Tech Journal TAFE NSW responds to evolving industry needs, government regulations and a need to prepare business for the future

Facts at a glance

Client industry:

Higher Education

Challenge: 

TAFE NSW wanted to provide business users and executives with enterprise reporting based on accurate data but were struggling with:

• Reporting being produced at many levels without standard processes and across siloed systems
• Finding it difficult to meet government reporting requirements
• Inability to leverage data to focus on student outcomes and journeys
• Many different, legacy technologies that inhibited innovation, agility and key use-cases to drive business value

Solution:

• Designed and built their Azure Foundations (Landing Zone) to Microsoft best-practices and DevOps capability 
• A data estate assessment which led to the design and build of their TRIP platform, that leverages Insight’s Azure Data Services (ADS) foundation framework (datalake variant with Databricks)
• Migration of on-prem databases and reporting tools
• Power BI services to migrate and refactor existing reports
• Power apps and forms for Head Teachers to understand course offering details for strategic planning
• Embedded within their technology team to provide training, enablement and knowledge transfer

Results:

TAFE IT has already recovered its investment, in terms of the benefits achieved to date, with a view that the program will exceed $10 million in benefits back to the business.

Solution area:

Insight’s Digital Innovation solutions help clients digitally transform their operations to improve user engagement and experience.

Challenge

TAFE NSW previously operated as 11 separate education institutions with a myriad of platforms to manage students and their learning journey. As they further embarked on their transformation journey in 2020, they looked for a partner to support their Vision and Strategy for Data Services.

With little existing Azure footprint, Insight was able to quickly integrate with TAFE NSW to develop an overall plan for how they could design and implement its TAFE Reporting & Insights Platform (TRIP) as the backbone of the business, from regulatory and ministerial reporting to gaining insights to improve services.

“In the past, not one report of the legacy data warehouse would have been shared with our executives. Now, we are able to share reports with qualified, trusted data with our executives that help provide insights and influence business decisions. With this level of impact and executive buy-in, we all have the confidence, and the excitement, to move forward on our journey and continue to build out new capabilities on journey.” Colin Frewen, GM Strategy & Enterprise Architecture, TAFE NSW

Solution

Insight helped TAFE NSW embrace a Microsoft-first strategy for 500,000 students and 100,000 staff covering 140 campuses and 900 courses, as the organisation adapted to evolving industry needs, government regulations and more modern education delivery. 

Insight designed and built TAFE NSW’s Azure Foundations practice, allowing them to quickly scale online learning via Windows Virtual Desktop during the COVID-19 lockdown. TAFE IT has recovered its investments, in terms of benefits achieved to date, with a view that the transformation program will exceed $10 million in benefits back to the organisation.  

“TAFE NSW has made substantial strides in addressing legacy data issues that is essential to delivering to its core objectives of better knowing and serving its customers, supporting the student lifecycle and its industry partners. The TAFE Reporting and Insights Platform (TRIP) leverages industry leading Azure technology to support their growing reporting needs and empowers their staff with self-service reporting tools. Insight is thrilled to be a key partner for TAFE Data Services, improving data to support decision making and proactive management of its organisation.” Veli-Matti Vanamo, CTO APAC, Insight