Measuring The Performance Of Educational Entities With A Data Warehouse

Abstract

This paper attempts to outline the benefits of using a data warehouse for supporting the management decisions in a pre-academic learning institution. One of the aspects is the measurement of the scholar performance of the pupils, correlated with the financial efforts made by the school management. The performance is analyzed from a multi-dimensional perspective, which allows the extraction of high quality information. Introduction The information system used to design, allocate and use the monetary resources for the pre-academic public educational system involves actors such as the educational institutions, the local public administration, and the educational management structures at local and national level (the inspectorates and the Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sport). The measurement of scholar performance is a key preoccupation of the management and of the entire educational personnel also. The next step is the evaluation of the correlations between the results (educational performance) and the financial allocations. One of the main indicator classes that describe the financial efforts made for education is made of the standard cost and its associate indicators. The level of the standard cost is a reference measure for the orientation of any decision-maker, and also a basis of comparison, on time, space, educational domain criteria. The software system described in the paper offers the possibility of analysis for the results of the educational process. The "output" of the system presents, on one hand, the results achieved by pupils, and, on the other hand, a set of derivate indicators, that aim to correlate the results and financial indicators. Literature review The main aspects of database design were outlined by Schneider (2008). The need for quality and performance measurement in the educational world was emphasized by Stanciu, Florin, Rădulescu and Aleca (2009); they have studied the case of the higher education management. The aspects concerning the structure and construction of data warehouse were described by Inmon (2005), Popa, Udrică, Manole Vasilciuc, Gârba (2006). The instruments used for analysis, such as the MDX language, the Reporting Services were presented by Harinath and Quinn (2006) and Mundy, Kimball and Thornthwaite (2006).