, Emails, and Responsibilities

To secure and ensure data collection integrity, it takes the cooperation of each institution partnering with the MHEC team to manage collections. Websites, specific email addresses, and established responsibilities all work together to offer guidance for data collections, reporting problems or concerns, and outlining due diligence necessary for successful data submissions and management. Detailed information about the websites, emails and responsibilities can be found on the responsibilities page of the data website.

F. Follow the File Layout

The CWS file layout can be found on the documentation page of the data website. The required format is comma-separated values (CSV), which means each data element is separated by commas and the file extension is .csv. Data element submission details for the file layout relies exclusively on MHEC’s online data dictionary. The layout provides the item number, field length parameters, data type, name and the data definition (DD) link to the data dictionary for comprehensive, up-to-date data element guidance, explanations, and examples in some cases.

G. Include the Header Record

The CWS header record can be found on the documentation page of the data website. It is required as part of the uploaded .csv file. It is critical that the uploaded header match MHEC’s header for data editing purposes. Headers that do not match create errors in the validation process.

H. Review the Sample Records

The NWCS sample record can be found on the documentation page of the data website. The sample records are available for your reference and serve for demonstration purposes only. The .csv version of the records shown below the samples is what a submitted record should look like. Note that if a field is empty please do not include a space between the commas.

I. Transfer the File to MHEC

To transfer a .csv file to MHEC, user credentials are required. File transfers between higher education institutions in Maryland and the Commission are secure. Please use the prescribed secure file transfer process and refrain from emailing submissions. The File Transfer page has different functional areas. Select the “Maryland Annual Collection 2 (MAC2)” link to begin the file transfer process. Use “P” to preface UserID credential. Select the option to perform either a preliminary edit or an official submission after editing is complete. Complete the form for the upload and include comments if necessary.

J. Perform File Editing Procedures

The submission process provides editing guidelines that includes an edit report for the purpose of reviewing and verifying data submitted. The report offers frequency distribution counts on selected variables that can be used to verify data counts. The edit program also checks records for proper data element ranges and position. If there are fatal errors or warnings, an explanation will be associated with the infraction and corrections should be made before a subsequent preliminary edit resubmission is performed. The correction and resubmission process should be repeated until the file is free of errors. Before submitting the official version of the file, internal institutional edit confirmations should be performed to check frequency output against uploaded data to verify the accuracy and completeness of the data. At the time of the official submission, if there are remaining fatal errors or warnings on the edit report that cannot be addressed with a correction, then comments with a detailed explanation from the institution must be included in the comments section of the upload form.

K. Check MHEC Internal Validations

The Stata syntax code used for validations can be found on the documentation page of the data website. Stata code is used to validate file submissions. Additional validation testing may be completed contingent upon the results of this baseline code. New validation steps may be added over time as the scope of the collection changes.

L. Data Cookbook

Data Cookbook is MHEC’s MAC2 On-Line Data Dictionary. It contains all data elements used in all unit record data collections managed by MHEC.  On the “Functional Areas” tab, under "Sharing" in the far right column select the definitions link to view the data elements for one of the MAC2 collections. Each data element name is listed in alphabetical order with its functional definition.

To contact MHEC for questions or support, submit an email to mac2help.mhec@maryland.gov.