What is the sector doing?

Background and context

In April 2010 JISC infoNet ran an extremely successful 'Information Needs Analysis' survey as part of our research for this resource. The survey was designed to obtain a clear picture of what questions senior institutional management most want to be able to answer in order to fulfil the responsibilities of their position.

We then followed this up with a second survey of Business Information (BI) Solutions currently planned or in use in the Higher and Further Education sectors. This was designed to build upon and complement the initial 'Information Needs Analysis' survey and to try to ascertain how closely aligned institutional activity is with the apparent needs of some of its key stakeholders. The survey was run between 10th May 2010 and 11th June 2010 and attracted 102 validated responses.

The aim of the survey was to assess the means by which many institutions were seeking to provide senior decision makers and others access to the very same accurate, timely and complete information which our previous survey has already indicated they need.

The focus of the business intelligence survey was therefore more technical and detailed and was designed to obtain a snapshot of the current state of maturity of such systems within the sector; what their nature and scope was, and to identify some of the issues which may be affecting their ability to meet the needs of their intended users.

Summary of results

1. Interest and/or activity in BI within the sector is very high

Only 9% of those responding to the survey said their institution had 'no interest' in BI whereas for 56% of institutions surveyed BI was either a reality now or would be within the next year

2. Cost savings and competitive advantage may not be as strong as drivers as may be expected

Though both of these are clearly important to institutions they are eclipsed by a desire to improve strategic planning and make quicker, better, more informed decisions.

3. Data warehousing is overwhelmingly the most popular BI architecture at the moment

Over 50% of respondents reported they were either taking or planning to take a data warehouse based approach to BI within their institution, double those taking a Web Services approach.

4. Access to real time data appears less critical than might be expected

Contrary to the popular image of BI needing to provide instant access to data that is updated in real time, the reality appears to be that many users are more relaxed in their requirements when it comes to regularity of update, content with monthly updates for the majority of data categories. This view may also have contributed to several respondents taking issue with our description that a BI system must have a 'dashboard style' reporting interface.

View the full survey results now »

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