DAYTON, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 10, 2006--Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), serving the Louisville, Ky., metropolitan area, today announced the completion of its data warehouse upgrade. The upgrade was completed in partnership with global enterprise data warehouse leader Teradata, a division of NCR Government Systems LLC, which is owned by NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR).
The upgrade provided JCPS with the latest in software and hardware data warehouse technology that has already demonstrated significant decreases in query response times. It will also enhance JCPS's ability to maintain a single view of its operations by increasing data storage to more than 1.5 terabytes, a move that enables backups of the entire enterprise data in just 90 minutes.
JCPS is an extremely complex business enterprise operating at the level of a global 1,000 company. Serving more than 97,000 students, the system employs 18,000 full- and part-time people. With a projected 2006-2007 budget of more than $890 million, it is the largest school district in the state and the 28th largest in the country. It is also one of the top 10 transportation agencies in the United States with a fleet of more than 1,500 vehicles. Teradata's enterprise data warehouse enables JCPS to be more competitive in attracting students, better manage discretionary funds, economically meet more student and staff needs, and maintain its fleet.
JCPS is also able to more efficiently manage more than 500 grants and awards with its Teradata Data Warehouse. Grants from federal, state, local and private agencies are valued at almost $500 million annually. Each grant and sponsoring organization has differing requirements, submission and reporting formats, and deadlines. Managing these issues professionally and meeting their requirements on a timely basis can make the difference between whether a grant or award is won or lost, or renewed or discontinued.
Denise DeWitt, senior accounting clerk at JCPS, said, "We work with several agencies that require in-depth invoices, which means we need to produce a detailed list of all expenses, vouchers and purchase orders. Teradata's data warehousing system has been invaluable in cutting down the time needed to gather that information from different locations and produce it in the format that the agencies require. What used to take one week of every month to prepare now takes one day. I can't imagine not having this solution at my fingertips."
JCPS's use of the data warehouse has grown from a mere eight gigabytes when it was originally implemented to more than 1.5 terabytes today. Simply maintaining a daily record for each student for one school year requires a table with more than 17 million rows. Because the Teradata database simplifies administration, JCPS is able to securely store and manage JCPS student, employee, facility and financial data with only a single database administrator. The warehouse supports more than 1,000 discrete users from 25 departments generating as many as 500 queries per day from employees on the internal WAN and the public over the Internet. "Because of the virtual 24-7-365 reliability of our data warehouse, we do not hesitate to provide round-the-clock inquiry capabilities for all our customers directly against the Teradata database," said John Balchunas, database administrator for JCPS and a Certified Teradata Master.
"School systems of JCPS's size are not much different than Global 1,000 businesses," said Jamil Hermes of NCR Government Solutions, LLC. "In such large enterprises, optimum performance and productivity are critical to meeting strategic goals and satisfying stakeholders. JCPS is able to meet these demands with its upgraded Teradata Warehouse."
Utilizing the Teradata Backup Archive Recovery (BAR) solution, JCPS is now able to back up its entire warehouse in 90 minutes. "Finding a window of time to perform backups has always been a challenge for us. Because of the speed of the upgraded processors, we are now able to back up the entire warehouse during the mid-day period--when most customers are away from their desks--and not interfere with nightly loads and extracts to other systems," said Carol Erhard, who administers the backup system.
JCPS was one of the first users of "backup-SAN" disk-to-disk technology that stages backed-up data directly from Teradata and other servers to disk, and then automatically sends the data to tape at an off-site location.
Balchunas reported that query response times have improved in many cases by as much as 98 percent. "We are seeing complex queries that one year ago took seven to eight minutes to complete being accomplished in 10 to 20 seconds today."
About Teradata Division
Teradata (www.teradata.com), a division of NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR), is the global technology leader in enterprise data warehousing, analytic applications and data warehousing services. Organizations around the world rely on the power of Teradata's award-winning solutions to get a single, integrated view of their business to enhance decision-making, customer relationships and profitability.
About NCR Corporation
NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR) is a leading global technology company helping businesses build stronger relationships with their customers. NCR's Teradata(R) data warehouses, ATMs, retail systems, self-service solutions and IT services provide Relationship Technology(TM) that maximizes the value of customer interactions and helps organizations create a stronger competitive position. Based in Dayton, Ohio, NCR (www.ncr.com) employs approximately 28,200 people worldwide.
NCR and Teradata are trademarks or registered trademarks of NCR Corporation in the United States and other countries.
CONTACT: NCR Corporation
Teradata Division
Keith Wiederhold, 937-445-9659
keith.wiederhold@teradata-ncr.com
SOURCE: NCR Corporation