best bi presentation

by Tim Beckett and Bruce E. McComb

An Expert Series White Paper

Increase Enrollment, Retention, and Student Success Best Practices for Information Delivery and Strategic Alignment

Tim Beckett is Higher Education Solutions Manager for Information Builders. In his career he has held a combination of information technology and account management roles. His passion is helping others be productive using technology. Concentrating on the evolving needs of the education market has been his focus the last few years. During his seven years with Information Builders, Mr. Beckett has presented at the Information Builders Summit User Conference and more than 25 higher education conferences. He has also hosted several Web-based forums for Information Builders’ prospects and customers. Mr. Beckett earned a BBA in business computer science from Abilene Christian University.

Bruce E. McComb is a Principal of Organizational Effectiveness Consultants. He helps educational institutions develop, implement and use strategic focus and strategic management tools and processes to achieve success. He is a Data Facilitator for Achieving the Dream colleges and for the Preparing to Dream Initiative with Houston area school districts. He has been a mathematics adjunct professor and worked on projects including technical program review and improving instructional effectiveness. Mr. McComb has 17 years of experience in training and organizational effectiveness consulting. His MS is in electrical engineering, with a specialization in the analysis and improvement of organizations and socioeconomic systems through the application of systems engineering principles. He can be reached at [email protected].

Tim Beckett

Bruce E. McComb

Executive Summary

Meeting Information Delivery Challenges in Higher Education

Business Intelligence Solutions

Case Study: Tarleton State University

Solutions for Increasing Enrollment and Retention: Generic Scenarios

Create a Cycle of Continuous Improvement

The Strategy Execution Imperative

Six Best Practices of Effective Strategy Execution

Translate Strategy Into Measurements

Manage a Limited Number of Strategic Initiatives

Align Units With the Strategy

Communicate the Strategy

Review the Strategy

Update the Strategy

Where Business Intelligence Fits In

The Performance Management Framework for Higher Education

Case Studies: Proven Success in Higher Education

Davenport University: Doing More With Less

Florida Atlantic University: Tracking Cohorts and Much More

Some Things to Consider

Business Intelligence Software

Performance Management Software

Evaluating BI and Performance Management Software Vendors

Conclusion

For More Information

About Information Builders

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Information Builders1

Executive Summary

Higher education provides many of the answers for the challenges we face today. As President Barack Obama put it, “In this kind of economy, the countries who out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow.” Education is a national priority and institutions of higher education are in a perfect position to lead the transformation of our culture for the new realities of the world.

Increasing enrollment, retention, and student success are critical. Institutions, however, face many challenges in seizing these opportunities. Running an organization without a goal wastes time and resources, but stating that goal in the form of a strategy or mission is not enough. Focusing the entire organization around the strategy and executing the strategy are essential.

Many institutions face what Steven Covey calls “The Execution Gap”: the gap between setting a goal and actually achieving it. In a survey with Harris Interactive, covering a wide variety of industries, including education, Covey found the following: 1

Only 37 percent of employees have a clear understanding of what their organization is trying to ■■

achieve and why

Only 1 in 5 employees was enthusiastic about their team’s and organization’s goals■■

Only 1 in 5 workers has a clear line of sight between their tasks and their team’s and ■■

organization’s goals

Only 13 percent of employees have high-trust, highly cooperative working relationships with ■■

other groups or departments

To bridge this gap and align all units and individuals with strategic goals in an inclusive way that supports academic norms, institutions must reduce the cost and difficulty of accessing and delivering relevant information for running the organization.

Most institutions have invested significant money in data systems and have many databases. They often find, though, that it takes even more time, money, and energy to get the data out of these sources in forms the organization can actually use. Accessing, analyzing, and delivering the data – and turning it into usable information – can become prohibitively expensive and time-consuming as people scurry around to retrieve data.

What institutions need is a way to immediately access any data, any time, and put it in the hands of anyone who needs it. The person who uses the information wouldn’t have to understand the data gathering process or how to work with software; they would simply point-and-click and have the information they need.

Think of such a system as an octopus (see Figure 1). This octopus, let’s call him Oscar, has tentacles in all the different databases. The right person with the right access asks Oscar by pointing and clicking on appropriate options. Oscar grabs the data and presents it to them in a format of their choice.

1 Covey, Steven. “The 8th Habit,” Bruce McComb Organizational Effectiveness Consultants, 2004.

Increase Enrollment, Retention, and Student Success2

This electronic octopus exists, and has already been proven in many higher education institutions and across many industries – it’s called business intelligence (BI) technology. BI accesses and analyzes data from multiple sources, delivering timely and appropriate information to large and small numbers of decision-makers in easy-to-use formats.

The strategic use of BI technology to communicate and monitor strategy throughout an organization is known as performance management (PM). PM uses methodologies like scorecards, dashboards, strategy maps, reports, and alerts in a number of ways. First, it communicates strategy throughout the institution. Second, it aligns the units with strategic goals. Third, it gives individuals the means to know how their goals fit in with those of the institution, to monitor progress towards meeting goals, to analyze problems, and to take action to improve performance. Strategy, analysis, and operations are able to work together in a continuous cycle of improvement.

By using BI technology strategically for performance management, colleges and universities can access, analyze, and deliver timely, relevant information to all decision-makers at the college or university and bridge the execution gap.

President Obama and Arne Duncan, the U.S. Secretary of Education, have set national goals for America to achieve by 2020. The first goal is for America to become number one in the percentage of citizens holding college degrees, and the second is for all Americans to complete at least one year of postsecondary education. The Lumina and Gates foundations, among others, also emphasize the importance of substantially increasing the percentage of citizens holding college degrees. The Obama administration is backing this up with increased funding for higher education and calling for a complete overhaul of the financial aid system.

Figure 1.


This paper shows how it is affordable and practical to meet strategic goals by delivering information to decision-makers throughout the institution in accordance with the six best practices for strategy execution identified by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton in The Execution Premium.

By reducing the cost and hassle of getting relevant information, colleges and universities can take these steps to increase enrollment, retention, and student success.

“Colleges and universities have a responsibility to control spiraling costs. And that will require

hard choices about where to save and where to spend. So I challenge state, college, and

university leaders to put affordability front and center as they chart a path forward.” 2

– President Barack Obama

Communicate the Strategy

Review the Strategy

Update the Strategy

Goals Achieved

Translate the Strategy Into Measurements

Manage Limited Number of Strategic Initiatives

Align Units With the Strategy

Strategy Execution Best Practices

Steps to Institutional Success

2 The White House, Office of the Press Secretary (April 24, 2009). Remarks by the President on Higher Education. Press release.

WebFOCUS Performance Management Framework• Supports effective strategy execution

• Extends WebFOCUS into collaborative performance management

• Helps align performance of units and individuals with institution’s strategic goals

• Supports strategy maps and balanced scorecards

• Supports dashboards and drill downs

See steps chart on p. 3, as well as pp. 2, 6-7; best practices on

pp. 8-18; then pp. 19-27.

