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Driving School Engagement Through Data: How EdSmart Boosted Adoption

  • Writer: GrowthBI
    GrowthBI
  • 7 days ago
  • 3 min read

Industry: Education Technology

Solution Area: Platform Adoption & Usage Analytics

Client: EdSmart (School Communication & Workflow Platform)

Tools Used: Power BI, SQL Data Model, Automated ETL


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Business Impact

50% Faster Reporting

Automated Power BI dashboards replaced manual extracts, accelerating insights delivery.


30% Higher Retention

Early churn detection enabled proactive outreach by the customer success team.


Data-Driven Product Roadmap

Usage by category (e.g. Sports Events, Consent Forms) guided feature enhancements.


The Challenge

EdSmart, a leading school communication and workflow platform, serves hundreds of schools across Australia and internationally.


While extensive activity data existed, leadership lacked a clear view of school-level adoption, engagement, and usage trends.


They needed to answer key questions:

  • How many schools are actively using EdSmart slips and broadcasts?

  • Which schools are at risk of churn despite ongoing subscriptions?

  • Which communication categories drive the most engagement across schools?

  • How does platform usage evolve over time across master and individual sites?

Manual spreadsheets made it difficult to track these trends or support retention decisions effectively.


Our Solution

GrowthBI built a Power BI Usage Dashboard that transformed EdSmart’s raw event-log data into actionable adoption analytics.

The solution integrated automated ETL pipelines and SQL-based modeling to produce school- and master-site-level insights.

Key Features:

  • Active/Inactive School Tracking: 30/60/90-day activity segmentation by site type.

  • Top & Bottom School Analysis: Highlights most engaged schools and least active for targeted follow-up.

  • Category Breakdown: Communication grouped into Co-Curricular, Excursion/Incursion, Permissions & Consent, Academic, Parent Communication, and Wellbeing.

  • Churn Risk View: Flags schools inactive for 3+ months yet under subscription for proactive outreach.

  • Slip Title Drilldown: Links communication content to school and subscription details for granular visibility.


Dashboard Walkthrough

1. KPI Summary PanelThe dashboard opens with a comprehensive activity overview, displaying the number of active schools by year, quarter, and month. It separates performance by school type, distinguishing Individual and Master Site activity. The panel also shows schools that remain subscribed but inactive, helping the team identify early signs of disengagement. These metrics form the foundation for measuring overall platform adoption and engagement stability.

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2. Top & Bottom Schools by SlipsThis section ranks schools by the total number of slips sent, highlighting both high and low performers. The Top 10 Schools chart showcases consistent adopters that fully integrate EdSmart into daily operations, while the Bottom 10 Schools chart draws attention to those with minimal usage. This contrast allows the Customer Success team to recognize model users and plan targeted support for schools with declining engagement.

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3. Monthly Trend and School Type BreakdownThe monthly trend view tracks total slips sent throughout the current year, providing a clear picture of activity flow. Alongside this, a stacked chart compares usage between Individual and Master Site schools. The combined view helps EdSmart identify peak communication months, evaluate seasonality, and understand which school type contributes most to total engagement.

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4. Churn and Retention IndicatorsTwo detailed tables provide a retention-focused perspective. One lists schools active within the last three months, while the other identifies schools that were active previously but have recently gone quiet. These insights help the Customer Success team detect potential churn early and prioritize follow-up with schools still under subscription but showing reduced activity.

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5. Detailed Drilldown TablesThe final section presents a granular view of usage at the school level. It lists school names, subscription end dates, slip counts, and frequency of activity. Filters by date, school name, and site type allow teams to explore engagement patterns in detail. This section supports both executive reporting and deep-dive analysis, ensuring every school’s activity footprint is clearly understood.


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Technical Architecture & Process

Data Flow:

EdSmart Application Logs → ETL Pipelines (Automated Extract & Transform) → SQL Server Data Model → Power BI Dashboards

SQL Core Model Example:

-- School Usage Summary by CategorySELECT    SchoolName,    CommunicationCategory,    COUNT(SlipID) AS TotalSlips,    COUNT(BroadcastID) AS TotalBroadcasts,    MAX(ActivityDate) AS LastActiveDateFROM dbo.EdSmartUsageWHERE ActivityDate BETWEEN @StartDate AND @EndDateGROUP BY SchoolName, CommunicationCategory;

DAX Snippet for Overdue Order Calculation:

ActiveStatus :=IF(    DATEDIFF(MAX(Usage[ActivityDate]), TODAY(), DAY) <= 90,    "Active",    "Inactive")


Conclusion

The EdSmart Usage Dashboard gave leadership a data-driven lens on platform adoption across hundreds of schools.

By automating data flows and integrating SQL models with Power BI, EdSmart achieved:

  • Real-time visibility of engagement,

  • Early churn risk detection, and

  • Smarter product planning aligned with actual usage.

The result: a scalable, transparent view of platform adoption — empowering EdSmart to grow stronger relationships and maximize customer lifetime value.

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