AWS Public Sector Blog

How advanced analytics can improve efficiency and provide important student insights at higher education institutions

Higher education institutions are turning to data to solve challenges, improve efficiency, and create a better student experience. But to obtain the answers institutions need to thrive and better serve students, they often need new technologies. Many universities are upgrading IT systems and investing in state-of-the-art analytics solutions.

Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is one institution that has taken steps to innovate by creating opportunities for evolution through Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud services. CWRU chose to move to a more modern environment of data lakes instead of updating old data warehouse software. Just a couple years into the change, the benefits are evident across the campus in many ways. The time to answer vital questions has decreased to mere minutes. Departments can navigate and view information themselves through a shared portal. Also, offices and faculties across CWRU have been able to shift time to other areas of focus to further explore opportunities that may benefit students and staff.

For example, the CWRU’s School of Dental Medicine previously relied on manual file systems for compiling data for analysis that was time consuming and left room for human error. The new data lake streamlined processes while allowing for a deeper dive into data. With this new system, the school views patient volumes across clinics and by demographics, which makes it simpler to notice any trends and opportunities and allows for data-based decisions more quickly.

Empowering every office across CWRU to access data themselves is part of the mission to increase data literacy across the campus. Director of Data Management, Analytics, and Visualization at Case Western Reserve, Katie Reynolds, PhD, familiarized people with the system to alleviate any concerns, educate internal business stakeholders and share examples of results. She says people became increasingly excited to get analytics work done and have their data be more accessible to end users.

A data lake, or centralized repository for all data, is flexible and allows less technical users to manage and analyze diverse sets of data points. “With a data lake, you simply put the data in then decide how to use it,” says Jeffrey Gumpf, Chief IT Architect at Case Western Reserve. This system was found to be better suited to current needs while also having the capability to adapt in the future as analytics requirements evolved, unlike the data warehouse the university had been using.

According to Danielle Yardy, senior business development manager at AWS, a data warehouse, which is the old system the university used, is for structured data and users presuppose all of the questions to be answered. Meanwhile, a data lake is fluid and can help to provide answers to those “what if” questions that can lead to true transformational innovation. The collaborative space a data lake creates allows users to experiment and take risks, leading to continued innovation. As for Case Western Reserve, there is now a common language for data assets that is accessible to everyone. “It has democratized access to data,” says Reynolds.

Download and read the full case study on how Case Western Reserve’s advanced analytics system improves efficiency and provides deeper student insights, enabling the university to innovate and plan for the future.

Learn more about how higher education institutions around the world are using AWS to support teaching and learning, connect the campus community, make data-driven decisions to save money and resources, accelerate research efforts, and more at the AWS Cloud for Higher Education hub.

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