Budget Categories and Sizing

Implementation Planning – Developing Evidence Budget Categories and Sizing

Purpose

The purpose of this section is to help you understand what kinds of expenses typically go into the budget for an interoperability project. This exercise should give you a ballpark picture of how significant a part of the budget each category may comprise based on your implementation choices. There are a great number of specifics still required to accurately estimate a budget, so for the purpose of this exercise we will use “T-Shirt Sizing” (Small, Medium, Large) to help you identify where some of the bigger costs may come from on an interoperability implementation.

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Note:

This activity requires the participation of your district’s IT Lead

^{What Goes Into A Typical Interoperability Project Budget?}

While all interoperability projects are unique and implementation costs will vary, these budget categories and roles should generally be considered when preparing a budget for your solution.

^{Roles Glossary}

Click on the rotating arrows to flip the cards and learn more about these roles.

Application Developer

Tasked with designing, writing, testing, and deploying the code for a solution or component of a solution. They also create software to integrate with other components, often through the use of APIs.

BI Developer

Creates reporting structures for storing data in an efficient, logical manner for reporting and the data visualizations in the reporting tool of choice.

Business Analyst

Performs various duties, most often engaging with business stakeholders to help analyze and document complex business processes. Their work requires working through complex, cross-departmental issues.

Data Analyst

Performs analysis of the data structures on a source system and target systems to create mappings that will be used to move data while maintaining integrity and accuracy of the data.

DevOps Engineer

Plays a critical role in the design and implementation of infrastructure, creation of automated code integration and deployment processes, security, and monitoring, and reporting of infrastructure performance and health.

ETL Developer

Creates code for extracting data from source systems, transforming to a new specified format, and loading into a target database. The code they create can be used for a one-time load or often as the basis for scheduled ETL processes to update data for end users.

Project Manager

Responsible for leading the planning, execution, monitoring, and completion of a technical project. They will typically work closely with the technical team and stakeholders to ensure the project is adhering to the stated goals, timeline, and budget.

Systems Administrator

Maintains systems and system components, performs maintenance such as patches, upgrades, and other maintenance required to keep a solution operational.

Identifying data sources and systems in your organization is key to developing an accurate understanding of the possibilities and challenges your data landscape presents. The number of systems and data areas on which you have to do an analysis will guide the ideal number of personnel you’ll need as well as the duration of this phase. Consider that there may be issues with data-sharing policies across departments or trepidation from data owners to allow access, and factor that into your timing as well.

Plan to budget for:

Data Analyst(s)
Business Analyst(s)

SMALL	MEDIUM	LARGE
Many of my data and systems are already catalogued, and data access is readily available.	Some of my data and systems are catalogued, but there is some needed research into more sources and/or some data access issues.	Most of my data systems and sources are not documented, there are known data gaps, and/or data is siloed and not easily accessible

Once source data analysis is complete, you have a clearer picture of the data you have access to, and you have reconciled any data gaps you found in attempting to solve your use case, you can begin to prepare your data for unification using your chosen data standard. There is typically some degree of mapping from source data to data standard required, regardless of which one you choose. Some may provide tools to aid in the process. Estimating time and personnel will depend on the amount of manual work vs. automated/assisted work there is to be done.

Plan to budget for:

Data Analyst (with experience in the chosen standard, or allot time for a deep dive for them)

SMALL	MEDIUM	LARGE
Most of my data sources will connect via data standard-aligned APIs, so manual mapping will be minimal.	Some of my sources will leverage standard-aligned APIs, and I have mapping tools available to facilitate mapping. I have some personnel with familiarity with the process or an aptitude to complete this work.	Most of my sources will have to be mapped manually to the chosen data standard. I do not have resources with knowledge of mapping data.

Whatever your solution choice, you will have to plan for, staff, and finance your environment and tooling. What this means is that if you choose to host on the cloud (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, etc.), you will need to consider the costs for the services you choose and have staff to provision, deploy, and maintain those services. You may choose to have managed solutions, which take some of the burden off of you in terms of staffing, but there is additional cost associated with going that route.

Likewise, if you choose to host your solution on premise, you will need to fund the acquisition of the hardware to host if your organization does not already own it. Additionally, you will need to staff the project with personnel to manage it.

In both cases, you may also need to consider the costs of software that will be used in the environment (SQL Server, etc.).

Plan to budget for:

DevOps Engineer
Cloud Hosting Solution
- Cloud Services
- CI/CD Tools (if not part of your cloud services)
- Software (if not part of your cloud services)
- DevOps Engineer
On-Premise Hosting Solution
- Hardware
- CI/CD Tools
- Software
- Systems Administrator
- DevOps Engineer

SMALL	MEDIUM	LARGE
We have in-house knowledge and are comfortable setting up environments in the cloud or on-prem and have the hardware to support on premises.	We have some knowledge on setting up infrastructure, but we need some help with cloud or deployment tools or on-prem configurations, and/or we do not have all the hardware needed.	There is no/little in-house expertise available for setting up hosting infrastructure, whether it be cloud or on premise.

The data store you will use for your unified data needs to be installed/deployed to your environment. Generally, as in the case of the Ed-Fi ODS/API, there is an API to install that will facilitate the transfer of large data files. Setting this up is central to the interoperability project.

