Columbus State University Implements Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence Environment to Improve Student Retention and Graduation Rates

Top Regional University Gains Real-time Visibility into Student Performance and Engagement with Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition

Redwood Shores, Calif

News Facts

• Columbus State University, ranked among the top regional universities in the South by U.S. News & World Report, improved reporting accuracy and timeliness, enhanced data quality and provided insight into student retention, progression and graduation trends with the implementation of Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

• To conform to Georgia’s “Complete College Georgia” plan, which seeks to increase the number of Georgia’s young adults who obtain a college degree, Columbus State University worked with Oracle Consulting to design and implement a business intelligence and data warehouse solution using Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition and Oracle Data Integrator. With improved reporting accuracy and timeliness, faculty and staff can make more informed decisions, better target troubled students, and enact changes to entice students to stay through graduation.

• The new business intelligence environment enables users to pull undergraduate student retention, progression and graduation (RPG) metrics and reports using a real-time dashboard. Faculty and staff can also easily identify patterns and trends characterizing successful students, as well as dropouts, and develop intervention programs for students to improve RPG rates.

• With Oracle Data Integrator and Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, Columbus State University created a single knowledge repository, bringing together the university’s student information system, facility management and PeopleSoft applications. This solution enabled Columbus State University to generate real-time reports that used to take one week or more to produce. University leadership and decision makers now have real-time insight into crucial enrollment data and understand how effective the university is in helping students reach their academic goals.

• The university’s new business intelligence environment also integrated information from student surveys into the data warehouse to understand how freshmen are enjoying the overall experience, enabling faculty to pinpoint dissatisfaction areas and proactively intervene to ultimately improve the 29 percent first year student dropout rate.

• Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition and Oracle Data Integrator add to the university’s Oracle footprint, which includes Oracle Database and Oracle’s PeopleSoft Financial Management.

• Columbus State University implemented phase one of this project—focusing on academic affairs and student performance—over a five month period, on time and on budget. The university just launched phase two, which will add a financial layer to the student data, enabling the university to link retention, progression and graduation data to associated costs and success rates.


Supporting Quotes

• “Relationship was a key ingredient in Columbus State University’s decision to choose Oracle. Oracle Consulting worked with our internal resources to deliver a comprehensive data warehouse and business intelligence solution which perfectly meets our needs and will enable our leadership to make valuable decisions related to student retention, progression and graduation.” said Abraham George, chief information officer, Columbus State University.

• “With Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition’s real-time reporting and accuracy, Columbus State University can bring together student and faculty information and spend more time developing programs and making informed decisions to increase student retention, progression and graduation rates,” said Cole Clark, global vice president, education and research industries, Oracle.


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