Elgin Community College Empowers End Users by Expanding Self-Service Reporting with Entrinsik Informer

• Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
• Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization
• Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)

• Education

• Business Operation
• Quality Assurance

• System Integration
• Training

Before implementing Entrinsik Informer in 2010, Elgin Community College (ECC) faced significant limitations in their reporting capabilities. The college relied on Query Builder to access data within their Colleague® by Ellucian database, built on Rocket UniData, and Envision, a programming tool from Ellucian, to write custom reports and processes. Only two IT staff members and a few business analysts could write queries and respond to end-user requests. Users had to use a colon prompt function to access their Colleague database, which was a complicated and tedious process, especially for those without specific technical training. This process presented problems, such as the inability to retrieve or save commands and lack of data security. Additionally, user requests for reports had to be funneled through an analyst and then to IT staff, causing delays and dependency on IT intervention. The college needed a more effective reporting solution to support their staff's needs and reduce IT involvement.

Since 1949, Elgin Community College (ECC) has been dedicated to improving lives through learning. Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, ECC offers comprehensive degree and certificate programs, affordable tuition, small classes, and knowledgeable and caring faculty and staff. The college provides six associate degree programs, over 140 career-oriented occupational degrees and certificates, corporate and continuing education programs, and pre-collegiate courses and initiatives. ECC is also a great place to start a bachelor’s degree, earn summer credit, or begin dual admission with a four-year college or university. Along with its Spartan Drive Campus in Elgin, ECC offers courses and services at various locations, including the Education and Work Center in Hanover Park, Streamwood Village Hall, and several public schools and libraries. The college’s 360-square-mile district is home to 446,224 residents, 10,937 businesses, four school districts, and 33 communities.

ECC needed a more effective reporting solution to support their staff's needs and reduce IT involvement. After receiving recommendations from colleagues at other schools and talking to Entrinsik staff at various user conferences, ECC decided to implement a trial version of Informer and licensed the full version shortly after. After converting from UniData to SQL in 2013, ECC used Informer to connect to many of their new data sources, including Colleague SQL, the college’s time and attendance database, Colleague’s LPR database, and another internal data source. Users were immediately impressed with the ease of use and powerful capabilities of Informer. The IT team quickly learned the software, and within days, they were running full reports. The HR department was particularly happy with the stable tool, and report runners found it intuitive to use. Informer allowed ECC to empower end-users, enabling them to create and customize their own reports without relying on IT or business analysts. The college also benefited from features like live excel functionality and the ability to write files to a network drive, which could be published to the web or accessed by select users and processes.

• Staff and end-users at ECC saw immediate results with Informer, with over 60 end-users now able to run reports.
• The HR department alone created over 300 production reports, and power users can manage mappings, create and modify reports, and schedule reports without IT assistance.
• Many staff members benefit from Informer without logging into the system, as they receive scheduled emailed reports.

• Over 60 end-users can now run reports.
• The HR department created over 300 production reports.