Southern Illinois University
Transcription
Southern Illinois University
Profile: Easy accEss to timEly Data FostErs BEttEr DEcision making Within a 24-hour period at the beginning of each semester, it is likely that a professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale will have at least one student add or drop the class. However, because of the complexity of reporting, the department would receive weekly rather than daily updates of the class list. This was just one example of outdated data impacting daily operations at the university. Now that the institution is using Banner® Operational Data Store (ODS), information that impacts class registration, admissions and many other areas of the university is updated daily. ■ ■ ■ enrollment: 19,817 www.siuc.edu Challenges: ■ ■ Complexity of reporting environment limited access to select group of programmers information delivered to users in reports was quickly outdated solution: ■ ■ Banner® operational Data store Banner® enterprise Data Warehouse results: ■ “With ODS, data is more timely and easily accessible to our users, and that fosters better and quicker decision making,” said Scott Bridges, assistant director for the Student Information System at the university. “It has allowed us to be better in a lot of ways with our decision making. We are very satisied with ODS and what it allows us to do.” Carbondale, il ■ ■ information is updated daily versus weekly or semi-weekly users have easy access to information they need to make better decisions users access shared, consistent and accurate data The university rolled out a Banner Operational Data Store for each of its inancial aid, student, and accounts receivable modules as it implemented Banner® by Ellucian. Each data store provides a consistent view of the institutional data for users across the campus and, fully integrated with Banner, enables users to leverage institutional data more quickly, sparing the institution costs and time spent building its own data store. Before the ODS was implemented, reporting was done against data extracts from the university’s legacy system. The two most used extracts were updated weekly and semi-weekly, then archived twice a semester: after the 10th day of enrollment and after grades were published. “We have staff throughout the institution who need daily updates,” emphasized Bridges. “Instructors want to know who is in their class, and who dropped and added it. At registration time, staff needs an updated accounting of who has not registered, new admits, and who to contact because they are missing data in the admissions process. Access to data impacts every department and college.” Today, more than 500 staff across campus easily access the data and run reports against the Banner Operational Data Store using the integrated, easyto-use Argos reporting tool. There are more than 500 Argos users throughout campus running reports against ODS. Through Argos, users can view a variety of prepared reports such as class and registration lists and enrollment reports. Users select their required parameters and the report is presented to them. Data is presented using familiar business terms and deinitions so that departmental users can easily access the information they need to manage operational reporting, perform ad hoc queries, and make better decisions about their daily responsibilities. In the past, the users would have to contact staff in enrollment management, the registrar’s ofice, or institutional research and request the reports. “The real bang for the buck is providing access, and access to current data,” said Bridges. “We update ODS daily versus weekly. So when people pull reports, they are looking at timely information. And ODS is designed to be easier for staff to pull reports. Its ease of use and access to more timely information are the big beneits.” Core developers in information technology, enrollment management, institutional research, and various colleges and departments across campus can access the Banner Operational Data Store directly for more indepth and customized reporting. Before, the reporting language used against the extracts was familiar only to a smaller group of people because of its complexity. “With ODS, data is more timely and easily accessible to our users, and that fosters better and quicker decision making.” Scott Bridges Assistant Director for SIS “Users who have some programming knowledge can enter ODS directly to access whatever information they need. Overall, the implementation of ODS has provided more timely data, more breadth and depth of data, and easier access to writing reports via SQL,” said Bridges. Staff without programming knowledge who need more data can request a report from their colleagues who are more familiar with the Banner Operational Data Store. When they do make a request, the response time is much shorter than before because of the ease of use. When the institution irst implemented Banner Operational Data Store, it turned to Ellucian for guidance on best practices. “Because the solution provides such a vast data model, it was important to have the experience of the consultants to help us focus our efforts initially. They understood the business questions we wanted answered and guided us to the appropriate reporting views and explained how to tie everything together,” recalled Bridges. BannEr EntErprisE Data WarEhousE proviDEs historical viEW To strengthen its reporting environment further, the university also is using the Banner Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW). Also fully integrated with Banner, the Banner Enterprise Data Warehouse provides the foundation that users need to understand organizational performance, manage the dynamic environment in which they operate and use data more effectively to achieve their goals. The university is just beginning to explore the historical snapshots available in the Banner Enterprise Data Warehouse. For example, it is tracking enrollment from year to year and week to week. “We plan to strategically increase our use of EDW,” explained Bridges. “We want to use it to gain a better understanding of our admissions cycle from year to year. With the EDW, we can see how many applicants we had at the same time a year ago, how many were admitted, how many were from high school and how many were transfers. The business analytics can tell us what we are doing right, our strengths and where we are missing the mark. They give us the background we need to make business decisions.” “The business analytics can tell us what we are doing right, our strengths and where we are missing the mark. They give us the background we need to make business decisions.” Scott Bridges Assistant Director for SIS aBout Ellucian Ellucian helps education institutions thrive in an open and dynamic world. We deliver a broad portfolio of technology solutions, developed in collaboration with a global education community, and provide strategic guidance to help education institutions of all kinds navigate change, achieve greater transparency, and drive eficiencies. More than 2,400 institutions in 40 countries around the world look to Ellucian for the ideas and insights that will move education forward, helping people everywhere discover their futures through learning. To learn more, please visit www.ellucian.com © 2013 Ellucian. All rights reserved. ECS-332