DoIT Alerts

DoIT is pleased to announce the official launch of the new REX Analytics Portal (REX 2.0), our comprehensive campus reporting portal at rexanalytics.umbc.edu, also accessible at umbc.edu/go/rex20. This portal is powered by Tableau, providing a more dynamic and user-friendly experience for accessing crucial institutional data.

What's New in the REX Analytics Portal?

Importantly, the new portal helps everyone know what’s in the REX data warehouse by showing all reports, even if you don’t have access to them. Also, with the adoption of HelioCampus as our new data warehouse, we have transitioned key institutional reports to the updated REX platform, which offers streamlined access to a collection of new and updated reports, dashboards, and data visualizations in Tableau for authorized users. Main categories include Admissions, Student Records and Enrollment, Financial & Administrative Dashboards, Human Resources, and the Strategic Enrollment Plan reporting. 

In the upper-right corner, click the i icon for an informational overlay on navigating the landing page or the ? icon in the upper-right to request access to reports or get additional help.

Getting Started and Resources

Access the UMBC REX Analytics Portal today to explore the new platform and reports.

• To access the REX Analytics Portal from off-campus (or using the Visitor wireless network on-campus), you will need to be in the VPN.

• The REX Analytics Portal can also be found in the Guide in myUMBC.

• If you have trouble finding a report, in REX, you can look for "_Where are … Reports" in individual folders for links to the reports in the REX Analytics Portal.

• Why & How to Explore Analytics@UMBC – Division of Information Technology 

• How do I self-enroll in the "Analytics at UMBC" training organization?

• Learn more about Analytics at UMBC on our website: analytics.umbc.edu

• Get Help with REX - Submit a Ticket

Future REX Analytics News

We are actively transitioning and developing additional reports. More report folders and categories will be made available throughout 2026. Please keep an eye out for future DoIT announcements regarding new reports, training opportunities, and system enhancements.

Reminder: Authorized faculty, staff, and institutional researchers have varying degrees of access to reports, dependent upon their role at the institution. To request access, click here. Please note that this is a role-based approval process.

Should you have any issues or questions, submit a ticket to the REX Data Analytics team here.

• Attached Inline Image for UMBC REX Analytics Adds New Portal & Hub

A new 'Students to Include' parameter has been added to the Advising and Registration Status by Plan report which will allow you to get a list of students who are enrolled, those who are not enrolled, or both.  Previously, the report always included both, but this new parameter will make it easier to obtain a list of students who are not yet registered.

HelioCampus is a data analytics platform that provides UMBC with the next-generation decision support services.  Helio integrates our enterprise data warehouse with advanced reporting and visualization tools.  

With Helio, we can use information from our systems to answer key questions through analytics, data storytelling, and data science and do it easier and faster.  Helio is a key component of an integrated infrastructure for academic planning, assessment, and analytics.  

We’re delighted to tell you that the project and platform are starting to roll out to the campus. 

We have deployed the platform and provided initial training to a first wave of approximately two dozen people who are active users of our existing data warehouse.  This initial training focused on four key sets of dashboards:  Admissions, Enrollment, Student Retention, and Graduation.  

We will continue to conduct training sessions to additional waves of the community and provide resources for self-guided training in the use of Helio and Tableau, the platform’s visualization tool.  Tableau is easy to use, and you can learn the basics in as little as 45 minutes using our curated self-training curriculum.  

Access to the Helio platform can be found at analytics.umbc.edu.  Request access to the platform or a Tableau license at https://analytics.umbc.edu/support/request/.  Please note that there is a role-based approval process similar to that granting access to REX.

We’re grateful to our campus partners who participated in the validation and “soft launch” phase of the project.

• More Information about HelioCampus Implementation Update #2:

Almost everyone has found themselves in a position where they need to ask a question, but aren’t sure who they should ask or how to ask it.  It can be frustrating (and inefficient) to ask several people for the same thing with the hope that one of them can help.

The Analytics and Data Science team, IRADS, and the REX team have made some simple changes to take the confusion out of asking for help with reports, analytics, or data requests.  We’ve added links to the sites people generally go to find data.  Look for a link that says “REQUEST HELP WITH DATA, REPORTS, OR ANALYTICS.”   Clicking on that link takes you to a page which helps you to refine your request and to make sure the proper people see it.  The requests become part of the familiar campus RT ticketing system.

Here’s what happens when you submit a ticket.  Your request automatically becomes part of a queue reviewed by the Data Warehouse Group at its regular Friday meetings.  At that meeting, your request is triaged, the appropriate member of the group is assigned to be responsible for it, and a due date is assigned.  It will be tracked until it’s closed.  

Not sure exactly what to ask?  Look for my favorite link “None of the above fit or I don’t know how to ask for what I need”   Our teams will work with you to help you define your question and help you get an answer.  

The enhanced analytics, data, and report request system takes the worry about who to ask off your plate, and the RT ticket you generate takes away the worry about your request slipping through the cracks or being lost in an email inbox.

Robert Carpenter       
Deputy CIO, Division of Information Technology Associate Provost, Division of Academic Affairs UMBC

• More Information about Getting Help With Data, Analytics, and Reports

For all those interested in data-driven decision making, there is a rich trove of data available to research thanks to the data warehouse Reports Exchange (REX). Although all faculty have had access to the system for over a year, many instructors still don’t know what is available to them, or equally important, what they can do with this resource. However, there are faculty  who stand out for their trailblazing efforts to leverage the warehouse to advance their scholarship and departmental policy.

Liz Stanwyck is a Senior Lecturer with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and an active REX user. She began digging into REX as soon as she knew it existed, having learned about the warehouse several years ago during a Faculty Development Center event.  “I use it to look at changes in DFW rates over time… to find out which of my students might need help more than others,” says Stanwyck, who’s able to drill down to second-time repeaters as a particular risk group, and take advantage of at-a-glance statistics. “I can use REX to get a list of those students and write them individually.” Indeed, this functionality was built out at her request within a week of her request and the developers were “incredibly responsive.”

Stanwyck lauds the existing reports as very versatile as well, including the Grade Comparison - Course to Course, which is exceptionally helpful to track student success across gateway courses, and identify patterns that can potentially impede progression using data. She also makes use of the Plan Counts report to help support students. “As an advisor I use it a lot to look at all of my advisees and see how the major has grown or changed over time and how changes we've made in the department affect our students,” notes Stanwyck.

It’s also possible to use REX data to not only report, but also to develop one’s own models for action research. “I started an exploration a few years ago to see if my students in an introductory business 300-level stat class are achieving the learning outcomes for that class,” Stanwyck describes. “I came up with a pre and post test for the students so I could measure their learning, and then I dug down into REX data to start to associate those learning gains with different demographics and backgrounds, and I've presented that at two or three provost teaching and learning symposiums.”

In this example, Stanwyck highlights how REX data can be used not just for description, but also for more robust inferential and even predictive projects. Indeed, the particular efforts supported adjustments to Math 155, an applied calculus course that was initially redesigned four years ago. “We have tweaked and twiddled and played around with that class, and every semester we change one thing and then go back at REX and see overall what's the data like.”

From reporting, to analysis, monitoring, and evaluation, to data informed decision making – REX provides an array of reports and resources to help faculty and staff do their jobs better. If you’re new to the data warehouse, then this FAQ collection will provide you with all of the information you need to get started. If you’ve already accessed the Reports Exchange in the past and are ready to dive in, welcome back. Don’t forget, help is just an RT ticket away!

• More Information about Moving from “What is that?" to Data-Informed Practice