Brightspace Data Sets (BDS) contain raw, user-level data from Brightspace. They can be combined with each other and with Advanced Data Sets (ADS) to provide you with the maximum flexibility in aggregating and filtering the data to your specific needs.
Version History
To track changes in Brightspace Platform releases, BDS have their own version number. When the BDS version number updates, as a part of your monthly Continuous Delivery (CD) software update, changes appear in the data the next time the BDS are generated.
If the BDS are in the process of being generated when the version number changes, any data set generated after that change reflects the latest version. As a result, you might have some data that reflects the previous version and some data that reflects the latest version, for a short time.
BDS version numbers consist of a major version (the number before the decimal point) and a minor version (the number after the decimal point). Specific changes to individual BDS are captured in their respective reference tables. Each reference table displays the BDS version number for each change under Version History.
Major Versions
When a new major version (such as 5.X) is released, clients normally have a 4-month opt-in window where they can choose to adopt the new major version; when this window is over, clients are automatically updated. However, when the new version is required to resolve a defect, client versions are immediately and automatically updated. For more information about managing BDS updates, refer to Brightspace Data Sets Change Management Policy on Brightspace Community.
Since the April 2024/20.24.4 release, the default BDS major version is 9. For more information about major version 9, refer to Motivations behind the changes in Data Hub Brightspace Data Set (BDS) Major Version 9 on Brightspace Community.
Minor Versions
Minor version updates (such as 4.7 to 4.8) contain low impact changes that will not break downstream systems or reporting, such as adding a column. Since the September 2017/10.7.5 release, the Continuous Delivery (CD) software update automatically rolls out a new BDS minor version to clients every month. In some releases, there are no changes to the data sets, but the minor version number goes up anyway. This makes it easier for us to plan updates because we know far in advance what the exact BDS version number will be.
Sometimes we refer to a minor version with no documented changes (such as v8.8) in the BDS reference tables under Version History. This simply means we published a correction or clarification to the BDS documentation during the release that corresponds with that minor version number.
Entity Relationship Diagrams
Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERDs) are graphical representations of the relationships of entities stored in a database. ERDs help administrators understand how databases work, which is useful when attempting to join Brightspace Data Sets together to create a custom data output.
Each Brightspace Data Set category (Announcements, Assignments, Attendance, etc.) includes an ERD that shows the types of relationships (one-to-one, one-to-many, etc.) between all entities, including which fields are Primary Keys (PKs) and Foreign Keys (FKs), and which fields can be null.