Educators at all levels need the ability to create, manage, and share detailed reports about their students. The ability to collect and share relevant data about students drives student success. It allows teachers, guardians, and administrators to make smart, data-driven decisions about allocating resources most effectively.
At the same time, schools and school districts often lack the overhead needed to invest in costly, high-tech solutions. There usually isn’t space in a school’s budget for beautiful data visualizations, including easy-to-interpret graphs and charts. As a result, one of the areas where this type of technology is badly needed is frequently underserved.
Jaspersoft Embedded Reporting
Jaspersoft embedded BI software provides cost-effective solutions for data visualization and reporting that are easily embedded into school districts’ existing software. Because it is open-source, Jaspersoft can be implemented at a fraction of the cost of other reporting software products, while also benefiting from the continued contributions of the engineering community.
To better understand the benefits of Jaspersoft’s embedded BI solutions for education, we’ll look at two parts of the Jaspersoft ecosystem: JasperReports and Jaspersoft Studio. Together, these tools can be used to create comprehensive reporting systems for educational institutions.
JasperReports
JasperReports is a reporting library that can write to a variety of different targets, including PDF, HTML, CSV, XML, or directly to print. It creates easily exportable, ready-to-print reports and integrates with any Java-enabled software. JasperReports easily integrates with a frontend Javascript UI through Jaspersoft’s Javascript API, Visualize.js.
One possible use case for JasperReports is in an online “webtop” environment where non-technical users such as teachers, students, or parents can log in to view and download progress reports, transcripts, etc. The “plug-in” nature of the Javascript API makes maintenance simple, as updates and changes to the platform will be easy to implement down the road.
Jaspersoft Studio
JasperReports reads instructions from either an XML file or a specialized .jasper file, and reports are defined in a special XML format called JRXML. These instructions and form definitions can be hand-coded, automatically generated, or created using the Jaspersoft Studio tool.
Jaspersoft Studio provides a GUI to make designing and running reports easier without a lot of hand-coding. It allows users to generate complex SQL queries, create visual components to build report layouts, and generate reports with a variety of document extensions.
With Jaspersoft Studio, non-technical employees are able to create frameworks for custom reports, utilizing custom data sources. Technical people will also benefit from the time-saving power of Jaspersoft Studio.
Data Terrain and Jaspersoft
The organizations that support educational institutions don’t always have the technical skill to implement modern, performant solutions like those that Jaspersoft can provide. That’s where Data Terrain comes in. We have over 10 years of experience in the design and support of embedded BI reporting solutions.
Data Terrain has extensive experience integrating Jaspersoft into custom applications across a variety of industries and can assist with all aspects of Jaspersoft integration.
We can migrate your existing reporting platform, assist with dashboard setup, and create custom Jaspersoft components like drag-and-drop report designers that empower employees to create their own Jaspersoft report frameworks. We also provide ongoing support and training.