In Part 1 of our Fusion Platform series, we discussed Data Flows—the critical pipelines that automate the extraction of data from your Student Information System (SIS), Learning Management System (LMS), and other campus sources.
But once that data is flowing, where does it go? It needs a destination that is more scalable than a spreadsheet and more flexible than a traditional warehouse.
Welcome to step two of the Fusion Platform: The Datatelligent Data Lake.
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Centralizing Your Institutional Research Data Management
For many universities, data storage is just as fragmented as data collection. You might have financial data in one server, student success metrics in another, and alumni records in a third. This fragmentation makes “big picture” analysis nearly impossible.
The Datatelligent Data Lake acts as the central reservoir for all this incoming information. By directing your Data Flows into a single, unified environment, we eliminate data silos. This consolidation is the first requisite for advanced higher education data analytics, allowing you to see the interplay between a student’s financial aid status, their LMS engagement, and their retention likelihood.
Preset Models: Transforming Raw Data into Strategic Assets
A common fear for research professionals is that a “Data Lake” will turn into a “Data Swamp”—a messy dumping ground where information gets lost.
The Fusion Platform prevents this by utilizing preset higher education data models. When your data flows from your ERP or CRM into our Data Lake, it doesn’t just sit there in a raw, unusable state. It flows into pre-built, standardized structures designed specifically for the unique complexities of the higher education environment.
These models automatically organize your data, saving your team hundreds of hours of manual engineering. It ensures that data from disparate sources is not just stored, but harmonized, ready for complex querying.
Unifying Student Data Sources for a Single Source of Truth
The true magic happens when these sources combine. In the Data Lake, your LMS engagement data can finally “talk” to your SIS demographic data.
- Integration: We merge records to create a 360-degree view of the student.
- Scalability: Unlike legacy storage, our Data Lake scales infinitely as you add more history or new software tools.
- Speed: With the data pre-modeled, you cut down the “time-to-insight” significantly.
Preparing for the Future: Analytics and Dashboards
Think of the Data Lake as the foundation of a house. You cannot build the beautiful, functional rooms (dashboards and visual reports) without a solid concrete slab.
By consolidating and modeling your data here, you are prepping your institution for the final and most exciting step of the Fusion Platform: Fusion Vision. The work we do in the Data Lake today allows us to easily query data and pull it into stunning, actionable dashboards later—which is exactly what we will cover in the next blog post.
Dive Deeper into Data Lakes
Want to understand the technical benefits and security features of this architecture? We have a comprehensive resource that goes into the fine details. Read our Deep Dive: Unlock the Potential of Your Data with a Data Lake
Stay tuned for Part 3, where we will discuss how to visualize this data to drive decision-making.
