A Roadmap for Data Warehouse, Reporting and Analytics at Georgetown

A Response to the Report of the Data Warehouse Working Group

Ron Allan, Dave Lambert, Matt McNally, Piet Niederhausen

Overview

The growing importance of data in the life of the institution Introduction to key concepts
..developing

a common vocabulary

Some important issues facing forward What can we learn from the experience of others Addressing some short term tools issues A proposed roadmap forward A discussion about resources

Building the information-driven university

Increasingly our executive leaders are demanding information and analysis to support strategic decisions. To assure efficiency and competitiveness of our day-to-day operations, managers and directors require a constant flow of reliable information. Hardly a month passes that a new reporting requirement isnt imposed from an external source.

..and even more are on the way.

Georgetown, like the rest of higher education, is being hit by a perfect storm of data issues.
But

There are a multitude of complicating issues

Complexity of cataloging all data fields Complexity of authorization: the Who sees what? Complexity of access: the How do I see what? No single management or reporting tool meets the range of information access needs Regulatory issues: FERPA, HIPAA & G-L-B Data security Data accuracy issues: Sarbanes-Oxley Confusing concepts and vocabulary

Common concepts and vocabulary

From the initiation of our first efforts in building data warehouses, we have been hampered by a confusion in concepts and vocabulary. We are not alone in that regard

There are still major disagreements among thought leaders (including academics) Vendors have unleashed an array of products with conflicting names and capabilities.

One vendors warehouse is anothers ODS.

There is every evidence that confusion will get muddier rather than clearer with the accelerating consolidation in the market.

Reporting and analytics

Business systems
Look up and edit individual records. Execute tasks and record transactions.

Operational data stores

Access data from one business domain. Create production reports.

Integrated data environment (e.g., EDW)

Correlate data across systems. Report on historical data over time. Create university-level reports.

Analytics
Create metrics based on institutional goals Monitor performance using dashboards. Conduct institutional research.

Business systems

Business systems contain transactional data updated by staff and end-users via selfservice. Access control is fine-grained (down to records and fields). Detailed knowledge of a system is required to manage its data. How data is collected and stored affects the ability to do reporting later.

Operational Data Stores

Each data store contains a copy at a pointin-time of transactional data from a business domain, updated periodically. Data stores are primarily used for production, line-of-business reporting. Access control is modeled on business systems, managed by database not reporting tools. Domain knowledge and reporting skills are required to create reports.

Integrated data environment

Data stores Extraction, transformation, and load (ETL) Consistent access controls Integrated data environment Reporting tools

Contains data extracted from many business domains, stored over time. Some data is transformed to make key data consistent across domains. Multiple reporting tools should be supported. The same access controls should be enforced across all reporting tools. Access control is inherently less fine-grained than underlying business systems to enable broader vision. Reporting is constrained by how the data was originally collected and stored.

Analytics
Institutional, program, and project goals Performance metrics Research questions Dashboards SVP Provost Analytics Scenarios VP Dean Projections

Goals must be defined to establish measurable performance metrics and research questions. An analytics environment provides dashboards that show current status compared with a defined goal. An analytics environment also provides the ability to run hypothetical scenarios and projections for institutional research.

Differentiators
Intended for Business systems Staff and administrators Type of data Individual records and transactions Access to data Fine-grained access controls

Required expertise
Detailed knowledge of base system

Operational data stores

Staff and administrators

Production data from one domain

Data across systems, over time Metrics and trends over time

Domain specific Domain fine-to-medium- knowledge and grained access reporting skills controls
Access by domain or business entity Broad, highlevel access Domain knowledge High-level domain knowledge

Integrated data environment Analytics

Administrators and executives Executives and institutional research

Overview
Student

Business systems
Advancement

Human Resources Endowment Mgt Human Resources Endowment Mgt

Financials

Benefits

Faculty

Research Mgt

Space/ Facilities

Service Mgt

Operational data stores

Student

Financials

Benefits

Faculty

Data administration

Advancement

Research Mgt

Space/ Facilities

Service Mgt Data access policy

Integrated data environment

Reporting tools Data governance Performance metrics Research questions Dashboards

Analytics
Institutional, program, and project goals

Analytics

Status
Business systems
Student Human Resources Endowment Mgt Human Resources Endowment Mgt Financials Benefits Faculty Advancement Research Mgt Space/ Facilities Service Mgt

Operational Data Stores

Student

Financials

Benefits

Faculty

Data administration

Advancement

Research Mgt

Space/ Facilities

Service Mgt Data access policy

Integrated data environment

Reporting tools Data governance Performance metrics Research questions Dashboards

Analytics
Institutional, program, and project goals

Analytics

Issues

Establishing a culture and organizational focal point for informationbased analytics in a consensus system

Performance analysis Institutional research

Assuring current and future systems support DW/Analytics.

