Information System

eduSTORE is a web-based information system developed to support higher education policy decision making. It is a development based on the data warehouse SuperX and on experiences with the ICE system. It is a business intelligence (BI) solution based on a data warehouse and provides a bunch of analytical tools and reporting facilities. It is a specialized solution that is optimized to support decision making in higher education.

In principle it is able to manage an infinite amount of data that can systematically be accessed and freely be combined among each other. eduSTORE is able to manage data from different sources. eduSTORE flexibly suits to given requirements and is able to process data from the most various sources: data of the official statistics, data of the administrative systems of universities, colleges, and other establishments, labour statistics, survey results...

eduSTORE is the long-term memory for statistical data. Unlike operational software systems, eduSTORE never forgets about data that was previously imported. For this reason it is ideal for analytical purposes, especially for creating time series.

The main analysis tool is the flexible table generator that provides interactive compiling of user-defined tables out of the existing data stock. Furthermore, tables created with the flexible table generator can be saved as so-called eduSTORE user-tables that can be updated automatically, after importing more recent data stocks.

eduSTORE is free. It is free because you can get all components free of charge. And it is free because it is free software / open source software. This means that the complete and detailed building plan of the software, the source code of all eduSTORE-components, will be provided under an open source license for the general public. This enables everybody to use the eduSTORE-system for any purposes free of charge. Everybody will be allowed to study the source code, to modify it, and to adept it to one's specific needs. Therefore no dependencies on foreign countries or companies can take place.

System Features

Web-application. eduSTORE is accessible with any Java capable web browser like Firefox or Internet Explorer via Internet or intranet.

Platform independency. On the server-side, the system can be installed under LINUX, UNIX (Solaris) or Microsoft Windows. Prerequisite for the client is a Java capable web browser. MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle and Informix can be used as database backend.

Flexible data import. Data with any structure and depth of structure can be imported. Individual case data as well as aggregated data can be used. The system can be expanded flexibly to include new topics.

Flexible data analysis. You can request any clipping of data you like from the data stocks using the so-called "flexible table generator". It is possible to combine data of multiple data stocks as well.

Flexible data export with the eduSTORE publishing framework. eduSTORE provides the following output formats: (X)HTML, MS EXCEL, Open Document (e.g. for Open Office), and PDF. An XML interface allows data exchange with third party programmes.

Intelligent system. All data included in the system can be identified by a standardized key-system. The eduSTORE key-system that harmonizes all of the system's data, equivalence rules, and implication rules allow to sort and compare data of various stocks or – where required – of various sources.

eduSTORE user-tables with an integrated automatic update function. All results tables that are produced by using the flexible table generator can be stored as so-called eduSTORE user-tables. User-table libraries can be provided for third parties as sources of information on the Internet or an intranet. The very special feature of the user-tables is the automatic update function. At the push of a button existing tables can be updated with freshly imported data.

Usage and practice of eduSTORE so far

At present, information systems based upon eduSTORE technology are used by the following institutions:

in Germany

Federal Ministry of Education and Research Germany BMBF at www.bmbf.de/gus (public accessible part)

Central System for the 16 German State-Ministries of Higher Education and the German Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat) at http://iceland.his.de

Specialized System for the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD at www.wissenschaft-weltoffen.org

Individual installations at 27 German Universities / Fachhochschulen

in Sri Lanka

N-HEMIS: Centralized System for the entire Higher Education sector (in responsibility of the Ministry of Higher Education) at www.nhemis.lk

UGC-HEMIS: Specialized System for the University Grants Commission Sri Lanka (no public access)