WebFOCUS Business Intelligence• Provides simple, intuitive, point and click, Web-based reporting that allows anyone to get accurate, flexible and timely information – without having to call IT

• Automates data retrieval from anywhere in the institution

• Converts data into useful information for reporting and decision-making

• Includes dashboards, drill downs and, predictive analytics

See octopus graphic (Figure 1 on p. 2) and pp. 1-7, 19-21, 26-31.

An overview of business intelligence and performance management and where each are discussed within this white paper.


Turning data into usable information in an efficient, cost-effective way is essential for addressing challenges and seizing today’s opportunities in higher education. Institutions should have the ability to:

Identify and analyze problems■■

Use collected data to support initiatives■■

Monitor and track performance■■

Streamline operations by making it easier to retrieve and share information■■

Provide information to accrediting and governmental agencies■■

Share processes and best practices ■■

The information environment at many institutions, however, makes it difficult to meet the challenges of distributing information. Many institutions have collegiate administration systems for student information, finance, and HR, but find it difficult for staff to get the information they need in a timely, cost-efficient manner. The operational systems in most institutions are transactional – they are there to process transactions, not to provide information. To get the information, someone has to create reports, and that process is often time-consuming, laborious, and costly.

If someone wants a report on an institutional survey, for example, they might have to combine a report from the student information system with the survey, run queries to get the report from the student information system, pull the information from their own internal database, then put it in some type of spreadsheet, such as Excel, and then manipulate the data.

Most of these different databases exist in silos and are not integrated into the whole information system, requiring sizable effort to extract it and turn it into something useful. Moreover, every time someone wants more information, various people within the organization repeat the same manual steps over and over. Sometimes, someone may create a program for performing some piece of the information puzzle, but this often leads to piecemeal approaches that make it even more complicated when an institution wants to create a comprehensive solution.

Business Intelligence SolutionsBusiness intelligence technology with powerful data access, analysis, and delivery capabilities – or, Oscar, the information octopus – is the solution.

Information Builders WebFOCUS business intelligence platform accesses, analyzes, and delivers information from disparate systems throughout the institution to everyone who needs it – quickly, easily, and in the formats they need: Web pages, e-mails, spreadsheets, blogs, etc. – very cost-efficiently. Proven at hundreds of institutions over many years, it meets the information needs of the whole enterprise – executives, administrators, faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni, affiliates, partners, even the public and government, if necessary (as illustrated in Figure 2).

Meeting Information Delivery Challenges in Higher Education


Case Study: Tarleton State UniversityTarleton State University faced demands for information ranging from compliance, retention, and enrollment reporting to planning and decision-making. They created a solution using WebFOCUS that’s a model of productivity and efficiency for managing and distributing information among a large network of users at a medium-sized university.

A user-friendly Web-based reporting portal now provides information from multiple data sources in a few clicks. Reports that used to take up to two weeks to generate are now generated in a day, and thousands of reports are available instantly for people ranging from the provost and faculty to staff in the registrar’s, admissions, and scholarship offices. Not only has the system freed up many resources, but now people are also able to focus on the information, rather than on the data gathering.

“Running comparison reports is just a matter of a few clicks, a far cry from the days when

the entire report had to be generated and converted into the appropriate output format.

This frees up a tremendous number of resources that would otherwise be needed to generate

each report.”

– Dr. Brad Chilton, VP of Enrollment and Information

Management, Tarleton State University

Figure 2.


“Before we implemented WebFOCUS our Fact Book could easily take a month or longer to

compile, format, and print. Now, we simply update the data and WebFOCUS handles the rest.

Users are instantly able to access the report online, and sort the output in thousands of ways.”

– Bonnie Hurford, Senior Database Developer

Tarleton State University

Solutions for Increasing Enrollment and Retention: Generic ScenariosEvery college and university is different and has its own set of measurements for success. Generally, most institutions want to increase enrollment, retention, and student success while containing costs, increasing affordability, upholding academic standards, and improving learning. The benefits of doing so are clear and measurable, even if many other aspects of education are hard to quantify.

To cite one recent experience, a university with 6,800 students wanted a better way to track enrollment and found that by using technology to better understand demographics and manage marketing performance, they could more efficiently market and attract students. They estimated that if they increased enrollment by just one percent per year, they could add $600,000 in revenue. In addition, by increasing retention by three percentage points, they could head off potential losses of $1.8 million. (Their calculation was as follows: three percent of 6,800 = 204 students. Credit hour charged at $266, assuming 16 hours per semester/two semesters per year = 32 hours times $266 = $8,500 times 204 students = $1.8 million.)

Knowledge is power.

Consider, for instance, how using BI technology strategically for PM can help an institution meet its goals for increasing student retention.

Many factors affect retention, including the following:

Success skills, such as how to study, note-taking, test-taking, time management, and emotional intelligence■■

Success in developmental and gateway courses■■

Active and collaborative instructional methods that increase student engagement and can increase ■■

course success and retention

Learning communities and linked courses■■

Developmental courses linked with for-credit courses ■■

Shorter developmental courses designed to quickly address specific needs■■

Learning support services, such as tutoring and skills-development software■■

Financial aid, particularly help in finding scholarships and maximizing aid■■

One-stop centers that make it easy to get services, pay bills, discuss financial aid, consult with ■■

advisors, and more

Actions addressing the needs of particular groups, such as those by gender, FT/PT, ethnicity, on/off campus■■

Course availability at times that coincide with student demand■■

Distance learning■■


Data related to these factors is typically spread across many databases. Using a BI solution with strong data access capabilities, like Oscar the electronic octopus, would provide timely information by tapping into the wide variety of databases involved and organizing the data into meaningful reports and strategic assessments.

Leaders could access this information through PM methodologies, such as scorecards and dashboards and their associated drill downs. They could then consider key factors affecting retention and assess their impact on overall strategy from various perspectives in terms of goals. They could also set up cause-and-effect relationships with automatic alerts for critical indicators, and drill down into the data to routinely analyze the implications of changes in factors. It wouldn’t matter where the data was stored or how many units or perspectives were involved. Leaders could access information with a few clicks on a Web page, through e-mail alerts, or even on handheld devices, in a clear, visual, high-impact way.

In addition, each of the units involved in student retention could have its own dashboard and objectives tied to the strategy, with feedback mechanisms set in place to keep everyone in the loop.

This solution makes it easy for executives to see the big picture and have information in time to ensure positive outcomes. It also makes it easy to communicate goals throughout the organization so that individuals know their goals and how they contribute to the overall goal, and also have the information they need to fulfill their tasks in reaching that goal.

Create a Cycle of Continuous ImprovementBy using BI to deliver information and communicate strategy through all levels of the organization, institutions connect strategy, analysis, and operations in a continuous cycle, as seen in Figure 3.

Figure 3.


When BI is used strategically for performance management in the form of balanced scorecards, strategy maps, spreadsheets, and dashboards, institutions are able to cost-effectively communicate strategy throughout the institution. An integrated solution provides the means to fulfill strategic initiatives, ensure accountability, demonstrate added value, and provide transparency, while preserving the kind of independence that is the hallmark of higher education.

Most importantly, these solutions can be built in increments with quick demonstrable wins, working within an institution’s existing structure.

Having these information systems is not enough. They must be linked to a formal process for strategy execution to have the most benefit.

