Hampshire College needed a full BI and reporting solution that would allow end users to access the reports they needed without assistance from IT. In addition, users also needed the ability to view more in-depth analytics in order to make better informed decisions, and finally, the college needed to be able to report off of multiple databases at once using one simple tool.
To address these requirements, Hampshire College selected Entrinsik’s Informer, a web-based reporting solution. Hampshire has set up its own unique mappings from various data sources and worked with staff to define security and setup access for end users. Users are now able to leverage Informer against their production database and data marts without requiring assistance from IT or going through a lengthy training process.
According to Entrinsik, in the fewer-than-2 years since implementing Informer, Hampshire College has created more than 3,000 reports across the college. The Admissions and Advancement departments are particularly heavy users, each with over 300 created reports. “The user interface is quite intuitive for end users to learn which led to quick adoption on campus,” said Jeffrey Butera, associate director for Applications & Web Services at Hampshire College.
According to the college, a major factor in its success was Informer’s ability to connect to multiple databases simultaneously, including UniData and MySQL. This Users can access just one tool to connect to all of the various databases used throughout the campus, and run customized, real-time reports from multiple data sources at once.
Using its previous reporting system, according to the college, users found it challenging to share reports with others, and IT staff members were often required to write or edit reports for users who found it difficult to use the interface. This system also prevented users from being able to report simultaneously from multiple data sources, limiting access to only the school’s production database.
Adding Informer Dashboards has been particularly important for the college’s Admissions department which offers all users, from Admissions counselors up to the director, an instant “bird’s eye view” of important data, including how each staff member is progressing towards goals in their target territories. “With the release of Dashboards, we were able to transition from a good reporting tool to a full-fledged solution with great visualization capabilities,” observed Butera.
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