Datatel Explained

Datatel, Inc.
Type:	Private
Founder:	Tom Davidson
Fate:	Merged with SunGard Higher Education
Successor:	Ellucian
Location:	Reston, Virginia
Key People:	Russ Griffith/CEO
Industry:	Higher Education Technology Solutions
Revenue:	$138.0 Million USD (2009)
Num Employees:	533
Homepage:	www.ellucian.com

Datatel, Inc. was a private company that provided fully integrated software and professional services to build enterprise education platforms for higher education until it combined with its competitor SunGard Higher Education to form Ellucian in 2012. Datatel was headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia.

With 533 employees, Datatel had more than 799 client institutions located in the United States, Canada, Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and Bermuda.^[1]

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, D.C. 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. Datatel focused on higher education since 1979.^[2]

Beginning in 1992, the company was led by Russ Griffith, who died on August 7, 2006. Under Griffith's leadership 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.^[3] Davidson went on to co-found the Balance Bar food company in 1992,^[4] and Kendrick became a managing partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team. In 2004, Datatel acquired the LiquidMatrix Corporation,^[5] a Buffalo-based provider of student recruiting and alumni outreach Web-based software.

Datatel was acquired in December 2009 by private equity company Hellman & Friedman.^[6]

In March 2012, Datatel merged with SunGard Higher Education to form Ellucian.^[7]

Timeline

• 1972: Released the Silent 700, a programmable data terminal
• 1975: Became the first East Coast Microdata dealer^[8]
• 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 ^[9]
  • Development of Colleague began
• 1986: Opened San Francisco office
• 1987: Moved to current headquarters in the Fair Lakes area of Fairfax, Virginia
• 1988: Sold hundredth Colleague client
• 1989: Changed to multiplatform UNIX
• 1990: Established Datatel Scholar's Foundation
• 1991 Announced products on IBM and Sequent platforms
  • Acquired first Canadian client, the University of Waterloo
• 1996: Introduced Client/Server
• 2002: Formed Datatel Center for Institutional Effectiveness (DCIE)
• 2004: Acquired LiquidMatrix Corporation
• 2005: Management buyout of founders
• 2006: Longtime president and CEO Russ Griffith died^[10]
• 2007: Reached 39th year of consecutive growth ^[11]
  • Released ActiveCampus Portal, built on Microsoft SharePoint ^[12]
• 2009: Acquired in December 2009 by private equity company Hellman & Friedman.^[6]
• 2010: Announced 2009 revenues of $138 million^[13]
• 2012: Merged with SunGard Higher Education to form Ellucian
• 2021: Ellucian is acquired by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners^[14]

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^[15]
• Recipient of the 2003 CARE Award for mid-sized companies as presented by the Northern Virginia Family Services organization^[16]
• Recipient of the 2003 National Capital Business Ethics Award from The National Capital Chapter of the Society of Financial Service Professional ^[17]
• Recipient of the University of Maryland's Smith Digital Economy Award in 2008^[18]
• Top finalist for Microsoft Partner of the Year Award in Information Worker Solutions, Portals, and Collaboration in 2008^[19]
• Named Microsoft Public Sector Education Partner of the Year 2009, developing an enterprise CRM solution, expanding into the Teaching and Learning market segment, and introducing a mobile application for administrative and academic information on the go^[20]

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:
  • CORE
  • ST (Student)
  • CF (Colleague Finance)
  • CA (Colleague Advancement)
  • HR (Human Resources)
• Datatel Mobile Access (MOX), powered by DubLabs
• Datatel Portal
• Datatel Recruiter
• Datatel WCMS
• Datatel Intelligent Learning Platform (ILP)

Professional services

• Administrative and application management
• Consulting
• Datatel Center for Institutional Effectiveness (DCIE) - provides strategic planning programs for administrators in higher education
• Institutional effectiveness
• Professional executive services
• Strategic planning and project management
• Support and self-service
• Training and education
• Web site design

Related information

Datatel Users' Group (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.^[21]

