Customer story · University of Idaho
Argos proves a good fit across the University of Idaho
The University of Idaho replaced an unsupported reporting tool with Argos, cut report lead time by 85%, and put reports in the hands of end users across campus instead of waiting on developers for data dumps.
Moscow, Idaho
Public, 4-year research university
Argos
- Information at a clickEnd users get the information they need at the touch of a button.
- Report lead time down 85%Requests that took up to two weeks now return data within 24–48 hours.
- No more data dumpsEnd users generate their own data files instead of waiting on developers.
University of Idaho at a glance
1889
Founded
11,700+
Students
5,000
Faculty and staff
90
Undergraduate programs
95
Graduate programs
01
The challenge
Unsupported, hard to install, and stuck in a few offices
The University of Idaho (UI) was using a reporting solution it found to be outdated and, more importantly, no longer supported.
No longer supported
As operating systems were upgraded, fewer and fewer installations succeeded.
Stuck in a few offices
Installed in only a few specific offices, which made report distribution a challenge.
Hard to use
It wasn’t user friendly, and it took valuable time away from other innovations.
UI needed a reporting tool that end users could access and use, not just programming and reporting personnel. University administrators also wanted a solution that would improve turnaround time on the reports they requested.
02
The solution
Developers build the data. Everyone else runs the reports.
UI was already using another Evisions solution. After seeing demonstrations and comparing it to other options, the university determined that Argos was clearly the best choice for its new enterprise reporting solution.
Advancement Services, the main client interested in Argos, teamed up with ITS to decide how Argos would be structured across divisions. Argos would be used strictly to SELECT data. Each unit got its own area, with its own Development, Production and Test folders, and could decide its own organization within it. A shared Sandbox area lets everyone at UIdaho share reports.
While developers create the Argos DataBlocks, end users throughout campus run the reports: Accounts Receivable, Advancement Services, Finance, Famis (Facilities), Financial Aid, Human Resources, and the Registrar’s Office. Finance is the biggest user by number of production reports created.
How each office put it to work
Advancement used to get requests to see all donors to a specific designation. The old way took up to two weeks of gathering information and building a population base. Now end users query reports themselves and get the data within 24–48 hours. Advancement also uses interactive charts in its executive reports, and executives and deans love how much easier they make the data to interpret.
The Financial Aid Office moved many daily processes into Argos, especially popsel generation. Being able to run a report, sort columns and instantly make the needed adjustments, such as adding a document to a student’s RRAAREQ record, has sped up its workflow tremendously.
Finance used Argos to replace some locally developed forms, reducing modifications to the vendor-delivered ERP. Many of its reports let end users generate unformatted data files for specialized reporting, reconciliations and public records requests, so they are no longer dependent on developers for data dumps.
Human Resources provides reports that let departments and colleges get employee lists without developer assistance, exception reports that flag anomalies such as abnormal time and leave reporting, and a quick look report for employment verification.
| Before | With Argos |
|---|---|
| Up to two weeks to answer a donor-designation request | Data in end users’ hands within 24–48 hours |
| Installed in only a few offices | Reports run by end users across campus |
| Developers producing data dumps on request | End users generating their own data files |
| Employee lists that needed a developer | Departments and colleges pull employee lists themselves |
“
We had a significant gap in our ability to quickly generate institutional reports and make summaries available to our administration. Evisions Argos quickly filled that need as an easy-to-use product with great dashboard capabilities.
Brian Borchers · Director, Enterprise Applications, University of Idaho
03
The results
Hundreds trained, and hardly anyone came back
Across UI, information is now available at the click of a button. Report lead time has dropped by 85%, and end users no longer need developers to provide data dumps.
Answers at a click
End users run the reports they need themselves.
85% less lead time
Reports reach the people who request them far sooner.
No more data dumps
End users produce their own unformatted data files.
Charts executives love
Interactive charts make executive reports easier to interpret.
UI has also found great value in the Evisions CO-OP as a report and knowledge resource. Advancement Services has downloaded a ton of sample DataBlocks, and Financial Aid continues to learn how to expand the benefits of Argos by using it to improve processes, not just reports.
“
Our users absolutely love Argos and how easy it is to use. Of the hundreds of people we’ve trained, less than a handful have come back for additional training.
Lauren Torok
Assistant Director, Advancement Information Services
“
Moving many of our reports and processes to Evisions Argos has greatly improved our office’s efficiency and time management. The ease of use and flexibility it offers our developers has allowed us to create Dashboards which are user-friendly, multipurpose and intuitive.
Serendel MacPhereson
Financial Aid Business Analyst
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Lehigh University
Advancement staff got 80 percent of their day back
Scheduled reports took over the daily production work the advancement team had been doing by hand. Forty reports now go out by email across campus every week.
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Missouri State University
Governed self-service across a public university
Argos rolled out campus-wide in under a year. The university now runs more than 300 production reports and has trained 70 DataBlock designers, 156 report writers, and over 1,000 faculty and staff viewers.
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A small college's reporting, run by the people who need it
Within a few months the college had a couple of dozen DataBlocks in use. Nightly reports flag data entry issues to the Registrar, and advisors hear daily about students who add or drop.
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