A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Report to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
by
The E-Rate Implementation Working Group (Working Group)
composed of
U.S. Department of Education
Institute of Museum and Library Services
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Rural Utilities Service
Education and Library Networks Coalition

July 31, 1997

V. Data Warehouse

The scale of the data-collection effort resulting from the huge number of participants in the E-rate application process requires a very sensible and cost-effective system. In addition, because of the mismatch, under the various existing governance systems for schools and libraries provided by State and local law, of the entities that have inventory data about individual schools and libraries, those that do technology planning and those that procure eligible services, there is probably no "perfect" solution for the complexities caused by aggregation/disaggregation. An appropriate solution to collect the data in a sensible, comprehensive and cost-effective manner could be the creation of a publicly accessible national data warehouse. Such a set of relational databases would capture all of the necessary information where it is actually generated, store it in digitized form and allow its incorporation by reference as appropriate in E-rate applications.

One file in the data warehouse could be for individual schools and libraries, containing all the information best capturable at that level. Such information would include a unique identifier for the school or library, physical location (from which its cost category could be obtained by a table lookup), contact person, population, building count, poverty measure, technology inventory and identification of the technology plan(s) applicable to it (using the unique identifiers from the technology plan file). Although the data for each school/library record might be input by the school or library itself and/or by some higher-level entity, completion of the record and certification of its accuracy by the school or library would be a condition of its E-rate eligibility.

Another file could be maintained for technology plans. The actual text of each plan might be stored in digital form, but at a minimum the identity of its reviewer and date of approval could be included in a machine-processable record that assigned a unique identifier to the plan. A database record format might be devised to summarize other characteristics of the plan and facilitate computer searches and analyses.

The E-rate applications could comprise the third file. The applications could be greatly simplified, because a simple listing of the unique identifiers of the individual schools and libraries covered by the application would allow automatic machine reference to the applicable data in the school/library and technology plan files. The application itself would, in addition, need only information about the applicant and the application, a standardized summary description of the services to be acquired to facilitate computer searches and analyses, and the required certifications.

Individual members of the Working Group consulted informally on the application process with several experts in information systems. All believed that a data warehouse would be the best system to handle the E-rate application process. The consensus of the experts was that the system could be created in less than a year and at a cost of about $5 million to SLC. We recommend that the FCC direct SLC to explore the feasibility and cost effectiveness of establishing such a data warehouse and, if necessary, to subcontract with an expert in data processing to assist it in the task.

[ IV. Data Standardization ]					[ VI. Interim Requirements ]

This page last updated 8/10/97 (pjh).