EPC Group - Enterprise Microsoft AI, SharePoint, Power BI, and Azure Consulting
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EPC Group

Enterprise Microsoft consulting with 29 years serving Fortune 500 companies.

(888) 381-9725
contact@epcgroup.net
4900 Woodway Drive, Suite 830
Houston, TX 77056

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About EPC Group

EPC Group is a Microsoft consulting firm founded in 1997 (originally Enterprise Project Consulting, renamed EPC Group in 2005). 29 years of enterprise Microsoft consulting experience. EPC Group historically held the distinction of being the oldest continuous Microsoft Gold Partner in North America from 2016 until the program's retirement. Because Microsoft officially deprecated the Gold/Silver tiering framework, EPC Group transitioned to the modern Microsoft Solutions Partner ecosystem and currently holds the core Microsoft Solutions Partner designations.

Headquartered at 4900 Woodway Drive, Suite 830, Houston, TX 77056. Public clients include NASA, FBI, Federal Reserve, Pentagon, United Airlines, PepsiCo, Nike, and Northrop Grumman. 6,500+ SharePoint implementations, 1,500+ Power BI deployments, 500+ Microsoft Fabric implementations, 70+ Fortune 500 organizations served, 11,000+ enterprise engagements, 200+ Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft 365 consultants on staff.

About Errin O'Connor

Errin O'Connor is the Founder, CEO, and Chief AI Architect of EPC Group. Microsoft MVP multiple years, first awarded 2003. 4× Microsoft Press bestselling author of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Inside Out (MS Press 2007), Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 Inside Out (MS Press 2011), SharePoint 2013 Field Guide (Sams/Pearson 2014), and Microsoft Power BI Dashboards Step by Step (MS Press 2018).

Original SharePoint Beta Team member (Project Tahoe). Original Power BI Beta Team member (Project Crescent). FedRAMP framework contributor. Worked with U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra on the Obama administration's 25-Point Plan to reform federal IT, and with NASA CIO Chris Kemp as Lead Architect on the NASA Nebula Cloud project. Speaker at Microsoft Ignite, SharePoint Conference, KMWorld, and DATAVERSITY.

© 2026 EPC Group. All rights reserved. Microsoft, SharePoint, Power BI, Azure, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Fabric, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.

Inspiring Excellence: Education BI Analytics

Data-driven student outcomes and district-wide performance analytics

EPC Group helped a public education organization serving 28,000+ students across 45 schools implement Microsoft Power BI for student performance analytics. The platform tracks at-risk students within the first 6 weeks of each semester — enabling early intervention before a student fails a grading period. The organization's mission: "inspiring excellence — every child, every day."

Key Facts

  • 28,000+ students served across 45 schools in multiple districts.
  • Power BI deployed for student performance tracking, graduation rate improvement, and resource allocation.
  • At-risk students identified within 6 weeks of semester start — before grading period failure.
  • Compliance: FERPA-compliant data architecture throughout.
  • Deployment timeline: 22 weeks (discovery through phased rollout).
  • EPC Group: 29 years Microsoft consulting. Education analytics specialist.

Inspiring Excellence: Education Analytics Transformation

How EPC Group helped a public education organization implement Power BI to track student performance across every school, improve graduation rates through early intervention analytics, and enable data-driven funding allocation that ensures every child receives the resources they need to succeed.

Get StartedView All Case Studies

12%

Graduation Rate Increase

45

Schools Connected

28K+

Students Tracked

85%

At-Risk Early Identification

The Challenge

This public education organization, serving over 28,000 students across 45 schools in multiple districts, was committed to its mission of "inspiring excellence -- every child, every day." However, the organization lacked the analytics infrastructure to translate that vision into measurable, actionable data. Student performance, attendance, behavioral, and demographic data existed in separate systems with no unified view, making it impossible to identify at-risk students early or allocate resources where they would have the greatest impact.

Fragmented student data: Academic records lived in the Student Information System (SIS), attendance in a separate platform, behavioral incidents in yet another system, and special education (IEP) data in a dedicated tool. No single view of the whole student existed.

Late intervention for at-risk students: Without early warning indicators, struggling students were often identified only after failing a grading period or accumulating excessive absences. By then, intervention success rates dropped significantly.

Inequitable resource allocation: Funding decisions for tutoring programs, after-school activities, and counseling services were based on anecdotal evidence and historical budgets rather than current student needs data, leading to resource mismatches.

State reporting burden: Preparing state-mandated accountability reports required weeks of manual data reconciliation across systems. Errors in state submissions risked funding penalties and accreditation issues.

The Solution

EPC Group implemented a comprehensive Power BI analytics platform purpose-built for K-12 education, integrating student data from across all systems into a unified analytics layer that empowers educators, administrators, and district leadership with actionable insights while maintaining strict FERPA compliance.

Student 360 Dashboard

Created a unified student profile dashboard combining academic performance, attendance patterns, behavioral data, and IEP/504 accommodations. Teachers and counselors access a complete picture of each student with trend analysis and peer comparisons.

