The Client
State government/Education agency
The Challenge
This state government agency focuses on higher education and needs to access and analyze critical student data in a timely and accurate manner. This data is required to plan and coordinate the state-supported system of post secondary education, review budget requests, and approve new programs or campus expansions. In the future, the agency would like to broaden access to this data internally and provide access to outside suppliers and users of the data.
The goal of the project was to reduce the amount of human resource effort required to extract and analyze information and to expand the type of information available for decision-making purposes. With the capability to view and compare data at various levels and in more detail, the agency would be able to focus on utilizing the information for recommendations and decision-making purposes.
The Haverstick Approach
The scope of the project was to architect, design, and implement a student information data mart.
In general, the scope of the project encompassed:
- Creating the functionality to allow the users to extract the number of full-time equivalents by institution and campus
- Deployment of a SQL Server/OLAP Services-based cube using ProClarity Analytic Platform as the reporting tool
- Use of Microsoft Excel for internal ad-hoc reporting and communications purposes
- A multi-dimensional database that allows users to perform analysis across multiple dimensions and at various levels of a hierarchy
The Result
The client is now able to answer data inquiries in seconds, without requiring the involvement of a data analysis or programming specialist. Ad-hoc requests for data using less common criteria, which previously required hours or days of an analyst’s time, can now be handled in minutes. This capability provides for greater focus on answering the specific business question rather than spending time accessing and formatting the data. | 
