Case Study: Davenport University reduces financial‑aid calculation time by 80% and boosts student retention 2–3% annually with Information Builders' WebFOCUS

Davenport University Advances Students With Analytics

Davenport University, a private, non‑profit university with 11 Michigan campuses and about 13,500 students, needed a way to analyze, calculate, and distribute student data from its Banner ERP to many departments with different needs. The university’s goals were to speed complex financial‑aid calculations, improve student retention and persistence, and provide timely, accurate reports for admissions, HR, registrar, and other stakeholders.

Using Information Builders’ WebFOCUS BI platform — including Reporting Server, BI Portal, InfoApps, ReportCaster and data adapters for Oracle and MySQL — Davenport created self‑service reports, automated award calculations and alerts, and executive dashboards. The solution cut financial‑aid calculation time by 80% (from ~30 minutes to under five), saved hundreds of staff hours annually, improved student retention by 2–3 percentage points per year for five years, and delivered accurate, on‑demand reporting across the institution.

Davenport University

Marylee van den Heuvel

Senior Data Warehouse Administrator