A nonprofit educational healthcare organization is faced with the challenge of modernizing its critical systems while ensuring uninterrupted access to essential services. With Striim’s real-time data integration solution, the institution successfully transitioned to a cloud infrastructure, maintaining seamless operations and paving the way for future advancements.
About the Nonprofit Educational Healthcare Organization
This nonprofit educational healthcare organization is committed to providing students with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the medical field. Serving thousands of students, it offers a variety of programs designed to prepare individuals for careers in allied health. The institution prioritizes student success by delivering high-quality education, supported by a robust infrastructure that ensures access to essential resources and services. Through its mission-driven approach, the institution plays a vital role in meeting the growing demand for healthcare professionals.
Challenge
This non-profit educational healthcare organization is navigating a dual challenge: migrating its core Student Information System (SIS) to a modern Azure SQL Server infrastructure while maintaining seamless data integration with their on-premise SQL Server databases. With student data central to daily operations and long-term outcomes, real-time data replication between the cloud and legacy systems ensures continuity and accessibility across platforms.
However, while the SIS migration was a significant step forward, the institution’s on-premise SQL Server systems remained vital. These legacy systems were deeply embedded into the institution’s infrastructure, supporting critical applications for student services. The challenge was not just migrating to the cloud but ensuring that the on-premise systems, still housing essential services, could continue to operate seamlessly and in real time with the cloud-based SIS.
This setup presented several technical hurdles. The reliance on SQL-based integrations had already caused performance bottlenecks, particularly around the API-driven data capture required for student inquiries and real-time updates.
Without a solution to ensure uninterrupted access to both systems, the institution risked compromising student satisfaction, potentially leading to operational delays, downtime, and an overall negative student experience. Thus, the migration needed to ensure minimal disruption while maintaining the integrity and availability of critical data.
Solution
In response to this challenge, the institution sought a partner that could help them achieve their dual goals: enabling cloud migration while supporting continued access to legacy on-premise systems. After evaluating various options, they selected Striim for its real-time data integration and streaming capabilities.
Striim’s solution was particularly suited to address the institution’s unique needs. Through Striim’s platform, real-time data capture and integration between the cloud-based Azure SQL Server and on-premise SQL Server systems were facilitated with minimal latency, ensuring that both systems remained in sync at all times. This was crucial for guaranteeing uninterrupted access to student records, class schedules, and other key services.
A key component of the solution was Striim’s in-memory processing capability. By leveraging this technology, Striim was able to efficiently capture, process, and transform data in real-time, reducing the reliance on custom-built integration solutions. This not only reduced the institution’s costs but also simplified the entire process, minimizing the need for ongoing development and maintenance efforts. With Striim, the organization could confidently migrate its SIS to the cloud while maintaining seamless data flow between the cloud and legacy on-premise systems.
Moreover, the integration allowed the institution to maintain critical student-facing applications, such as portals for class registration and transcript requests, without experiencing downtime. This real-time synchronization provided a stable environment that improved the student experience during a period of significant technological transition.
Results
The partnership between Striim and the nonprofit educational healthcare organization resulted in several tangible benefits that went beyond ensuring a smooth cloud migration. Striim’s real-time data integration not only ensured operational continuity but also created opportunities for future growth, enhancing the institution’s ability to leverage data for more advanced use cases.
Real-Time Data Access:
Striim’s platform enabled immediate access to student, faculty, scheduling information, eliminating delays that had previously hindered the institution’s ability to serve its students. This real-time access provided more responsive services, allowing students to receive up-to-date information at any time, enhancing their overall experience.
Improved Response Time:
The seamless integration of real-time data also improved the institution’s ability to respond quickly to inquiries from prospective students. As a result, response times to student inquiries were significantly shortened. This quicker response fostered better communication between prospective students and admissions staff, creating a more positive experience for applicants.
Increased Conversion Rates:
The operational efficiency gained through Striim’s data integration helped the institution streamline its processes, and can result in improved conversion rates for prospective students. With faster access to accurate, up-to-date information, administrative staff were better equipped to assist prospective students in their decision-making process, ultimately increasing enrollment rates.
Seamless Integration of Systems:
Striim’s real-time data streaming and in-memory processing ensured that critical systems across both the cloud and on-premise environments remained fully synchronized. This seamless integration was particularly important for student-facing and administrative functions. By maintaining up-to-date, synchronized data, the institution ensured that students and staff had continuous access to the information they needed without disruption.
Foundation for Future Initiatives:
Perhaps most importantly, the nonprofit educational healthcare organization’s new cloud-based infrastructure, empowered by Striim’s real-time data integration, provided a strong foundation for future innovations. With the flexibility of real-time data streaming and a scalable cloud environment, the institution is now well-positioned to explore advanced analytics and AI-driven insights. This can lead to further improvements in student services, operational efficiencies, and decision-making.
