Visit IData’s Director of Data Management, Scott Flory, in the vendor area to learn more about the Data Cookbook and IData’s other reporting services.

With a tight deadline and a large number of reports to be migrated, IData quickly turned to its data management tool, Data Cookbook. First, IData documented all current reports in Data Cookbook, which established a consensus baseline for the report requirements and data definitions. It then added new technical definitions for the data elements on each report to document how to retrieve the same information in the SQL Server environment. After thoroughly documenting reports and definitions, IData built the reports using SQL Server Reporting Services, and collaborated on user testing and approval through Data Cookbook’s report request workflow.

The utilization of Data Cookbook contributed greatly to the efficiency of this multi-step process. Data Cookbook saved effort by identifying overlap and consolidating like terms. According to Brigitte Mudukuti, Texas Wesleyan’s IT Applications Director, “What quickly surfaced was our use of certain terms.” For instance, Mudukuti noted that there were several definitions for current student. This program also facilitated discussion between IData and Texas Wesleyan. Wesley Shelton, Applications Support Manager, said that Data Cookbook served as a “good mode of communication between us and IData.” This collaborative tool and IData’s extensive knowledge of higher education data systems made for an easier and timelier transition.