Baylor University · Higher Education · Houston, TX · 20 weeks
University-wide data governance program established
A private research university faced inconsistent enrollment and research data across eight departments, which risked federal compliance. We implemented a data governance framework that aligned metrics university-wide and automated reporting processes, cutting $2.8 million in annual labor costs.
Challenge
The university’s eight administrative units tracked enrollment and research metrics independently, without shared definitions or oversight. This caused major discrepancies that forced three months of manual data reconciliation every year for federal IPEDS and NSF reports. The process cost $2.8 million in staff time. The Department of Education warned the provost about inconsistent reporting, highlighting the urgent need to fix data governance.
Approach
We gathered representatives from all eight administrative units to define 42 key metrics on enrollment, research, and financial aid. Then, we created a verified metrics layer in the university’s data warehouse and automated IPEDS and NSF reporting processes.
Outcome
By week 8, we finalized and agreed on all 42 metric definitions. By week 20, we automated the IPEDS and NSF reporting pipelines. This cut annual federal reporting labor from $2.8 million to $320,000. The Department of Education’s warning was addressed, and the university passed the next compliance review without issues.
How our definitions changed over four years, and how we rolled up our sleeves to fix the chaos
For four years, each admin unit was winging it, tracking enrollment, research, and financial aid however they saw fit. That created a total data mess. It worked for them individually, but when we tried to pull reports, nothing matched up. So, we jumped in and put together a governance program with clear, standard definitions. The kicker? All eight units actually bought into it.
How We Simplified Data Submission for IPEDS and NSF
Here’s the deal: we built a reliable, certified metrics layer to handle all the federal reporting for IPEDS and NSF. No more wrestling with spreadsheets. Our pipelines pulled data straight from that layer and spit out files ready to submit. What used to take three months of back-and-forth? We slashed it to two days. Frankly, it changed everything.
How We Plugged Compliance Holes for the Department of Education
The Department of Education noticed the university’s enrollment numbers didn’t match up between IPEDS and the Common Data Set. So, we jumped in and created a certified metrics layer to align the data definitions from both sources. That fixed the inconsistencies right away. Then, when they did a compliance review, everything checked out and the issue was officially resolved.
Results
- $2.8M Annual reporting labor automated
- 42 Metrics certified across 8 units
- 3 months to 2 days Federal reporting cycle
- 0 Compliance findings in review
The Department of Education flagged us, and we used to spend three months every year doing manual reconciliation. Thinklytics helped us fix the metric conflicts and automated the reports. Now, our compliance review is simple, and what took three months before only takes two days.