Programme

Welcome and introduction

Professor Cox has executive responsibility for driving the delivery of the University’s Strategic Plan and therefore oversight of the performance monitoring and reporting function. She offers an executive perspective on the role of management information and performance reporting, its relation to institutional strategy, the value of authoritative metrics exposing areas of strength and weakness, and the challenge for any executive board of learning how to use business intelligence to real competitive advantage.

Professor Karen Cox,
Deputy Vice-Chancellor,
The University of Nottingham

Business Intelligence Maturity: A Solution Partner's Observations

Simpson Associates has become the leading DW/BI solution partner in UK HE over the last 5 years, working across a range of platforms and institutions. This session draws on their observations within HE and across other sectors of the way BI/Dashboarding solutions are delivered. The presentation includes a case study which brings BI Maturity to life over a 10 – 12 year development cycle.

John Simpson,
Founding Director,
Simpson Associates

IBM Business Analytics: Platform Overview

IBM Cognos is a leading DW/BI platform used or being considered by many – though not all – attending institutions, including two of the case studies. This brief session provides an overview of the platform and the breadth of functionality offered.

David Stephenson,
Technical Manager,
IBM UK

Dashboard Case Studies: University of Warwick and The University of Nottingham

The Universities of Warwick and Nottingham have both developed relatively advanced institutional data warehouses covering most core functions and data sources as well as providing online Business Intelligence reporting using the IBM Cognos platform. These case studies of performance dashboards for the same core areas (teaching and learning, research) from these universities provide evidence not only of the range of what is possible from one platform, but also the importance of aligning and adapting your approach to your local context, in terms of institutional strategy and priorities, key metrics, culture, skillsets and capabilities.

Dr Giles Carden and Desmond Butcher,
University of Warwick

Dr Tom Loya and Neil Davidson,
The University of Nottingham

Dashboarding Case Study: Arizona State University

Arizona State University (ASU) is the largest public university in the U.S., offering over 250 academic undergraduate programs and majors. ASU was one of the first institutions to build a meaningful data warehouse in the U.S. (1992) and started building dashboards in 2006 to help make consumption of information easier. Learn how ASU has used an enterprise data warehouse, dashboards, visualizations and analytics to help become a data-driven institution and facilitate student success. The presentation will also include examples of dashboards and visualizations as well as some of the ASU’s initial work in “big data”.

John Rome,
Deputy Chief Information Officer and Business Intelligence Strategist, Arizona State University

The Art and Science of Data Visualisation

In this talk Andy will introduce the subject of data visualisation, a unique convergence of creative, scientific and analytical disciplines. He will talk about the landscape of data visualisation, particularly examining the fine line between form and function, assessing the different styles and functions of designs that exist to fulfil varying purposes. We will see many contemporary examples along the way as Andy encourages us to be more sophisticated in the way we judge and consume visualisation work.

Andy Kirk,
Visualising Data Ltd

Q&A panel session and closing comments

Throughout all sessions you can tweet your questions for the presenters. They’ll answer and discuss your questions in this open forum and have a dialogue about the challenges, solutions, issues, and the future of data warehousing and BI in higher education.

All of the day's speakers