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Business Intelligence (BI) can be defined as a set of processes with a purpose to transform raw data into useful insights. The sphere of education is quite passive in interacting with BI, explaining this by the lack of relevance. However, classical approaches to learning aren’t already so effective. There is a need for a data-driven solution. A quick and effective data dive can reveal useful information that can maximize learning efficiency. Certain BI tools and processes can be helpful in enrolling students, optimizing class schedules, improving student achievement, and more.

Collecting data, analyzing it and transforming it into useful insights are the main tasks of Business Intelligence. With the help of this tool, operational flows are optimized, and existing models are improved. Besides Artificial Intelligence, BI is one of the main tools that can improve the field of education.

The use of data warehouses in the education system

Educational institutions and systems hold a huge amount of relevant data (various academic records, grade tables, test scores, overall grades, etc.). Such data is useful for the development of a new and more efficient model, as well as for the development of data-driven decision-making culture. But incorrect storage of this data can lead to insufficient or unprofessional use. In most cases, key education stakeholders don’t understand the meaning of the data they hold and what it can be used for. This can be explained by unorganized and decentralized data collection. For convenient and efficient data storage, it is recommended to use a data warehouse. This will allow organizations to obtain suitable storage media, which will increase the speed and efficiency of processing complex datasets. As a result, enrollment records, exam results and other information will be available to users in seconds. However, it is always worth remembering the issue of security and data protection in order to avoid unauthorized use of them.

Data Transparency and Reporting in Education

For high-quality work and new ideas identification, in addition to the raw data, it is necessary to introduce the principles of analysis. It is easy enough to communicate the importance of information and the usefulness of a particular idea with a visually understandable and attractive form. Using data warehouses involves collecting all the necessary data in one place. This improves Business Intelligence processes efficiency and allows to create accurate dashboards. With the help of such dashboards, it is easy to get information about certain education systems (schools, universities, colleges, etc.). As a result, this will allow to analyze the performance of students in these institutions and improve it.

Data driven decision making

Organizing Business Intelligence processes using quality data will help allocate resources (time, labor etc.) more efficiently. Data analysis can reveal which teachers were able to improve student achievement in a particular subject. Also, educational institution administration gets the opportunity to make more informed decisions based on data. Such processes, albeit slightly, improve academic performance.

To improve data visibility and get a clear picture of the current situation, it is necessary to use data warehouse concept. This allows to centralize the collected data in one place for more convenient and efficient analysis.