by Paul O’Brien (Peak Performance Technology) and Brad Lord (Mindleap Solutions)
K-16 Product Profile
Many institutions are considering modernizing their technology ecosystems. There are various reasons for this, including enhancing the student experience, reducing manual processes through workflow automation, and improving data utilization throughout the organization. Implementing an analytics initiative is necessary to gain a deeper understanding of various aspects of the student journey, whether the focus is on recruitment and enrollment, reducing friction along the higher education path, improving retention and completion metrics, or any other efforts aimed at driving student success. Numerous products have recently entered the market, with many vendors offering state-of-the-art tools and accompanying services. Sometimes, however, the stars align, allowing a vendor to address multiple problems, making their solution a significantly more win-win.
One of the significant issues, although rarely at the top of CIOs’ lists, is how much data to convert during a student information system migration to the cloud and what to do with the data that is not moved to the new solution. At Peak Performance Tech, we have worked with hundreds of institutions and have heard that this issue has been raised many times. Recently, however, one client was taken aback when they were quoted a fee of $ 500,000 annually to archive this legacy data. This institution was also interested in pursuing an advanced analytics initiative. In finding a solution to this, we were introduced to K-16 Solutions, an analytics vendor.
K-16 features an innovative platform hosted by Amazon Web Services. Data is initially pulled into a PostgreSQL database in a loosely unstructured JSON format before it is transformed and loaded into Snowflake. The Snowflake instance facilitates scalable data storage and analytics, enabling institutions to execute complex queries and produce reports efficiently. The SaaS-based solution eliminates the need for schools to manage their IT infrastructure, allowing them to concentrate on core educational activities.
Data can be loaded from multiple sources, including CRM, LMS, and ERP platforms. K-16 provides accelerators in the form of pre-built blueprints that offer a structured approach to data analytics, allowing institutions to quickly access relevant insights without starting from scratch. These blueprints cover common use cases such as course progression, student demographics, and attendance tracking, facilitating immediate data analysis.
Institutions can customize these blueprints to meet their specific needs, enabling them to adapt the existing models while leveraging the foundational work already done. Users can modify existing blueprints by adding or changing fields to better suit their data needs.
K16’s team supports the customization process, ensuring schools can effectively implement their desired changes. This concept of SaaS plus services can be very attractive to schools that wish to pursue an analytics strategy but may find budget constraints challenging in finding and retaining the staff expertise needed.
Dr. Claire Norris, Vice President for Advancement in the University of Louisiana System, spoke enthusiastically about selecting the K-16 DataX solution for a comprehensive advanced analytics effort. The effort aims to promote student success and analyze the entire student experience from application to graduation. With nine schools in the system, all using a variety of technologies for student data, CRM, and LMS, a solution was needed that allowed the ingestion of data from multiple sources to create a comprehensive data set for analysis. Dr. Norris emphasized the flexibility and ease of use that K-16 DataX provided, greatly simplifying the creation of required reports and freeing up staff resources to begin data analysis for insights into the student journey. She noted that using DataX blueprints significantly accelerated the effort, saving analysts considerable time. The initiative has started with a pilot involving three of the system’s institutions, with plans to add more schools each year, potentially building one of the most extensive analytics efforts in the nation to improve student retention and graduation rates. Dr. Norris emphasized that the partnership with the K-16 data team was invaluable, as she could reach out at any time for expert help with any issues her staff faced.
K16 supports schools in establishing data governance. The company provides tools and consultants to help schools assess and improve their data quality and integrity if needed. The platform offers a catalog that includes data lineage graphs, allowing institutions to visualize relationships between their data. Further support is provided to develop a data governance strategy by providing documentation and resources tailored to their needs.
However, as discussed earlier, schools with data archiving needs will find it particularly interesting that K-16 has developed a highly cost-effective solution, priced at less than 25% of what other vendors have quoted. This has resulted in a robust platform that stands out since the savings could potentially cover the entire solution. Brad Lord, Managing Member with MindLeap Solutions, noted that the solution addresses a critical gap for institutions transitioning to Workday. The need for a fast, secure, and cost-effective method to archive converted legacy system data that must be retained and accessible for reporting, auditing, and compliance is a game-changer for the modernization efforts of higher education institutions. Therefore, if you’re in the market for a modern analytics platform that can address multiple needs, K-16 DataX should undoubtedly be on your evaluation list.
