Pillar Six: Data
“We use data responsibly to inform strategy and improve outcomes.”
Data points: Reliable data depends on the physical infrastructure beneath it. Pictured: Network Engineer Brian Przepasniak and Infrastructure Engineer Grant Armstrong. Photo: Dennis Reed Jr.
Drive a university-wide data strategy through targeted investments in systems, governance, and stakeholders that enable insight, informed decisions, innovation, and institutional impact.
Initiatives (Ongoing)
Enterprise Data Strategy Launch
The VPCIO, in collaboration with the Office of Institutional Analysis and key university leaders, established a working group to revitalize the university’s data strategy. The group conducted a current-state assessment that led to two adopted recommendations: enhancing the Data Request Intake process and modernizing the Data Tool Set as part of the enterprise data strategy.
Centralize and Democratize Data Access
UB's Office of Institutional Analysis, in partnership with UBIT, is establishing a unified, intuitive entry point to institutional data assets so faculty and staff can more easily discover and access information. Expected outcomes include a central data access portal and catalog, faster access to high-value data, greater transparency around data requests, and improved customer satisfaction with self-service analytics.
Modernize Data Platforms
UBIT is implementing a unified Data Lakehouse platform to consolidate data, analytics, and AI workloads across the institution. Expected outcomes include a modern data platform in production, pilot use cases with measurable results, onboarding of new data sources, reduced data silos, and less reliance on shadow analytics.
Seven campus units are assessing and testing our proof of concept Data Lakehouse, including the Office of Institutional Analysis, Finance & Administration Business Reporting & Systems, and other campus student retention representatives.
The Data Lakehouse proof of concept currently hosts 55 gigabytes across eight logical warehouses. Currently, objects include 127 tables and 147 views.
Develop Data Skills and Culture
UBIT is designing and delivering a comprehensive data literacy program for faculty and staff. Expected outcomes include university-wide learning pathways, reduced data interpretation errors, greater confidence in data-informed decision-making, and increased value from analytics roles across the institution.
Refresh Data Governance
A primary goal of our Enterprise Data Strategy initiative is to revitalize our data governance framework to better support growing data and analytics priorities. Expected outcomes include clearer governance principles, updated data access and use policies, strengthened Data Champion roles, and a model that balances privacy, security, and effective data utility. We currently have 18 data domains, each with an assigned custodian represented on the Data Stewardship Committee.