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

Notes and References

1. https://www.google.com/finance/?cid=6543070 "Datatel, Inc." Google Finance Profile, 2008
2. https://archive.today/20110716084546/http://www.datatel.com/objectViewer.cfm?referrerID=0C8365D7-AA93-93B5-3222FB6618F33FC8&objectID=21723623-5056-9F44-A84BC0DC046B6C20 "Datatel and WealthEngine.Com Sign Partner Agreement," Datatel News and Events, 2008
3. https://archive.today/20120711124946/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_March_18/ai_n13257133 "Datatel Executive Team Announces Management Buyout of Datatel, Inc., Backed by Thoma Cressey Equity Partners and Trident Capital," Business Wire, March 18, 2005
4. Web site: Balance Bar CO, Form DEF 14A, Filing Date Apr 5, 1999 . secdatabase.com . May 14, 2018.
5. http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/company-structures-ownership/5562451-1.html "Datatel Completes Acquisition of LiquidMatrix; Union Makes it Easy for Universities and Colleges..." AllBusiness, 2004
6. Web site: "Hellman & Friedman Acquires Datatel" Datatel Press Release, 2009 . 2010-02-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091214171515/http://news.datatel.com/news/hellman+friedman+acquires+datatel.htm . 2009-12-14 . dead .
7. Web site: Ellucian: New Company Name Announced for Datatel and SunGard Higher Education Combination. Business Wire. 20 April 2012. March 26, 2012.
8. http://www.intl-spectrum.com/mag/SEPOCT.2005/TECHNICAL-UPDATES-.aspx "Then ... and Now: Datatel - From Original Microdata Dealer to Today's Top-Notch Provider of Solutions for Higher Education," International Spectrum, 2005
9. Web site: "Join a Stable Client Community," 2008 . 2008-07-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080705093344/http://www.datatel.com/experience/corp_strength/clientcommunity.cfm . 2008-07-05 . dead .
10. News: Russ Griffith, Datatel CEO, Dies at 59; Vernon Hollidge Named Interim Chief Executive Officer . Business Wire . 2006.
11. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2008_April_14/ai_n25151477 "Datatel Posts Record Revenue in 2007," Business Wire, April 14, 2008
12. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_Oct_18/ai_n15695823 "Datatel Selects Microsoft SharePoint for Its Next Generation ERP Solution; Technology to Help Datatel Build the Optimum User Experience," Business Wire, 2005
13. Web site: "Datatel Finishes 2009 Strong with Record Revenue" Datatel Press Release, 2010 . 2010-04-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110708233819/http://news.datatel.com/news/datatel+finishes+2009+strong+record+revenue.htm . 2011-07-08 . dead .
14. Web site: Foster . Richard . 2021-09-15 . Ellucian acquisition deal closes . 2024-06-04 . Virginia Business . en-US.
15. http://www.allbusiness.com/labor-employment/human-resources-personnel/5105789-1.html "Washingtonian Magazine Again Selects Datatel as a 'Great Place to Work,' Company Makes List a Third Time," Business Wire, October 24, 2005
16. http://www.nvfs.org/care_honor_roll.htm The CARE Awards Honor Roll 1992-2006
17. Web site: Datatel's Quality Milestones . 2008-08-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080705093136/http://www.datatel.com/global/company/community/continuousimprovement/quality_milestones.cfm . 2008-07-05 . dead .
18. http://www.datatel.com/objectViewer.cfm?referrerID=0C8365D7-AA93-93B5-3222FB6618F33FC8&objectID=F25850B9-5056-9F44-A8DF561B157A6AE9 "University of Maryland Honors Datatel with 2008 Smith Digital Economy Award," 2008
19. http://www.datatel.com/objectViewer.cfm?referrerID=0C8365D7-AA93-93B5-3222FB6618F33FC8&objectID=916FEB72-5056-9F44-A8D8D5B4D080D38E "Datatel Counted Among Top Finalists for the 2008 Microsoft Partner of the Year Award in Information Worker Solutions, Portals, and Collaboration," 2008
20. http://news.datatel.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=1134 "Datatel Honored as 2009 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference Awards Winner in Public Sector, Education Partner of the Year," 2009
21. Web site: Datatel Scholars Foundation. Datatel. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080611141743/http://www.datatel.com/global/scholarships/. June 11, 2008.