Great article here from the CIO of Westminster College on his and the schools efforts to create a business intelligence strategy and governance plan. As the CIO points out, even private institutions have a need for business intelligence. “Although most private colleges and universities are not for profit, they’re also not for loss, and it’s critical that we maximize any and all resources we have available.”
How is Westminster College maximizing those resources? They are counting on business intelligence and have created a business intelligence governance group to:
Establish Seamless Business Intelligence Reporting – minimize one-off reporting
Common Reporting – ensure consistency and accessibility
Predictive Analytics – mine and use the “treasure trove” of data
In order to meet these goals, Westminster is starting by:
Creating a data dictionary – a common set of definitions for all metrics and KPIs
Inventory current efforts – reuse and repurpose current methods for broader use
Define new key performance indicators – identify KPIs to focus on
Validate data structures – and find what’s missing
Define the data warehouse – then create the data warehouse
Dashboards/KPI sharing – data sharing, what to share and where
What do you think of Westminster’s approach? What’s missing, if anything?
Spotfire Blogging Team
Image Credit: Microsoft Office Clip Art
