Making Data Analy-cs Accessible: New Tool Explodes
on the Scene
PeterJ.Wruck,Ph.D.DeanofRPIEGavilanCollege
BobBarr,Ph.D.ExpertConsultantIns8tu8onalResearch
Groundwork
• Singlecollegedistrictcovering2,700squaremiles• FromsouthernSanJosethroughsouthSantaClaracountyandallofSanBenitocounty• OfficialserviceareaincludessouthernSanJose,MorganHill,Gilroy,Hollister,andSanBenito• Effec8veserviceareaincludeslargerpor8onsofSanJose,Watsonville,Salinas,andLosBanos.
• 5,500FTESannually• NOTabasicaiddistrict• Moneyis8ght
Data Culture and Capacity, Summer 2016
• NoIR-basedpublicviewrepor8ngtools• ARGOSreportsmaintainedbyMIS/IT• LaundrylistofExceltabledownloads• IRdepartmentofone–me!
• OK,plussomeBob8me
• Nograntsorcategoricalshadmoneysetasideforresearchintheirplans• NoIRnon-salarybudget
What we wanted (Bob)
• WhenI(Bob)cametoFHDAin2001,Iwanted• QuickandeasyaccesstodataforIRstaffandcollegestaff• Easytodoanaly8cs
• Solu8ons• EasytousedatawarehouseandtheBrio/Hyperionquerytool• ComprehensiveonlineFactbookandotherdatareports(e.g.,PR)
• OK,check,checkbutthatwasnotenough• Onlinefactbookotherdatawassta8c• Asausercouldn’tdrillintothedataandhencemayrequestofIR&P• So,Iwantedaneasy-to-useINTERACTIVEonlineFactbook
What specs did we need?
• Extremelycustomizable–muchmoresothanTableauorARGOS• IRdepartmentofone…
• No8me/personnel/consultantdollarstodeveloptonsofnewreports• No8metocustomizeormaintainreports
• User-createdcustomcrosstabula8ons,reports,andgraphics• Mustbeaccessibleandusefultoen8recollege.Mustinclude:
• Tradi8onal“factbook”data• Scheduling/enrollmentmanagementdata• Equitydata• Programreviewdata• Budgetdata
What specs did we need?
• Allowforcohorttracking• Includemilestonetrackingandbasicskillsflowsuccesstracking• Highlycosteffec8ve
• One-8meandongoing
• Piggy-backpoten8al• Asothercollegesdevelopstuff,weautoma8callygetofferedit
• Minimalstaff8meformaintenance• Responsivetechnicalsupport
Considered but rejected…
• DoublingdowninARGOS• DivingintoTableau• Searchingforanewjob
• Rejectedduetohighcosts• Feesmoreorlessreasonable–severalthousandayear• LARGEcostsassociatedwithstaff8meformaintenanceandreportcrea8on• Whenes8mateswereadded,itwastoomuch
Yeah… right…
• Novendorwouldmeetallofthem,butonedid
• NewstartupcalledHigherEdProfiles• Welocallybrandedourtool“GavDATA”.
• Ourcostswere$40,000one8mesetupand$20,000peryear.• Subscrip8onfeeunchanged,evenifnewtoolswereaddedlater• Manageableone-8mestaff8meinvolvedincrea8nganini8aldatasetandbuildingachannelintoBannerforuploadingenrollmentdata
More on Customiza-on
• Severaltypesofcustomiza8on• Unmodifieduseofadevelopedreporttoolbutwithyourdata(nocharge)• Modifyingadevelopedtooltomeetyourspecialneeds(addi8onalcharge)
• Example:FHDA’smodifyingournewstudentmilestonetrackingtool• Example:OurmodifyingFHDA’syear-over-yearenrollmentregistra8ontool
• Crea8ngacompletelynewreporttool(addi8onalcharge)• Asanearlyclient,wecreatedmorethandozennewreporttoolswithHigherEdProfilesincludingbasicskillsstudenttracking,non-creditAEBGstudenttracking,separatenon-creditenrollmentcounts,newstudentcohorttrackingformilestones,employeecounts,term-to-termstudentpersistence,andbudgetreports.
• Nowallthesetoolsareavailabletonewclientsatnoextracharge• Anyfuturereportscreatedbecomesimmediatelyavailabletopastandfutureclients.
More on Customiza-on
• Asoneoftheearliestclients,weworkedwithHigherEdProfilesonthelookandfeeltoolreports.Forexample,• Howthecharts/graphslookandtheirsizing• Consistencyoffonts,8tles,numberformats(nofourdigitdecimals)• Whatappearsasthedefaultview(alinechart,counttable,&percenttable)• Sizingofchartsandtablessuchthatwhatappearsonthescreenwillgenerallyprintononepage.• Whatshowsupinthemenusfororganiza8onalunitsandfilters.(We“hid”alotoffilters;we’lltellyouwhere!)