The Strategy Execution ImperativeEffective execution of strategy is as important as the strategy itself, and it cannot be left to chance.

In a 2006 survey of performance management professionals by the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, published in The Execution Premium, Kaplan and Norton found that of the 54 percent of organizations with a formal strategy-execution process, 70 percent outperformed their peers. Of the 46 percent without a formal process, 73 percent reported average or below average performance.

Breaking the study down even further by six best practices for strategy execution, Kaplan and Norton found that on every measure, the best performers were more likely to use best practices. See Figure 4 below.

Figure 4: The best performers were more likely to use best practices.

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From the president to the secretary to the mailroom manager to the incoming student to the highest-ranking professor – everyone involved in an institution makes decisions every day that affect the culture, experience, public perception, and performance. Getting various stakeholders with different perspectives to act in harmony to support the broad goals and strategies of the organization is a continual challenge.

Many colleges and universities have balanced scorecards and dashboards, but they are more often used simply to display information than to support strategy execution, also known as performance management (PM). Displaying information does not constitute a system for strategy execution or PM.

The goals and methods of performance management, as articulated by Kaplan and Norton in their many publications, are particularly relevant to meeting the challenges of higher education today. Performance management serves two purposes for an institution: it enables administration, academic leadership, faculty, and staff to collaborate on and agree to an overall strategy, and it facilitates sharing those goals and the means to meet them with the people who execute them (from faculty to staff to students) so everyone is properly aligned and striving to reach the same objectives.

To ensure that people make the best decisions for the organization as a whole, an institution must have a formal process in place for these six best practices for strategy execution (based on Kaplan and Norton):

Translate the strategy into measurements■■

Manage a limited number of strategic initiatives■■

Align units with the strategy■■

Communicate the strategy■■

Review the strategy■■

Update the strategy■■

Translate the Strategy Into Measurements

People pay attention to what is measured■■

People work on what they pay attention to■■

People improve what they work on■■

The measurement principle is simple: if you want people to improve a process, measure it, and make the measurements known. The first best practice is to translate strategy into measurements.

Balanced scorecards were developed by Kaplan and Norton to do exactly this: define strategic focus and objectives and measure underlying success factors in terms of key performance indicators (KPIs). They work on the triage principle: focus on 15-25 KPIs, highlighting leading and lagging indicators (measurement triage) and then highlight what needs immediate action, what needs close watching, and what is currently okay (visual triage). See Figure 5.

Six Best Practices of Effective Strategy Execution


According to Kaplan and Norton, an organization performs most efficiently when it states goals in terms of a single end result and distinguishes between leading and lagging indicators. For example, the primary objective may be to increase the number of graduates, but monitoring only those numbers would not help achieve that goal. Why? Because the number of graduates is a lagging indicator – it relies on other factors, like enrollment, retention, and graduation rates, which are also dependent on many factors.

A good performance management strategy seeks to define relevant leading and lagging indicators from several perspectives. An institution seeking to increase the number of graduates may, for example, have a strategy map like the one in Figure 6. Each perspective (listed on the left side of the strategy map in Figure 6 and further explained in Figure 8) provides a further understanding (or drill down) of the cause-and-effect relationships underlying the strategy.

For example, in this strategy map faculty and staff professional development is a leading indicator for improving developmental education, which is part of the first-year experience and a leading indicator of gateway-course success.

In addition, enhancing the first-year experience also includes offering a success course, linking selected courses, creating learning communities and improving orientation, each of which could be considered to be leading indicators of gateway-course success, which itself is a leading indicator of retention.

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Figure 5: Generic university balanced scorecard shows KPIs from multiple perspectives.


Generic University Strategy Map

.

Note: Information Capital includes provision of strategy execution, evaluation and analysis and other business intelligence capabilities

Increased Numberof Graduates

Mis

sion

S

take

hold

er

Sat

isfa

ctio

n Increase Retention Increase Enrollment Improve Graduation Rate

Increase GatewayCourse Success

Use Net PriceApproach

Hold down costs Increase financial

aid & part-time jobs for students from all sources

Emphasize net price to students including part-time jobs

Increase donations

Stra

tegi

c Th

emes

&

Spec

ific

Initi

ativ

es

Enhance FirstYear

Experience Offer student

success course Link selected

courses & also createlearning communities

Improve developmental education

Improve orientation

Improve Advising Process

Increased number of meetings & satisfac. with advisors

Early warning system triggers advisor intervention &tutoring and support services recommendations

Increase Student

Engagement Increased use of

Active and Collaborative Learning (ACL) methods

Faculty Incentive Grants to develop & use new methods of student engagement

Recruit More Transfers & Freshmen

Dvlp Prospecting system, priorities, target markets & alumni involvement

Inc. articulation agreements & faster transfer credit review

Increase services &facilities for transfers

Maintain Affordability

Lear

ning

& G

row

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Type

s of

Cap

ital

Com

mun

ity

-

Org

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atio

nal

-

Info

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Hum

an

Fina

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Training on new prospecting system, approach & tools

Training on best practices for recruitingtransfers and making them comfortable and successful

Implement Prospecting support and information system

Support for new approach

Recruit and mobilize alumni

Alumni support and involvement

Develop further financial aid & cost analysis/containment expertise

Develop informationsystems to support aggressive net price approach

Align institution withnet price approach and to raise new donations for student aid and support for the institution

Mobilize broad based community and alumni support for net price strategy

Faculty and staff professional development for FirstYear Experience

Registration systemand processes support linked courses and learning communities

Assure institutional commitment, support and alignment for implementing and continuously improving this strategy including developing a culture of inquiry and evidence

Faculty and staff professional development for Advising Process

Develop informationsystem to support early warning process


Faculty and staff professional development for ACLinstructional methods& linking with service learning and part-timejobs for students

Develop process monitor and track results of incentive grants


Tuition and Fees

Enhance revenue through enrollment increases due to recruitment and retention

Federal, State & Foundation Financial Aid for

Students/Donations for StudentAid/Scholarships/Etc.

Increase giving from all sources Assure students receive

maximum support from these sources consistent with student's external support resources and thenet price strategy

Grants/Community Support

Secure grants from all sources for academic initiatives & student aid for the net price strategy.Secure community support for service learning opportunities & part-time jobs for students

Resource ReallocationContinually reallocate resources to the most effective methods of increasing enrollment, retention and student success from the least effective methods, including use of part-time jobs for students

State & Local Funding

Maximize state appropriations and local sales or propertytax based funding for operations, capital improvement and maintenance

Fund the strategic expenditures budget to support this strategy by drawing upon the following sources:

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Figure 6: Generic university strategy map shows overall strategy and supporting activities in a quick-to-grasp, visual way, including leading and lagging indicators.


Anything shown in a strategy map can be tracked in a balanced scorecard application. Through the use of strategy maps and balanced scorecards, the strategy and the specific activities that support it are communicated throughout the organization.

A balanced scorecard spreadsheet (Figure 7) shows exactly how the strategy maps, balanced scorecards, and action plans in the institution link with one another. It is an excellent way to visually present the whole picture.

With thought and care, a collaboratively developed strategic plan can often be translated into a strategy map.

