Sources first
I read the real system before I say what is wrong with it. No guessing from a description.
About
From the front counter to the architecture
I’m Zak Overby, a solutions architect. Since 2007 I have worked in and around higher-education student information systems: first as a user at the front counter, then building the integration, automation and reporting behind them, and for the last two years the applied AI tooling on top.
I did your staff’s jobs before I built their systems
I started at the front counter. Before I ever 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.
That is unusual for someone who now designs these systems, and it changes the work. I know what a registrar needs when a term is about to start. I know what a financial aid officer is looking at when a disbursement will not post. When I build something, I build it for the person who has to use it at the end of a long day, because I have been that person.
Before higher education I spent years as an escrow officer, and before that as a data electrician. Money-critical, compliance-heavy, get-it-right-the-first-time work. The same instinct goes into federal financial aid automation now.
- Practice
- DataZak, independent consulting since April 2017
- Also
- Solutions Architect at Aspen Group, Inc., since November 2021
- Based
- Vancouver, Washington, in the Portland, Oregon metro area. I work remotely across the United States.
- Platforms
- Anthology Student (formerly CampusNexus and CampusVue, now an Ellucian product), Thesis Elements
- Core stack
- C# and .NET, REST APIs, Azure serverless, SQL Server, SSIS, SSRS, Power BI
- References
- From past clients, on request
How I got here
The path, in order
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1998 to 2001
Data electrician
Sasco Electrical. I built physical data infrastructure before I designed the logical kind.
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2001 to 2007
Escrow officer
Ticor Title. Other people’s money, strict rules, and no room for a second attempt.
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From 2007
The user side of a college
Unitek Learning, then an IT certification training company. Sales associate, IT Sales Admin Support for its top sales staff, and IT operations coordinator, then registrar and admissions, senior registrar and supervisor of administrative operations, and financial aid administrator.
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The same college, later
The system side
Student finance technology and integration manager, corporate technology and integration manager, senior systems analyst, and then consultant on Anthology Student. REST middleware in C#, SSIS data pipelines, SSRS and Power BI reporting, and workflow automation.
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Since 2017
DataZak
Independent consulting for higher-education institutions and education technology firms on Anthology Student and Thesis Elements. Most engagements arrive through LinkedIn and word of mouth.
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Since 2021
Solutions architect
Aspen Group, Inc. I own the student-system integration backbone, the reporting layer, and the financial aid migration tooling.
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The last two years
Applied AI
AI tools for my own engineering work, with rules the tooling enforces and a record of everything the AI did, and setups where a second AI agent independently checks the first one’s work. This website is the most recent example: designed, written, built and tested with AI coding agents, with me reading and correcting every page before it carried my name.
What I work with
The toolkit
- Architecture and integration: REST API development and middleware (C#, .NET, ASP.NET), event-driven design, data integration and ETL
- Azure and data: Azure serverless and Functions, SQL Server and T-SQL, SSIS, SSAS Tabular, SSRS, Power BI
- Automation: Windows Workflow Foundation, FormsBuilder, Power Apps and Power Automate
- Student systems: Anthology Student, Anthology Reach (CRM on Dataverse and Power Apps), Thesis Elements
- Applied AI: LLM-based developer tooling, agent orchestration, Claude Code skills and hooks, MCP integration
- Continuing education: Microsoft Learn paths in Azure and Power BI, and Pluralsight coursework in ASP.NET Core APIs
How I work
Four habits you can count on
Careful with production
Read-only until we agree otherwise. Changes are rehearsed in test and applied by a person.
Evidence
Every delivery comes with a record of what changed and how it was checked.
Plain words
You get straight answers in language your whole team can follow, including when the answer is no.
How DataZak fits with my full-time role
I run DataZak alongside a full-time architect role, and have since 2021. Consulting work is scheduled, not on demand: we agree working hours and response times in writing before a project starts. Weekday afternoons Pacific time are my main call windows; early mornings suit East Coast teams, weekends work too, and I will take a call in your time zone when it matters. My full work history, with every engagement listed individually, is on LinkedIn.
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.