Plan to budget for:

Application Developer to install and test the ODS and APIs for functionality

SMALL	MEDIUM	LARGE
We have application developer(s) who are comfortable installing solution components and configuring APIs for data transfer.	We have some in-house knowledge with regard to APIs and software installations but not in the same context, so we might need help.	We do not have application developers with this experience and/or ones that are available for this project.

Once the data store is in place, then the work of creating the ETL code can happen. This code includes custom logic and the mappings created in the previous phase to extract, transform, and load data from the source into the data store in its new, standardized format. The number of staff needed and the duration of this phase will depend on the number of data sources and whether extensions to the data standard need to be made to accommodate unique pieces of data.

Plan to budget for:

ETL Developer(s)

SMALL	MEDIUM	LARGE
I have ETL developers or knowledge in house and available for this project.	We have some in-house knowledge of ETL processes but not necessarily a developer available for the project or one who has done this type of project. We have some in-house knowledge with regard to APIs and software installations but not in the same context, so we might need help.	We have no ETL resources available for this project.

This category supposes additional integrations for the ODS/API. Once the primary source systems are connected via the API to the data store, a solution’s capabilities are typically expanded by integrating new sources or connecting additional applications for output.

Plan to budget for:

Application Developer to complete integrations

SMALL	MEDIUM	LARGE
We have an application developer available to complete additional integrations.	We have an application developer, but availability might be a challenge.	We don’t have an application developer available.

Data quality is a top concern for not only technologists, but any educator relying on data to drive decision-making. If educators are not confident in their data, it becomes difficult to drive innovation and programs to improve student outcomes. A data quality engine built into the data flow from source to data store can help alleviate data quality issues by running incoming data against a custom-defined set of rules to ensure that every record that is stored meets the requirements. An application developer can build the engine or can write code to integrate an existing rules engine aligned to your use case. A business or data analyst is best positioned to write the rules for the engine based on information gathering and requirements creation sessions with district subject matter experts.

Plan to budget for:

Application Developer
Business Analyst

SMALL	MEDIUM	LARGE
We have an existing data quality engine and analysts available to create rules.	We have a developer and analyst available to develop/integrate a data quality rules engine but not to create rules.	We do not have the in-house developer(s) available to implement a rules engine.

Once data is unified in the data store, it’s time to determine how you will present the data to end users. There are many options available, from outputting static reports to visualizing in a business intelligence tool like Power BI, Tableau, or others. A BI developer will create necessary reporting structures and the reports in whichever tool you choose. They will be able to optimize data for efficient reporting, possibly through the creation of data marts or simply connecting a visualization tool to the data store.

Plan to budget for:

Business Intelligence (BI) Developer

SMALL	MEDIUM	LARGE
We have BI developers available and are looking to create simple statics reports or basic out-of-the-box reports with a BI tool.	There are developer(s) available to create visualizations, and we are looking to create some custom reporting using BI tools. Or we are looking for basic reporting use cases but have no resources with the knowledge or availability to work on this project.	We are looking to create data marts to power our visualizations and support complex, custom reporting.

Support and ongoing maintenance is a necessity for interoperability projects as there is the need to keep infrastructure operating smoothly, data issues will need to be resolved, and updates will need to be made when source or downstream systems make breaking changes.

Plan to budget for:

Systems Administrator
Application Developer
ETL Developer

SMALL	MEDIUM	LARGE
We already have the expertise in house to support the maintenance and troubleshooting of the solution.	We will need to hire resources or contract to have our solution supported after implementation.	We will need to hire resources or contract to have our solution supported after implementation as well as to perform training for technical and/or end users.

Project management is an often overlooked part of an interoperability project’s budget. There is a strong need to have someone on the team to monitor progress, unblock issues, perform risk-mitigation strategies, and serve as the conduit between the project team and stakeholders.

Plan to staff for:

Project Manager

SMALL	MEDIUM	LARGE
There is a project manager available for this project in house who can dedicate a greater amount of time to the project during the implementation phase as this work typically requires more time.	There is a project manager available but they may not be able to dedicate enough time during the implementation phase of the project and could use some support.	There is no project manager available, so this project will require adding personnel.

Purple circle with gold star and text saying "Micro-credential activity"

Once you are ready to plan a budget with your team, locate the “Budget Sizing Template” in your resources file. When you have completed the template and reflection questions, submit the template as evidence for earning a micro-credential.

Cost Calculator

Use this cost calculator to analyze the financial feasibility of possible solutions. https://cosn.org/interoperability

Take a look at your checked boxes. Those marked as “Large” are likely to require a larger part of your budget than those marked “Small.” As information on resource availability, number of data sources, reporting requirements, and more become available to you, you will be able to adjust the sizing to get a more accurate reflection until you reach the point where you have enough information to create a detailed budget. As you prepare to take the next steps in analyzing a potential budget, use these reflection questions to help.

IGNITE Questions

What does your district’s size selection make you realize about your budget needs for the project?
Is there a trend in the distribution of large or medium areas that might indicate a gap in a certain type of skill?
What next steps need to be taken to make sure your district has the right budget for this work?

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