Business Intelligence
at Indiana University
Benefits
The Benefits of BI
BI is really all About BI getting the right information to the right people at the right time for greater efficiency and better decision-making. The ability to make effective use of the data gathered each day and transform it into actionable information is a key success factor for any organization.
Benefits
Business Intelligence, when properly implemented and used, delivers many benefits. Some of the key advantages include:
- Alignment of an organization around its strategic goals. Articulate strategy, set measurable objectives, monitor performance against those objectives, and then make informed decisions that support the desired outcome.
- Quicker, fact-based decision making. When analytical data is readily available and understandable, employees at all levels can more easily act in ways that improve performance and support the overall strategy of the organization.
- Reliable presentation of information (‘one version of the truth’). Having all enterprise data integrated and with clear, easily accessible definitions will allow users to spend less time finding and figuring out the data and more time analyzing and making informed decisions based on the data.
- Competitive advantage and cost savings. The incentives for colleges and universities to measure, demonstrate, and improve performance are escalating. BI offerings have the potential to support previously unattainable levels of measurement, comparison, and institutional interventions to improve access, affordability, and success for students.
Examples
BI can positively impact all campuses, all departments, and all areas of responsibility, from deans to directors, analysts to administrators, and staff to support personnel.
Here are some examples of how Business Intelligence might benefit Indiana University:
Retention Rates and Academic Success
Improving retention rates is a common goal of colleges and universities. But it can be difficult to determine which students are committed to returning to school and which are wavering. BI can help identify the critical factors that cause students to leave, and then identify “at risk” students in order to intervene in a way that keeps students on track until they achieve their academic goals.
Program and Course Offerings
Universities must develop new programs and course offerings that reflect the needs of an ever-changing world. BI can provide the data and tools to determine what kinds of courses and programs will be in demand in two to three years and also when current programs and course offerings need to be downsized or retired.
Alumni Relations and Fund Raising
With hundreds of thousands of IU graduates, alumni relations and development staff must focus their efforts on those who are most likely to participate and provide support. BI can provide the tools to analyze factors such as academic history, past contributions, employment, and event participation to predict which alumni are most likely to be actively involved and to fund scholarships and initiatives, and how best to cultivate those key relationships.
Cost Savings
Any area of university operations can benefit from cost savings analysis. For example, in the Travel Office, data on annual travel expenditures, destinations, and budgets can be combined to see the big picture, anticipate future travel trends, and negotiate bulk rates with travel service providers.
Growth and Planning
Finding classroom space has become increasingly difficult and forecasting future needs is critical to successfully staying ahead of the curve. Information from admissions, physical plant, and departments can be combined to efficiently use available space, plan for renovations and building projects, and anticipate enrollment fluctuations
Research
The competition for, in some cases scarce, research dollars is increasing. By making it easier to gather data, submit proposals, track expenditures vs. budgets, and predict future grant funding, the universities ability to attract and deliver on research grants will be significantly enhanced.
Analysis
All departments and schools have ad-hoc questions to be answered through data analysis. For example, the School of Medicine sometimes needs to combine IUIE data, IU Foundation data, research data, and practice plan data in order to provide the needed information. Having all this data easily accessible and providing tools to efficiently integrate it will save countless hours and allow analysts to focus on interpreting the data rather than gathering it.
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