Blackbaud, Inc. · NASDAQ:BLKB
Blackbaud — Conference Presentation (2023)
26 slides from Blackbaud's conference presentation, 2023
Slide 1: Leveraging Data in Blackbaud SIS: How one school uses SKY API and the Cloud to Gain Insights
Leveraging Data in Blackbaud SIS: How one school uses SKY API and the Cloud to Gain Insights Hudson Harper (he/him) Director of Technology @ The Downtown School in Seattle, WA
Slide 2: Agenda
Agenda KEY TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS PRESENTATION Why schools like DTS care about building data infrastructure around Blackbaud EM Approaches to using SKY API Challenges schools face A potential solution to school data infrastructure at scale
Slide 3: Slide 3
Slide 4: Solving "Wicked" Problems
Solving "Wicked" Problems "HOW DO WE NAVIGATE THE COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STUDENT ENGAGEMENT, ACADEMIC SUCCESS, AND SOCIETAL FACTORS, CONSIDERING THE DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS, INDIVIDUAL ABILITIES/NEEDS, AND RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO DIFFERENT STUDENTS?"
Slide 5: Example
Example What impact does student engagement have on academic success and student wellbeing?
Slide 6: Traditional Data Silos
Traditional Data Silos Blackbaud/SIS Canvas/LMS Survey Learning Data/Google Support/Google Forms Sheets Demographic, Day-to-day data on Quarterly and annual Data on learning attendance, and student performance check-ins on student accommodations and historic grade data and work completion engagement
Slide 7: Top Concerns/Needs
Top Concerns/Needs Security and Identity Access Controls Accessibility/Ease of Use Reproducibility/Maintenance Cost
Slide 8: Three Approaches
Three Approaches 1 2 3 DIY/FRONT END CONTAINER/ CENTRALIZED CLOUD AUTH AND Individual use of APIs, one-off scripts, or DEPLOYMENT workflow platforms
Slide 9: The DIY and Front End Approach
The DIY and Front End Approach FAMILIAR AND ESTABLISHED TOOLS FOR ACCESSING DATA VIA API'S Scripting Workflow Apps Security Ease of Use Reproducibility Cost
Slide 10: Three Approaches
Three Approaches 1 2 3 DIY/FRONT END CONTAINER/ CENTRALIZED CLOUD AUTH AND DEPLOYMENT Systems based in the cloud using modular containers
Slide 11: The Goal
The Goal Fast and secure connection to data for analysis and reporting.
Slide 12: Cloud workspace screenshots
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Slide 13: What's under the hood?
What's under the hood? GOOGLE CLOUD PLATFORM SECRET MANAGER ARTIFACT CLOUD CLOUD BIGQUERY REGISTRY RUN JOB STORAGE
Slide 14: Pros and Cons of Containterization
Pros and Cons of Containterization Scripting Security Ease of Use Reproducibility Cost
Slide 15: Security
Security GOOGLE CLOUD PLATFORM SECRET MANAGER ARTIFACT CLOUD CLOUD BIGQUERY REGISTRY RUN JOB STORAGE
Slide 16: Ease of Use/ Reproducibility
Ease of Use/ Reproducibility GOOGLE CLOUD PLATFORM SECRET MANAGER ARTIFACT CLOUD CLOUD BIGQUERY REGISTRY RUN JOB STORAGE
Slide 17: Cost: ~$5/month
Cost: ~$5/month GOOGLE CLOUD PLATFORM SECRET MANAGER ARTIFACT CLOUD CLOUD BIGQUERY REGISTRY RUN JOB STORAGE
Slide 18: How does data flow?
How does data flow? A cloud run job runs the containerized code CLOUD RUN JOB after a trigger from Cloud Scheduler and data is fetched via SKY API. Responses are processed and stored as CSV CLOUD files for manipulation, redundancy, and STORAGE transfer to BigQuery Data is transferred from Cloud Stor
Slide 19: Additional Benefits
Additional Benefits Versioning through Artifact Registry Data cataloging Logging and audit trails Multiple levers of control
Slide 20: So what challenges still exist?
So what challenges still exist? Knowledge/expertise gaps Reliance on vendors/consultants Potential for mishandling of data
Slide 21: The ability to help students by leveraging student data should be accessible to all schools
The ability to help students by leveraging student data should be accessible to all schools REGARDLESS of resources or technical capital.
Slide 22: Three Approaches
Three Approaches 1 2 3 DIY/FRONT END CONTAINER/ CENTRALIZED CLOUD AUTH AND DEPLOYMENT API and Infra Management as an open-source service
Slide 23: The Future
The Future DB FOR TEMPORARILY REFRESH TOKEN MANAGING AUTH TOKENS GOOGLE CLOUD PLATFORM SECRET MANAGER SKY API CENTRALIZED TERRAFORM WEB APP ARTIFACT CLOUD CLOUD BIGQUERY REGISTRY RUN JOB STORAGE
Slide 24: New Data Flow
New Data Flow 1) REQUESTS NEW ACCESS TOKEN 2) FETCHES CENTRALIZED NEW ACCESS TOKEN 3) ACCESS ENCRYPTED WEB APP ID AND SECRETS CLOUD RUN JOB 4) MAKE SKY API REQUESTS
Slide 25: Roadmap
Roadmap PARTNERING WITH AN ORG TO MANAGE THIS TYPE OF TOOL WORKING WITH SCHOOLS ON HOW TO MAINTAIN AND USE A DATA WAREHOUSE WORKING TOWARD A LANGUAGE/SYSTEM AGNOSTIC WAREHOUSE MODEL FOR ALL SCHOOLS
Slide 26: Questions?
Questions? Places to reach me: hudson.harper@downtownscoolseattle.org CIRIS Slack group LinkedIn