Edith Cowan opts for low-code, cloud-native iPaaS

Edith Cowan University (ECU) has turned to connectivity and automation vendor Boomi to create a digital framework that promotes data access and sharing across the university for enhanced staff and student online engagement.

Located in Western Australia, ECU supports more than 30,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, and pledges to provide job-ready graduates with enriching learning experiences. To strengthen this promise, the university sought to ensure staff and students could reliably access the right information, at the right time, through its various student platforms.

“We house large amounts of important data across our application stack, accessed and engaged with by staff and students throughout the school day for insight and decision support,” said Vito Forte, Chief Information Officer (CIO), ECU.

“Having appropriate tools like the Boomi platform helps ensure that information is accurate and reliable, and is critical to the efficacy of our IaaS-based cloud applications, as well as the numerous SaaS applications we run.”

Modernising integration

ECU previously relied on single-use, point-to-point integrations using various technologies, an approach that was no longer feasible. To modernise integration of business systems and extend its integration reference architecture and development processes, the university selected Boomi’s low-code, cloud-native iPaaS to help it connect and orchestrate more data in less time.

The university leveraged the Boomi AtomSphere platform to construct a unified integration capability which supports reusable design patterns and standards, backed by its integration reference architecture. This helps to ensure a consistent solution design approach and promote minimal coupling, high service reuse and increased scalability.

ECU’s project included connecting its Salesforce customer relationship management system, learning management system, student management system and HR management system, as well as Azure Event Hub and Azure Data Explorer to support back-end analytics for logging, debugging and usage monitoring of integration services for IT staff. Boomi also supports ECU’s analysis and reporting on student-to-system management so the university can constantly evaluate online engagement.

Additionally, the category-leading iPaaS helped accelerate development work in the IT room, allowing the launch of new services and apps to happen in weeks rather than months. Boomi’s flexible application architecture freed up significant development and platform maintenance overhead, allowing ECU to focus on its reference architecture, including introducing data persistence, message queuing, API management and security.

“Australian universities are rightfully recognised for their technology leadership, and many are at a pivotal point in their ability to provide tailored experiences and curricula to students,” said Nathan Gower, Director, Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) at Boomi.

“In the world of hybrid learning and the digital campus, the opportunity for innovation is plentiful, and ECU is capitalising on data for better student and teacher outcomes. Digital native learners shouldn’t need to pick through different resources to find what they need — information should be accurate and available, carrying a full picture online. By using the Boomi AtomSphere Platform to ensure timely, seamless and reliable access to data, ECU is engineering more personalised learning pathways, without the IT team being bogged down by traditional development cycles.”

Image credit: iStock.com/GeorgeRudy