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Reporting platforms often remain in place for years because replacing them feels risky. But as institutional expectations evolve, many campuses — including those using WebFOCUS — are taking a fresh look at whether their current BI environment still meets the needs of students, faculty, administrators, and leadership. 

If your institution relies on WebFOCUS today, here are five common signs institutions tell us they experience when evaluating whether it’s time to explore new reporting approaches. 

1. IT is Handling More Reporting Work Than Ever

Institutions using WebFOCUS frequently share that their IT teams spend substantial time supporting report creation, troubleshooting, or adjustments. Over time, this level of involvement can strain resources and slow strategic progress. 

2. Users Rely on Workarounds

When WebFOCUS feels challenging to navigate, Users often revert to Excel exports, manual reporting, or departmental workarounds. This creates inefficiency and introduces governance challenges. 

3. ROI Is Hard to Demonstrate

Some institutions share concerns about whether usage, support requirements, and training demands align with the overall investment in their WebFOCUS environment. 

4. Collaboration Feels Cumbersome

Institutions increasingly want to collaborate directly around data — share Dashboards, discuss trends, annotate changes, and work together in real time. When collaboration isn’t seamless, insights stay siloed. 

5. Alignment With Future Strategy is Uncertain

Institutions transitioning to SaaS ecosystems, modern data warehouses, or new governance structures sometimes question whether their current WebFOCUS environment provides the flexibility they’ll need over the next decade. 

The Tipping Point 

Experiencing one or two of these scenarios is manageable. But when several begin stacking up at once, many institutions using WebFOCUS are choosing to explore BI alternatives that offer more intuitive interfaces, stronger governance, and greater independence for Users. 

What Institutions Look for When Evaluating Alternatives 

When campuses begin exploring new options, they often prioritize: 

• Modern, intuitive interfaces 
• Governed self-service for User independence 
• Reduced report backlogs 
• Performance that supports large datasets 
• Collaboration features built into the platform 
• Strong mobile access 
• A predictable cost structure 
• Integrations with core systems such as Banner or Colleague 

Your Next Step 

If your institution uses WebFOCUS and is reassessing its long-term reporting strategy, we’re happy to share how other campuses are modernizing their approach. 

Higher education institutions depend on their Business Intelligence systems to support critical decisions across enrollment, finance, student success, and operations. But as reporting needs grow and data expectations shift, many campuses, including institutions using WebFOCUS, are taking a closer look at the less visible costs wrapped into their BI strategy. 

These costs aren’t always captured in a licensing agreement or annual budget. Instead, they show up in the operational effort required to support reporting, maintain data consistency, deliver insights efficiently, and keep Users confident in the tools they rely on every day. 

If your institution uses WebFOCUS today, understanding these hidden costs can help you evaluate whether your current BI environment continues to align with your long-term needs. 

Visible Costs (Only Part of the Story) 

While licensing, modules, and support contracts are well understood, institutions often share that these only represent a portion of the total investment in a mature reporting environment like WebFOCUS. 

Licensing and Scaling 

Many campuses note that licensing may grow as they expand reporting access or broaden the scope of their BI usage. This can make long-term budgeting more complex, especially when institutions want to democratize data widely across departments. 

Limited Out-of-the-Box Features 

Many institutions tell us that WebFOCUS provides a relatively small set of native visualization options. As reporting needs become more sophisticated, campuses often find they need additional configuration work or custom development to create the dashboards or visual layouts their users expect today. 

Maintenance and Upgrades 

IT teams routinely describe the ongoing work involved in keeping WebFOCUS aligned with other campus systems such as ERPs, CRMs, or student success platforms. 

Hidden Costs (Where Institutions Feel the Most Impact) 

IT Time and Reporting Support 

One of the most consistent themes we hear from institutions using WebFOCUS is the growing volume of reporting support required from IT: 

• Creating or modifying Reports 
• Helping Users interpret data 
• Troubleshooting Report logic 
• Maintaining queries and Data Views 
• Managing Banner or ERP joins and integrations 
• Training on using the system

As reporting demands grow, this workload can make it difficult for IT to focus on long-term projects. 

Self-Service Adoption Gaps 

Many WebFOCUS institutions tell us that despite training, some users still rely heavily on IT for routine reporting needs. This dependency can slow decision cycles and prevents Users from accessing the information they need independently. 

Outdated User Interface 

The UI in WebFOCUS often feels dated, which can slow users down and make even basic tasks feel more complicated than they should. 

Workarounds and Data Governance Risks 

When Users find WebFOCUS challenging to navigate, they often export Data Views or Reports into spreadsheets. While common across BI tools, this leads to: 

• Different versions of the same data 
• Siloed analysis 
• Manual data manipulation 
• Increased governance risk

These indirect costs can significantly affect institutional efficiency. 

The ROI Question for WebFOCUS Institutions 

After considering both visible and hidden costs, institutions often ask: 

• Are we spending too much time supporting report requests? 
• Do our Users have the independence they need? 
• Are we meeting expectations for sharing and collaboration? 
• Does our BI environment align with our long-term data strategy and governance model? 
• As we move toward cloud or SaaS ecosystems, does our current approach scale with us? 

These questions frequently lead institutions to explore modern alternatives that may better support the next decade of reporting needs. 

What Institutions Prioritize When Exploring Alternatives 

When institutions evaluate modern BI platforms, they often focus on: 

• Intuitive, user-friendly web interfaces 
• Governed self-service capabilities 
• Reduced dependency on IT 
• Strong handling of large, complex institutional datasets 
• Built-in collaboration tools 
• Predictable pricing structures 
• Integration with Banner, Colleague, and other SIS/ERP environments 

Your Next Step 

If your institution uses WebFOCUS and is reassessing its BI roadmap, our team can share real examples of how institutions are modernizing their reporting environments in ways that support governance, self-service, and institutional agility.