PSS Business Services for
Higher Education

Institutional Research & Reporting Solutions

PSS offers a wide variety of services to meet your institutional information and reporting needs, from a comprehensive assessment to "off the shelf" and customized reporting solutions. We can help you organize, structure, and deliver repeatable reporting and analytical strategies, and results for all of your institutional and business information needs. PSS support of an Institutional Research department can range from technical resources to help leverage existing tools up to a complete business intelligence solution incorporates institutional business analytics, and key performance indicators used to measure, monitor, and manage institutional key business processes.

• ETL Mapping Services (Data Extraction, Transformation, and Load)
  

  One of the greatest barriers to an Institutional Research department is a lack of knowledge of the underlying Student Information System Transactional Database. In order to get the information out of the transactional system into an accessible format for Institutional research, one must first be able to map the requested information back to the original stored information. PSS staff has extensive knowledge of the underlying data architecture of many major Student Information Systems. We have proven processes and tools for creating the mappings, transformations, and calculations to pull information from the transactional systems into a usable format and simplified database for institutional research and analysis.



• Data Warehousing and Data Warehouse Design
  

  Data Warehousing can help an institution in many ways. It can be used for integration of information from disparate systems, simplification of data structures, limiting access to private data, historical and time-variant data snapshots, creating "a single view of the truth" for reporting, data clean up and scrubbing, and solving many other reporting challenges. Even though data warehousing can solve many problems, it can also cause great headache when trying to solve all the world's problems at once. PSS data warehousing experts know how to tackle warehouse designs in a measured and staged approach that allow institutions to create a Warehouse that gives both immediate and growing successes. PSS takes a Modular approach to the design that helps to create a robust and living data warehouse.



• Business Intelligence Tools and Reporting
  

  PSS delivers a full suite of services, tools, and products that increase the speed at which institutions can make informed business decisions that are optimized and leveraged to directly influence business performance. PSS's business intelligence solution incorporates institutional business analytics, and key performance indicators used to measure, monitor, and manage institutional key business processes. The "off the shelf" higher education business intelligence system includes a robust and configurable data warehouse design, pre-designed analytics and reports, and tools to build institutional reports, charts, graphs, and analytics to reflect KPI's, trend profiles and detection as well as business performance tracking, projection, and forecasting. The PSS business intelligence solution includes services to compliment institutional unique requirements. Our on-site senior business analyst will conduct a comprehensive study to determine the institutions business informational needs and tailor a solution that meets their unique business and decision making requirements.



• Needs Assessment – Data, Information, Analytics, and Reporting
  

  PSS offers a wide variety of services to meet your institutional information and reporting needs, from a comprehensive assessment to "off the shelf" and customized reporting solutions. We can help you organize, structure, and deliver repeatable reporting and analytical strategies, and results for all of your institutional and business information needs. Using proven business analysis techniques, PSS will observe business processes and workflows, review institutional forms, materials, documents and plans, interview key process owners, and then assess business information systems to ascertain the extent of data, information, analytical, and reporting requirements. Once compiled PSS will provide a thorough overview of institutional information and reporting needs and a business solution to achieve optimal use of technology and human resources to meet those needs.



• Needs Assessment – Regulatory Reporting Assessment and Planning
  

  PSS offers a comprehensive review of your entire regulatory reporting requirement, including federal, state, county, and accreditation agencies. This proven business process review will document and organize your requirements into a well structured, methodical management plan focused on timely and accurate submission of reports, forms, and electronic files while ensuring the institution receives its due regulatory agency revenue share. Once compiled PSS will provide a thorough overview of institutional regulatory reporting requirements, internal technology and human resource requirements, a management plan, and several automated options for the execution of the plan. The results will be an orchestrated approach to managing, coordinating, and controlling these complex regulatory requirements.



• Institutional Research Department Technical Staffing
  

  Many IR departments find that the biggest barrier to delivering institutional reports is lack of availability of necessary technical resources (often from the IT department) in order to locate and access the institutional data. PSS offers flexibly scheduled staff augmentation to put the technical resource directly in the hands of the IR department. This resource will increase the efficiency of both the IR team and the IT department.

Connect Your SIS To Any 3rd Party Product

PSS can quickly and cost-effectively tackle your system integration projects. PSS has both the technical expertise and the tool-set to facilitate real-time communication and data exchange between 3rd party products or databases and your Student Information System.

PSS Communication Service Provider

Premiere Systems Support's Java and XML based Communication Service Provider (CSP) is a highly configurable engine facilitating communication between disparate internal and external applications and an institution's strategic Student Information System.

The PSS Communications Service provider (CSP) is specifically designed to be a low cost, user installable and configurable, and low maintenance solution. The Java based service provider is compatible will all major Student Information Systems (SIS). The service is designed to serve as a single communication point for any XML-based communication between the institution's SIS and another application.

Supercharge your IT

PSS technical Consulting team provides a wide range of solutions to Higher Education Institutions. Services are offered both as a consulting or Staff Augmentation basis. Every member of the PSS team has specific experience including System Architects, Analysts, Developers, System Administrators, Database Administrators, Application Consultants, Quality Assurance, Business Intelligence Developers, Documentation Specialists, and Project Managers.

PSS Technical Consulting Solution offerings:

• Requirements Gathering, Discovery, and Design
• Custom Development
• System and Database Administration services
• Performance Analysis & Tuning

The PSS advantage

• Customer Centric
• Focus is always on your solution
• Each team member is a gateway to the resources of the entire company. Even if you have only one PSS expert on your project, the entire company takes ownership for providing you with the best solution.
• Proven expertise
• Focused on Robust quality solutions.
• CMM SEI Software development lifecycle
• Affordable
• We listen and communicate with your staff
• We deliver honest and accurate estimates and timelines.

PSS can deliver technical consulting solutions in a way that fits your project and budget

• Project Bids:
  

  PSS will assume responsibility for solving your Business or Technology need. PSS provides project management, development, and implementation. An outline of the PSS Project Management and Implementation Process follows on the next two pages.

• Staffing:
  

  PSS will provide your team with the highest quality technical or project management resource. Each PSS team member brings with them access to the entire knowledge base and resources of the PSS Technical Consulting division. Staffing is billed on a time and materials basis.

PSS PM and Implementation Process