The Business Problem
What problem was the client facing?
Northeastern University’s Center for Inclusive Computing works with colleges and universities to expand participation in undergraduate computing education. Understanding progress across its network requires bringing together complex institutional data while respecting the privacy constraints associated with student information.
When CIC engaged Action, the organization had a partially-developed Tableau dashboard and a growing need for an analytics environment that could support its work with partner institutions.
The challenge extended beyond completing a dashboard. CIC’s understanding of its data, reporting requirements, and the questions its stakeholders needed to answer continued to evolve. The organization needed an analytics approach capable of adapting as its programs expanded and its internal technical capabilities matured.
Why It Mattered
For an organization working to broaden participation in computing education, the ability to measure change is essential. CIC needed to understand patterns across institutions, track progress over time, and communicate findings to stakeholders.
Privacy requirements added complexity. Institutional comparisons had to be meaningful without exposing sensitive student information.
CIC also needed an approach that would remain useful as its own staff developed greater analytical expertise. A system that depended indefinitely on outside consultants would limit the organization’s ability to respond independently to new questions and changing program priorities.
Action's Solution
Our Solution
For an organization working to broaden participation in computing education, the ability to measure change is essential. CIC needed to understand patterns across institutions, track progress over time, and communicate findings to stakeholders.
Privacy requirements added complexity. Institutional comparisons had to be meaningful without exposing sensitive student information.
CIC also needed an approach that would remain useful as its own staff developed greater analytical expertise. A system that depended indefinitely on outside consultants would limit the organization’s ability to respond independently to new questions and changing program priorities.
Action's Approach
Rather than treating the engagement as a single dashboard development project, Action approached it as a long-term partnership that could change alongside the organization.
In the early stages, Action provided substantial hands-on implementation support. As CIC’s internal team developed its capabilities, Action adjusted its role, moving toward strategic guidance, training, and mentorship while CIC assumed more responsibility for implementation.
This flexibility allowed CIC to access different levels of support at different stages of its development, without remaining dependent on the same consulting model throughout the engagement.
Action also emphasized consistency in data definitions and analytical practices, helping CIC build an environment its staff could understand and manage rather than simply operate.
The result was a partnership designed not only to deliver useful analytics but also to strengthen the client’s ability to work independently.
Results and Evidence
The Impact
Over the course of the engagement, CIC gained an evolving analytics environment supported by more consistent data definitions, improved Tableau reporting, and greater internal analytical capability.
The organization could draw on Action’s implementation expertise when necessary while increasingly managing its own analytics through the training and mentorship provided during the partnership.
That growing independence was a central outcome of the engagement: Action’s role could become smaller as CIC’s own capabilities expanded.
CIC’s broader institutional work also provides context for the importance of accessible, consistent analytics. Its May 2025 Five-Year Report examined computing-major representation across partner schools between fall 2019 and fall 2023.
Among 21 schools that had participated in the CIC portfolio for at least two years, the report found that growth in computing majors outpaced corresponding changes in overall university enrollment across the populations examined.
These findings reflect the progress of CIC and its partner institutions. They are not evidence that Action’s analytics work caused the reported enrollment changes.
The Impact
Action helped CIC evolve from a partially developed dashboard toward a more mature, adaptable analytics environment, while transferring the knowledge and capabilities needed for its staff to take greater ownership of the work. The engagement demonstrates how sustained technical partnership can ultimately support greater client independence.
By the Numbers
64%
Increase in women computing majors across 21 CIC partner schools, from 7,938 in fall 2019 to 12,977 in fall 2023.
136%
Increase in Black women computing majors across the same 21-school cohort.
21
Partner schools included in CIC’s analysis of computing-major representation, each having participated in its portfolio for at least two years.
5 years
Approximate duration of Action’s evolving partnership with CIC, encompassing dashboard development, semantic layer design, training, and strategic guidance.
114
Partner schools reported across CIC’s broader network in its May 2025 Five-Year Report. This represents CIC’s organizational reach, not an Action-attributable result.
[Source: CIC Five-Year Report, May 2025 [PDF], and Action engagement records. Enrollment increases reflect CIC partner-school outcomes and are not directly attributable to Action.]