A large research institution might have multiple strategy maps. Instead of one overarching strategy, there might be a strategy map for supported research, another on the academic side, another for fundraising, and another if they have a medical school.

An institution can still follow best practices without the strategy map by working with goal areas and KPIs, including leading and lagging indicators, and using a balanced scorecard where the goal areas become the perspectives.

Strategy maps, balanced scorecards, and spreadsheets are ways of tying information to strategy, but they only work if an organization follows best practice number two: focus on a few strategic initiatives.

Generic University BSC Spread Sheet

Strategy Map Balanced Scorecard Action Plan Perspective Objectives Measurement Target

(in 4 years) Actual (current)

Initiative Strategy Budget

Mission Increase number of graduates Number of Graduates 3,000 2,400

Stakeholder Satisfaction

Increase enrollment Improve the graduation rate Increase retention Maintain college affordability Increase gateway course success

Number of students enrolled Graduation rate Retention (fall to fall) Rate of inc in avg. net cost per std % of students with C and above

13,600 51% 70% 2.7% 75%

12,200 48% 65% 4.5% 70%

The Action Plan for each initiative covers four years. The Target for the measurements is what is to be achieved in 4 years. The Actual shows the current value of the measurements. The Strategy Budget (Strategic Expenditures Budget) shows funds required to support the Strategic Themes & Specific Initiatives, Learning & Growth and obtaining Financial Support from all sources.

Strategic Themes and Specific Initiatives

Recruit more transfers Recruit more freshmen Increase student support Enhance first-year experience Improve academic advising process Increase student engagement

# of transfers # of freshmen Std support as % of total yrly costs # std that took success course # std in paired or learning com courses Orientation satisfaction rate New std advis freq & satisf rate % refrd that use tutor/support serv # faculty expanding use of std. engagement methods % students reporting active & collaborative learning

1600 4500 16.8% 2000 3500

95% 3/95% 80% 80% 90%

1000 4000 14.6% 0 0 50% 1.5/60% N.A. 40% 40%

More articulation agremnts., fast transf. credit review, more recruiting Improve recruiting process and involve more alumni in recruiting Contain costs and increase student support from all sources Phase in success course requiring all potentially at risk freshmen to take. Offer paired courses. Also create learning communities. Include some devlp. ed. linked to credit courses. Improve orientation. Restructure, improve and expand advising. Monitor std. performance during semester and refer to tutoring and support services as needed Professional development programs & Faculty Incentive Grants to encourage & support faculty development & use of Active and Collaborative Instructional methods to increase student engagement. Supplement NSSE with frequent engagement surveys for all courses

$ 150,000 $ 200,000 $ 9,800,000 $ 6,900,000 $ 1,900,000 $ 570,000

Learning and Growth

Prepare faculty and staff to carryout initiatives Assure planning , information and analysis systems support initiatives Develop the support, alignment and commitment of the entire institutional community with the strategy and continuous improvement Inc std engagmt via comm. serv learn Create comm bsd prt-time std jobs

# faculty prepared #staff prepared Planning, information and analysis systems capability index Support, alignment & commitment index Hrs community based serv learn Hrs comm bsd prt-time std jobs

800 500 80 90 300,000 300,000

200 100 40 50 50,000 N.A.

Professional development programs for faculty and staff to develop capabilities required to initiate, encourage and support initiatives Technology, training and services to support initiatives Professional development & workshops, support services Staffing and related support for identifying and coordinating opportunities for both community service & community based part-time jobs linked to courses and majors to increase student engagement

Included above $ 800,000 $ 150,000 $ 300,000

Financial Resources

Increase net revenue via retention and increased enrolment Inc funds for std support-all sources Reallocate resources Obtain grants for academic initiatives

$ increase in net revenue $ Inc std suprt fds from all sources $ Reallocated $ Received

$1 million $10 million $ 9 million $1 million

$0.2 Million $1 million $0.5 million $ 0.2 million

These are the sources of funding for the $21 million Strategic Expenditures Budget. Costs associated with increasing student support from all sources and obtaining grants for academic initiatives are shown here. The net revenue from increased retention and enrollment is a net figure and costs are reflected in regular operating budget. No extra costs for reallocation.

$ -0- $ 200,000 $ -0- $ 30,000

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Figure 7: The generic university balanced scorecard spreadsheet links the strategy map with balanced scorecards and action plans for a comprehensive view of strategy and operations.


Manage a Limited Number of Strategic InitiativesThe Pareto Principle states that roughly 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes. Applied to organizations, this principle means 80 percent of success comes from 20 percent of actions. There is an inherent limit to the number of new initiatives any organization can effectively implement at one time. It’s better to execute a limited number of strategic initiatives well and see significant impact than to attempt execution of too many initiatives, of which several will have a lesser impact.

Kaplan and Norton developed strategy maps to give organizations a common way to describe their strategy. The map helps to enforce the discipline of the strategic few. A strategy map is a one-pager that forces an institution to get down to three to five strategic themes and two to four specific initiatives within each theme.

If an organization has a hard time showing strategy on a strategy map, it’s probably trying to do too many things. Focusing on a few highly important initiatives can be thought of as strategic triage.

A wide variety of strategies are possible for higher education. To be balanced, strategy maps for higher education should represent key perspectives, as shown in Figure 8. Within each strategic theme, maps should list the strategic initiatives required to carry out the strategy.

Educational Institution Model

Strategy Map Concept adapted from Strategy Maps, Kaplan & Norton, 2004 and The Execution Premium, Kaplan and Norton, 2008.

The Mission

Stakeholder Satisfaction PerspectiveTo achieve our mission, how must we

satisfy our customers?

Strategic Themes and Specific Initiatives Perspective

To satisfy stakeholders, what are the strategic themes and specific initiatives? The initiatives are critical processes that need to be created or improved.

Learning and Growth PerspectiveTo carry out the strategic themes and specific

initiatives, how must the organization learn and further develop its capabilities?

Financial/Resources PerspectiveHow do we fund our Strategic Expenditures Budget to support learning and growth, our strategic focuses, and

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Figure 8: Essential perspectives for a higher education strategy map.


Note: The learning and growth perspective includes what the organization must learn and how it must grow in its capabilities (or capital, e.g. human capital) to perform the processes required for the organization to excel. These are the intangible assets that must be aligned to support the strategy.

Align Units With the StrategyYou have a strategy. You have operational plans. They have to be linked together. That means looking at how specific strategic initiatives will affect operations, and what operational plans are necessary to support the strategy.

For example, any institution that wants to introduce paired courses or learning communities needs to look at the effect of that strategic decision on the registration system. We have seen several instances where institutions implemented one of these strategies only to discover, just prior to or during registration, that the system couldn’t accommodate paired courses or learning communities. They then had to scramble to do it by hand at the last minute.

The strategic scorecard can also be cascaded to operational units through operational dashboards, with measures on each dashboard that are based on the unit’s plan as shown in Figure 9. In addition, real-time data from all relevant data sources can be made available either through a data warehouse or other BI solution.

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Figure 9: The strategic scorecard is linked to operational dashboards in a cascading alignment of units with strategy.


