The Pennsylvania State University - Administrative Information Services, a unit of Information Technology Services

BI Strategy Initiative

The goal of this initiative was to develop a Business Intelligence (BI) “strategy” based on user requirements gathered through work sessions and interviews with a number of representative Penn State information users. Once the strategy was created, we developed an Implementation Roadmap, including a high-level time line and an incremental, iterative framework on how to achieve the desired BI capabilities. Both the BI Strategy and the Implementation Roadmap will help us to understand the key BI priorities for Penn State, as well as provide the direction and focus for all BI development and implementation efforts.

Highlights of the BI Strategy Initiative include:

Project Approach

The main phases in creating a BI strategy were:

  • Project Initiation and Planning - Establish a clear understanding of the scope and expectations for the BI Initiative. Develop a detailed project work plan.
  • BI Requirements Analysis - The main goals of this phase will be to develop a high-level understanding of the process requirements for the access, data analysis, and data integration layers, as well as the data requirements for the data repository and source layers, and to develop a high level understanding of the University’s data, business processes, and technology environments as they relate to the BI Initiative. The assessment will focus on assessing the flow and usage of information and determining key organizational opportunities.
  • BI Strategy Definition - The main goal of this phase will be to define the Penn State strategic BI reference architecture for administrative information. This will include the definition of the information access and data analysis processes within the scope of the BI Initiative. This will provide a basis for defining the data repository and data integration layers. It will also include a high-level definition of the technology environment in which the BI system will be deployed and implemented.
  • BI Implementation Planning - Develop an implementation roadmap for the BI system, including high-level time line and an incremental, iterative framework on how to achieve the desired BI capabilities.

Advisory Commitee

The mission of the BI Advisory Committee is to advise AIS throughout the Requirements Analysis, Strategy Definition, and Implementation Planning phases of the BI Initiative. At first, the BI Advisory Committee will participate in the effort to identify the BI process requirements. This will include advising, adding content and reviewing the output of the following tasks:

  • Document Penn State’s Information Management Environment
  • Gather and document business requirements for Data/Information, Analytical Processes, and Information Delivery Processes
  • Develop Penn State Information User Profiles and/or Roles

In addition, the Committee will also participate in the strategy definition and implementation plan definition activities. Responsibilities will include participating in work sessions, reviewing and adding content to task outputs, as well as potentially completing specific work assignments.

The committee includes representatives from:

  • College of Liberal Arts
  • Corporate Controllers Office
  • Information Resources and Planning, The University Budget Office
  • York Campus
  • Information Services, Smeal College of Business Administration
  • The Graduate School
  • Penn State Erie
  • College of Engineering
  • Outreach
  • College of Arts & Architecture
  • Contracts, College of Engineering
  • Registrar's Office
  • Earth and Mineral Sciences
  • Student Aid
  • Commonwealth College
  • Materials Research Institute
  • Bursar’s Office
  • University Faculty Senate Office
  • Alumni and Development
  • Admissions Office
  • Army Research Lab
  • Administrative Support Systems, College of Engineering
  • Office of Human Resources

Interview Process

In order to gain a better understanding of the high-level informational needs, a series of interviews were conducted with various academic and non-academic units. The project team developed a list of interviewees, representing an exhaustive cross-section of end users at various management and responsibility levels, and then conducted over 80 individual and group interviews. The table below shows the number of interviews conducted with each Penn State constituency.

Constituency Number of Interviews
Academic Leadership 30
Administrative Leadership 10
Academic Administrators 10
Student Services Administrators 5
Administrative Unit Administrators 11
Academic Staff 4
Information Technology Services 12

Final Report

The key recommendation from the BI Strategy Initiative is that, for academic and academic-support units to continue to function effectively and efficiently, it is essential that Penn State move toward a university-wide approach to data management. Data should be looked at as a common asset that can be made into information and knowledge to support effective decision making across all of Penn State. The underlying concept behind the proposed strategic vision is the concept of Penn State data as a valuable asset that is commonly owned by the university community. Penn State data should be viewed as a flow of interdependent events that provide maximum value only when viewed as a whole, not as a collection of independent fragments.

Strategically, Penn State should move toward providing its information users (staff, faculty, researchers, and administrators, and others) with access to a unified and integrated view of Penn State’s core data, meaning University-wide data that is needed by a large number of Penn State constituencies and is core to the Penn State mission. This integrated and unified data view will need to be secure, accurate, timely, consistent, intuitive, and easy-to-obtain so that information users are better able to assess their needs, set priorities, understand the impact of change, and thus fulfill their responsibilities more efficiently. For additional details, see the BI Strategy document below.

Penn State Business Intelligence Strategy

Describes the proposed strategic vision for Business Intelligence at Penn State.

File Size: 761.75 KB

Last Updated: 11/1/2007

Content Questions: Business Intelligence | Support Questions: AIS Support