Education Application Performance

Applications supporting colleges and universities may be industry-standard, tailored specifically for the education market, or legacy systems developed in-house. These applications serve a diverse user community, including faculty, students, and administrators, each relying on seamless access to critical resources. To ensure availability, their performance must be continuously monitored across all platforms, regardless of where they are hosted—on-premises, in the cloud, or at the digital edge.

The first impression a prospective student forms of an institution of higher education comes from the admissions process, making remote application performance critical during this phase. Data about each applicant is regularly collected, so should be kept private and presented logically for decision-makers. Several specialized applications exist for this purpose, and Student Information Systems (SIS) often include admissions modules as well.

Student services begin with Student Information Systems (SIS) or university Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Student services encompass housing, health services, class registration, work/study programs, commuter student services, event scheduling and notification, and financial aid administration—which are all critical to the student experience.

Education is interactive and digitally enabled. Beyond online learning, course design and content delivery rely heavily on IT—even for in-person classes. Countless Internet of Things (IoT) devices are expanding the digital footprint, adding complexity to application management as students use personal devices and apps outside direct IT supervision. Continually monitoring digital experiences is critical for seamless connectivity and security.

Student testing and grading have been at least partially automated for years, to make academic reviews faster, more efficient, and to reduce manual evaluations. Educators rely on data-driven applications to collect insights from course and instructor feedback. These tools help institutions refine teaching strategies and maintain high professional standards to enhance student learning outcomes.