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An Enterprise-Wide Data Hub for School Districts
End users and mangers are
often in the position of fending for themselves in order
to acquire information that is needed to manage. This
situation has fueled the de velopment of spreadsheets, word
processing functions and other use of other desktop applications as
a way to develop and organize management data. And, when
standalone processes replace organized management, errors occur.
As an example, in
2003, soon after announcing third quarter earnings, Fannie Mae had
to restate its unrealized gains, increasing them by $1.2 billion
dollars. This very high profile outcome was said to result from
"honest mistakes made in a spreadsheet used in the implementation of
a new accounting standard". The actual bad news is that
millions of similar, but usually smaller, errors are being made
every year by separately managing data in spreadsheets or other
types of desktop applications. A 1997 study by Coopers and Lybrand
showed that 91% of all spreadsheets with more than 150 rows contain
at least one significant error. Although spreadsheets are the quintessential
end-user tool, spreadsheets require users to perform programming
functions and to maintain data in a free standing format.
The
District Pulse also performs the task of an Enterprise-Wide Data
Hub. In
this function, Pulse interactively delivers data to desktop
applications such as spreadsheets, word processing, email systems
and virtually all other desktop applications. Additionally,
Pulse can provide interactive data to web sites, other application
systems as well as the generation of data for state reporting
requirements.
As an example, in the
case of a spreadsheet, The District Pulse is gathering information
from various application systems on a daily basis. This data
is simultaneously processed into advanced management information.
Any of this acquired or processed data may be interactively provided
to a spreadsheet. For example, a user spreadsheet could obtain
new data from The District Pulse as it was generated by Pulse.
That spreadsheet could be further expanded with user generated logic
and data, or via data from other applications acquired by Pulse.
The result is that the information in this spreadsheet is always
accurate, up to date and available without the need for the user to
perform user directed data entry.
While this is an
outstanding capability, the real advantage of
Pulse is to perform these functions while enforcing user security.
The data delivered to a spreadsheet is only that data that that user
is allowed to use. Pulse simply manages who needs what data and
then delivers that data on an interactive basis directly to the
spreadsheet being used.
In the following example,
the blue portion of this spreadsheet contains middle school
assessment data that is interactively delivered to a middle school
based spreadsheet each day. This data repopulates that portion
of the spreadsheet which then "feeds" all other appropriate formulas
and calculations. The green portion of this example represents
additions to the spreadsheet added by the end user. As the new
data is loaded by Pulse, this data is automatically recalculated.
Additionally, data
may be supplied to mass email documents, web sites, presentation
applications such as Power PowerPoint or virtually any other type of
application system.
An additional capability
provided via the Data Hubbing capability of The District Pulse is
the development, maintenance and management of Interfaces between
application systems. Pulse easily accumulates data from one
application, processes that data into the appropriate format and
file type and then forwards that data to a second system for
processing. This capability provides virtually of the
functionality of a SIF implementation, at a fraction of the cost and
staff requirements and as a combined function with its other
capabilities. In summary, the ability to create and maintain
interfaces between systems is one of the greatest benefits provided
by pulse.
The
District Pulse performs the function of a district-wide data hub by
channeling timely, accurate and secured data to all of the users and
functions where it is needed. This unique concept results in:
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Very
significant time savings as end users avoid direct entry of
data.
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Avoids data errors because all
data is pre-processed by Pulse
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Allows preprocessing of data into
the format needed by the end user or programs.
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Allows data security at any level
desired by the school district.
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Results in far more efficient
users and mangers as more timely and accurate information is
provided for decision making.
The
District Pulse provides security and order to the traditional chaos
of data management and delivery, and at financial and staff costs
that are shockingly low.
View Pulse Overview
View Pulse as a Data Hub
View Pulse Examples
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