MODERNIZING ANALYTICS WITH AWS QUICKSIGHT
OVERVIEW
A global education initiative needed a centralized way to measure program participation and outcomes across schools, online courses, and certificate programs. Existing dashboards were inconsistent, with conflicting metrics and heavy reliance on manual reporting. We built a new AWS QuickSight dashboard powered by a modern data pipeline, enabling flexible drilldowns, consistent KPIs, and faster insights for leadership.
THE CHALLENGE
The client struggled with outdated and inconsistent reporting. Different dashboards calculated the same metrics in different ways, leaving leadership without a single source of truth. Analysts spent significant time fulfilling ad-hoc data requests, often writing custom queries or producing one-off reports. With program performance reviewed monthly across 40+ metrics, the lack of automation created delays, inefficiencies, and limited visibility.
OUR SOLUTION
We designed and deployed a new QuickSight dashboard from the ground up. Using data pipelines built on AWS, we created unified tables that could support multiple drilldown levels—from school to state to country. We standardized KPI definitions, integrated self-service filters, and introduced automated insight. These insights allowed users to instantly compare performance against targets, view month-over-month changes, and identify top programs driving participation and completions. Natural language queries via QuickSight Topics added another layer of self-service, empowering leadership to ask questions directly of the data. By aligning reporting logic and automating data delivery, leadership gained a consistent and flexible platform for tracking participation, completion rates, and program trends.
KEY FEATURES
• Centralized dashboard with standardized KPIs and drilldowns
• Self-service filters for program, school, state, and country views
• Pivot tables and flexible reporting for raw data access
• QuickSight Topics for natural language Q&A on top metrics
• Automated pipelines ensuring timely, accurate data refreshes
GLOBAL IMPACT/RESULTS
• Reduced time to prepare monthly KPI reports from 1 week to less than 1 day
• Leadership now sources 80% of meeting data directly from the dashboard, reducing reliance on analysts
• Fewer ad-hoc tickets for data requests, with program managers and senior staff able to self-serve
• Positive feedback from stakeholders, with adoption across multiple business units
TECHNOLOGIES & SERVICES
AWS S3 — secure data storage
AWS Glue — data cataloging and ETL
Amazon Redshift — centralized data warehouse
AWS Lambda — event-driven processing
AWS Step Functions — orchestration of workflows
AWS CodePipeline — CI/CD for data pipelines
Amazon QuickSight — interactive dashboards and visualizations
CONCLUSION
By replacing inconsistent dashboards with a unified QuickSight solution, the client now has a reliable, scalable analytics platform that delivers trusted insights. Leadership can make faster, data-driven decisions with confidence, while analysts spend less time on manual reporting and more time on value-added analysis. This project not only streamlined operations but also set the foundation for expanded self-service analytics and future AI-driven insights.