IData News Archive 2011

November 11, 2011-IData Participates in SEDUG 2011

IData will be attending the Southeast Datatel Users’ Group (SEDUG) conference in Myrtle Beach, SC, from November 16th to 18th. We invite you to visit Booth 12 to learn about our latest products and services. We will be presenting “Why Do So Many Reporting Projects Fail? And What You Can Do About It.” In addition to our presentation and Data Cookbook demos, we will also discuss our exciting new product, NextReg, a free market registration solution.

October 11, 2011-IData Evaluates Augusta State Institutional Research Department

Augusta State University’s Institutional Research Office recently changed leadership, prompting its new director to contract with IData for an assessment of selected Institutional Research functions. Augusta’s departmental website, the ASU electronic fact book, faculty contract processing and student retention practices were four immediate services that the director knew could be more effective. Based on a series of on-campus interviews and observations, IData institutional research consultants submitted recommendations to improve these specific areas as well as proposed overall suggestions for the department. The targeted assessment provided findings for improvement opportunities within the Institutional Research Office, arming it with information to make quality changes to more effectively and efficiently deliver its services.

October 10, 2011-IData and Data Cookbook Play Pivotal Role in Report Migration for Texas Wesleyan

Texas Wesleyan University joined many other Datatel institutions in transitioning from a Unidata database to SQL Server. Texas Wesleyan called on Mainline Information Systems, an IT consulting firm, to manage the migration project. A major part of this effort was a complete rewrite of all Unidata reports in the SQL Server environment. While Mainline was able to provide the project management expertise to lead the implementation, Texas Wesleyan University needed a partner with the specific data management experience to migrate hundreds of operational reports. Texas Wesleyan called on IData to be its report migration partner.

With a tight deadline and a large number of reports to be migrated, IData quickly turned to its data management tool, Data Cookbook. First, IData documented all current reports in Data Cookbook, which established a consensus baseline for the report requirements and data definitions. It then added new technical definitions for the data elements on each report to document how to retrieve the same information in the SQL Server environment. After thoroughly documenting reports and definitions, IData built the reports using SQL Server Reporting Services, and collaborated on user testing and approval through Data Cookbook’s report request workflow.

The utilization of Data Cookbook contributed greatly to the efficiency of this multi-step process. Data Cookbook saved effort by identifying overlap and consolidating like terms. According to Brigitte Mudukuti, Texas Wesleyan’s IT Applications Director, “What quickly surfaced was our use of certain terms.” For instance, Mudukuti noted that there were several definitions for current student. This program also facilitated discussion between IData and Texas Wesleyan. Wesley Shelton, Applications Support Manager, said that Data Cookbook served as a “good mode of communication between us and IData.” This collaborative tool and IData’s extensive knowledge of higher education data systems made for an easier and timelier transition.

October 7, 2011-IData Attending EDUCAUSE Annual Conference

IData will be exhibiting at EDUCAUSE 2011 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from October 18th to 20th. We hope that you will visit us at Booth 1745 to learn more about our client successes and our new innovative products. For more information, go to http://www.educause.edu/E2011.

September 23, 2011-IData Welcomes New Staff

IData is pleased to announce the addition of two new team members, Jonathan Pittman and Nancy Pope.

Jonathan joins IData as a Project Director, who will be leading NextReg efforts as well as managing integration projects for the company. Jonathan has over 15 years higher education experience and has worked at Allegheny College, American University, and Walden University. Having served higher education in different capacities, Jonathan has both admissions and information systems management experience, including familiarity with Banner and Datatel systems. His previous roles include Project Manager for College Summit and Director of Business Application Management for Laureate Higher Education. He received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Allegheny College, and he holds the PMP certification.

Nancy is IData’s Business Development Manager, responsible for coordinating IData’s sales activities. Nancy brings over 25 years higher education experience to IData, 14 years working directly with the sales of ERP products and services to institutions across the US, Canada and neighboring countries. Nancy’s additional higher education background in the areas of student affairs and leadership comes from her years at Penn State University. She received her BS from East Stroudsburg University and her master’s degree from Penn State University. With her higher education expertise and knowledge of products and services for higher education, Nancy possesses the business acumen and successes that will be great assets to IData.

September 6, 2011-Conversion to PDF Makes Legacy Data More Accessible

Inaccessible legacy data is an age-old problem for institutions of higher learning. After a new system is implemented, older information is often trapped in local Excel spreadsheets or unused tables in separate databases. Storing important records as indexed document images or PDFs can make it easier for schools and universities to manage and retrieve student information. Looking to utilize document imaging technology, Thomas Edison State College approached IData to create indexed PDF files for their legacy student transcript requests and student evaluations.

This project was no small undertaking, as IData had to convert more than half a million student records, some more than 20 years old. IData’s task also required them to clean data to resolve possible errors. Using a homegrown utility built from open source components, IData transformed Thomas Edison’s numerous student records into PDFs that could be entered into their document imaging system. The project was a success not only for Thomas Edison but also helped to establish processes at IData to create imaged documents from enterprise data using open source tools instead of relying on costly third-party licensed software.

Established in 1972, Thomas Edison offers undergraduate and graduate level programs, as well as distance learning options, for working professionals.

