Situation
In 2005, the Information Technology Services division at Vanderbilt University was facing challenges in collecting and presenting up-to-date and actionable key performance indicators (KPI’s) to executive management. Operational and financial KPI’s were required to measure departmental performance and make decision on infrastructure needs. Raw data was collected, sent, compiled, and reported on an ad hoc basis.
Task
ITS needed a system to collect data and convert it to actionable KPI’s, and a platform through which the information was made visually presented to senior management and regularly updated. On the back-end disparate data would be gathered, organized, analyzed, and then visually presented to senior management through a secured front-end (website). To make this possible a business intelligence platform and an executive dashboard were needed.
Action
Very limited funds and resources were allocated for this project. A functional proof-of-concept, which could be easily and cost effectively expanded, was needed in less than a month. A fully functional solution was expected to be rolled out in less than three months.
- Get the department directors and managers to abandon the silo mentality and coordinate data sharing
- Agree on KPI’s to measure and monitor based on industry standards and departmental needs
- Find, gather, filter, generate, and analyze raw data and reports from systems on regular basis
- Organize and aggregate actionable KPI’s with drill-down capability to view underlying data
- Build both the functionality of the back-end and design an effective executive dashboard
- Set data governance policies and procedures to insure proper update and use of data
Result
In less than three months, a cost effective in-house business intelligence and executive dashboard solution was developed and rolled out for the ITS division. Department directors and managers diligently provided up-to-date data at the end of each week. The executive dashboard was updated at the beginning of each week ahead of the senior management meeting. The dashboard designed and built to be easily modified in anticipation for future KPI requirements. The solution is still being used at ITS even over a decade after its implementation. What used to take hours now requires less than an hour to produce. KPI’s are kept up-to-date and can be easily monitored and tracked. This helps ITS better manage their infrastructure planning, operate more efficiently, and save money.