Business Intelligence 2.0 Review & Recommendations

Need for Project  Existing system is based on 9 year old technology  Is becoming very slow  Inconsistencies due to size of system and it’s organic growth  Overly complex for most staff

Objectives  To make technological recommendations of a future BI platform  To make recommendations about the high level data model for reporting  Increase system utilisation by making it easier to use for a wider range of staff  Increase in quality of information  Enable business process improvements & more informed decision making

Scope  Re-evaluation of the current college reporting system  Evaluate modern BI technologies  Plan for a ‘unified data model’  Develop a prototype data model & dashboard  Develop guidance & procedures for future extension of data models

Findings: Feedback from Stakeholders  Curriculum  To many reports  Too much information  Slow  Confusing  Technical  Too many views  Reports are often subtle variations on other reports, but the cant be reused  Slow!!!!

Findings: Research Into Core Data Warehousing Technology  There are only really 2 possible technical methodologies:  Introduce Tabular Modelling  New Technology  Lightning Fast (in memory model base on VertiPaq engine)  Easier to use  Not Mature due to newness & is missing functionality  Multi Dimensional Modelling  Very Fast  Mature & Flexible Technology (KPIs, Query Level Security)  Harder to learn

Findings: Research into Dashboards  There are many commercial products available:  SharePoint  SAP  Cognos  Many more…  Most work the same way  The data is what's important!

Proposed Solution  To create a Multidimensional Cube based using Multidimensional Modelling  Generate a range of KPIs based on cube data  To implement role based dashboards using SharePoint 2013 for:  CMT (Enrolment, Funding, Retention/Success, Register Marking)  Head of School (Enrolment, Funding, Retention/Success, Register Marking)  Lecturer (Retention/Success, Register Marking, Moodle Engagement)  All Dashboards to be security trimmed to appropriate levels

Multi Dimensional Modelling For Beginners (0 Dimensions) All Enrolment Data for all years 9000 Enrolments

Multi Dimensional Modelling For Beginners (1 Dimension) 11/ Enrols 12/ Enrols 13/ Enrols Years

Multi Dimensional Modelling For Beginners (2 Dimensions) 11/ Enrols 12/ Enrols 13/ Enrols Years Dept Engineering 2000 Art 1000 Sport Art Students in 12/13

Multi Dimensional Modelling For Beginners (3 Dimensions) Years Dept 11/ Enrols 12/ Enrols 13/ Enrols Engineering 2000 Art 1000 Sport 1000 FE HE TFS 58 Art Students in 12/13 in HE Course Type

Extract, Transform & Load Process (ETL) Send to Excel Query Data Send requested coordinates to Excel Process in Cube Save to Cache Query Data Existing ModelProposed Model Processed In Advance

Advantages of solution  Very Fast  Secure  Easier to use end users  We already have the necessary technology in house

Challenges  Struggling with how to work with historical data (daily snapshots)  Will require rewrite of old reporting  Requires a more robust planning  KPIs requires targets. We will need the organisational discipline to create and maintain  Technical staff will need some retraining

Where Next?  Arrive at a solution to deal with historical data  Ensure GIS datasets (pointer data) is stored in cube  Explore Server to server data exchange with ArcServer  Explore new product known as PowerMap for GIS integration  Finish the prototype model  Run a trial with a range or staff  Use finding from trial to feedback into a production model

Questions?

Multi Dimensional Modelling For Beginners