Datatel

Summary

Datatel, Inc. is a private company that provides fully-integrated enterprise information management software and professional services for higher education. Founded in 1968 by Tom Davidson, it was originally a data processing service company, but has focused solely on higher education since 1979. Datatel focuses on building Strategic Academic Enterprises for colleges and universities that support five cross-functional domains essential for achieving institutional and student success: Strategic Enrollment Management, Strategic Planning, Institutional Advancement and Marketing, Teaching and Learning, and Performance and Operational Management. Datatel is headquartered in Fairfax, VA, with regional branches in Buffalo, NY and San Francisco, CA. With 532 employees, Datatel has more than 770 client institutions located in the United States, Canada, Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and Bermuda.

History

Datatel was founded by Tom Davidson in 1968 as a data processing service bureau. The company began in the mezzanine of a suburban Office Supply store outside of Washington, DC. A few years later, Datatel began performing data processing for banks. In 1973, the company grew substantially when Davidson merged Datatel with Data Technology Corporation, owned by Ken Kendrick. In 2005, Datatel’s executive team – backed by Thoma Cressey Equity Partners and Trident Capital – signed an agreement to acquire the company from Davidson and Kendrick. While remaining involved with the company to this day, Davidson went on to co-found the Balance Bar food company in 1992 and Kendrick is a managing partner and co-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team. In 2004, Datatel acquired the LiquidMatrix Corporation , a Buffalo-based provider of student recruiting and alumni outreach Web-based software.

Timeline

• 1972: Datatel released their first product, the Silent 700, a programmable data terminal
• 1975: Became the first East Coast Microdata dealer
• 1976: Began development of TOPS, the Total Office product system, later to be known as ASSETS
• 1979: Became first PRIME information dealer and began selling solutions for colleges and universities
  • Willamette University became first Datatel client
  • Development of Colleague began
• 1986: San Francisco office opened
• 1987: Moved to current headquarters in the Fair Lakes area of Fairfax, Virginia
• 1988: Sold 100th Colleague client
• 1989: Changed to multiplatform UNIX
• 1990: Datatel Scholar's Foundation established
• 1991 Announced products on IBM and Sequent
  • First Canadian client - University of Waterloo
• 1996: Introduced Client/Server
• 2002: Datatel Center for Institutional Effectiveness(DCIE) formed
• 2004: Acquired LiquidMatrix Corporation
• 2005: Management buyout of founders
• 2007: Datatel reached 39th year of consecutive growth
  • Datatel's releases ActiveCampus Portal, built on Microsoft SharePoint

Awards

• Recipient of the U.S. Senate Productivity and Quality Award (SPQA) for Virginia in 1997
• Selected as one of The Washingtonian magazine’s Great Places to Work in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007
• Recipient of the 2003 CARE Award for mid-sized companies as presented by the Northern Virginia Family Services organization
• Recipient of the 2003 National Capital Business Ethics Award from The National Capital Chapter of the Society of Financial Service Professionals
• Recipient of the University of Maryland’s Smith Digital Economy Award in 2008
• Top finalist for Microsoft Partner of the Year Award in Information Worker Solutions, Portals, and Collaboration in 2008

Products

• Datatel Colleague - an administrative software suite based on a single-source technology approach, coupled with data-driven, rules-based architecture. The five components of Colleague are:
  • Student
  • Finance
  • Financial Aid
  • HR
  • Advancement
• ActiveAdmissions - an e-recruitment system
• ActiveAlumni - a Web-based alumni relations system
• ActiveCampus Portal - an enterprise work environment and collaboration system

Professional Services

• Training and Education
• Strategic Planning and Project Management
• Web Site Design
• Professional Executive Services
• Datatel Center for Institutional Effectiveness (DCIE) - provides strategic planning programs for administrators in higher education

Related information

Datatel Users' Group, or DUG, is a professional association of members from Datatel's client institutions. DUG holds annual and regional conferences.

In 1990, Datatel formed the Datatel Scholars Foundation to award scholarships to outstanding undergraduate and graduate students attending Datatel client institutions. The Foundation has awarded over 3,700 scholarships totaling more than $5.5 million.

Additional References

1. Company website
2. "Datatel Offers Web-Enabled Management Software," Campus Technology, August 12, 2002
3. "Company Profile for Datatel, Inc." Reuters, 2008
4. "Great Places to Work: The List," Washingtonian magazine, 2005
5. "Microsoft Announces 2008 Partner of the Year Awards Finalists and Winners," 2008
6. "Great Places to Work: Where to Feel at Home," Washingtonian magazine, 2007