Early Warning System

Built a predictive analytics model that scores students on dropout risk using attendance trends, grade trajectories, behavioral incidents, and demographic factors. At-risk students are flagged with recommended interventions before they reach crisis points.

District Performance Analytics

Deployed district-wide dashboards comparing school performance on standardized assessments, graduation rates, college readiness indicators, and equity metrics. Superintendents and school board members access real-time data for policy decisions.

Funding Allocation Analytics

Created data models that map student needs to available resources -- Title I funds, special education budgets, grant allocations, and local supplements. Decision-makers now allocate resources based on current student data rather than historical precedent.

Key Benefits & Outcomes

12% Graduation Rate Improvement

The early warning system identified 85% of at-risk students within the first 6 weeks of each semester, enabling timely intervention. Over two academic years, the district-wide graduation rate increased from 78% to 90%, with the largest gains in historically underserved populations.

Data-Driven Resource Allocation

Funding allocation dashboards revealed that 3 schools had disproportionately low counseling resources relative to their at-risk population size. Rebalancing resources led to a 20% improvement in those schools' student retention rates within one year.

85% Early Identification Rate

The predictive early warning model correctly identifies 85% of students who would otherwise fail or drop out, giving counselors and teachers 4-6 weeks of lead time to implement targeted interventions like tutoring, mentoring, or family outreach.

State Reporting Automated

State accountability report preparation dropped from 3 weeks of manual work to 2 days. Data validation rules built into the Power BI data pipeline catch inconsistencies before submission, eliminating the data quality issues that previously triggered state audits.

Equity Gap Analysis

Power BI dashboards now track performance, attendance, and discipline data disaggregated by demographics, enabling the district to identify and address equity gaps. The achievement gap between demographic subgroups narrowed by 8 percentage points in math proficiency.

Teacher & Principal Empowerment

Over 1,200 educators now access student performance dashboards daily, with 92% reporting that the data helps them differentiate instruction and identify students needing additional support. Principals use school-level dashboards for staff development planning.

Technologies & Architecture

Analytics Platform

  • - Power BI Pro for all educators and staff
  • - 25+ dashboards (student, school, district levels)
  • - Power BI Mobile for principal walkthroughs
  • - Embedded reports in the district portal

Data Integration

  • - Azure SQL Database (star schema model)
  • - Power BI Dataflows for data prep
  • - Nightly batch refresh + intra-day attendance
  • - Data quality validation pipeline

Source Systems

  • - PowerSchool SIS (student records)
  • - SWIS (behavioral data)
  • - IEP/504 management platform
  • - State assessment data feeds

Compliance & Security

  • - FERPA-compliant data governance
  • - Row-level security by school/district role
  • - PII masking for aggregated reports
  • - Azure AD with MFA for all staff access

Related Power BI Success Stories

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City of Weston Government BI

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Southern Farm Bureau Insurance Analytics

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“Before EPC Group implemented Power BI, we were making resource allocation decisions based on gut feeling and historical precedent. Now every principal and counselor has a dashboard that shows exactly which students need support and what kind of intervention is most likely to help. Our graduation rate improvement speaks for itself -- but more importantly, we're catching kids before they fall through the cracks. That's what 'every child, every day' actually looks like in practice.”
Superintendent of Schools
Inspiring Excellence Education Organization

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Power BI help school districts improve graduation rates?

Power BI enables school districts to build early warning systems that combine academic performance, attendance trends, behavioral incidents, and demographic data into predictive risk scores for every student. By identifying at-risk students within the first 6 weeks of each semester -- before they fail a grading period or accumulate excessive absences -- counselors and teachers can intervene early with tutoring, mentoring, and family outreach programs that have significantly higher success rates than late-stage interventions.

Is Power BI compliant with FERPA regulations for student data?

Yes, Power BI is FERPA compliant when properly configured with Microsoft 365 education licensing, Azure Active Directory, and appropriate row-level security (RLS). EPC Group implements role-based access controls so teachers see only their students, principals see their school, and district administrators see aggregated data. PII masking on reports shared outside the district, audit logging of all data access, and encryption at rest and in transit ensure full FERPA compliance.

What student information systems does Power BI integrate with?

Power BI connects to all major student information systems including PowerSchool, Infinite Campus, Skyward, Tyler SIS, Aeries, and others through direct database connections, APIs, or automated data exports. EPC Group builds ETL pipelines using Azure Data Factory or Power BI Dataflows that extract student data from these systems alongside attendance platforms, behavioral tracking tools (SWIS), IEP/504 management systems, and state assessment data feeds to create a unified analytics layer.

How long does a Power BI implementation take for a K-12 school district?

A typical K-12 Power BI implementation takes 14-22 weeks depending on the number of schools, data sources, and complexity of analytics requirements. EPC Group follows a phased approach: data assessment and information architecture (weeks 1-4), data platform build and ETL pipelines (weeks 5-10), dashboard development with educator feedback (weeks 11-16), and phased rollout with role-specific training for teachers, counselors, principals, and district leadership (weeks 17-22).