The Financial system is a particular focus In reference to the model, the max above is constrained by the min below

Establish mechanism(s) to address:

Data access policy Data governance Data administration

Building a long-term funding strategy

Some foundational elements are in the investment plan Missing the dedicated resources per application area In both UIS and Functional areas.

Experience of Peer Institutions

MIT
George

Washington (GW) University of Pennsylvania (Penn) Yale

Sample of Peers
MIT Data Governance No Comprehensive Approach Tradit. Aspects (catalog, definition Covered Best developed in Higher Ed Penn No Comprehensive Approach Designated Data Administrator Well Developed Moving from Inmon to Kimball Dashboard Analyst Assigned GWU No Comprehensive Approach No Designated Data Administrator Well Developed Yale No Comprehensive Approach Conducted by Business Service Data Users Sporadically Developed

Data Administration

Data Warehouse

Kimball
Analytics/ Dashboards Dashboards Extent in NonExecutive Community

Kimball
Board has 1 Dashboard

Adhoc
Managers have Dashboards Executives Do Not

Sample of Peers
MIT Data Ownership Not an Issue: Trustees respn for all aspects of data Granted by Trustee Penn GWU Yale Data Owned by Relevant Business Manager Granted by Data Owning Departments 12 FTEs in Central Technology Org Institution Owns Data Owned by the Data Relevant Individual Granted by Data Steward Granted by Data Owner

Data Access

Staffing

7 FTEs in Central Technology Org

11 FTEs in Central Technology Org

5 FTEs

Funding Model

Formal Part of IT Budget

Ad Hoc: Overhead funding to date

Combination of formal and project funding

Formal Budget Process

Conclusions from peer analysis

Peer institution beset by the same demands and challenges. Many have launched data-related initiatives similar to those at GU. Most have made more progress on data administration and access policy. Most have moved further up the integrated DW layer..
..but

with selected data

We could not find a really good exemplar of an R1 university that has a comprehensive solution

Status of our current toolset

ETL tool: Informatica

Top

of the line

Query Tool: Cognos

Version

out of date Web reports successful Security is administered in Cognos rather than underlying databases

This is a significant constraint

We have no standard tool for Analytics at this point

SAS

is often used for statistical processing Nothing available for true analytics

Open tools issues

ETL tool: Stay with Informatica or move to Oracles Warehouse Builder

This

is Banners tool can:

Query Tool: Cognos

Given the market is in flux we Stand pat for awhile (3 years?)

This is what SunGardHE decided to do Would require upgrade to latest release

Tool choice for analytics

SAS

is the industry leader, but there are others we should look at:
Hyperion, Banner Analytics, etc.

Addressing tools issues

Establish Analytics (business intelligence) tools evaluation committee.

Make

recommendations on ODS and IDE tools: Investigate Analytics tools options. Lay the ground work for next generation query tool choice

As market stabilizes.

Members

from UIS and user communities.

Proposed Calendar (1)

Business Systems Context
Replace SIS with Banner
Define FMS then Replace Stabilize & Enhance Space

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Migrate HRIS off Mainframe

Refresh or Build ODSs

Review interim ETL and reporting tools

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Establish Secure Reporting Environment

Deploy 2nd Generation ODSs for Student, Financials, HR, and Space

Proposed Calendar (2)

Data Administration
Establish Data Administrator
Build and Hire Data Admin team Develop 1st generation data inventory

2007

2008

2009

2010

Establish Data Governance committees

Develop Data Access policies

UIS and Business Division Staffing

Hire IA and Reporting Vacancies

Integrated data environment & Analytics

Develop 1st generation IDEs Develop 1st generation Analytics

Organizational Model
Data Access, Analytics, Self Service, Enterprise Web
AVP, NCS Director, EETS

DBAs DBA Web & Data Architect

Associate Director, Information Access

Applications, Managers Financials, HR, Space, Student

Business Divisions Business Divisions Business Analyst Business Reporting Business Analyst Reporting Business Analyst Reporting Business Analyst Reporting Business Analyst Reporting Business Analyst Reporting Analyst Data Administrator Data Access Policy Working Group Data Governance Committee

Technical Manager, Information Access

Application Teams

Application Programmer

Data Engineer

Application Programmer

Data Engineer

Application Programmer