DataZak higher-ed systems & AI
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Higher-education systems

Integration, automation and AI for the systems that run your college.

I’m Zak Overby. Since 2007 I’ve worked in and around higher-education student information systems: first at the front counter as a registrar and financial aid administrator, then as the architect who integrates them.

Book a 30-minute call See the work

I build the integrations, migrations, reports, workflows, forms and AI automation your teams depend on, and I hand you the evidence that the data is right.

Anthology Student (formerly CampusNexus and CampusVue, now an Ellucian product) · Workflow Composer and FormsBuilder · Thesis Elements · Azure · SQL Server · SSIS · SSRS · Power BI

A student information system connected to the systems around it The student information system sits in the middle. Admissions and CRM, the learning platform, financial aid, finance, identity and reporting each connect to it through one integration layer that is monitored and leaves an audit trail. INTEGRATION LAYER Student information system SYSTEM OF RECORD Admissions CRM and enrollment Learning platform courses and grades Financial aid Title IV awards Reporting SSRS and Power BI Finance billing and ledger Identity accounts and access every change logged, checked, repeatable
A student information system connected to the systems around it The student information system sits at the top. Admissions, the learning platform, financial aid, finance, identity and reporting each connect to it through one integration layer, and every change is logged and checked. INTEGRATION LAYER Student information system Admissions Learning platform Financial aid Finance Identity Reporting every change logged and checked
One integration layer around the system of record, with every change logged and checked.
Since 2007
in and around higher-education student information systems
Front counter first
I worked admissions, registrar and financial aid before I wrote integration code
14 engagements
as an independent consultant, each one listed on LinkedIn
Title IV
financial aid automation built to hold up when an auditor asks how you know

Start with your role

Which of these is you?

Different readers need different pages first. Pick the one that fits you, and the three pages that matter most come up here. The rest of the site is still below. If you would rather press a button than read, the hands-on pieces are gathered under Try the method yourself.

A registrar or operations lead

I worked the registrar’s desk before I wrote integration code, so I build reports, workflows and integrations for the person at the counter with a student waiting and a deadline close.

  • Reporting and analytics

    The lists and exception reports your office runs every day, with columns named the way the office names them and the exceptions at the top.

  • Workflow and forms automation

    Workflows and forms that do the routine steps for admissions, registrar and finance teams, inside the student system they already work in.

  • Both sides of the screen

    Why student system projects fail on adoption more often than on code, from someone who has worked the front counter and written the code.

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A financial aid director

I was a financial aid administrator before I was an engineer, so I build tooling that your aid office runs and approves, and I hand over the record of what it did for every student.

  • Financial aid and Title IV automation

    Check-only runs your aid office reviews before anything changes, and a record of what was done for every student. Your staff make every aid decision.

  • A financial aid migration you can run twice

    A check-only report is read and approved first; then one command corrects financial aid records for a whole student population, can be run again safely, and leaves before-and-after evidence for every student.

  • Security and data handling

    Whether an AI tool sees your records at all, and which ones, is settled with you in writing before work starts; production is read-only to agents, and no training on your data.

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An IT or data leader

I build the integration layer around your student system on Azure, through its supported interfaces, with every change logged and checked, and I hand your team the runbook.

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An education technology vendor

Product teams hire me to build their product’s connection to the student system, through its supported interfaces, with someone who already knows how those systems behave in production.

  • Student information system integration

    Integration through the front door: REST services in C# and .NET that read from and write to the student system through its supported interfaces, with every message logged.

  • Anthology Student consulting

    Product knowledge from someone who has worked in Anthology Student since 2007, first as a user and then building on it, and who is independent of the vendor.

  • The race that emailed students an empty link

    A timed job sometimes lost a race with the email scheduler, so students got an invitation with no link. Now the link is saved as soon as the record is.

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A staffing or consulting firm

Firms with a higher-education client and a gap in student-system expertise. I work as your specialist, under your agreement, alongside your team.

  • About Zak Overby

    The path in order, from the front counter to the architecture, and the toolkit: REST middleware in C# and .NET, Azure serverless, SQL Server, SSIS, SSRS and Power BI.

  • Services and how an engagement runs

    Fixed-scope pieces, a monthly retainer or hourly work, and the six stages of an engagement, from the first call to the handoff.

  • The case studies

    Case studies with names, screens and figures left out on purpose, each showing how the work was checked.

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Not one of these, or not sure yet? Start with the common questions or all services.

What I do

Eight kinds of work, one person accountable for all of it

Most projects touch more than one of these. You get the same architect from the first call to the handoff, not a salesperson followed by a stranger.

Anthology Student consulting

Hands-on help with Anthology Student (formerly CampusNexus and CampusVue) from someone who has worked in it since 2007, first as a user and then building on it.

SIS integration

Connect your student system to everything around it, as changes happen, with a record of every change.

Reporting and dashboards

SSRS reports and Power BI dashboards your staff trust, including Crystal Reports rebuilt for the web client, by someone who has used those reports.

Data migration

Move student and financial aid data between systems with a rehearsal first and proof for every record.

Financial aid automation

Automation around financial aid data, built by a former aid administrator, with the evidence an auditor asks for.