• Nowyouwon’thavetoo
More on Customiza-on – Public or Private
• Youmaydisplayyourdatapubliclyorkeepitinternal• Ouronlineinterac8vefactbookispublic,toapoint• Ourenrollmentmanagement,programreview,studentequity,andbudgetreportsareavailableonlyinternallyonourIntranet
Implemen-ng your solu-on - Technical
• Yousimplyprovideadatasetwiththeappropriatefieldsorvariables• Itdoesnothavetobeinaspecific,predeterminedformat• Youmayprovidemorethanonedataset;forexample,
• Forthefactbook,weprovidedatleastsix;headcounts/enrollments,FTES&FTEF,non-creditenrollments,employeecounts,studentcomple8onawards,andstudenttransfers.
• Theseweresufficientfortheprogramreviewandstudentequitytoolsaswell.• Enrollmentmanagement/schedulingrequiredanotherdataset.• Budgetdatayetanotherdataset.
• Forourfirstsalesdemonstra8ontoseniormanagement,• IsentHEPourmini-factbookStudentProfiledataset• AndBOOM!,threedayslaterHEPhadanonline,interac8vefactbookreadyfordemo.
Implemen-ng your solu-on - Technical
• Twoplacescaneatupyour8me:• providingdatasets• modifyingorcrea8ngnewreports.
• Providingdatasetsmightbe:• Extremelyeasy• Thenagain,maybenot
• Shouldberela8velyeasyifyouhaveadatawarehouseandagoodquerytool(Gavilanhasboth)orwell-developedreports.• Somedatamaybehardertocomebythanothers
• Year-over-yearregistra8ondata• Budgetdata
• Upda8ngadatasetcanvaryandaffectspricing• Factbook,onceeverycompletedterm• Registra8on,dailyfor30-50dayspriortothefirstdayofclassesorcensus• Budget,monthly,dailyorevenseveral8mesperday
Implemen-ng your solu-on - Technical
• Ini8ally,you’llneedtovalidatethatthetoolsareworkingproperly• Crosscheckonlineresultsagainstyourreports• Checkforconsistencyacrosstools
• Forexample,werecentlyno8cedaninconsistencyofFTEFnumbersbetweentwotools,Factbookvs.ProgramReview
• Crea8ngormodifyingexis8ngreportstoolsmaybe8meconsuming.
PiValls of implementa-on – ins-tu-onal
• The“SalesPitch”• Framingtheneedandthetool• Comparingfunc8onalitywithnon-technicalconsumers
• Ensuredatasecuritycompliance• Nomaperhoweasyyouthinkitis,planon:
• Twiceasmuchtrainingasyouthinkyouneedtoplan• Contextualizethetrainingfortheaudience
PiValls of implementa-on – ins-tu-onal
• Achievingbuy-in• Staff–mostlyonboardwithlipletrouble• Administrators&faculty,facedsameissue…
• Youusedtodothisforme,whydoIneedtodoitmyselfnow?
• Planonconnec8ngthedotsandhelpingpeopleexplore• Don’tassumeitwillbecleartomanyoncampusWHYtheyshouldcareaboutexploringtheirdata• Helpthempaintafewpictures,thenencouragethemtopainttheirown
• Comingtomee8ngswithsomebig“discoveries”canhelpspurinterest
How has our data culture changed?
• Impressionsonthetoolhavegonefromahandfulamonthtoover100(andweonlyhave400employees)• TraffictotheRPIEwebsitehasincreased• Onmythirteencommipees,GavDATAisrou8nelymen8oned• Peopleareapendingmee8ngswithself-generatedprintouts
How has our data culture changed?
• We’vestartedgerngmanyaddi8onalcustomiza8onrequests• Instruc8onalvideosmadetohandleinterestvolume• Presidentholdingadministratorsaccountableforknowingtheirdata–accesscannotbeanexcuse
Menu
MenuGavDATAautoma@callysavesyourrequestwhenyouswitchtools.Ifyouwanttostartover,clickmenuandclick“ResetSeJngs”togeta“fresh”startwithadifferenttool.
Ifyousavedmul@plereportsduringyoursession,clickhereto
retrievethem.
ToManagetheflowsuccesstool,youwillneedthismenuitemevenutally.Morelater.
Unit/DepartmentFilters
AllOtherFilters,includingterms
Linegraphorbargraph;#or%
ResultsTable
ResultsVisual
DownloadresultsasPDF,exceltable,or“savetoclipboard”
Ifyouaddanyfilters,they’llappearhere.ThemostcommonfilteristoexcludetheJPA.
Youcandrilldownonanyunit,department,course,orevensec@onbyclickingonthesmallwhitearrowsnexttotheunit.
Expandaddi@onalfilterop@onsbyclickingonthesmallwhitedropdowns.Applyafilterbyclickingthegrey“+”symbol.
Remember:thereareEVENMOREfiltersthatare“hidden.”Clickonthepurplecheckboxtoseethem.
Toselectmul@pleunitsatthesame@me,clickon“Mul@-UnitSelec@on”
Toviewspringorsummerterms,clickon“star@ngterm”andchangetheterm.