2015 Larry L. Sautter Award for Innovation in Information Technology
Cal Answers - Answering Today’s and Tomorrow’s Questions
Cal AnswersAnalytical Reporting
Project Name
Cal Answers Business Intelligence SolutionSubmitter’s Name
Mark Chiang, Enterprise Data Warehouse Manager, Information Services Technology (IST)510-666-3758
Contributing Organizations
CFO - Office of Strategic Program ManagementCFO - Office of Planning Analysis
CIO - Information Services Technology
CFO - Controller’s Office
CFO - Procurement Services
HR - Human Resources
Equity & Inclusion
Colleges and Schools
Technologies Utilized
Cal Answers (OBIEE)Informatica (ETL)
Project Timeframe
2012 –2014 /Key Players
Alan Underwood – Office of Planning & AnalysisAlfred Alipio Jocson – Office of Strategic Program Management
Andrew Eppig – Office of Equity & Inclusion
Anji Gannavarapu – Enterprise Data Warehouse
Anudeep Yapala – Enterprise Data Warehouse
Aswan Movva – Enterprise Data Warehouse
Cheryl Kojina – Enterprise Data Warehouse
Chris Whitney – Human Resources
Daniel Grieb – Student Information Systems
Frances Kendall – Enterprise Data Warehouse
Greg Hamilton – Enterprise Data Warehouse
Indu Tandon – Human Resources
Jean Bednarz – Office of the CFO
Jenna Allen – Office of Planning & Analysis
Josh Blatt – Office of Planning & Analysis
Kelle Jacobs – Office of Planning & Analysis
Mark Chiang – Enterprise Data Warehouse
Max Michel – Enterprise Data Warehouse
Mehmet Sevinc – Office of Strategic Program Management
Noam Manor –Office of the Vice Provost
Peter Cava –Enterprise Data Warehouse
Provin Dhawan – Enterprise Data Warehouse
Quin Bligh – Database Services
Radha Karichedu – Enterprise Data Warehouse
Russ Acker – Office of Planning & Analysis
Sameer D’Souza – Enterprise Data Warehouse
Sereeta Alexander – Office of Planning & Analysis
Shubha Narasimhan – Enterprise Data Warehouse
Teal Sexton – Office of Strategic Program Management
Tim Fuson – Human Resources
Tracy Okamura – Controller’s Office
Walter Stokes – Database Services
Cal Answers (Oracle Business Intelligence)
Cal Answers is an analytical tool allowing UC Berkeley to view centralized, integrated information from various campus systems. The tool makes data accessible to all, enabling staff, faculty, and students to locate reliable, consistent answers to critical campus questions. From large tasks like developing annual budgets for campus units and managing aid offerings,to day-to-day inquiries such as reviewing the previous month's on-contract spending or researching student graduation rates - Cal Answers helps UC Berkeley’s staff and faculty to quickly and easily find the data to inform and expedite their work.
What was accomplished
Student Curriculum Reporting
Course enrollment, offering, and instruction data have been integrated into the campus Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) to enable powerful Student Curriculum reporting capabilities in Cal Answers. Student Curriculum Reporting helps the campus improve the educational experience for students, use resources more wisely, and improve the decision making process for faculty and staff.
Student Financials Reporting
Improved decision-making based on Student Financials Reporting helped the campus reduce student debt, improved recruitment of the best and most diverse candidates, and enabled us to better define our role as a public institution. Funding for students is the second biggest revenue source on campus; reporting built on the proper data has allowed us to utilize this resource more effectively, seize new opportunities, reduce risks, and further the university’s mission of teaching, research and public service.
Student Applicants Reporting
Student Applicant Reporting offers data and analytic capabilities for undergraduate applicants, allowing University decision makers to better understand the applicant pool and how it is changing over time. They can also combine Applicant data with data on current students to gain insight into varying outcomes for our students. These new capabilities have helped improve UC Berkeley’s strategy for successfully recruiting a strong and diverse student body.
May 15, 2015 / 12015 Larry L. Sautter Award for Innovation in Information Technology
Student Demographics & Outcomes
Student Demographics Outcomes Reporting includes data on registered students and awarded degrees. This has enabled staff to better understand the composition and academic behaviors of our student body, as well as examine outcomes such as retention and graduation rates for different groups. Cal Answers has allowedstudent demographics and outcomes data to be integrated with other data sources including applicants, student financials, and curriculum. The technical architecture underlying this integration has helped to drive the success of Cal Answers and the Enterprise Data Warehouse, and enable faster, more data-driven decision making at all levels of the University.
May 15, 2015 / 42015 Larry L. Sautter Award for Innovation in Information Technology
Principal Investigator Portfolio (PI Portfolio) Reporting
PI Portfolio reporting provides Faculty members and Principal Investigators with a quick yet comprehensive overview of financial data for all the funds they manage. After this project’s go-live, Faculty and research administrators were able to view fund balances and expenses, then drill into transactions and personnel details for more in-depth analysis.
May 15, 2015 / 42015 Larry L. Sautter Award for Innovation in Information Technology
Procure to Pay Reporting
Procurement and Spend reporting provides the insights to enable decision makers to reach critical financial goals including cost savings, smoother processing, greater compliance, stronger relations with key vendors, and improved vendor diversity. Money saved through more strategic purchasing can be redirected to the University's core mission of teaching, research, and public service.
May 15, 2015 / 42015 Larry L. Sautter Award for Innovation in Information Technology
Human Resources Reporting
HR reporting provides official headcounts for the campus as a whole, as well as department-level counts of faculty, staff, research, and student positions. This is a valuable new resource for those who use HR information in their jobs, as well as for anyone who is curious about who makes up our campus and how our demographics are changing over time. The metrics enable the campus to accurately manage staffing changes, succession planning, and diversity assessments, as well as identify trends and analyze budget decision impacts.
May 15, 2015 / 52015 Larry L. Sautter Award for Innovation in Information Technology
Customer Satisfaction Responses
“Berkeley has undertaken significant steps to strengthen integration of activities across the campus...Principal among them has been Berkeley’s implementation of an Enterprise Data Warehouse and related institutional reporting portal with dashboard tools, Cal Answers. (CFR 4.5)”
— SOURCE: Excerpt from the WSCUC Visiting Team Accreditation Report, October 2014
“Thanks for the terrific work on the Curriculum dashboard. The presentation went over well.
The best part was this: my presentation was followed a little while later by a presentation of the Data Science initiative. One of the speakers had, in the intervening few minutes, used the Curriculum Dashboard to get a piece of data on enrollments that he used in his presentation! He referred to your work as 'that excellent dashboard that was just shown to us'.
How do you like that for immediate impact! Well done all.”
— Vice Provost, Strategic Academic and Facilities Planning
“Congrats everybody! I'm so amazed by the way this project came together in such a quick and impactful manner. The murky haze of mystery that was our past stands no chance against the illuminating power of CalAnswers!”
— Assistant Vice Chancellor, Financial Planning & Analysis
“Great report! Keep up the fantastic work, All! It's an incredibly exciting time.”
—Executive Director, Office of Strategic Program Management
“The new dashboard helps academic units highlight the value of their programs, identify areas of growth and high demand, and portions of the curriculum that are undersubscribed. The methodologies have been vetted, and the data is official, so academic planners, department chairs, and deans can not only gain insight into how their curricula have been mounted but also have a common set of metrics on which to base decisions and make comparisons.”
—Institutional Research Analyst, Strategic Academic and Facilities Planning
May 15, 2015 / 5