The Transition from Accountability pdf’s to a Business Intelligence Suite within the University of Texas System

1. The Transition from Accountability pdf’s to a Business Intelligence Suite within the University of Texas System Office of Strategic Initiatives Dr. Alicia Betsinger, Assistant Director for Strategic Initiatives Annette Royal, Business Intelligence Research Analyst Jennifer Carnes Whitman, Systems Analyst November 2012 UT System is a public institution of higher education and is prohibited by law and regulations from endorsing commercial vendors.  This presentation is a demonstration of a UT System Electronic Accountability System.  Any mention of a specific commercial vendor is not an endorsement by UT System and is for informational purposes only.

2. UT System By the Numbers • 15 institutions • 9 academic institutions • 6 health institutions • 214,861 students (Fall 2011) • 74% undergraduate • 40% Hispanic • 46,094 degrees/certificates awarded (AY 2011) • 66% undergraduate • ~35% of degrees awarded by public universities in Texas • ~63% of degrees awarded by public health-related institutions in Texas • 19,099 faculty, including 7,621 T/TT faculty • $2.54 billion in research expenditures (FY 2011) • 54% federally funded • 65% by the health-related institutions • $13.1 billion in budgeted expenses (FY 2012) • $17.6 billion in endowments (FY 2011)

3. Driving Forces • Board of Regents • Chancellor • State and national trends • Calls for increased transparency and accountability • Calls to demonstrate productivity, efficiency, and impact • Increases in requests from internal and external constituents for more data • Desire to streamline and automate office operations

4. Framework for Advancing Excellence • Framework for Advancing Excellence adopted in May 2011. • Framework Action Plan adopted in August 2011. • Undergraduate Student Access & Success • Faculty/Administrators/Staff Excellence • Research • Productivity and Efficiency

5. Framework for Advancing Excellence (cont.) • Framework Action Plan continued. • Strategic Information Technology Infrastructure Investments • Enhance Philanthropic Success • Ph.D. Programs • The Health of Texas • Expanding Educational and Health Opportunities in South Texas The action plan prioritized the creation of an interactive data warehouse that would support the management of the UT System and its institutions. The Dashboard will support the Framework by providing an accessible, customizable tool for monitoring institutional performance and progress towards goals related to the nine areas in the action plan.

6. Dashboard Overview • Purpose: Many • Transparency, Accountability • Management Tool • “Fact Book” • Streamline Data Collection/Distribution Process • Audience: Everyone • Internal leadership and staff; campus leadership and staff; government; private industry; media • Unchallenged Public Access for almost every data point. • Although available as context, this is NOT intended as a primary source of information for perspective students or their parents

7. Technical

8. Data • Data Sources • IPEDS • THECB • NSF • System and Institutional submissions • Other federal and state • Data Structure • Star Schema with slowly changing dimensions.

9. Server Environments • Three separate SAS environments • DEV (development) • TEST • PROD (production) • Three environments ensure security and facilitate • extracting / cleaning data • developing reports • pushing data and reports to internal/external users • Promotion Workflow

10. Server Environments

11. Server Environments • Virtualized server environment (Vmware) • 7 virtual machines running 3 Business Intelligence environments PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT WEB Server (JBOSS) Metadata Server Application Server TEST ENVIRONMENT Application Server Metadata Server Development Environment WEB Server (JBOSS) Web, Metadata & Application Servers

12. Server Environments • Data Storage • Each environment has a Network Attached Storage Device with 150 GB • Current projections for storage are for 15 GB of data for each academic year • Security • During implementation, conducted scan for potential security threats • Threats were addressed on a case-by-case basis to mitigate risk • Reverse proxy server • InCommon Secure Socket Layer certificate for additional encryption and security • Shibboleth will allow single sign-on capability across organizational boundaries

13. Dashboard Demo data.utsystem.edu

14. Dashboard Expansion: Beyond the Core Indicators

15. Lessons Learned…So Far • Document processes as you go along, especially those that are executed regularly • Create a security model for OS and application permission • Ensure that big picture is translated into the appropriate detailed steps • Participate in training at the optimal point in your process. Too early is ineffective!

16. Lessons Learned…So Far (cont.) • Accept that you will never have enough time • Understand that data warehouse is built for end-user rather than technical user • Accept that there will be intermediate steps needed between your data warehouse and analyst end users • Anticipate mid-course adjustments on weekly, if not daily, basis

17. Conclusion: The Benefits • Easy Access to Information • Ability to Access Multiple Years of Historical Data • Standardization of Data Across a Large Higher Education System • Ability to Answer Complex Questions • Transparency Results in Better Outcomes

18. Questions? • Alicia Betsinger, Assistant Director • abetsinger@utsystem.edu • Annette Royal, BI Research Analyst • aroyal@utsystem.edu • Jennifer Whitman, Systems Analyst • jwhitman@utsystem.edu data.utsystem.edu