Workflow automation

Take the manual steps out of admissions, registrar, aid and finance work with Workflow Composer and FormsBuilder, inside the system your staff already use.

Applied AI

Put AI agents to work on real operational tasks, with the controls and the audit trail a college needs.

Managed hosting

Nowhere to run an integration? I host and maintain it on Azure, in your subscription or a dedicated one.

All services

Why it works

I learned these systems from both sides of the screen

I started at the front counter. Before I wrote a line of integration code, I worked as a hands-on user in nearly every department of a college: sales, IT operations, registrar and admissions, senior registrar, financial aid administrator.

So when I design something, I am not guessing what the registrar or the financial aid officer needs at four o’clock on a deadline. I have sat in that chair, and I build for the person who sits in it now.

The longer story

In my experience, integrations fail on adoption more often than on code. I build for the person who has to use the result.

How I use AI

AI speeds up the work. An independent check proves it. You keep the evidence.

I use AI agents the way a careful team uses junior engineers: on a short leash, with their work checked by someone independent. That makes the work faster without making it riskier.

  • Production is read-only by default. Agents get read tools for your live system, and a person applies every change.
  • An independent verifier re-checks every result against the source systems.
  • Every run is safe to run again. A second run changes nothing that is already right.
  • You keep the evidence: before and after for each record, not a summary.

How I use AI safely

How AI-assisted work is checked before anything changes Four steps in a row. A plan is written. An AI agent builds the change and tests it. A second, independent agent verifies the result against the source systems; if it is not proven, the work goes back to the build. A person reviews the evidence and runs the change. Below, a bar shows that production stays read-only until that last step, and an evidence pack is kept. 01 Plan scope, sources, what proves it 02 Agent builds in test, with a check-only run 03 Verifier checks a second agent, independent 04 A person runs it after reading the evidence not proven? back to the build Production: read-only agents get read access only change applied Evidence pack before and after for every record, kept for audit
How AI-assisted work is checked before anything changes Four steps, top to bottom. A plan is written. An AI agent builds the change and tests it. A second, independent agent verifies the result against the source systems; if it is not proven, the work goes back to the build. A person reviews the evidence and runs the change. Production stays read-only until that last step, and an evidence pack is kept. 01 Plan scope, sources, what proves it 02 Agent builds in test, with a check-only run first not proven? back to the build 03 Verifier checks a second agent, independent 04 A person runs it after reading the evidence Production: read-only agents get read access only Evidence pack before and after for every record, kept for audit
The four steps I follow whenever AI agents are part of the work.

Selected work

What that looks like in practice

Names and screens are left out on purpose. This work touches student records and runs under confidentiality terms.

Full-time architect role

A financial aid migration you can run twice

A check-only report is read and approved first; then one command corrects financial aid records for a whole student population, can be run again safely, and leaves before-and-after evidence for every student.

  • Financial aid
  • Migration
  • Audit evidence

Full-time architect role

Two AI agents and one audit trail

A second AI agent independently re-checks AI-assisted migration work against the source systems and writes the audit trail, in place of spot checks by hand.

  • Applied AI
  • Verification
  • Audit evidence

Consulting engagement

The race that emailed students an empty link

A timed job sometimes lost a race with the email scheduler, so students got an invitation with no link. Now the link is saved as soon as the record is.

  • Integration
  • Azure
  • Timing

All case studies

Who I work with

Three kinds of client

Colleges and universities

Colleges, universities and graduate schools that need their student system connected, cleaned up, reported on or migrated, without adding a team to do it.

Education technology companies

Product teams that need a dependable integration with a student information system and someone who already knows how those systems behave in production.

Staffing and consulting firms

Firms with a higher-education client and a gap in student-system expertise. I work as your specialist, under your agreement, alongside your team.

How an engagement runs

Six steps, no surprises

  1. Talk

    A free 30-minute call. You describe what you run and where it hurts. I tell you plainly whether I can help.

  2. Look

    A short, read-only look at the systems and data involved, under a confidentiality agreement, so the plan is based on what is really there.

  3. Plan

    A written scope with a fixed first milestone, what it costs, and how we will both know it worked. Nothing is billed until you have signed it.

  4. Build

    In your test environment first, in small steps, each with evidence. You see progress every week.

  5. Approve

    A named person at your school reads a report of exactly what the change would do and approves it before it is applied.

  6. Hand off

    Documentation, runbooks and a walkthrough for your team. You own everything I build.

Track record

Institutions and firms I have worked with

  • Unitek Learning
  • Relay Graduate School of Education
  • Success Education Colleges
  • Vaco by Highspring
  • GlobalSource IT
  • ConsultNet
  • Legacy Education, Inc.
  • CourseKey
  • Pacific College of Oriental Medicine
  • Orion Education Group USA
  • FIDM
  • ECMC Group
  • WAVE Technology Solutions Group
  • Millennial Tech
  • Applied Tech Colorado

Named with the same detail as my public LinkedIn profile, where each engagement is listed individually. The case studies on this site leave names out on purpose. References from past clients are available on request.

Insights

Notes from the work

All insights

Have a system that needs untangling?

Tell me what you run and where it hurts. The first call is 30 minutes, free, and you will leave with a clear next step whether or not we work together.

Book a call Email me

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