The challenge
Anglia Ruskin's decision-makers couldn't easily access the student data they needed. Deans, department heads and programme leaders all required accurate information to make good decisions.
They had to rely on multiple support services for reports. The university had no standard way for staff to analyse data themselves. Even worse, this process often failed when information wasn't right or raised more questions.
As query volumes increased, frustrating bottlenecks spread across the university. On top of that, different ARU departments often used conflicting versions of the same data. This caused real confusion when measuring progress against targets.
Their spreadsheet methods couldn't handle the large datasets either. What Anglia Ruskin really needed was one reliable source that everyone could use easily.
The solution
Ometis helped ARU implement a Qlik student data application in just one month.
Remarkably, Mike Frost created the initial version on day one without any prior Qlik experience.
The browser-based dashboard now helps over 100 users across the university. It holds three years of weekly student data, with more than 9 million records in total.
"Our Qlik model has given us better understanding of student recruitment patterns," says Mike. "We can now analyse and predict the success of our recruitment programmes much more effectively."
Ometis kept the training simple and practical. Staff needed just two hours to learn the system, which works with simple mouse clicks and shows results straight away.
What makes it particularly useful is how staff can filter by faculty, department, course funding and many other factors. The system displays both graphs and tables to support different analytical needs.
The results
ARU staff who once relied on support teams now work with university data independently. This has completely changed how decisions are made.
"Users now fetch data on their own," explains Mike. "This has excited our community and we've had nothing but positive feedback."
The Ometis solution combines ARU's data from various sources like SITS, Agresso, Excel and text files. Most importantly, it creates one version of truth that all staff can trust.
Qlik has been especially valuable for student recruitment at Anglia Ruskin. The geographical maps help them understand patterns right down to UK postcode level.
What's more, the university has embedded their Corporate Plan KPIs into the application. This connects day-to-day analytics with their strategic goals.
With ongoing support from Ometis, Mike has since developed additional Qlik models. These now cover Human Resources, Financial Analysis and Space Management across the university.
"Our work with Anglia Ruskin shows what Qlik can achieve in university settings. After our implementation, the ARU team quickly became self-sufficient. What's particularly satisfying is seeing how they've expanded Qlik use across multiple departments and functions."
Steve Sapseid, Sector Manager at Ometis
