Self-service BI in higher education

This diploma thesis deals with the design of self-service business intelligence reporting in higher education. The main goal of this thesis is to create set of analytical dashboards in Tableau. First chapter is an introduction into the business intelligence area and its core principles and types of users involved. Next, main disadvantages of traditional enterprise level BI tools are explained from business user´s point of view. Self-service BI is introduced as a response to these issues. The main advantages and requirements for successful implementation into enterprise environment are described. At the same time, there are reasons why it is not appropriate to use SS BI as the primary enterprise-wide reporting. Subsequently, the Tableau platform is introduced as a representative of selfservice BI tools. The Tableau Desktop tool is characterized as a reporting tool. It explains how to connect to data sources and how to work with extracts of data. Further, the method of working with the tool is explained and given examples of Tableau analytical functions. The Tableau Server´s architecture is described along with its security features. The administration and assignment of user roles are presented. The last part shows the process of publishing a dashboard from Tableau Designer to the server. The following section deals with the analysis of the higher education. The organizational structure is described and the main and support processes identified. Subsequently, metrics and dimensions are designed to track these processes. The final part proposes sample reports in Tableau for the area of subject evaluation, student study visits abroad, project activities and monitoring of accepted applications for study.