Data architecture and governed AI for colleges and universities
Trusted data. Governed AI. Built for higher education.
We start with your mission, not a platform. Then we build the governed data foundation, so every dashboard and every AI tool on campus tells the same truth.
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- 24 years
- higher-ed planning, research, and data on Ellucian Banner
- Now leading
- enterprise data architecture for a multi-campus community college
- Wharton CTO Program
- completing March 2027 · strategy and technology leadership
- Conference presenter
- RP Group, CISOA, and CERA; most recently CISOA 2025
The problem
IT, research, and the offices that own the data work apart
Each holds part of the answer, but no one owns the definitions. Analysts rebuild the same logic report by report, and leaders get conflicting numbers.
Legacy reporting holds you back
Argos, direct Banner queries, and spreadsheets are fragile and slow to change, and they block the move to cloud, AI, and new ERPs.
AI is on the agenda, but the data is not ready
Leaders want AI, but student, HR, and finance data cannot go into unmanaged tools.
From three answers to one.
Every office is right by its own rules, so the same question gets different answers. Agree the definition once, encode it in one governed model, and every dashboard and AI tool reports the same number.
Today: three answers
- IT extract14,212
- Research office13,987
- Finance14,450
With NvLynx: one trusted answer
Every dashboard and AI tool14,103
Start with your role
Where we start
Five questions before any platform.
Every engagement begins by asking what your institution is here to accomplish, who depends on the data, and what results would matter. The architecture follows from the answers.
- 1What is the mission?
- 2Who is the customer?
- 3What does the customer value?
- 4What are the results?
- 5What is the plan?
Everyone at the table
Trusted data is a team result, not an IT project.
Each group holds a strength the others need. We bring them together under shared governance, with research and planning involved from day one.
IT
Systems and security
Research and planning
Meaning and definitions
Operational departments
Business rules and context
Leadership and the board
Direction and decisions
One set of definitions
Shared, governed, documented
IT
Systems and security
Research and planning
Meaning and definitions
One set of definitions
Shared, governed, documented
Operational departments
Business rules and context
Leadership and the board
Direction and decisions
The Trusted Data Path
From diagnosis to governed AI, in five steps you can start anywhere.
Each offer has a fixed scope, a timebox, and a published fee. Each one builds on the last.
How it fits together
One set of definitions, from Banner to the board deck.
We connect your campus systems to a governed platform and encode your definitions once, in a single semantic model. Dashboards and AI then read the same numbers, secured by role.
Campus systems
- Banner
- Colleague
- PeopleSoft
- Workday
- Slate
- Canvas
Governed data platform
Pipelines · cleansed and curated layers · census snapshots · tests · lineage
One semantic model
Approved definitions for enrollment, retention, finance, and workforce
Leadership dashboards
Board, cabinet, deans, and departments
Governed AI
Assistants and models that read the same definitions
Governance: owners · definitions · security · lineage
Selected work
Multi-campus community college
One trusted data foundation for a multi-campus community college
- Board-funded modernization roadmap adopted
- Finance, HR/payroll, and student data on one governed platform
- Old and new Chart of Accounts reconciled for longitudinal reporting
Banner (Oracle) · SQL Server · dbt · SSAS Tabular · Power BI · OpenMetadata
County community college
An independent data strategy review for a county community college
- Platform recommendation matched to existing staff skills and systems
- Cross-functional governance team, with research and planning brought in
- Phased, department-by-department migration roadmap
Power BI · Cloud lakehouse · Semantic models · Data governance
Why NvLynx
- Purpose before platform
- We start with your mission and the results that matter outside the data team, then choose the architecture.
- Higher-ed depth
- 24 years in planning, research, and data. Fluent in Banner, MIS, IPEDS, SCFF, and accreditation. We bring IT, research, and business users to one table.
- Architect-led and hands-on
- The person who designs your platform also builds it: dimensional models, dbt, SSAS Tabular, Power BI, and cloud.
- Built to hand off
- Every engagement ends with documentation, lineage, and trained staff. You own it at the end.
- AI-ready by design
- Governed definitions come first; secure, institution-controlled AI sits on top.
- Executive perspective
- Strategy and technology leadership from the Wharton CTO Program (completing March 2027), applied to campus roadmaps.
Start with a 30-minute readiness call
Tell us what you are trying to fix or build. You will talk with the architect who does the work.
Led by Victor Manchik, founder and principal data architect