Edith Cowan University partners with Altis Consulting to modernise analytics on Microsoft Fabric & Power BI

Edith Cowan University (ECU) serves more than 30,000 students across three campuses in Australia and is recognised as one of the nation’s leading public universities for teaching excellence. Ranked among the world’s top 100 universities under 50 years old, ECU fosters creativity and innovation, delivers meaningful outcomes for students and communities, and maintains strong industry partnerships. Guided by values of inclusion and cultural integrity, ECU applies evidence‑based approaches and modern digital tools to support both academic and operational performance.

The vision

When ECU’s licencing for its legacy analytics platform approached renewal, the university recognised an opportunity to reassess its analytics strategy. Performance limitations and the cost of upgrading legacy infrastructure were already pressing concerns. At the same time, Microsoft announced the launch of Microsoft Fabric, a unified data and analytics platform integrated with Azure, prompting ECU to explore whether a more modern solution could deliver greater value.

Although ECU was interested in Fabric, the leadership team required a structured evaluation before committing to a migration. Altis Consulting was engaged to conduct a formal market scan and provide a clear, evidence-based recommendation. This initial engagement comprised two key components:

• A market assessment to compare available platforms, their capabilities, and trade-offs
• A sizing and planning exercise to migrate 108 existing reports, estimate resourcing, and develop a costed roadmap 

The outputs from this phase informed ECU’s business case and provided the executive team with confidence in both the platform selection and the scale of investment required.

The solution

Following the market scan and planning exercise, ECU confirmed Microsoft Fabric as the preferred platform. Altis was retained to lead the migration and provide governance and delivery expertise.

Altis delivered:

• Governance frameworks to ensure compliance, security, and scalability
• Power BI templates to accelerate report development and maintain consistency
• A detailed migration plan outlining scope, timelines, and resource requirements

“Altis contributed valuable insights from previous experiences to the governance model and developed templates that made starting the reports easier, ensuring a consistent look and feel,” said Ashley March, Manager of Enterprise Business Intelligence at ECU.

The implementation

The migration was executed as a structured lift-and-shift with targeted enhancements:

• Microsoft Fabric platform established in alignment with industry best practices
• 108 reports converted to Power BI
• Governance model implemented early to support secure and sustainable self-service

Altis worked closely with ECU to maintain continuity throughout the project. The approach prioritised governance and consistency, ensuring the platform could scale as adoption increased. ECU’s internal team focused on preparing datasets and managing ETL processes, while Altis concentrated on report migration and enablement.

“We’ve worked with Altis before and knew they delivered good work. That familiarity meant we didn’t have to rehash everything from scratch with a new partner,” explained Harpreet Khalsa, ECU’s Manager of Data Governance, Analytics and CDO. “The relationships we had with key individuals at Altis made a big difference. They brought sector knowledge and experience that saved us time and added value. Altis understood higher education and could guide us without needing every detail explained.”

The outcome

The results were both immediate and strategic:

• 3.5x peak increase in platform usage, stabilising at 2.8x above comparable benchmarks.
• Significant performance improvements, with faster load times and improved stability.
• Rapid self-service adoption, supported by governance guardrails and Power BI’s familiarity as a technology.

AI readiness achieved, with Fabric integrated into Azure and the Microsoft 365 platform. Beyond operational improvements, the migration has created a foundation for innovation and advanced analytics. With Fabric’s
integration into Azure, ECU can now leverage machine learning and AI-driven capabilities across its data assets.
Dashboards are no longer static reporting tools. They are embedded in workflows and increasingly connected to advanced analytics initiatives. This shift is enabling ECU to move from descriptive reporting to proactive, datainformed decision-making.

Unlock your data potential with Altis

Ready to modernise your analytics? Book a consultation with an Altis specialist. For more information about this project or to learn how Altis Consulting can help your organisation leverage data and AI, contact us today.