At a Glance
Industry Higher Education
Organization 129+ year-old West Coast university, 7 schools, 40+ departments
Community 2,200+ faculty, 12,500 staff, ~17,250 students
Platform Informatica 10.4, enterprise BI, reporting, and EDW
Engagement Informatica support and maintenance, 24x7
Outcome ETL loads tuned down, backlogs cleared, technical debt reduced

TOP-RANKED UNIVERSITY ยท WEST COAST, USA

Informatica Support Success Story for a Top-Ranked University

Customer Background

A 129-Year-Old University Modernizing Its BI Environment

A 129+ year-old West Coast university, consistently ranked among the world's leading educational institutions, embarked on a major initiative to modernize its business intelligence and reporting environment. With seven schools, more than 40 academic departments, and graduate programs across law, medicine, education, and business, the university manages exceptionally complex institutional data.

Tracking HCM information for more than 2,200 faculty members, 12,500 administrative staff, and nearly 17,250 students had become increasingly critical. As one of the top fundraising universities and the first to raise over one billion dollars in a single year, it was essential to maintain accurate financial reporting and analytics. To meet these needs, the university implemented Informatica 10.4 as its enterprise BI and reporting platform.

Customer Storeis
The Challenge

Reporting Demand Outpacing Performance and Stability

As reporting demands increased, the university needed faster response times, improved system performance, and consistent operational stability. It selected DataTerrain, chosen for its proven experience improving service levels, fine-tuning enterprise data warehouse (EDW) systems, and enhancing BI performance, to provide Informatica support and maintenance.

Rising Reporting Demand

A growing user community and reporting load required faster response times across the platform.

Slow ETL loads

Nightly ETL processes took 6-8 hours, delaying data availability.

Operational Stability

The university needed consistent, reliable day-to-day operations for its BI environment.

Ticket Backlogs

Issue-resolution delays and an accumulation of tickets were slowing users' reporting tasks.

Technical Debt

Recurring incidents and temporary workarounds were building up across the EDW over time.

Complex institutional Data

Seven schools and 40+ departments, from medicine to finance, meant highly complex, high-stakes data.

Our Approach

DataTerrain's Approach to EDW Support

DataTerrain applied a structured, tested methodology grounded in decades of experience supporting large-scale EDW environments, combining deep Informatica expertise with operational best practices across four service areas.

1
Application Services

EDW design updates, Informatica PowerCenter development, data integration, profiling, cleansing, and performance tuning to keep the platform fast and accurate.

2
EDW Maintenance

Table management, audit processes, and data consistency checks to protect data integrity across the warehouse.

3
Development, Enhancements, and Defect Resolution

New development and enhancements alongside SLA-based incident management and structured root-cause analysis for every defect.

4
Load Planning and 24x7 Monitoring

Load planning and monitoring with round-the-clock production support, release management, system health checks, and close coordination with database teams.

Business Impact

Outcomes That Mattered to the Business

On Track

SLA-based incident management kept delivery predictable and on schedule.

Zero-Defect Delivery

Root-cause analysis replaced recurring workarounds with permanent fixes.

Faster Time-to-Value

ETL loads that once ran for six to eight hours were tuned down via pushdown optimization and partitioning.

Always-On Reliability (24x7)

Round-the-clock support cut issue-resolution times and caught failures early.

Backlogs Eliminated

Ticket backlogs cleared, removing delays on reporting tasks.

Quick Payback

Strengthened BI operations delivered fast ROI without a costly re-platform.

Bottom Line

What Sets DataTerrain Apart

The university highlighted several factors behind the engagement's success. DataTerrain's deep technical expertise helped eliminate performance bottlenecks and improve maintainability; its global delivery model enabled uninterrupted support across time zones; and its strong experience in the higher-education domain enabled it to deliver tailored solutions for departments such as medicine, finance, admissions, and faculty management.

Together, these strengths strengthened the university's BI operations, improved system performance, and maximized the value of its Informatica investment, turning a strained reporting environment into a stable, well-supported platform.

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"DataTerrain's deep Informatica expertise and global delivery model kept our enterprise data warehouse fast and stable, with 24x7 support that cleared our backlogs and cut load times that once ran six to eight hours. We've steadily reduced technical debt and continue to rely on DataTerrain as a trusted partner in our BI operations." Director of Business Intelligence
Top-Ranked University