Can Power BI help with equity gap analysis in education?

Absolutely. Power BI dashboards can disaggregate academic performance, attendance, discipline, and college readiness data by race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, English learner status, and special education designation. This enables districts to identify and quantify equity gaps with data rather than anecdotes, set measurable equity goals, track progress over time, and demonstrate accountability to school boards, communities, and state departments of education.

How does Power BI reduce the burden of state accountability reporting?

Power BI automates the data preparation process for state accountability reports by building data validation rules directly into the analytics pipeline. Data quality checks catch inconsistencies -- such as mismatched enrollment counts, missing demographic codes, or invalid assessment scores -- before submission rather than after a state audit flags them. Districts using EPC Group's Power BI implementations have reduced state report preparation time from 3+ weeks to 2-3 days.

Ready to Transform Your Education Analytics?

EPC Group specializes in Power BI for education, with deep expertise in student performance tracking, FERPA compliance, and data-driven decision making for K-12 districts and higher education institutions. Schedule a free consultation.

Contact Us(888) 381-9725

K-12 Education Power BI Case Study: Inspiring Excellence

EPC Group helped a public education organization serving 28,000+ students across 45 schools implement Microsoft Power BI for student performance analytics. The platform tracks at-risk students within the first 6 weeks of each semester — enabling early intervention before a student fails a grading period. The organization's mission: "inspiring excellence — every child, every day."

Key facts

  • 28,000+ students served across 45 schools in multiple districts.
  • Power BI deployed for student performance tracking, graduation rate improvement, and resource allocation.
  • At-risk students identified within 6 weeks of semester start — before grading period failure.
  • Compliance: FERPA-compliant data architecture throughout.
  • Deployment timeline: 22 weeks (discovery through phased rollout).
  • EPC Group: 29 years Microsoft consulting. Education analytics specialist.

The challenge

The organization was committed to its mission but lacked analytics infrastructure to translate that vision into measurable results. Key problems:

  • No centralized view of student performance across schools and districts.
  • At-risk students identified late — after grades had already dropped.
  • Counselors and teachers relied on manual reports from the SIS system.
  • District leadership lacked real-time visibility into graduation rate trends.
  • Resource allocation decisions were based on historical data, not current need.

The solution

EPC Group built a Power BI analytics platform connecting the Student Information System (SIS), attendance data, assessment scores, and intervention records into a unified early-warning system.

  • Early-warning dashboard: flags at-risk students by school, grade, and intervention history within 6 weeks of semester start.
  • Student performance tracker: attendance, grades, assessment scores, and missing assignments per student — accessible to teachers and counselors.
  • Principal dashboard: school-level trends, teacher performance support indicators, and intervention effectiveness.
  • District leadership dashboard: graduation rate projections, district-wide at-risk population, and resource allocation analytics.

Early intervention model

The key innovation was identifying at-risk students early enough to intervene effectively.

  • Students are flagged within 6 weeks of semester start — before they fail a grading period.
  • Early intervention (tutoring, mentoring, family outreach) has significantly higher success rates than late-stage intervention.
  • Counselors receive automated alerts when a student crosses the risk threshold.
  • Intervention outcomes are tracked in Power BI — closing the feedback loop for program effectiveness.

FERPA compliance

Student data is protected under FERPA. EPC Group built the platform with FERPA compliance from the start.

  • Row-level security restricts each teacher to their own students.
  • Counselors see their assigned caseload; principals see their school only.
  • District administrators see aggregate data — individual student records require role-based access.
  • No student PII is exposed in executive-level dashboards.

Deployment timeline

The engagement followed a phased approach over 22 weeks.

  • Weeks 1–4: data assessment and information architecture design.
  • Weeks 5–10: data platform build and ETL pipelines from SIS, assessment, and attendance systems.
  • Weeks 11–16: dashboard development with educator feedback and iteration.
  • Weeks 17–22: phased rollout with role-specific training for teachers, counselors, principals, and district leadership.

Frequently asked questions

What Power BI dashboards does EPC Group build for K-12 education?

EPC Group builds student performance trackers, early-warning at-risk dashboards, graduation rate projections, attendance analytics, assessment score comparisons, and resource allocation tools. All dashboards are FERPA-compliant with row-level security restricting each user to their authorized student population.

How does early-warning analytics work in Power BI?

Power BI connects to the Student Information System, attendance records, and assessment data. A DAX model calculates risk scores based on attendance, grades, and missing assignments. Students crossing the threshold appear in the counselor's alert dashboard within 6 weeks of semester start — early enough to intervene before failure.

Is student data FERPA-compliant in Power BI?

Yes, with proper configuration. EPC Group implements row-level security so each teacher sees only their students, counselors see their caseload, and principals see their school. Executive dashboards show aggregate trends without individual student PII. Data residency stays within your Microsoft 365 tenant.

Schedule a consultation

EPC Group delivers FERPA-compliant Power BI analytics for K-12 school districts and education organizations. Call (888) 381-9725 or request a 30-minute discovery call.