Business intelligence data repository and data management system and method

• US 20070156718A1
• Filed: 12/30/2005
• Published: 07/05/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eCollege.com, Inc (Pearson plc)
• Original Assignee: eCollege.com, Inc (Pearson plc)
• Inventors: Rodgers, Allen, Hossfeld, Cassandra, Schnittman, Matthew, Holliday, Marc
• Granted Patent: US 7,512,627 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/20 Education
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 90/00 Systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial or supervisory purposes, not involving significant data processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A business intelligence and data management system is disclosed comprising a database for storing multi-dimensional business data from multiple online educational institutions; a usage tracking engine for recording within a user profile the time and duration of access to disparate system features. A reporting engine provides periodic and custom reports and a benchmarking engine facilitates comparison of internal institution data with aggregate data from multiple institutions, to compare student retention, course completion, student satisfaction, and student performance. The reporting engine provides reports on course retention rates, course evaluations, faculty evaluations, enrollment, student performance, and course run rates. The usage tracking engine, benchmarking engine, and reporting engine facilitate determination of best practices to improve student enrollment, student retention, course completion, student performance, and student satisfaction. A custom query engine facilitates freeform searches of business data and a data mining engine provides access to detailed data supporting the periodic reports.

Claims

1. A data management system comprising:

a database for storage of multi-dimensional data originating from multiple online educational institutions;

a usage tracking engine configured to generate multi-dimensional tracking data including at least two of identification of a feature accessed by a user, an identification of a user accessing said feature, a time of access to said feature, a duration of access to said feature, and user activity relative to said feature;

a reporting engine configured to provide periodic reports based on said multi-dimensional data stored in said database; and

a benchmarking engine configured to aggregate said multi-dimensional data from said multiple online educational institutions to facilitate comparison of internal data associated with a first of said multiple online educational institutions with aggregate data from a plurality of said multiple online educational institutions.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said usage tracking engine is configured to facilitate comparison of at least one of student usage profiles, instructor usage profiles, faculty usage profiles, administration usage profiles, and course tool usage profiles.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said usage tracking engine is configured to facilitate comparison of usage profiles grouped according to at least one of user role type, feature type, term, course, and hierarchal node.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a custom query engine configured to facilitate freeform searches of said multi-dimensional data in said database.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said reporting engine is configured to facilitate reporting of at least one of course retention rates, course evaluations, faculty evaluations, enrollment, student performance, faculty response times, help desk response times, and course run rates.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said benchmarking engine is configured to facilitate comparison of said internal data with said aggregate data related to at least one of student retention, student enrollment, course completion, student satisfaction, student to faculty ratios, learning outcomes, and student performance.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein said aggregate data is grouped according to at least one of the size of said multiple online educational institutions and whether said plurality of said multiple online educational institutions are at least one of a for-profit, non-profit and private institutions.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of said usage tracking engine, said benchmarking engine, and said reporting engine is configured to facilitate determination of best practices relating to at least one of student enrollment, student retention, course completion, student performance, learning outcomes, and student satisfaction.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said reporting engine is configured to provide notification of potential user attrition based upon a comparison of a, user profile in said database with historic user profile data.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a data mining engine configured to provide access to detailed data supporting said periodic reports.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising an interface view listing a reported metric value and a corresponding target metric value and at least one of a status indicator and a trend indicator dependent on said reported metric value and said target metric value.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein said usage tracking engine is configured to record data related to a user'"'"'s access to a help desk feature, including the nature of a query submitted to said help desk feature.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein said reporting engine is configured to report a method of student registration and demographic information for said student.

14. A method for managing business data from multiple online educational institutions at a central repository comprising:

storing business data received from multiple educational institutions at said central repository;

tracking user activity associated with a feature of an application accessed by a user;

generating a user profile within said central repository from said tracking;

recording at least one of a time and a duration of said user activity within said user profile;

comparing internal data associated with a first of said multiple educational institutions to aggregate data from a plurality of said multiple educational institutions; and

providing periodic reports based on said business data stored in said database.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said tracking of user activity is performed upon said user accessing at least one of a lecture, exam, document sharing feature, journal feature, student portfolio, chat dialogue, and threaded discussion feature.

16. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, said plurality of instructions when executed by a processor, cause said processor to perform a method comprising the steps of:

storing business data received from multiple educational institutions at said central repository;

tracking user activity associated with a feature of an application accessed by a user;

generating a user profile within said central repository from said tracking;

recording at least one of a time and a duration of said user activity within said user profile;

comparing internal data associated with a first of said multiple educational institutions to aggregate data from a plurality of said multiple educational institutions; and

providing periodic reports based on said business data stored in said database.