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Data Administration In An Academic Environment

Mini KanwalData Administrator

University Information SystemsGeorgetown University

October, 2002

Data Administration In An Academic Environment

University data are institutional assets and are a key to support its fundamental instructional, research and public service missions. In the past, the information has been maintained by different administrative areas and often stored in different systems.

However, because Georgetown’s management and staff are increasingly turning into information consumers, integration of information from these different systems is very important. The staff, faculty and students are relying more than ever upon university data to help meet their work or study goals.  Our poster outlines the different challenges we face and the strategies we are taking to educate, empower, and inform the value of the data - its integrity, quality and security to the academic and non-academic departments, faculty and staff of the university. It also focuses on how the data administration and management is becoming a part of the larger university-wide effort.  

Data Administration

Definition: As a new function for Georgetown, Data Administration is the function of applying formal guidelines and tools to manage the university’s information resources, thereby providing reliable, accurate, secure, and accessible data to meet the strategic and management needs of all campus users.

Data Administration is a part of the Enterprise Data Warehouse project (EDW) and has several components - including warehouse management software, database management systems and access tools.

The data administration serves three distinct groups:

Operational (Detail information to support line employees in their daily work)

Managerial (Directors, Managers; workload monitoring & survey response)

Executive (Provost, Vice President, and Deans: strategic forecasting)

PeopleSoft Admissions

Student Information

Systems

NETWORK AND DATA INFRASTRUCTURE

EDW ROLES

HR/Payroll

ENTERPRISE DATA WAREHOUSE

Academic Support

FacilitiesPeopleSoftFinancials

SUPPORT SERVICES

Training

Standards

Desktop Support

Help Desk

DATA

ADMINISTRATION

Business Rules

Voice Data Video

NETWORK SERVICES

Security Messaging Authentication Imaging EDI

APPLICATIONS ENVIRONMENT

Internal Issues

Large population of data consumers – faculty, staff, students

Multiple data sources / Multiple data owners

Don’t know where data is located

Don’t know what data is available for our area of interest

Can’t access the data

No data standardization policy

Data isn’t consistent or clean

Domain/range of data often not documented

Query and reporting tools are difficult to use

Overall Project Goals for Data Administration

Clarification of the business rules, data definitions and data uses

Improve data quality including definition, accuracy, and timeliness

Improve the security of the data including confidentiality and protection from loss

Improve ease of access. Users can get at data and understand it better

Increase understanding of existing administrative data

Foundation for greater ease of sharing data between systems

Create a data management structure

Reduce the redundancy of the data

Challenges Experienced

Magnitude of the task

Lack of communication/resources

Lack of understanding for data administration function

Lack of awareness of the value of the data

Lack of urgency perceived within departments

“Meta what?”

Time conflicts

Setting priorities

Strategies Adopted

Educate the user communityWeb site created www.georgetown.edu/uis/ia/dw/daTraining sessionsOne-to-one sessions

Working groups createdData Policy CommitteeData Element WorkgroupDW/DA Steering group

Tools used

Incorporate data administration function in daily operations

Global meta data repository created

Evaluated Metadata Repository tools currently in the market

Global Metadata Repository

In supporting Georgetown’s move towards a true enterprise-wide business model, we have created a web-based Metadata repository. This cutting-edge, web-based application is written in ColdFusion and retrieves data from the Oracle database. This is a powerful data drill-down application that has facilitated the front-end and back-end users to create dynamic queries. This repository provides a centralized source of information for Financial and Student administrative data at Georgetown.

Here at Georgetown we have built the data warehouse using Star Schema design. The star schema contains one large table, called the fact table, placed in the center with smaller tables, called dimension tables, joined to the fact table in a radical pattern.

The metadata repository contains information on data about data. The users can view the metadata of Stars, Tables (fact and dimensional) and the fields in each table. The metadata includes the business and technical metadata, like the physical names, logical names, datamart field names, and the business definitions of each one of them.

Student RecordsData Warehouse

Conceptual Model

STUDENT

MATRICULATION

COURSE

TERM

BIO DEMOGRAPHIC

Grain: 1 record per student per term

TIME

Data Administration Tools Used

ErWin, the data modeling tool - A conceptual schema, our models unified and logically integrated view of the organization’s entire collection of data resources.

Informatica, the ETL tool – Used to extract, transform and load the data from one environment to the other.

Cognos, the BI tool – Used to create queries, and generate reports for the users.

Metadata Repository Tool Evaluation

Need for Repository – Data dictionary

Metadata repository tools

Georgetown University’s requirements for the repository tool

Vendor responses

Evaluation of vendor products

Next steps

Data Administration Measurable Success Criteria

Improves infrastructure

Supports data integrity

Improves productivity

Improves efficiency

Increases/improves functionality

Enhances decision making process and management reporting

Improves end user tools

Supports University strategic objectives

Supports/contributes to increased standardization

ENTERPRISE DATA WAREHOUSE/DATA ADMINISTRATION PROJECT SUMMARY

ActionsGoals Benefits

Make Georgetown’s information accessible

Make Georgetown’s information consistent

Provide an adaptive and resilient source of information

Protect Georgetown’s information assets in a secure environment

Create the foundation for informed decision making

1) Create central repository of data that is easily accessible, understandable, navigable and available nearly 24x7

2) Build data warehouse infrastructure (server, database, developer tools, end user query tools)

3) Plan and prioritize data mart projects

1) Establish data administration staff2) Create Data Administration Advisory Group

3) Create University-wide data admin policies and procedures4) Build a University-wide data dictionary

1) Use distributed and incremental data mart design2) Integrate multiple sources of data over time without

disruption to existing services3) Provide “time and date” source information

1) Create a solid security model that withstands the test of time and changes in University structure

2) Create automated authentication system3) Create automated authorization system

4) Create automated audit trails

1) Integrates data from disparate sources / systems 2) Empowers customers to obtain and analyze data

3) Reduces administrative, labor-intensive activities

4) Provides greatly enhanced access to data without taxing back end information systems

5) Directly involves customers in data mart design

1) Develop a data warehouse tool / content training program2) Expand User Services support for Data Warehousing

3) Encourage working groups to meet and communicate often and share report formats, coding techniques and experience

4) Create Web-based online documentation

1) Business definitions and data elements are uniform across business applications

2) A common understanding of business rules and uses of data throughout the University is

documented3) Naming standards are developed

1) Audit requirements for authentication are satisfied.

2) Audit requirements re: data access are satisfied3) Ensures the right people have access to the right

data 4) Manual security maintenance no longer

necessary

1) Customers can answer complex business questions

2) Business Questions answered quickly and easily

3) Expertise to support true end user computing

1) Historical data are more readily available2) Data from outside of the University can be

integrated with core business system information3) New information becomes available to customers