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Colorado State University Moves Enterprise Analytics to the Cloud
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
Applicable Industries
- Education
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
Use Cases
- Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
Services
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
- Data Science Services
The Challenge
As Colorado State University's analytics endeavors expanded to include many types of data and reporting tools, the institution’s faculty and staff members had a difficult time obtaining consistent data. People were showing up at meetings with conflicting numbers due to inconsistent operational definitions and the lack of a central reporting platform. The university needed one centrally supported platform that could deliver one version of the truth. Campus constituents wanted a cloud-based solution that could improve student outcomes through predictive analytics, boost operational efficiencies, and differentiate CSU from other institutions with externally facing dashboards and fact books.
About The Customer
Colorado State University (CSU) is a research-intensive public land-grant university located in Fort Collins, Colorado. It has more than 33,000 students, nearly 2,000 faculty, and over 2,500 administrative staff. The university offers a comprehensive array of undergraduate and graduate programs through eight individual colleges. By statute, there are also four State agencies assigned to CSU: the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station, Extension, the Colorado State Forest Service, and the Colorado Water Center. Data and analytics drive many of these academic initiatives and data is also critical to the many back-office administrative functions that keep the university running smoothly, from finance to human resources (HR), admissions to institutional research.
The Solution
CSU's Information Services (IS) department led the effort to select one enterprise platform that could fulfill the analytics needs of the entire university. They chose to use Information Builders Cloud, a fully managed solution that combines data management and analytics technology, hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Since going live with Information Builders Cloud, the university has created a centralized analytics platform that consolidates more than 15,000 financial reports from multiple data sources, departments, and reporting environments. The Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Effectiveness developed an externally facing dashboard that prospective students and their parents can use to get to know the various departments and majors at the university. A portal built on Information Builders’ WebFOCUS business intelligence (BI) and analytics platform includes InfoApps targeted to specific domains, such as student enrollment, degrees conferred, entering freshman characteristics, and student success.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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