Cascading dashboard technology makes it simple, quick, and affordable to link strategies to operations. In a cascading alignment, personalized, intuitive operational dashboards are linked to one another and the institutional, strategic balanced scorecard.

The institutional balanced scorecard has a strategic focus and answers the question, “Are we doing the right things?” The dashboards have an operational focus and provide teams and leaders with information on how well their processes are performing and answer the question, “Are we doing things right?”

Communicate the StrategyResearch shows that for people to remember a message they have to be exposed to it seven times, and they remember it best when it’s communicated seven different ways.

A good performance management system is a powerful communications vehicle, providing at least seven ways of communicating and reinforcing a message:

1. Balanced scorecards

2. Dashboards

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Figure 10: Examples of measurements for cascaded operational dashboards.


3. Strategy maps

4. Spreadsheets

5. Blogging and comment capabilities

6. Strategic alerts

7. The development process itself, which directly involves people in linking strategy to operations and helps them to think in those terms consistently

8. Strategy and operations reviews

Institutions may find it worthwhile to present and explain the spreadsheet, strategy map, and a brief summary of how the strategy was developed at opening day sessions for faculty and staff. Whether distributed as printed handouts or displayed over the Web, they substantially increase the likelihood that people in the institution will understand what the strategy is and how it is linked to their jobs.

Review the StrategyStrategy reviews are essential for effective strategy execution. However, very few organizations have them. Operational reviews, in contrast, are fairly common. Because operational reviews take place within organizational silos, they are easier to conduct. In contrast, strategy reviews are cross-functional and require top leadership involvement.

A good performance management system makes it easy to do strategy reviews and link them to operational reviews through the use of drill downs. Presidents, vice presidents, academic leaders and analysts can all drill down to more detail as they see fit.

Performance management also provides an excellent opportunity for group learning. A balanced scorecard, for example, can be projected on a screen for a group strategy-review session, and during the discussion, the group can do drill downs to analyze the data in the moment and even drill down into operations.

Having both strategy and operational reviews provides a system of checks and balances, and leads to continuous improvement – not only developing a culture of accountability, but also of learning. Cascading reviews, sometimes conducted from the bottom up, enable this process (Figure 11).

Update the StrategyOperation and strategy reviews can both trigger strategy updates. For example, if an institution’s course-success rate (percentage of students with a C or greater) was 70.5 percent compared to a target of 72 percent, the strategic review would consider several drill downs to determine the source of the issue, including looking at the success rates by types of courses, success rates for specific courses, and comparisons of successful students with those who received Ds, Fs, or withdrew (Ws).


Figure 12 illustrates a situation where a strategy review drilled down to pinpoint the problem:

The English success rate was 76 percent. The success rate for the two Social Sciences courses ■■

averaged 78 percent (neither was below 72 percent). The success rate for the two Natural Sciences courses was 69 percent. The success rate for Math was 60 percent

A drill down of the Natural Sciences courses revealed that Chemistry, with a 65 percent success ■■

rate, was the problem

Bruc

e E.

McC

omb

Bruc

e E.

McC

omb

Figure 11: Cascading reviews link strategy and operational reviews.

Figure 12: A strategy review drill-down example.


A further drill down of the successful Chemistry students compared to Ds, Fs, and Ws presented ■■

further information on problem areas

A further drill down of the successful Math students compared with the Ds, Fs, and Ws also ■■

yielded further information on problem areas

After the strategy review and further analysis of the course-success rate, the institution may find it necessary to update its strategy to achieve its goals

Taken together, these six best practices of strategy execution will result in an effective, far-reaching system. Some institutions may not be ready for something that broad-based. It is entirely appropriate to implement the strategy-execution system in an area that wants to use this approach, demonstrate its effectiveness, and then expand it to other areas of the institution. Every institution is different and the best technology makes room for those differences while allowing the institution to start in increments and expand as appropriate.


The goal of BI is to enable the appropriate people to access all relevant information in real time, in a quick, intuitive way, with minimal IT support, and to use it in a way that supports the institution’s overall strategy. During a semester, for example, advisors can learn of students whose grades on tests, quizzes, papers, etc. indicate likely failure in a course, and proactively suggest tutoring and other assistance to address those needs before the end of the semester.

The strategic, analytical, and operational functions of BI relate to one another as parts of a cycle. Strategic BI sets the foundation in the form of key performance metrics; analytical BI efficiently and definitively identifies the source of an issue once it’s been uncovered by strategic BI; operational BI enables optimal day-to-day performance of the tasks underlying critical success factors, and provides feedback for modifying strategy as the general environment changes (Figure 13).

The primary goal of strategic BI is to drive the performance of the institution as a whole, as well as the individual departments and divisions that make it up. The institution collaborates and agrees on a strategy and communicates this strategy in the form of measurable goals through tools like strategy maps, scorecards, reports, and dashboards. This process identifies key performance indicators (KPIs), such as persistence and retention rates, gateway course success rates, and the number of students taking a student-success course and/or participating in a learning community. The status of these indicators reveals the progress – or lack of it – in reaching the overall goals of the strategy.

Where Business Intelligence Fits In

Figure 13: To maximize performance across the institution, BI must link strategy and operations.


Analytical BI comes into play when measuring these KPIs reveals a problem. Tools like analytic dashboards, online analytical processing (OLAP), predictive analytics, and ad hoc queries are used to further understand and analyze the problem.

Online analytical processing (OLAP) gives users the ability to perform analysis that is

comprehensive, dynamic, and truly interactive. With OLAP, users can selectively extract

institutional data and view it across multiple dimensions, as well as multiple different

perspectives, to gain greater insights, uncover relationships, and identify key patterns

and trends.

For example, if orientation participation suddenly plummets, is it because of a change in leadership, a drop in potential students, a change in scheduling, a change in notification and marketing practices, or a change in content or personnel? If failure rates increase in a gateway course, is it because of a change in content, requirements, instructors, academic support, student preparation, or some combination of factors?

The results derived from analytical BI activities drive initiatives. Operational BI facilitates the kind of day-to-day decision-making that enables the achievement of strategic goals, and so the cycle continues. Operational BI reveals the need for new goals and new areas to improve, resulting in new strategic initiatives and KPIs, and so on.

Strategy maps and balanced scorecards provide overviews of high-level goals and reveal what needs to be analyzed, but they do not facilitate the detection and correction of the sources of problems. That’s what analytic dashboards do: provide a flexible, accessible, efficient, and easy-to-use means of performing analysis on any aspect of the organization that needs it.

Analytic dashboards, for example, can facilitate cohort tracking and reveal performance rates in desired groups, and then provide the ability to drill down and analyze contributing factors.

Figure 14: This analytical dashboard shows longitudinal reporting and provides the ability to drill down in multiple directions on any particular objective.


Technology is available for all of these functions – strategic, analytical, and operational – but in many cases, the technology will only perform one piece of the solution, and can be time-consuming to develop. In addition, in many organizations, data is stored in disparate systems and time-consuming to access, causing delays that discourage coordination between those involved.

The type of focused, coordinated action necessary for effective strategy execution is only feasible if the BI solution can quickly and efficiently access all the data sources relevant to an issue at the operational as well as analytical and strategic levels. Institutions need a flexible BI solution with built-in data-access capabilities that can meet various and changing demands.

