Maintaining Estudias Enterprise
Estudias is designed to be a highly available, robust and
low-maintenance application. When based on
SQL-Server, maintenance is very low, not requiring
someone with specialized SQL-Server qualifications.
Stability / Error Recovery
- Makes changes atomically. This means,
for example, if a download from
the student information system is wrong, the entire ETL
process is reversed and the Estudias database remains in its original state
- Disconnects users and sets database in single-user mode to
prevent user activity from interfering
and to prevent users from seeing
incorrect results
- Ability to send emails to individuals every
time it runs, on warnings or on
errors. These emails contain a
detail log of the activities
involved during ETL including
possible warnings or error
descriptions
Backups
- Automatically backs up the
database nightly
- Can restore the database from
the nightly backups
- Backups can be applied after new
releases, meaning snapshots can
be kept and used even as the
product matures
- If users want, point-in-time
recovery can be implemented so
that any changes can be backed
out
Performance
- Self-optimizing:
Estudias Enterprise identifies and
optimizes the OLAP queries
that were the slowest or run
the most often that day
Data Quality
- Estudias Enterprise
produces warnings that can, optionally, be sent over email when
certain conditions on the data occur. For example,
if Estudias expects information in a file
but cannot find it, Estudias Enterprise will create a
warning. Estudias Enterprise currently runs close to 500 different data checks
nightly
- Database
constraints are enforced at
the client and the server level. This means the
data you enter can have more
checks to ensure higher data
quality
Staffing Requirements
Estudias Enterprise requires a minimal level of effort to maintain and manage. Assuming that downloads are automated, we suggest that the Estudias Enterprise server be backed up periodically which is a task that can be automated.
The other two recurring tasks that require IT involvement are:
- Estudias Enterprise user additions and deletions
- Estudias Enterprise upgrades
Adding or deleting a user is a task that requires one or two minutes to perform. ZogoTech produces an upgrade to Estudias Enterprise about once every three months. Institutions are not required to install every upgrade, but when they do, it usually takes about one to two hours to perform the upgrade.
|
|
|
|
