Ascential frees up PeopleSoft data at Southern Methodist University

Southern Methodist University (SMU), a private university based in Dallas, Texas, is using Ascential DataStage as the enterprise data integration platform for its PeopleSoft EPM implementation. Ascential is helping the university streamline and accelerate the data extraction process in an effort to cut costs and improve staff and faculty access to administrative and student decision support systems.

With more than 11 000 students, the university needs to track a variety of historical data, including information for student reporting, human resources, administration, development and budgeting. For example, SMU keeps track of census data monitoring certain key points in the academic calendar over a 10-year period.

"Our main goal was to give SMU`s faculty and staff the ability to make better, faster decisions based on the data available," says Joe Gargiulo, director of software applications, SMU. "We needed a way to `free the data` so that it was more useable and easier to get exactly what each department required. Our team was able to accomplish this very quickly, in part, because the Ascential solution integrated seamlessly with our PeopleSoft application."

SMU`s IT infrastructure is based on PeopleSoft EPM, but also includes Oracle databases, Sun Solaris systems and Windows 2000 applications servers, creating an environment where the integration of clean and consistent data is critical. Ascential`s ability to cleanse, standardise and transform the data enables tightly integrated enterprise information, regardless of the sources, targets and time frames, essential for the university`s ongoing software strategy and integration initiatives.

SMU`s IT department was charged with the challenge of providing end-users with an effective way to access data residing in a number of disparate sources across the organisation.

"Ascential has helped SMU build an integration infrastructure that meets its needs and gives staff and faculty more direct access to the data that is important to them," says Julian Field, MD of local Ascential distributor Centerfield Software.

The Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite is a comprehensive data integration solution that profiles, cleanses and transforms data from virtually any application or system regardless of data volume or latency. Ascential`s integrated offering is designed to help companies streamline operations, improve customer support, expedite business transactions, and make better tactical and strategic decisions on the basis of the best available information. The suite provides unlimited scalability through parallel processing, complete metadata management, any-to-any data source and application connectivity, and delivers on demand data integration seamlessly within an organisation`s service-oriented architecture.