Data Warehouse Update

The following email went out to the Data Warehouse contacts list this afternoon, so I thought I would share it here for anyone who is interested.

Dear Data Warehouse Contacts and Tech Coordinators,

In August of 2011, the DESE released the new EDW v3.0, Phase 1. This new version contained some of the prior information and reporting capabilities and three important advances:

• The MCAS tables were redesigned for better reporting performance;
• The user interface was redesigned to make locating reports more intuitive; and
• Security was streamlined to enable a simpler interaction with the DESE’s Directory Administration (DA) application.

Subsequent to that release the EDW team has continued to work on additional releases, adding reports and functionality, with the ultimate goal being to phase out v2.6.

EDW v3.0 Phase 2, September 2011 included:

• Additional MCAS reports were released

EDW v3.0 Phase 3, January 2012 included:

• A new Competency Determination (CD) report

EDW v3.0 Phase 4, March 2012 (estimated completion March 30th). will include the following:

• February Biology MCAS data
• SIMS data and reporting
• SCS and EPIMS data and reporting
• MCAS reports by classroom
• Additional report improvements to close the gap between v2.6 and v3.0 MCAS reports.

With the release of Phase 4 in March, MCAS and other state data will no longer be loaded in EDW v2.6. This version is being phased out and will no longer be available by the start of the 2012-2013 school year.

EDW v3.0 deliverables that still need resolution before v2.6 is retired:

• An MCAS cube or acceptable replacement;
• A means of assisting districts in migrating locally authored reports and other content;
• The best tool for districts to use in continuing to create custom reports;
• An answer to the question: Will districts be able to load ‘local data’, such as formative assessments, into v3.0 or will this functionality be handled by the Teaching & Learning system?
• And the loading of MCAS data prior to 2006 into version 3.0.

These solutions are still being assessed in view of the ongoing development of the PK-20 and Teaching and Learning systems. Access to existing reports developed by districts and the ability to load local data will remain as is through the remainder of the 2011-2012 school year.

If you have any questions or comments please respond to DataWarehouse@mass.doe.edu or (781-338-6820).