Data-Driven University Assembly Required: the Role of the Business Intelligence Tool at VT

CSG PRESENTATION MAY 14, 2015

Debbie Fulton, AVP for Enterprise SystemsVirginia Tech

It’s not how you get there…unless you can’t get there.

Delta, United, or USAir…

Hertz, Enterprise, or Avis…

Doesn’t really matter which you choose unless it means missing the event!

The “perfect” BI tool is not the goal and will not create a data-driven university.But if you have no viable tool, your actual BI goals may be unattainable.

Just to be clear….• Implementing the “perfect” Business Intelligence tool does

NOT create a data-driven university.

• Many BI tools exist that provide acceptable functionality

BUT

• Some level of BI tool functionality is needed to advance toward a data-driven university.

BI Tool Data-DrivenUniversity

Finding a BI Tool – Virginia Tech’s Journey

• Any tool will do - almost

• VT’s legacy reporting environment

• RFP for a BI tool

• Leveraging the tool to become a data-driven university – EAB recommendations

Goals for the Virginia Tech BI Tool Initiative• Replace soon-to-be obsolete technology

• Leverage VT’s data warehouse

• Position VT for the future• Unstructured data• Mobile access• Diversity of data sources

• Address issues with the current environment• Inconsistent distribution and management of information• Report development cycle is lengthy and process varies• Lack of modern presentation and analytical functionality• Inadequate licensing of legacy tools; product obsolescence

RFP Requirements for VT Business Intelligence System

• Pixel Perfect Enterprise Reporting

• Ad hoc Reporting

• Analytics, Visualization, and Predictive Modeling

• Scheduling and Distribution

• Dashboards

• Mobile implementation

• Common Data Model (virtual data model)

Virginia Tech’s Legacy Data Architecture – no common data model

Virginia Tech’s Data Architecture Vision for the Future:A Common Data Model

BI at VT: Benefits Realized and Next Steps• Microstrategy site license for

administrative and academic usage

• Have a tool with full functionality to support BI

• Opportunity to jumpstart BI dialogue

• BI sponsorship and steering committee

• Data Governance – beyond data stewards

• BI leadership and evangelism

Questions for consideration in achieving a data-driven university…..

• How do we progress with all aspects of a BI implementation (data governance, evangelism, analytics, etc.) that need to come together to reach a “data-driven” university?

• Where does IT fit? Could we learn from the evolution of Learning Systems for how we might create data analytics services, partnerships, and direction between IT and the university?