The key to improving performance is understanding factors behind current performance and making informed changes, for any business. This same statement is true for Independent and International schools. Data analytics technology enables us to harness all of our available data and use it to gather growth insights and inform decision making.
However, handling big data can be a challenge. The larger the institution, the larger its databases. It’s unrealistic to expect effective analytics to be performed manually or with limited access.
Integrated data analytics technology enables users to harness all available data across any integrated system, building a full picture of performance and the individual elements behind that performance. But integration isn’t a given. You need technology that understands the benefits of seamless integration and works with you to ensure that you can truly make the most of your school data.
So, what are the real-life benefits of working with integrated data analytics for your school and your students?
- Efficiency built-in
- Guaranteed analytics quality
- Maximising your data
- Prioritise student outcomes
- Boost performance and agility
- iSAMS Central for intuitive data insights
Efficiency built-in
For many companies, the priority when searching for data analytics software is functionality. While ensuring that your software is thorough is an important factor, a third-party provider may not be able to truly access all of your available data. There are often limitations to its ability to integrate and access data stores, depending on your security requirements.
Ultimately, your analytics software is only as good as the data that is fed into its technology. Without natural integration, functionality and insights may be limited.
An integrated data analytics tool ensures that efficiency and performance is built in. Your current provider understands the structure and data within their own systems, and can ensure that your data analytics are taking full advantage of everything that is available as effectively as possible – providing you with the most accurate insights with minimal difficulty.
Guaranteed analytics quality
While an integrated data analytics system can improve efficiency, it can also ensure accuracy in your insights and outcomes.
As mentioned above, third parties may not always be able to access your full databases. Your security protocols may prevent this, or they simply may not have the functionality to connect to and harness each data point.
An integrated provider, particularly a provider that offers an all-in-one service, can take advantage of your entire school system – since it naturally works in tandem with your MIS. This enables your analytics technology to make the most out of your data. The more data the system can access, the more accurate its insights will be.
When searching for new software, always consider the overall offering and functionality, rather than just one system. For example, when searching for an MIS for your school, discuss what built-in analytics or additional systems that provider might be able to offer.
By working with one software supplier that understands the needs of your school from both an administrative and SLT perspective, you can find solutions that prioritise data accuracy and the quality of forecasting and insights.
Maximising your data
The majority of schools handle a large amount of data on a daily basis, from personal data to overall operational data. In many cases, this data is left in the system as it’s relatively inaccessible, or IT teams work to generate insights manually. This is extremely time-consuming and can lead to inaccuracies, as data continuously becomes out of date.
However, data analysis is key to driving performance for any business. It’s important to harness as much data as possible to generate insights that provide results.
A dedicated data analysis solution that integrates with your existing school data stores simplifies this process and empowers you to make the most out of your available data.
Maximise the potential of your school data with an intuitive, integrated system that is built with schools in mind. The right analytics solution should communicate with your MIS and existing range of solutions to strengthen your decision making and harness your school's potential.
Prioritise student outcomes
It isn’t just SLT and Data Manager’s that will benefit from integrated data analytics. The primary goal of any school is to provide the best learning experience to students and drive their academic performance. The better a school performs for its students academically, the better a reputation it has.
Data is the key to understanding your students and their performance overall. With data analytics and insights, leadership can make more informed decisions and build plans to improve learning in the future.
Demonstrate your school’s commitment to education by putting student outcomes first with continuous learning analysis and data-backed decision-making. Benchmark performance regularly and make changes for the benefit of both students and staff.
Boost performance and agility
While the student learning experience will always be the priority, there are a variety of components that must work together to effectively drive school growth. Overall department performance is key, with the entire school pushing forwards towards the same goal.
Your data analytics shouldn’t just drive your student’s academic achievement, but each school department’s performance, too. Benefit from a full understanding of admissions statistics, staff information, financial data points, and more.
The more data and departments you can work with, the better your decision-making across the school will be. Integrated data analytics can show you where your departments might be losing efficiencies, what factors are impacting each statistic or trend, and help you to make small changes that impact the larger whole.
Continuously updating insights and analytics also enable you to be more agile. Your decision-making should be fuelled by the most up-to-date data points, not manual analysis and assumptions. This ensures that you can forecast effectively, and understand whether your changes are having the desired effect. Ultimately, integrated data analytics reduce the margin of error and drive your school’s growth plans.
iSAMS Central for intuitive data insights
Understanding the need for powerful data analytics in schools is what led iSAMS to create Central. Built with Independent and International schools in mind, the Power BI solution works seamlessly with the iSAMS school management system and enables iSAMS users to make the most out of all of the data within their daily software.
Central is continuously updated to meet the needs of schools, offering even more data points within the user-friendly dashboards. Schools can also harness AI technology for intuitive report generation within any dashboards, thanks to natural language processing.
Interested in finding out what Central could do to empower your decision-making? You can watch a full demo below.