making data analycs accessible: new tool explodes on the...

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

So it was…

What to do?

•  Jobsearch• Complacency• Denial• Newtools!

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.


•  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


• 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

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Menu

MenuGavDATAautoma@callysavesyourrequestwhenyouswitchtools.Ifyouwanttostartover,clickmenuandclick“ResetSeJngs”togeta“fresh”startwithadifferenttool.

Ifyousavedmul@plereportsduringyoursession,clickhereto

retrievethem.

ToManagetheflowsuccesstool,youwillneedthismenuitemevenutally.Morelater.

Clipboard

Clickonthedoublearrowtomakeallunitsandfiltersappearononeline.

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.

making data analycs accessible: new tool explodes on the...

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