School district migrates student data to Snowflake to leverage AWS and Tableau secure reporting capabilities.
Austin Independent School District Masters the Momentum of Technology
Seventy-five thousand students, 10,000 employees, 125 different schools: That’s the scope of support the Austin Independent School District (AISD) provides every day. This includes a special education program with strict requirements for eligibility and resource allotment. To ensure student data is protected and secure, a proper data management system is required by the Texas state education board. AISD needed to prioritize ease of access and data security to comply with these regulations, or else they risked interference from the state, which would impact the students who relied on the district for assistance and resources.
Disparate System Data Integration
Consolidating Class Roll Call
AISD wanted to modernize their data platform for power and speed. Their existing platform lacked efficiencies and relied on outdated, unsecured systems with redundant workflows to move information from the database to Snowflake and Tableau, respectively. AISD had two systems to migrate: Public Consulting Group (PCG) and Student Information System (SIS). Both needed their own data migration plans, outlined in accordance with best practices.
The end goal? A Snowflake-powered solution to provide secure data governance through AWS with the power to parse and organize student information for real-time reports. The result? Keeping the program under legacy leadership and ensuring community resources stayed put. Their chosen technology partner? TEKsystems Global Services (TGS).
Connecting AWS and Tableau Through Snowflake
The Dream Team for a Group Assignment
A deep dive into AISD’s existing architecture was our first step. We wanted to understand their immediate priorities and their vision for the future to construct a plan to get them there.
We utilized Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) to host AISD’s information in an isolated, fully virtual network, which provided scalability and security, replacing their old database. The VPC also housed the Snowflake data lake we constructed with Snowpark APIs in place to streamline the migration of PCG information. AWS Glue performed data validation for their SIS database. Integration of both sources required a one-time data migration, scheduled data refreshes and a thorough validation process. Knowledge transfer was key to ensure no mission-critical information was lost.
Going Above and Beyond To Ensure Data Migration Success
Making the Grade With After-Hours Support
We take our role as an expert partner seriously. When unique challenges arose during the project, we promptly identified resolutions. As a trusted AWS and Snowflake partner, we engaged dedicated TGS resources specializing in AWS administration to oversee the intricacies of using AWS and Snowflake in tandem for data migrations. This gave AISD peace of mind that the work would proceed smoothly—and within budget.
In the final weeks of the engagement, connection issues with AISD’s virtual private network (VPN) arose. It had the potential to substantially delay the project, so we had to act fast. Our offshore team worked with AISD’s internal resources to resolve the issue and, once the connection was restored, made up for lost time by working after hours to get the job done. Much like AISD, we wanted to implement solutions quickly to the benefit of their administration and their students.
Interested in a similar solution?
TEKsystems Global Services demonstrated exceptional expertise and professionalism in executing the Special Education project, TEA Order. Their outstanding project management team ensured seamless coordination, while their highly skilled technology staff delivered innovative solutions tailored to the project’s unique needs."
Real-World Results
Throughout the project, our deep cloud and data services expertise allowed us to navigate this scope of work without skipping a beat—completing project requirements ahead of schedule. This was a huge win for the district and the people they serve. Now they can refocus their attention on providing more resources with personalized assistance based on individual needs.
AWS and Tableau can reliably produce and maintain up-to-date reports on tens of thousands of students and teachers alike, with everything from location to enrollment status securely stored in a Snowflake-powered solution that AISD can scale to meet future growth.
