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Delivering Appropriate Information & Business Intelligence to All Levels of the Organization

Educause Enterprise 2008 Conference

Steve BrandtAssociate Director, Institutional Systems

Bill SpolitbackAssociate Director, Institutional Systems

Dickinson College

Overview:

• Dickinson & Institutional Transformation

• Divisional Transformation

• Institutional Systems & Departmental Transformation

• The 1College Project

• Reporting & The Progression Of Our Approach Over Time

• Questions

About Dickinson College:

• 4-year, private liberal arts college

• Students: 2,400

• Faculty: 230

• Employees: 524 full-time

89 part-time

• Budget problems in the 1990s

• New Administration

• Focus on measurable outcomes

• Dickinson College Strategic Plan, FY 2001-2005

Institutional Transformation:

Divisional Transformation:

• Strategic Plan review in 2004:

• Budget balanced

• Selectivity increased

• National visibility enhanced

• IT services issues identified

• Decision to create the merged “Library and Information Services” LIS organization – April 2004.

• Decision to implement the new organizational structure over the Summer of 2004.

Institutional Systems Department

Chartered to support technology solutions with “Institutional” scope and to provide primary interface to LIS for administrative computing.

• Dickinson Gateway – Our portal solution

• Banner – Our ERP solution

• Cognos – Our enterprise reporting solution

• Business analytical services

• Custom software development

Institutional Systems – Who we were…

In the summer of 2004, Institutional Systems was:

• 1 DBA

• 2 Programmers

• 5 Business Analysts

• 1 Manager

Loosely coupled around support for an aging ERP system.

The 1College Project

In an effort to support the future operating needs of the College and to facilitate enhanced financial accountability the 1College project was launched in December 2004 to…

• Integrate our administrative technologies and processes

• Enhance decision making with better analytical tools and real-time self-service access to information

…to be accomplished through…

• Conversion of our aging ERP to Sungard Banner

• Implementation of a Cognos enterprise reporting solution

The 1College Project – Key dates on the timeline

• February/March 2005-Banner and Cognos initial install on campus

• July 2005-Finance/Advancement go-live

• December 2005-Financial Aid and Registrar go-live

• January 2006-Human Resources and Payroll go-live

Institutional Systems - Today

In response to the demands of the 1College Project, the department has grown into the following structure:

• Applications Support Team

– 2 DBAs

– 6 Business Analysts

• Decision Support Team– 3 Decision Support Analysts

• Application Development Team– 2 Application Developers

– 1 Portal Administrator

Library & Information Services

Organizational Relationships

Institutional Systems

Library & Information Services

Development

Finance

HR

Admissions

Registrar

Financial Aid

Academic Affairs Institutional ResearchSenior Leadership

Organizational Relationships

User Services Academic Tech

Library Services Infrastructure Sys.

Decision Support

Application SupportWeb & PortalDevelopment

Institutional Systems

User Services Academic Tech

Library Services

Library & Information Services

Development

Finance

HR

Admissions

Registrar

Financial Aid

Academic Affairs Institutional ResearchSenior Leadership

Organizational Relationships

Infrastructure Sys.

Decision Support

Application SupportWeb & PortalDevelopment

Institutional Systems

Library & Information Services

Development

Finance

HR

Admissions

Registrar

Financial Aid

Academic Affairs Institutional Research

Power Users Group

Senior Leadership

Organizational Relationships

User Services Academic Tech

Library Services Infrastructure Sys.

Transactional Systems(Banner, Rplus, etc)

Data Warehouse

Custom Web Apps /Banner Self-Service /

COTS

Reporting & BI Tool(Cognos)

Portal

Technology Landscape

In the Beginning:

we just met the gaps…

The mountain to delivering tactical and strategic solutions loomed above.

Pre and Post Go-Live Operational Needs

• Finance: Basic Statements

• Development: Gift Receipts, Pledge Reminders, Prospect Profiles

• Financial Aid: Packaging To Do Lists

• Institutional Research: Financial Aid Discount Rate Information

• Academic Affairs / Registrar: Basic Course Registration Information

Progression of Offices

Beyond Transactions – Offering Value-Added Information

• Finance: Analysis Cubes, Budgets, Statement Summaries and Detail

• Development: Annual Giving Information, Report of Gifts, Prospect Analysis, Campaign Progress• Financial Aid: Award Analysis, Scholarship Information• Registrar: Registration Analysis, Grade Analysis, Time-Slot Analysis• Academic Affairs: Course Evaluation Analysis• Institutional Research: Enrollment Prediction Modeling, Retention Modeling, Guidebook Preparation• Admissions: Timely Enrollment Information• HR: Position Control• Senior Leadership: Timely Financial Information

• Synergies Between Functional Areas: Financial Operations Reconciliation to Development

How To Reach All of Your Audiences

Audiences

• Operational• Managers / Directors• Senior Leadership

Presentation Options

• Reports (HTML, PDF, Excel)• Multi-Dimensional Cubes• Dashboards• Portals

?

The Reporting Pyramid

Information Need

Transactional

Tactical

Strategic

Delivery Method

Queries Reports Cubes Dashboards

Dri

ll T

hrou

gh

Portal

Reporting Breadth

First 24 Months

Second 12 Months

3rd Year & Beyond

Reporting Activity Type Over Time

High

Low

Business Analyst Role Over Time

High

Low

Warehouse Data Growth Over Time

High

Low

Audience Demographics Over Time

High

Low

Questions / Open Discussion