CLOUD-SERVED DASHBOARDS AND ANALYTICS
SchoolMetrik by SchoolNEO provides real-time insights to educators and administrators affordably.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Today’s educators and administrators rely heavily on data to inform their decisions in every aspect of their business to ensure excellence all around. Unfortunately, the proliferation of data silos is a reality in the education ecosystem, making it difficult to manage and manipulate data. Overcoming this obstacle is key to addressing emerging needs of students, parents, boards, community advocates, policy makers, and others.
“Using Syncfusion’s Dashboard Server, SchoolMetrik seamlessly weaves data from student, finance, and HR systems into live dashboards and real-time analytics for our customers, delivered anywhere on a browser.”
As a member of Syncfusion’s Alliance Partner program, SchoolNEO, the leader in cloud-hosted ecosystems for education, integrated Syncfusion’s powerful Dashboard Server into SchoolNEO’s SchoolMetrik suite. Currently serving nearly a dozen campuses in a Texas school district, SchoolMetrik serves up live dashboards, advanced analytics, and more to devices and decision makers in the central office and all campuses.
SchoolMetrik’s unique features include:
- Hosting entirely on Microsoft Azure cloud.
- Schools require no special software or hardware to access it.
- Requires only a browser and an Internet connection.
- Each dashboard can be secured to ensure compliance with FERPA.
- A secure consumer portal provides access by authorized individuals outside the organization, such as parents and board members.
- Microsoft Azure cloud to host the district’s solution with no up-front investments.
- Microsoft’s cloud services such as SQL, Active Directory, and .NET.
- SchoolHouz, a cloud-in-a-cloud platform developed by SchoolNEO specifically for the education ecosystem.
- SchoolNEO’s Digital Campus Suite (which includes SchoolMetrik).
- Syncfusion’s dashboard technology.
SchoolNEO is currently expanding the functionality of SchoolMetrik to further leverage the power of Syncfusion’s Dashboard Server while also expanding its user base.
CHALLENGE
The cloud has certainly made it easier to access, aggregate, and analyze large amounts of data, but the education ecosystem has its own nuances. Not only are regulations unique at the state level, they can often be unique at the local education agency level. These change regularly.
When law and policies change, the types of information and insights required by the central office, campuses, and educators tend to shift and evolve as well.
While technology is increasingly a critical success factor in modern education, technology budgets don’t reflect this—in fact, they are often flat or shrinking.
SchoolNEO’s challenge was to find a dashboard server technology that would accommodate both the technological and budgetary realities of SchoolMetrik clients.
HOW SYNCFUSION HELPED
As part of Syncfusion’s Alliance Partner Program, SchoolNEO worked closely with Syncfusion to integrate its Dashboard Platform into SchoolMetrik.
The Dashboard Platform includes a wide variety of charts, gauges, maps, and grids that allow SchoolMetrik to present data in exactly the form that best fits requirements. Dashboards are rendered using HTML5, so the only requirement for end users to view dashboards is to have a modern browser. Drilling down into more detailed views and linking between views are also supported. This allows users to instantly obtain a high-level overview or drill-down and obtain as much detail as needed.
For example, in one implementation of SchoolMetrik for a school district, data from the district’s student information system, finance system, and HR system are received into a secure data hub established for that district. This data is transformed into a specialized format compliant with a widely accepted education-industry specification called SIF (Schools Interoperability Framework).
The SIF-compatible data is then organized in an operational data store (ODS) on the district’s secure cloud, utilizing Microsoft SQL, data marts, and OLAP data cubes.
Syncfusion’s Dashboard Server technology then grabs the data from the ODS and performs additional calculations to generate live dashboards and analytics.
RESULTS AND FUTURE PLANS
SchoolMetrik was made possible by combining the power and capabilities of:
Syncfusion worked collaboratively with SchoolNEO to develop a licensing model that allows education clients to afford its technology.
SchoolNEO continues to evolve and expand SchoolMetrik. According to SchoolNEO, it will soon release an advanced reporting suite for education, powered by Syncfusion’s Report Server technology.
According to Andy Pulianda, founder of SchoolNEO, “In 2013 we set out to level the playing field for small and mid-sized education entities by offering them data and insights currently affordable only to larger entities with bigger budgets. Thanks to Syncfusion and the Alliance Partner Program, we believe we have reached this milestone and are now able to aim for the next one.”
ABOUT SYNCFUSION
Syncfusion, Inc. is the enterprise technology partner of choice for software development, delivering a broad range of web, mobile, and desktop controls coupled with a service-oriented approach throughout the entire application lifecycle. Syncfusion has established itself as the trusted partner worldwide for use in mission-critical applications. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Research Triangle Park, N.C., Syncfusion has more than 12,000 customers, including large financial institutions, Fortune 100 companies, and global IT consultancies.
ABOUT SchoolNEO
SchoolNEO was organized in 2012 with a vision to make it cheaper, better, and faster for the entire education ecosystem to transform. The SchoolHouz cloud was launched in 2013 and continually developed since then, with 100+ person-years of specialized software development, while working closely with educators, technologists, and in collaboration with Microsoft, Syncfusion, and other industry leaders.
We are on the same mission our clients are on. We are shaping the cloud for the next generation of solutions in the education ecosystem, as our clients shape their solutions for the new generation of learners, educators, and administrators.
