Customer story · College of the Sequoias
Achieving a single source of truth with Argos and the Invoke Data Lakehouse
College of the Sequoias connected Argos to Invoke Learning’s Data Lakehouse on Snowflake, built data governance into the migration, and cut report update time from weeks to hours.
Visalia, California
Public, 2-year community college
Argos
- Updates in hours, not weeksReport update time reduced from weeks to hours.
- Accuracy you can verifyReporting accuracy increased through validated, trusted data sources.
- Faster, lighter reportingCampuswide reporting runs faster, with lighter demand on production systems.
College of the Sequoias at a glance
1926
Founded
~13,586
Students
999
Faculty and staff
163
Undergraduate programs
3
Campuses
01
The challenge
Too many systems. Not enough connection.
College of the Sequoias faced a familiar challenge in higher education: too many systems, not enough connection. Data from the SIS, LMS, and other systems lived in silos, creating fragmented reporting and inconsistent results.
The institution’s legacy, on-premises data warehouse and custom reporting tool were aging quickly, requiring extensive work to update or validate even routine reports as requirements changed. Teams relied on reports driven by disparate data sources, resulting in inconsistencies that made it difficult to validate results or make confident decisions.
Days or weeks per change
Just finding the downstream effects of changing a view could take that long.
Troubleshooting in the dark
Little understanding or documentation of how the legacy system was architected.
Teams stretched thin
IT and Institutional Research juggled compliance reporting and ad hoc requests.
Meanwhile, end users struggled to access the data they needed to make strategic decisions, leading to long turnaround times and limited visibility into campus trends.
“Our old reporting system had reached its limit. It became harder and harder to maintain, and people didn’t always understand where the data came from or what it meant. That made it difficult to trust the results.”
David Reichert · Interim Dean of Technology and Applications Manager
02
The solution
A lakehouse behind it, Argos in front
COS implemented Invoke Learning’s Data Lakehouse on Snowflake, connecting it directly with Argos to create a single, trusted environment for reporting and analysis.
Using Invoke’s Unify layer, daily data snapshots from Banner and other systems flow into the lakehouse, preserving complete historical context. The InvokeDataDate field gives COS a “time machine” for data, letting users compare enrollment, performance, or demographic trends across any point in time, without relying on manual data freezes or external spreadsheets.
Once connected to Snowflake via ODBC, Argos became the front-end reporting tool for this new data ecosystem. Reports that previously hit the production Oracle database or the legacy data warehouse are being rewritten against the data now residing in the Invoke Data Lakehouse.
Governance, built into the move
COS also used the migration as an opportunity to establish formal data governance practices. Each report now goes through a validation process to confirm definitions, selection criteria, and business meaning before being approved and migrated, improving data literacy and institutional trust.
“Using the platform as a way to get data governance running has been a big win for us. It helps people understand what the data actually is, where it lives, and what it means, and we can document that for anyone who comes later.”
David Reichert · Interim Dean of Technology and Applications Manager
| Before | With Argos |
|---|---|
| An aging on-premises warehouse and custom reporting tool | Argos as the front end to the Invoke Data Lakehouse |
| Reports hitting the production Oracle database | Reports rewritten to query the lakehouse |
| Manual data freezes and external spreadsheets for trends | Daily snapshots and InvokeDataDate for any point in time |
| Disparate sources and results that were hard to validate | Definitions, criteria, and meaning validated before each report is approved |
“
Being able to dial the clock back and compare data from year to year is incredibly powerful. It’s the kind of time-travel ability we always wanted in a data warehouse.
David Reichert · Interim Dean of Technology and Applications Manager, College of the Sequoias
03
The results
Reports that run fast and can be trusted
By modernizing its architecture and connecting Argos to the Invoke Data Lakehouse, COS has seen measurable improvements in performance, accuracy, and collaboration.
75% of reports in Argos
Approximately 75% of all institutional reports now run in Argos.
25% on the lakehouse
25% of reports already run against the lakehouse, with more each quarter.
A cleaner portfolio
A new audit process eliminated unused reports, reducing confusion.
Point-in-time comparisons
Year-over-year and point-in-time enrollment analysis that was previously impossible.
Trust before release
Governance reviews verify every report’s data source, logic, and definitions.
Lighter load on Oracle
Reports run quickly, with less load on the production Oracle database.
With the new architecture and processes in place, COS can reduce the time it takes to update a report from days and weeks to minutes and hours, depending on the issue. That will only get better as COS continues to rewrite reports to query against the Invoke Data Lakehouse.
One early success
COS built a new enrollment comparison report in Argos that leverages the Invoke historical snapshots. Staff can enter two terms and instantly compare course enrollments, percentages, and differentials, with no manual Excel work required.
04
The future
Built to outlast the next system change
COS is continuing its data-governance journey while expanding adoption of Argos and the Invoke Data Lakehouse.
Next, the college aims to increase the share of Argos reports powered by the lakehouse, further reducing load on transactional systems, and to expand its use of historical data analysis to support enrollment management, financial forecasting, and student success initiatives.
COS also plans to leverage the Evisions community and upcoming Argos Starter Packs built for the Invoke model to accelerate new reporting use cases, while maintaining system independence so Argos reports continue working seamlessly through future SIS or LMS changes.
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