Data Profiling Tool

Tender description

The Higher Education sector is entering turbulent times with the changing nature of both markets and regulation. The pace of change is accelerating, and the University is well placed to take advantage of opportunities created by this change. The effective and efficient management of data is a vital component to underpin this success both now and in the future. Data is held and used by the university in every area of its business: teaching, research, operational activities, internal and external reporting and making strategic decisions. This data must be managed as a strategic asset for the university - as fundamental as people, technology and the estate. The increasingly data driven regulation will require accurate in-year reporting of student and student related data to satisfy the increasingly metric-led Office for Students (OfS). This and other data offers both opportunity and risk as it presents the University publicly via many different metrics, league tables and other rankings. In addition, there is an increasing requirement for rich, insightful analysis that is based on trusted data and available on demand to support strategic decision making. Our data analysts should be using their skills to deliver these insights, rather than cleaning up poor quality data every time a new report is required. We require a product set and associated services to allow us to validate, cleanse, master and profile the key data which underpins the University's objectives and external obligations. We need to be able to ensure correct data at source where possible with any errors corrected as soon as possible. We also need to be able to monitor how well our data meets quality rules, and track progress over time against these criteria. To support this we require data governance tools such as a data quality issue log and a business glossary to enable all staff to understand the definition and usage of each key business term. Finally, we need to set accountability for that data and move to a culture of 'data professionalism' across the whole University.