Arkansas State University is adopting Scaffold DataX in phases, starting with Banner and Canvas data for student success and financial reporting. In the second phase, the university is putting Canvas data into production for backup and continuity.
Arkansas State University (A-State) serves more than 18,500 students, and half of them study online. Many are first-generation college students, and A-State is committed to creating a student-friendly environment that combines big-time opportunities with the personal relationships and support students need to succeed. That mission comes with a hard problem for campus IT and institutional research staff: finding the students who need help early enough to make a difference.
For Chief Information Officer Chris Boothman, solving that problem starts with data the campus can trust. A-State is building that foundation with Scaffold DataX, the automated data warehouse from K16 Solutions, in three phases.
A Partnership Built Project by Project
A-State's work with K16 began well before DataX. The first project came when the university moved its video library to Kaltura and needed every media link in its Blackboard courses updated to point to the new platform. K16 then supported A-State's move from Blackboard to Canvas, followed by course archiving.
"Working with K16 felt like working with an extension of our internal team," Boothman said. "It never felt like a client-vendor relationship."
Different Answers from Different Offices
Before DataX, the data someone received depended on who they asked. "End users could go to IT, IR, or a functional office like the registrar or financial aid and get data from all three," Boothman said. "The problem is that the data would probably be different in all three cases." Each request required manual effort and depended on staff who understood how the data had been defined. Without standard data definitions, deans and department chairs had no easy way to tell whether the numbers in front of them were right.
Phase 1: Bringing Banner and Canvas Together
The first phase focused on retention. A-State's retention and graduation rates weren't where leadership wanted them. The team used DataX in a pilot proof of concept to combine Banner student records and Canvas activity data into a single, neutral data model, enabling staff to flag at-risk students and intervene sooner.
A second use case emerged around financial reporting when Arkansas State University System President Todd Shields and the Board of Trustees identified a need for consistent, timely access to key financial metrics for the flagship campus and other institutions across the ASU System. K16 adapted a blueprint it had built for the University of Louisiana System to help provide a common source for high-level measures such as days of cash on hand and reserve ratios.
For Boothman, Phase 1 proved the value of having that data in one place. "We've pulled data out of different systems over the years, but it was always a manual process," he said. "Having everything together in one system is where the value is. Nobody has the time or resources to bring in data sources by hand. It isn't scalable."
It also showed him where the work could go next. Adding financial aid data to Banner and Canvas records could help A-State gauge a student's risk before the first day of class and then track engagement in Canvas as the term unfolds.
Phase 2: Canvas Backup and Continuity
For Phase 2, A-State signed a multiyear agreement to put DataX into production for Canvas backup and continuity. An outage earlier this year made the need clear. "When your whole campus goes down during finals week, it changes the conversation," Boothman said. "I was able to say, 'We already have a solution that can help us build a sustainable framework and ensure we have coverage if a future outage occurs.'"
He sees the Canvas data as more than insurance. With 9,000 online students working in Canvas every day, his team plans to spend the next several months building student success blueprints from Canvas data alone to support overall retention and graduation-rate efforts.
Phase 3: Banner, Canvas, and Slate
Phase 3, which is being considered for early 2027, would connect Banner, Canvas, and Slate data in production, with sources such as SAP Concur and Raiser's Edge to follow. Plans include leveraging DataX to help with institutional, state, and federal reporting.
"The goal is for this to be an institutional decision, with stakeholders across the university having a voice in the process," Boothman said. "We want this next phase to reflect collaboration and shared ownership as we determine the best path forward."
Thank You
Chris Boothman is CIO at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.
Tim Henningsen is Senior Director of Enterprise Solutions at K16 Solutions.
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