Strategy Work

 

AIR: Illinois Center for School Improvement Initiative

American Institutes for Research (AIR) is one of the world's largest behavioral and social science research and evaluation organizations. AIR’s mission is to conduct and apply the best behavioral and social science research and evaluation toward improving peoples’ lives, with a special emphasis on the disadvantaged.

Challenge

AIR was challenged with implementing a solution to address the needs of the Center for School Improvement through the deployment of a web-based communication facility that integrated well with the existing Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) technology platform. AIR searched out a vendor with local knowledge and experience to help derive the optimal technology solution as well as the vision for expansion and growth. MSF&W relied upon its prior experiences with ISBE and knowledge of plans for the future to promote the strategy for a phased solution implementation.

Solution

MSF&W identified a technological strategy that first accommodated general content publication and information dissemination, but would also later facilitate access to secured business management and operations data.

MSF&W gathered requirements and conducted an assessment of candidate technological solutions. MSF&W recognized the need for a collaboration tool and a business intelligence tool. MSF&W identified and assessed technologies that best suited ISBE’s current environment and would fit into their future plans.

 

ILETSBE: Law Enforcement Training Certification System

The Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board (ILETSB) is the state agency mandated to promote and maintain professional standards for law enforcement and correctional officers. Its purpose is to promote and protect citizen health, safety, and welfare by encouraging municipalities and other local governmental agencies of this state and participating state agencies in their efforts to upgrade and maintain a high level of training and standards for law enforcement personnel.

Challenge

Following the passage of new legislation mandating Lead Homicide Investigator (LHI) training, ILETSB launched an initiative to standardize training information data collection training information for law enforcement agencies in Illinois.

Solution

MSF&W’s development staff rewrote the Classic ASP website in .NET MVC 5 with Entity Framework using code and database first techniques. The team built the system based on an Access database application that allows agencies from around the state to track and schedule officer training. The site also allows sheriffs and police chiefs to submit agency changes to rosters.

 

ISBE: SharePoint Knowledge Management System

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) serves as the policy-making body for public education within the State of Illinois. The agency is responsible for statewide curriculum standards, high school graduation requirements, and standards for teaching professionals. ISBE also maintains multiple data systems that track various aspects of the performance and competitiveness of public education.

Challenge

ISBE issued an RFP to solicit vendors to build a knowledge management and collaboration system within the agency. MSF&W was awarded a contract to design and implement a SharePoint 2013 environment for the agency.

Solution

MSF&W assigned a SharePoint Architect to ISBE to design, develop, and implement a Knowledge Management System based on the Microsoft SharePoint platform. This system was developed as a tool for the agency’s Center for Performance to better manage their projects and data requests. MSF&W’s solution now serves as an enterprise portal for collaboration, standardization, and efficiency throughout the agency.

 

IMSA: Student Data Repository and Analytics System

The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) is a teaching and learning laboratory created by the State of Illinois and enrolls academically talented Illinois students (grades 10-12) in its advanced, residential college preparatory program. IMSA also serves thousands of educators and students in Illinois and beyond through innovative instructional programs that foster imagination and inquiry.

Challenge

IMSA had many standalone databases and spreadsheets containing over twenty years of critical academy data spread over multiple departments. They recognized a need to centralize this existing data to facilitate and improve analysis and reporting. Their goal was to better understand student performance and academy return on investment, as well as to secure continued funding from donors and the legislature.

Solution

MSF&W assessed IMSA’s existing situation and conceptualized a phased implementation of a centralized data repository to facilitate reporting and analysis. We developed custom extract/transform/load (ETL) processes that allowed a data owner to easily contribute data to the repository. The ETLs performed data cleansing and deduplication tasks to assure uniqueness and data integrity. Third-party analytical software (Tableau) was integrated to place the power of this solution in the hand of key user personnel. We also worked with the IMSA team to implement data governance standards for collecting and managing their academy data.