August 26, 2011-IData Improves Usability of Berklee College Music Education Site

Berklee College of Music, known for its innovative teaching and its focus on contemporary music, is equally renowned for its commitment to community service. As part of its community initiatives, Berklee created PULSE, an online application that teaches secondary school students about music by letting them explore a wealth of Berklee’s music education resources. This service continues to grow in popularity and with increased demand comes the need to make the administration of the site even more robust and user-friendly. Berklee sought IData to enhance the site with new functionalities.

In order to accomplish this, IData had to first work with Berklee to put best practices in place for web application software development, which involved developing a software release strategy and testing environments. The following step was to place the program code under a version control system. While adding new features, IData also worked to create overall system documentation for future developers so that they could easily understand how the application operates.

Building on their web application experience, IData took a website that was created internally at the Berklee College of Music and customized it to better serve user needs, as well as recorded all procedures related to the management of the site. As a result of IData’s contributions, PULSE is now a more robust teaching tool for music lovers. To learn more, visit http://berkleepulse.net/.

August 26, 2011-Custom Reports Provide Access to Potential Donors

Like many other schools, University of Mary Washington (UMW) benefits greatly from the generosity of its alumni. Key in securing contributions is the university’s access to parents of current students and graduates. However, capturing parent information was a great challenge for University of Mary Washington’s Office of University Advancement because they were entering parent records manually, which inevitably resulted in inaccuracies and missing data. To resolve this problem, IData devised a plan to use a custom Banner self-service form, which loaded student forms directly to the Banner system and enabled UMW administrative offices to quickly pull data using Job Submissions and prepare more targeted gift campaigns based on focused reports.

Utilizing their knowledge of the Banner systems, IData successfully created custom reports that made student information available across departments. This gave the Office of University Advancement more immediate access to parent data and ensured that they did not miss donation opportunities.

August 18, 2011-Data Cookbook Popular With Higher Education Institutions

Data Cookbook has become the premier choice for information sharing and storage of reporting metadata. Schools across the country, from public universities to community colleges, are quickly learning the benefits of this collaborative data management tool. The centralized data dictionary and workflows for data governance facilitate discussion and improve understanding of reporting processes. Data Cookbook’s newest clients include Morehead State University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Aims Community College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Butler Community College, and University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

July 27, 2011 – IData to present at NERDUG 2011 (Manchester, NH)

IData will be exhibiting at the 2011 New England Datatel Users Group July 27 through July 29. Please visit us our booth and join us for our presentation on Thursday, July 28 at 9:00 AM. Director of Institutional Research and Reporting Services Scott Flory will give the presentation “Using the Data Cookbook for SQL Server Migrations” and will discuss how to develop a robust and collaborative reporting knowledgebase while managing the tasks of reporting migration.

May 19, 2011 – IData to present at AIR 2011 (Toronto)

IData will be exhibiting at AIR 2011 May 22 through May 24. Please visit us at booth #48 and join us for our presentation on Monday, May 23 at 9:45 AM. President Brian Parish and Director of Institutional Research and Reporting Services Scott Flory will give their presentation “Why Do So Many Reporting Projects Fail?” and will discuss why we believe institutional reporting is NOT a technology problem.

April 20, 2011 - Farmington, NM

IData has delivered a solution to San Juan College that allows the school to require payment during the online registration work-flow. Now, students can easily make payments when their pending registration will cause a positive receivable account balance. The registration process does not proceed until the balance is paid. This customization ensures payment during peak registration times (such as add/drop periods). The system was made to be configurable so that administrators can specify rules, maximum allowed balances, date ranges and other parameters that govern whether or not the student’s registration is affected.

February 28, 2011 – IData to exhibit at ACE 2011 (Washington, DC)

IData, Inc will be exhibiting at The American Council on Education (ACE) 93rd Annual Meeting in Washington, DC on March 6th and 7th, 2011. Please visit us at booth #219.

March 1, 2011 – IData to present at DUG 2011 (National Harbor)

IData and Loyola University will be presenting on data management, institutional reporting, and the Data Cookbook during DUG 2011 at National Harbor. IData President Brian Parish along with Director of Reporting Services Scott Flory and Loyola University’s CIO Louise Finn will give their presentation on Data Management, Institutional Reporting, and the Data Cookbook on Monday, March 7, 2011 from 4:05 PM – 4:55 PM at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Woodrow Wilson B. For more information on the Data Cookbook, please visit: datacookbook.com

January 12, 2011 - Danville, IL

IData, Inc has delivered a solution to Danville Area Community College (DACC) that provides their students with their full billing statements via WebAdvisor, eliminating the need for paper statements. This solution is another step toward DACC’s goal of becoming a “paperless” environment and provides extra convenience for their student population.

For information on how IData, Inc can help your institution reach its goals, see our Technology Consulting Services page.

January 13th, 2011 - Mid-Atlantic EDUCAUSE Conference (Baltimore, MD)

IData Inc. will be presenting a session with Loyola University Maryland at the Mid-Atlantic EDUCAUSE conference on January 13th, 2011. The session entitled “Data Management, Institutional Reporting, and the Data Cookbook” will discuss how Loyola University worked with IData to help create an effective business process for collaboration and data management in its institutional reporting. For more information on the session visit http://goo.gl/RnHYV.