Federated Data Layer
dbt-based transformations connecting to Postgres, MS-SQL, Salesforce, and a custom REST API. Refreshes every 15 minutes.
Case study · Education · 2026
From 11 disconnected reports to one live admissions dashboard.
A national tertiary institution was using six different systems for admissions, fees, attendance and academic records. Senior leadership reviewed performance with PowerPoints stitched together every Monday morning.
+0%fee collection on time
0systems unified
0manual reports needed
The brief
Where A national tertiary institution started.
A 22,000-student national tertiary institution across two campuses, running on a patchwork of six systems: a custom student information system, a finance ERP, an LMS, a CRM for prospective students, an attendance system, and an HR system for academic staff. Reports for the VC every Monday were stitched together by hand.
The challenge
The five things in the way.
- 01
No system was authoritative — different reports gave different numbers
- 02
Late fees were tracked weeks after the fact
- 03
Admissions team could not predict enrolment within ±15%
- 04
Parent communication was email-only and non-personalised
- 05
Monthly board reports took 3 days of dedicated effort
The approach
How we framed the work.
- Built a federated BI layer rather than replacing any system
- Cleaned and matched 240,000+ student records across the six sources
- Defined a single source-of-truth metric library
- Shipped one operational dashboard at a time so users adopted gradually
What we built
Four components, sequenced over the engagement.
Executive Dashboard
Live VC/Registrar/CFO view of enrolment, fees, attendance, exam results, drilldown to the student level.
Predictive Enrolment Model
Forecast intake by faculty and programme, ±4% accuracy, with the underlying features visible to admissions.
Parent Fee Portal
Mobile-first portal showing fee balance, payment history, statements; pays via Stripe and local mobile-money rails.
Outcomes
What landed for the business.
- 0122% lift in fees paid on time within the first academic semester
- 02Six systems unified into one source-of-truth metric library
- 03Zero manual reports — Monday board pack auto-generated
- 04Enrolment forecasts now within ±4% (was ±15%)
- 05Parent NPS lifted from 18 to 47 over 6 months
"Our Monday review used to take a team of four three days to prepare. Now it lives on a screen."
— Vice-Chancellor, national tertiary institution
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