Every institution is different in the way it organizes its data and information systems and in its technical requirements. Some institutions, for example, work best with data warehouses. For others, data warehouses are overkill, and a simple solution for direct data access works better. In any case, whatever the solution, the requirements and demands will also change and evolve over time, and the BI solution must grow with the institution.

Information Builders has developed a complete, flexible platform for strategic, analytical, and operational BI: Information Builders WebFOCUS. As a proven, cost-effective, enterprise-wide BI solution, it not only manages all these functions, it also has built-in adapters for data sources, making access to data fast and affordable and making it highly adaptable to any technical environment. With WebFOCUS, an institution can build a data warehouse, or work with an existing data warehouse, or can directly access data or applications without needing a warehouse, all depending on the nature of the institution and its needs.

Using WebFOCUS as the base, Information Builders has built a complete performance management framework for higher education.


Information Builders’ Performance Management Framework (PMF) for Higher Education is a complete, off-the-shelf solution. Organically grown after four years of focused research based on leading industry trends, customer feedback, and a forward-looking vision, PMF for Higher Education provides a comprehensive platform for building and managing a culture of accountability and learning (Figure 15).

PMF for Higher Education provides templates for all of the functions described in this paper, including high-level strategy maps and strategic and operational scorecards, facilitating highly individualized solutions. Personalized, intuitive dashboards and operational reports present information in the context of goals and strategies. Strategy maps describe how organizational objectives can be achieved by organizing goals and metrics into cause-and-effect relationships, relating improvement initiatives to goals, and cascading scorecards and goals throughout the institution (Figure 16).

Distributing scorecard reports, such as the following, enables the appropriate people to view and monitor all key supporting factors, right down to the level of individual tasks. (See Figures 17 and 18.)

The Performance Management Framework for Higher Education

Figure 15.


Figure 16: A strategy map from WebFOCUS PMF shows cause-and-effect relationships and is data-driven. “P” can be clicked to see projects associated with that objective. The boxes containing ellipses can be clicked to see comments others have made. Arrows next to each objective show whether the trend is going up or down. The colors work in the same way as a stoplight: The available lab space is yellow (meaning caution), but the objectives that feed into it are red, which indicates that something needs to be addressed before the lab space availability indicator turns red as well.

Figure 17: A leader may prefer to see just a few objectives on the scorecard.


Figure 18: An analyst may want to use the scorecard to view more objectives and more detail on each.

Most PM products do not have this ability to integrate analytic functions with dashboards and scorecards. This lack of integration inhibits the natural data discovery process that leads to true insight, which in turn leads to better decisions. PM that is not integrated with mature BI functionality also requires greater administration and does not easily scale beyond a few power users, limiting the potential for better decision-making.

In order to move from a strategic KPI to its supporting metrics and see those measures in a way that makes sense, thereby determining what action would be more appropriate for a positive outcome, PM must be coupled with BI. Only then can the system provide context between goals, strategies, and operational decisions. As W. Edwards Deming said, “Measurement without the opportunity to improve is harassment!” 3

WebFOCUS PMF provides all the functions of a complete performance management system while reducing risk and expense because of three distinct advantages:

It is completely and naturally integrated with best-of-breed BI, meaning it’s easy to deliver ■■

information in the form of reports, graphs, Web pages, alerts, and much more with a few clicks – to anyone in the institution. The analytic, operational, and strategic functions of BI are already integrated with one another for comprehensive PM

3 Paladino, Bob. “Five Key Principles of Corporate Performance Management,” John Wiley and Sons, 2007.


It also comes with best-of-breed enterprise integration, meaning any data source can be readily ■■

and affordably accessed

It is a framework solution that can be customized to incorporate unique institutional goals. It can ■■

be extended in increments and easily maintained

With WebFOCUS PMF, you can think big and implement small – or large. An institution may additionally benefit from guidance on how to implement the six best practices for strategy execution in their unique environment from a coach who has helped other institutions with their strategy execution.

Case Studies: Proven Success in Higher Education


Information Builders works with hundreds of higher education institutions that serve hundreds to many thousands of students. While the ideas and solutions discussed in this paper may seem ambitious, Information Builders advocates smaller projects that can be implemented in less than six months and often in as little as two to three months, at an affordable price. Many Information Builders customers see the advantages of partnering with a company that is independent, dedicated to innovation, and able to leverage legacy and emerging technologies.

The following are examples of higher education institutions that have implemented Information Builders’ solutions quickly and cost-effectively, leveraging existing systems, databases, and applications. They have realized continuous, measurable returns that build a strong foundation for linking strategy to operations in accordance with the six best practices for strategy execution described in this paper.

Davenport University: Doing More With LessDavenport University is a model of how to improve strategy execution using an incremental methodology. In other words, they are first establishing a strong, operational BI foundation using key performance measures and objectives. They are then linking the strategy more firmly with the operations through dashboards and balanced scorecards for executives – all while keeping costs in personnel and technology minimal.

Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Davenport University has about 11,500 students, with a substantial online-only population and others fairly distributed in 17 locations throughout Michigan and Indiana. The university focuses on three areas of study: business, technology, and healthcare. Their strategy is to differentiate themselves from other career-focused institutions and gain competitive advantage. As part of this strategy, they recently changed from open to competitive admissions. The specific challenge they face is to keep enrollment stable in a stressed economy as they improve admissions standards.

Fortunately, Davenport has Iong been a numbers-driven organization, and they had the systems in place for the kind of accountability that’s necessary to support such a strategy. Their IT department had already developed operational and analytical systems that kept the distributed network operating like a single university and saved significant time and money. They also had already established procedures for prioritizing IT projects by strategic benefits.

Building on this foundation, Davenport is now focusing on prediction and giving the president and executive VPs a dashboard with top-line KPIs and balanced scorecards that allow them to see how the school is doing on a daily basis without having to call people to ask questions. Executives are being given the option to drill-down into the data, or take a top-line snapshot and have those who work for them analyze the data further, with each getting the view into the university they prefer.

Davenport’s IT department is building this executive system using WebFOCUS Performance Management Framework, based on their success using dashboards to track customer support.


Their extensive use of Information Builders WebFOCUS BI technology in university operations has given them a great advantage.

One of Davenport’s goals, for example, was to keep summer enrollment filled as much as possible. To this end, the financial aid processing center wanted a better way to determine how much aid they could offer students to boost summer enrollment. They had about 20 financial aid clerks doing processing that took about 30 minutes to calculate how much aid a student could receive. Davenport’s IT department created a WebFOCUS application that took the process down to five to ten minutes. The new process created a significant savings and laid the foundation for other financial aid-based applications in the future.

Another big success was IT’s ability to let people pull their own mailing lists out of the Banner ERP system. They did it by creating a WebFOCUS report with filters across the top that allowed people to point-and-click to pull mailing lists based on a set of criteria.

