Griffith University – Student Projection Model

© 2008 IBM Corporation

Griffith University – Student Projection Model

Presented by: Karl Blackler - Cortell Australia Pty LtdTracey Harper - Griffith University

Established in 1971, the University is named in honour of Sir Samuel Griffith (1845-1920), a former Premier and Chief Justice of Queensland and the first Chief Justice of Australia.

• Location: Queensland, Australia

• Student Population: 37,786

• International Students: 8,847

Griffith University Profile (1)

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• International Students: 8,847

• Staff population: 3,563 FTE

• Campuses: 5

• Research Centres: 38

• Undergraduate Programs: 268

• Postgraduate Programs: 382

• Research Programs: 104

• Griffith’s academic teaching centres are grouped under 4 key academic groups:– Arts, Education and Law

– Griffith Business School

– Health

– Science, Environment, Engineering, Technology

• We receive funding from many streams:

Griffith University Profile (2)

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• We receive funding from many streams:– Commonwealth grants

– Fee paying (domestic)

– Overseas fee paying

– Research

– Other business activities such as selling IP & consulting

• We operate within an uncertain and competitive external environment

• We require robust business planning to ensure key revenue drivers are identified and achieved

• Every year the University sets a four year budget, one of the critical internal planning processes undertaken by the University.

• The budget process is driven by a student load forecasting model.

• The previous student load projection model was developed for the purpose of reporting to Government departments.

• University required a projection model built to meet the needs of the budget

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• University required a projection model built to meet the needs of the budget process.

• A choice of software solutions was considered in choosing the optimal solution for developing the student projection model.

• It was agreed that the IBM Cognos TM1 solution was the most optimal, taking into consideration;– Ease of use– Cost

Why IBM Cognos TM1? (2)

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– Development Time – Tailored solution– Transparency in calculations– Easy ongoing modification

• Key requirement for the model is to be able to project the student load at the level and detail as required by the business.

• IBM Cognos TM1 software enables us to currently model across 15 dimensions such as academic group, program, funding type, study semester, admittance term, gender, citizenship, birth year and so on.

• Detailed business calculations written into the model were easily transparent which enabled:

How has it gone so far? (1)

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which enabled:– Bespoke reports output – Validation with non-technical business groups– Correction of data cleansing issues

• We discovered our data required significant cleansing.

• The IBM Cognos TM1 model produces error reports after each run of the model, which enabled us to easily identify the specific student and program data that was not logical within the model.

• This enabled us to work with our IT and student admin departments to perform the data cleansing exercise.

How has it gone so far? (2)

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• Examples include discontinued programs being marked as active and therefore included in the forecast within the model, international student citizenship default to AUS when left blank on forms, students enrolled in multiple programs, and so on.

• Another valuable exercise undertaken during the development of the model was the validation stage.

• We have tested extensively the calculations of the model and in some cases changed some of our initial assumptions.

• The output of the model has been compared with previous in-house models from last year, but also the IBM Cognos TM1 model was wound back to last year to see if it calculated the same figures as our previous model.

How has it gone so far? (3)

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year to see if it calculated the same figures as our previous model.

• There are many more applications that can be added to the student projection model that are in the pipeline, as well as other models. These include;

– Revenue Allocation Model– Student Projection Reporting

The Future

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– Management Reporting– KPI Pack for University– Budgeting & Forecasting

IBM Cognos TM1?

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What is IBM Cognos TM1?

• OLAP / Multi-dimensional Database

• Stores data/calculations in memory (64 bit means unlimited scalability)

• Read/update in real-time

• Consolidates in seconds

• Fastest OLAP Tool available – 8x Faster the Microsoft AS (OLAP survey)

• Approx Access SpeedsMemory = 0.00000001 secondsHard Drive = 0.013 seconds

1.3 million times faster to access.

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Server ExplorerServer Explorer

Cube ViewerCube Viewer

TM1 Icon BarTM1 Icon Bar

• Student Load Forecasting

• Budgeting & Forecasting Models

• Asset / Capex & Depreciation

• P&L / Balance Sheet / Cashflow

• Activity Based Costing

• Market Segmentation

• Customer Profitability

• Complex Actuarial Modeling

• Life of Mine / Life of Product / Life of Service

• Dashboards / Balance Scorecard

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• The EFTSL cube is the main cube, it has 15 dimensions and calculates the student EFTSL down to the lowest level. This illustrates the size:

The Griffith Cubes - EFTSL

Dimension Number of Elements Data PointsScenario 7 7Gender 4 28 Enrolment_Status 3 84 Academic_Career 8 672 Funding_type 19 12,768

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Funding_type 19 12,768 Program Campus 9 114,912 Teaching Campus 9 1,034,208 Admittance Term 200 206,841,600 Semesters 136 28,130,457,600 Birth Year 123 3,460,046,284,800 Citizenship 220 761,210,182,656,000 Teaching Organisation 752 572,430,057,357,312,000 Program 2452 1,403,598,500,640,130,000,000 Course 8357 11,729,872,669,849,600,000,000,000 EFTSL_Values 22 258,057,198,736,690,000,000,000,000

• The EFTSL student cube is used for reconciliation purposes, it has 17 dimensions. This illustrates the size:

The Griffith Cubes - EFTSL Student

Dimension Number of Elements Data PointsScenario 7 7 Gender 4 28 Enrolment_Status 3 84 Academic_Career 8 672 Funding_type 19 12,768

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Funding_type 19 12,768 Program Campus 9 114,912 Teaching Campus 9 1,034,208 Admittance Term 46 47,573,568 Semesters 200 9,514,713,600 HECS_Stat_type 136 1,294,001,049,600 Birth Year 123 159,162,129,100,800 Citizenship 220 35,015,668,402,176,000 Teaching Organisation 752 26,331,782,638,436,400,000 Program 2452 64,565,531,029,445,900,000,000 Course 8357 539,574,142,813,080,000,000,000,000 Student ID 408291 220,303,266,343,295,000,000,000,000,000,000 EFTSL_Values 22 4,846,671,859,552,490,000,000,000,000,000,000

Demo –

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Demo – Adding a new program

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Thank You

Questions / More Information

Karl Blackler - Cortell Australia Pty LtdEmail: karl.blackler@cortell.com.au

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