Universities exist in an internationally competitive environment, and whilst the goal is not to increase profit, they have to increase the efficiency of operations and maximise the resources in an ever-changing landscape. The phrase “data is the new oil” is well accepted, but in the complexity of a modern university, such as the University of Queensland (UQ), it is no longer feasible to “speculate where to drill” for data. The talk will discuss how UQ stood up its central data lake using AWS Professional Services consultancy to achieve rapid deployment and how this is serving as a foundation for many new initiatives. Presenter: David Stockdale, Deputy Director, Infrastructure Operations, University of Queensland

1. The Data Lake
of The University of Queensland
Building the foundations for a data-centric organisation

2. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025B 2AWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019
Information Technology Services
6,600
Full Time
Equivalent
staff (FTE)
2,800
Academic
3,800
Professional
53,500
Students
55%
45%
135
Countries
$2B
Income of approx.
(Research approx. $620M)
264,000graduates (since 1911)
The University of Queensland (UQ)

3. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025B 3AWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019
Information Technology Services
Higher education sector
Education exports are
worth $28 billion a year
Education is Australia's largest
service export and third overall
behind iron ore and coal.
40 Australian universities
and 5 in top 50 of the world
The University of Queensland
is ranked 47 in the world
In 2017, UQ attracted almost $367 million
in research funding from government,
industry and community sources.
Australia is currently the third most popular
destination for international students in the
English-speaking world,
behind the United States and the UK.

4. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025B 4AWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019
Information Technology Services
UQ IT projects
Some statistics Capital investments
Network infrastructureRoadmap
80K
Blackboard log-ins each day
4M
Lecture recordings watched each year
400K
Assignments submitted electronically
each year
300K
Assignments marked electronically
each year
$40M
year-on-year
capital investments
across nine portfolios
Professional services
External stakeholder engagement
Teaching and learning
Underpinning technologies
IT service delivery management
Cyber security
Governance
Information management
Network throughout UQ
100Gb 200Gb
Internet connectivity
Roadmap for our ERP stack replacements
3 Year

5. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025B
Why a UQ data lake
AWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019 5
Information Technology Services
Vision
“Data analytics will facilitate the
transformation of data assets into
meaningful and useful information to
support University decision-making
and business performance analysis.”
Operations
“Make UQ a data-centric organisation”
“Make UQ into one
living laboratory for researchers”
Academic

6. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025B
Articulate a strategy
AWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019 6
Information Technology Services
Goals
1. Democratised and governed
data analytics
2. Building the right data management and
analytics technology capabilities to
support value-driven decision making
3. Developing the talent needed to convert
data into business value
Endorsement from University
Senior Leadership Group

7. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025B
Principles
AWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019 7
Information Technology Services
UQ principles Data lake design principles
1
Data should be discoverable and
available for analysis.
2
3
Analytics activities must be guided by the ethical
use of data and insights gained from it.
4
Access controls are designed to respect the
confidentiality of data and privacy of individuals.
Data is utilised as a strategic asset to derive
insights and support decision-making.
3
2
1
4
5
Secure by design
Don’t think “technology first”
Don’t “buy to grow into” – therefore cloud
AWS platform technologies only
“Take the algorithm to the data,
not the data to the algorithm”

8. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025B
Next steps
AWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019 8
Information Technology Services
Strategy Proof of concept Executive buy in GovernanceDevelop use cases

9. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025B
Use cases
AWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019 9
Information Technology Services
Data has the power to truly transform an institution.
Security, safety, compliance, and
fraud detection
Student at risk
detection
Energy intelligenceSpace optimisation
Curriculum
improvement
Identify potential donors and
industry collaborators
Evaluation of alternative
teaching practices
Research performance
and engagement

10. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025B
Experiment with various AWS components/services
to fulfil requirements of all 8 use cases
Proof of concept
AWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019 10
Information Technology Services
Data
sources
Data
ingestion
Data
storage
Data
enrichment
Data
catalogue
Data
analytics
Data
visualisation
Focus on
7 categories

11. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025B
High-level architecture for each use case
AWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019 11
Information Technology Services

12. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025BAWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019 12
ResultsInformation Technology Services
Learning analytics

13. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025BAWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019 13
ResultsInformation Technology Services
Space utilisation

14. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025BAWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019 14
ResultsInformation Technology Services

15. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025BAWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019 15
ResultsInformation Technology Services

16. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025BAWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019 16
ResultsInformation Technology Services
Conceptual data model

17. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025B
Great Partners
How did we achieve it
AWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019 17
Information Technology Services
Short engagement to establish
data lake
Longer engagements to deliver
“applications and dashboards”

18. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025B
Great partners
How did we achieve it
AWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019 18
Information Technology Services
Enabled the project to return under
budget
&
Reinvest to deliver more business
outcomes
=

19. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025B
Use cases
AWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019 19
Information Technology Services
Security, safety, compliance, and
fraud detection
Student at risk
detection
Energy intelligenceSpace optimisation
Curriculum
improvement
Identify potential donors and
industry collaborators
Evaluation of alternative
teaching practices
Research performance
and engagement

20. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025B
Use cases
AWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019 20
Information Technology Services
Security, safety, compliance, and
fraud detection
Student at risk
detection
Energy intelligenceSpace optimisation
Curriculum
improvement
Identify potential donors and
industry collaborators
Evaluation of alternative
teaching practices
Research performance
and engagement

21. CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025B
Our journey
AWS Canberra Summit 2019UQ Data Lake | 20th August 2019 21
Information Technology Services
Strategy Proof of concept Executive buy in GovernanceDevelop use cases
...

22. CRICOS code 00025B
Thank you
Dr David Stockdale | Deputy Director
Information Technology Services
d.stockdale@uq.edu.au
facebook.com/uniofqld
Instagram.com/uniofqld
@stock_dr
www.linkedin.com/in/dr-david-stockdale