Davenport’s use of WebFOCUS for operations is pervasive. They run and report off the Banner ERP system and have developed numerous applications using WebFOCUS to report on this as well as many other pools of data from internal and external sources, including any number of standalone systems and Excel spreadsheets. For example, they track enrollment, admissions, performance by recruiter, and retention. They have a call center application that monitors activity. IT also tracks all of its activities, including trouble tickets by application, which projects are having the most problems, the percentage of calls closed within the service-level agreement for tech support. Financial aid and the registrar’s office do scheduling using information they get from WebFOCUS. Another application keeps daily track of student payments.

Davenport has 50 people in IT, but is able to do all of this operational heavy-lifting using WebFOCUS with a small staff: only one person to administer WebFOCUS and three people to handle central reporting.

Now, they are taking it to the next level – still with the small staff – by giving executives the high-level overview and drill-down capability of balanced scorecards and dashboards. Backed up by highly functioning operations, Davenport executives can tie strategy directly to operations with confidence that the systems are in place to support their vision.

“What we’re getting out of Information Builders WebFOCUS that we were unable to get

out of other products is the ability to bring a diverse set of data sources together for

unified reporting.”

Brian Miller, CIO, Davenport University

“Using WebFOCUS, if there’s a problem in any of the processes we track, we know why – we

can pinpoint the source.”

Brian Miller, CIO, Davenport University


Florida Atlantic University: Tracking Cohorts and Much MoreFlorida Atlantic University (FAU) is a model of how an institution can cost-effectively meet the reporting and information delivery needs, such as tracking cohorts, of a large, geographically dispersed institution. Performing these operational tasks well is essential and lays the groundwork for strategy execution.

Based in Boca Raton, Florida, FAU has six campuses, covering 100 miles, and an enrollment of approximately 27,000 students. Like most large universities, the challenge is to get the right information to the right people at the right time, because so much of the data is in organizational silos, the users vary greatly in their skill levels with technology, and the needs for information are so diverse. For example, tracking cohorts, such as enrolled students for Fall 2007, without having to go through IT or extensive training was critical, but often time-, cost-, and labor-intensive.

To meet these challenges, FAU has implemented WebFOCUS in conjunction with SunGard Higher Education’s Banner ERP system and established a Business Intelligence Technology Services office. That office collaborates with Information Builders in a best practices approach to information reporting and distribution across the university.

FAU’s solution includes its own version of a dashboard, called DART BOARD for “Dynamic Application Reporting Template Banner ODS Application Report Data.” It provides a structure to access the data across silos and standardize report generation and distribution, while meeting the following objectives:

Provide diverse users the ability to get information “my way”■■

Minimize development effort with a dynamic template generator■■

Minimize the learning curve with easy-to-navigate screens■■

Minimize dependence on IT by transferring the start-up effort to the informed user■■

Produce customized, highly developed reports■■

The system is used across the university to generate thousands of reports through an easy-to-use, intuitive, point-and-click, Web-based interface in visually compelling and usable formats. (See Figures 19-21.)


Figure 19: Then – Graduate admissions report before DART BOARD.

Figure 20: Now – With WebFOCUS, dynamic report-generation template provides the same content plus immediate access to thousands of report possibilities.


Figure 21: Result – Report generated in less than 30 seconds.

Using the system, people can quickly get the information they need, often without training or IT. If they want to perform further analysis, they can drill down deeper into the data and create custom reports easily. The system also makes it easy to leave an information trail – crumb trails – with time and date stamps, greatly aiding transparency and accountability.

Many essential tasks are made much more efficient and cost-effective, making it possible to be much more proactive with information. Amy Cavasos, the computer applications coordinator for Finance, for example, says, “People in the Controller’s office are used to flying through Banner [the ERP system]. However, what has been lacking has been the ability for people in other offices to generate finance reports, for example, budgets that pertain to their area. That’s what has been such a huge value-add for FAU.”

Tracking cohorts, by college, major, gender, and any other relevant factor, to cite another example, is now fast, easy, and as simple to format as HTML, PDF, and Excel reports. People can create “My Lists” of all the cohorts they want to track and manage those lists. They can merge them in different combinations, for example, taking List A and List B, and finding out who’s not in either one. As the university’s business intelligence architect, Carol Sashi, says, “The options are virtually unlimited.”


The Graduate Admissions office, for instance, is saving a lot of time and finding it much easier to communicate with departments and students. They are using the system to quickly generate acceptance letters, including producing letterhead and graphics, generating lists and printing labels, and tracking what students have received which communications.

Administered by one person, Sashi herself, using about three-quarters of her time, the system has greatly improved the efficiency of generating and delivering information, while exponentially increasing the ways people can analyze and use information. By leveraging Banner pre-authorizations for secure access to the system, Sashi eliminated the need to do security administration and significantly cut the time needed to manage accounts. By building a dynamic report template generator, she eliminated the need to start from scratch, and she can build a template input file in minutes. Report templates for all units, such as students, HR, and finance, now have the same look and feel, and reports are dynamically generated in less than 30 seconds.

Many people are using it for their basic reporting needs without any training. Sashi has also provided just-in-time training to people who need to do tasks like cohort tracking and to create additional specific reports without IT’s help.

The whole process of building and promoting the system has also built bridges throughout the university, helping people understand more clearly what information they need and the data and capabilities available. It is now much easier for functional users to get their jobs done on their own, lowering the total cost of ownership and fostering a culture of independence, as well as accountability. This is operational excellence, and it lays the foundation for effective strategy execution.

“Data is useless if it can’t reach the right people in time for them to react appropriately.”

– Carol Sashi, Business Intelligence Architect, FAU

Some Things to Consider


Business Intelligence SoftwareAs you consider a BI solution to help your institution increase enrollment, retention, and student success, here are some key points that other colleges and universities have noted:

A president or senior leader may want to keep track of progress toward goals like increasing ■■

enrollment and retention. A strategic dashboard with key performance indicators provides that information, as well as an e-mail alert when leading indicators for a specific college suggest that enrollment and retention are in danger of dipping to a critical level.

A recruiter in admissions may want to get quick answers about applicants and compare them ■■

with the previous year. A Web-based reporting template – used across other functional areas and capable of generating thousands of reports – provides statistics (with the ability to drill into details) in just a few clicks. Drawing comparisons with previous years’ numbers is inherent – without needing help from IT.

A dean may need to see how students in a new Learning Community are doing academically ■■

compared to a comparable group that is not participating in this offering. To do so he’ll need to access multiple data sources. He creates a Web-based report showing a matrix of who is on probation or suspended, course success (C or better grade) and retention comparing a fall ’07 cohort with fall ’08, and then “exploding” the summaries into more detail.

Another dean may want to look at this year’s enrollment for her college, or enrollment over the ■■

last three years, and analyze this information from home or while on a flight. A report format that allows easy sorting, charting, and rollup results (while being disconnected from the network) helps her to be productive while off-site, without any training.

An admissions officer may want to plan recruiting events in various parts of the country. The ■■

best way to do this could be to display the applicants’ locations on a Web-based map and then overlay the locations of alumni in the same area. Drilling down from the map to a donations/pledge report could provide the detail one would need to choose potential coordinators from a list of those local alumni with the strongest commitments.

An IT architect may need to allow dashboard usage based on a user’s ID. A flexible business ■■

intelligence platform leverages existing security and works with it to enforce the rules of access.

