GoodData Case Studies Giving the GED a Grade A Upgrade

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	Giving the GED a Grade A Upgrade GoodData

Giving the GED a Grade A Upgrade

GoodData

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
Applicable Industries	Education
Applicable Functions	Business Operation
Use Cases	Predictive Quality Analytics Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services Data Science Services
Challenge	The GED Testing Service, a joint venture between the American Council on Education (ACE) and Pearson, was looking to adapt the 70-year old GED test to the skills needed in the 21st century. They wanted to centralize testing via authorized testing centers to provide significant quality control for scoring, monitor for fraud detection, and distribute practice tests anywhere to any platform. However, all test scores were fed from various states downstream to a legacy data warehouse that the GED Testing Service would use for statistical analysis and to confirm the accuracy of test scores. This resulted in a detailed annual report, but the data was only updated once a year, which was not sufficient for their needs. Read More
About Customer	The GED Testing Service is a joint venture between the American Council on Education (ACE) and Pearson, the world’s largest education and testing company. Originating in 1942 after WWII so GIs could continue their education as adults, the general education development or GED® test has opened doors to better jobs and college programs for more than 18 million graduates. In 2013, nearly 800,000 adults sat for the GED test, which is accepted by virtually all US colleges and employers. In 2011, this public-private partnership set out to adapt the 70-year old GED test to the skills needed in the 21st century. The new assessment recently launched after years of work and tens of millions of dollars spent overhauling the test and building a program from the ground up, specifically for adult learners. Read More
Solution	The GED Testing Service turned to GoodData for improved access to performance data and to increase the frequency at which they could analyze that data. They had two main goals for their internal audience within the GED Testing Service. First, they were looking for a way to avoid the overhead of building a custom data warehouse. Secondly, they wished to equip personnel with self-service analytics while reducing the need for IT staff to “pull reports” for the Operations and Marketing departments. GoodData’s cloud-based advanced analytics solution and its simple, intuitive user interface enabled the GED Testing Service to solve both problems. They were able to bypass internal data center expenses and quickly empower individuals with self-service analytics to substantially reduce time to insight. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics

Applicable Industries

Education

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Use Cases

Predictive Quality Analytics

Real-Time Location System (RTLS)

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

Data Science Services

Challenge

The GED Testing Service, a joint venture between the American Council on Education (ACE) and Pearson, was looking to adapt the 70-year old GED test to the skills needed in the 21st century. They wanted to centralize testing via authorized testing centers to provide significant quality control for scoring, monitor for fraud detection, and distribute practice tests anywhere to any platform. However, all test scores were fed from various states downstream to a legacy data warehouse that the GED Testing Service would use for statistical analysis and to confirm the accuracy of test scores. This resulted in a detailed annual report, but the data was only updated once a year, which was not sufficient for their needs.

About Customer

The GED Testing Service is a joint venture between the American Council on Education (ACE) and Pearson, the world’s largest education and testing company. Originating in 1942 after WWII so GIs could continue their education as adults, the general education development or GED® test has opened doors to better jobs and college programs for more than 18 million graduates. In 2013, nearly 800,000 adults sat for the GED test, which is accepted by virtually all US colleges and employers. In 2011, this public-private partnership set out to adapt the 70-year old GED test to the skills needed in the 21st century. The new assessment recently launched after years of work and tens of millions of dollars spent overhauling the test and building a program from the ground up, specifically for adult learners.

Solution

The GED Testing Service turned to GoodData for improved access to performance data and to increase the frequency at which they could analyze that data. They had two main goals for their internal audience within the GED Testing Service. First, they were looking for a way to avoid the overhead of building a custom data warehouse. Secondly, they wished to equip personnel with self-service analytics while reducing the need for IT staff to “pull reports” for the Operations and Marketing departments. GoodData’s cloud-based advanced analytics solution and its simple, intuitive user interface enabled the GED Testing Service to solve both problems. They were able to bypass internal data center expenses and quickly empower individuals with self-service analytics to substantially reduce time to insight.

Impact #1	Near real-time access to operational data
Impact #2	Report generation increased from once a year to on-demand
Impact #3	More time IT can focus on customer needs and analysis vs. maintaining a data center

Impact #1

Near real-time access to operational data

Impact #2

Report generation increased from once a year to on-demand

Impact #3

More time IT can focus on customer needs and analysis vs. maintaining a data center

Benefit #1	Avoided a $2M investment in a data center

Benefit #1

Avoided a $2M investment in a data center

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Overview

Giving the GED a Grade A Upgrade

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit