Thinklytics

Florida Department of Education · Government · Tallahassee, FL · 14 weeks

67 school districts unified on a single reporting platform in 14 weeks

The Florida Department of Education struggled for two years to unify student outcome reports from 67 districts for federal IPEDS compliance. We built a single reporting platform in 14 weeks without any scope changes, solving data fragmentation and meeting strict federal requirements on time.

Challenge

The Florida Department of Education had 16 weeks to unify student outcome reports from 67 districts for federal IPEDS compliance. Each district used a different student information system, and past efforts to merge the data failed over two years due to incompatible data models. We had to build a workable, consistent data model fast and integrate diverse systems to meet the deadline.

Approach

We created a unified data model to handle inputs from all seven student information systems across 67 districts. For each system, we developed custom ETL adapters to standardize data extraction. We added a validation step to catch quality issues early, preventing bad data from entering the reporting flow. The solution runs on Azure and uses Power BI for district-level reports.

Outcome

By week 14, all 67 districts were fully using the platform. We finished the IPEDS submission two days before the federal deadline. Automation cut annual IPEDS reporting costs from $1.9 million to $210,000. We managed the entire project without any change orders.

How we got all seven student info systems to finally talk to each other

Here’s the deal. We had 67 districts, each using one of seven student info systems. Doing 67 separate integrations? Nope, not happening. So, we built seven ETL adapters, one for each system, that cleaned and standardized all their data into one format. That way, instead of juggling 67 integrations, we only dealt with seven. Saved us a ton of time.

Making Sure the Data Was Rock Solid Before Sending It Out

We ran 140 data quality checks on the IPEDS submission pipeline and found 23 issues across 8 districts. Catching those early saved us from a ton of ugly submission errors with the federal system.

How We Cut Change Orders in Half by Nailing Down the Scope

Starting in week two, we stayed on top of the scope to dodge any surprise change orders. When new requests came in, we compared them to the original plan. If something threatened the timeline, we flagged it as a formal change order. Otherwise, it just slid into the phase 2 backlog. Easy.

Results

  • $1.9M Annual reporting labor automated
  • 67 Districts on one platform
  • 14 wks Delivery, zero change orders
  • 8 wks to 3 days IPEDS submission cycle

We tried twice before to consolidate district reporting and couldn’t get it done. Thinklytics finished it in 14 weeks, and for the first time in six years, we submitted our IPEDS data two days early.

Deputy Commissioner for Data and Accountability, Florida Department of Education

In the client's terms

The question

Where does this number come from, and can the path be trusted?

The situation

Sixty-seven districts on seven different student information systems, sixteen weeks to unify student outcome reporting for federal IPEDS compliance. Two years of previous attempts had failed on incompatible data models.

What we found

The previous attempts had tried to agree one model across seven systems before building anything, and the agreement never arrived. The model had to be built to absorb seven inputs rather than to replace them.

What it produced

All 67 districts were live by week 14 and the IPEDS submission went in two days before the federal deadline. Annual reporting labour fell from $1.9M to $210K, and the submission cycle went from eight weeks to three days. No change orders.

The roadmap

One unified model designed to take all seven systems as they are, with a custom ETL adapter per system rather than a demand that districts change. A validation gate in front of the reporting layer so bad data is caught on entry rather than found in a federal submission. Azure underneath, Power BI for district-level reporting.

The work behind this result

Related case studies

Frequently asked questions

How do you unify reporting across districts on different student information systems?

Build one model that absorbs the inputs rather than asking districts to change. The Florida Department of Education had 67 districts on seven systems; one ETL adapter per system, seven pieces of work rather than 67, put all districts on one platform in 14 weeks.

What does manual federal compliance reporting cost?

The Florida Department of Education was spending $1.9M a year on IPEDS reporting labour, with an eight-week submission cycle. Automation took that to $210K a year and three days, and the submission went in two days before the federal deadline.

Why do multi-district data projects fail?

Two years of earlier attempts here failed trying to agree one data model across seven systems before building anything, and the agreement never arrived. Validation also has to sit in front of the submission rather than after it: 140 quality checks caught 23 issues across 8 districts on the first pass.