A prospective student may want to see a dynamic Fact Book on the public Web site, gaining ■■

evidence of how students within a similar demographic are being served. A guided ad hoc report gives this user a specific answer for the requested campus and term, both numerically and graphically, while accessing both the student system as well as certified data that has been reported to the state coordinating board. And, it does this with a look-and-feel that matches your institution’s Web site.

WebFOCUS is enterprise business intelligence software that can powerfully and flexibly handle all of these needs across all sizes of educational institutions.

Performance Management SoftwareIn order to foster a culture of accountability, your institution will want to move toward using the six best practices of effective strategy execution mentioned earlier in this paper. At that point, you will need software that supports the alignment of your units with your strategic plan.


WebFOCUS Performance Management Framework provides a comprehensive application suite for enterprise performance management, including:

The ability to track key measures related to institutional effectiveness objectives (such as ■■

increasing applicants for a program).

At a higher level, progress toward objectives (such as the student success rate in developmental ■■

courses during the fall semester) can be quickly assessed and compared to previous periods.

Units and individuals are automatically linked to their objectives, whether academic, ■■

administrative, financial, or support-related.

The content of the scorecard and other informational displays can be varied to reflect the role ■■

and perspective of each individual using the system. A president would likely want to see an overall view, in contrast to a college dean, who would have a more specific focus.

Administrators and others can see fall-to-spring and fall-to-fall retention (actual vs. target), the ■■

trend, and the importance of retention compared to other objectives. Retention information can be seen by program, department, or for the overall institution.

With unparalleled data access, information retrieval automation eliminates errors that could ■■

occur with manual data collection, and avoids my data vs. your data problems.

As other perspectives become involved in the strategy, a scorecard tracking enrollment, ■■

retention, and student success can be incrementally grown to include other objectives across the university (for areas such as advancement or community service). Also, scorecards can be cascaded into dashboards, thereby linking strategy, analysis, and operations.

A strategy map allows anyone to see how specific initiatives contribute to the achievement of ■■

the overall strategy.

The ability to drill down to operational areas provides further insight, such as how overall ■■

retention can be broken down into more granular measurements of retention and student success by campus.

An important question to consider is whether you want one vendor for performance management software and a different vendor for enterprise business intelligence software. Or, do you want one vendor who has developed software where BI and PM feed directly into one another?

Evaluating BI and Performance Management Software VendorsCheck vendor references and talk with people about their vendors. Do people smile or frown when they talk about the experience they’ve had with the vendor? What are the relative strengths of the vendors? How long does it typically take to implement their system? Some may take many months or more to get their system operational; others can do it in several weeks to a few months. Does the vendor speak the language of higher education?

Choose your technology company carefully and partner with them. They can be of great assistance.

Conclusion


Creating a culture of accountability – as the times demand – in colleges and universities is a complex undertaking. With a clear strategic focus, enterprise-wide business intelligence, and a formal best practices process for executing strategy, institutions can navigate today’s challenging waters and increase enrollment, retention, and student success to achieve their highest mission of educating people.

Aligning units with the strategic focus greatly enhances the capability of the institution to achieve desired results, making it possible for small changes to have big results. Affordably meeting the information delivery needs of the entire institution makes this alignment possible and improves performance without requiring expanded resources. In fact, it cuts costs and creates benefits that are higher than the cost of the software.

Meeting the information delivery needs of the institution and effectively executing strategy are complementary goals, and they are most effectively achieved in concert:

Create a culture of evidence-based best practices■■

Access any administrative information easily, securely, effectively■■

Provide secure, role-based Web access to any university data source for students, alumni, faculty, ■■

affiliates, and partners

Track cohorts, student success, enrollment, accounting, human resources, financial aid, and ■■

alumni information easily

Such coordination and communication can be achieved affordably and implemented quickly. You can start small and gradually build capabilities or revamp the whole system at once. Take a pragmatic, integrated, systematic approach, and you will see dramatic results like those at Florida Atlantic University and Davenport University.

The solutions to help institutions meet their challenges and fulfill their missions are now here – and the opportunities are endless.

For More Information


For more information about Information Builders and examples of higher education institutions we have served, visit www.informationbuilders.com/highered.

About Information BuildersInformation Builders’ award-winning combination of business intelligence and enterprise integration software has been providing innovative solutions to more than 12,000 customers for the past 30 years. WebFOCUS is the world’s most widely utilized business intelligence platform. It provides the security, scalability, and flexibility needed at every level of global extended enterprises. Its simplicity helps create executive, analytical, and operational applications that reach dozens to millions of users. Information Builders’ iWay Software suite provides state of the art, multi-purpose, pre-built integration components that address all SOA, application, data, and information management requirements. Its integration adapters have been adopted by the leading software platform providers. Together, these products give Information Builders’ customers the ability to grow and innovate according to their needs.

Information Builders’ customers include most of the Fortune 100 and U.S. federal government agencies. Headquartered in New York City with 90 offices worldwide, the company employs 1,450 people and has more than 350 business partners.

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Greece■■ Applied Science

Athens 30-210-699-8225

Guatemala■■ IDS de Centroamerica

Guatemala City 502-2412-4212

Gulf States■■ Al-Hisn Al-Waqi (AHAW) ■ Bahrain ■ Kuwait ■ Oman ■ Qatar ■ United Arab Emirates ■ Yemen

Riyadh, SA 996-1-4412664

India*■■ InfoBuild India

Chennai 91-44-42177082

Israel■■ SRL Group Ltd.

Tel Aviv 972-3-7662030

Italy■■ NessPRO Italy S.p.A.

Genoa 39-010-64201-224

Milan 39-02-2515181

Turin 39-011-5513-211

Japan■■ K.K. Ashisuto

Osaka 81-6-6373-7113

Tokyo 81-3-5276-5863

Jordan■■ Al-Hisn Al-Waqi (AHAW)

Riyadh, SA 996-1-4412664

Malaysia■■ Elite Software Technology Sdn Bhd

Kuala Lumpur 60-3-21165682

Norway■■ InfoBuild Norway

Oslo 47-48-20-40-30

Philippines■■ Beacon Frontline Solutions, Inc.

Makati City 63-2-750-1972

Poland/Central and Eastern Europe■■ InfoBuild SP.J.

Warsaw 48-22-657-00-14

Russian Federation■■ FOBOS Plus Co., Ltd.

Moscow 7-495-124-0810

Saudi Arabia■■ Al-Hisn Al-Waqi (AHAW)

Riyadh 996-1-4412664

Singapore■■

Automatic Identification Technology Ltd.

Singapore 65-6286-2922

South Africa■■

InfoBuild South Africa (Pty.) Ltd.

Gauteng 27-83-4600800

Fujitsu Services (Pty.) Ltd.

Johannesburg 27-11-2335911

South Korea■■

Unitech Infocom Co. Ltd.

Seoul 82-2-2026-3100

UVANSYS

Seoul 82-2-832-0705

Sweden■■ InfoBuild AB

Kista 46-735-23-34-97

Taiwan■■ Galaxy Software Services

Taipei 886-2-2586-7890

Thailand■■ Datapro Computer Systems Co. Ltd.

Bangkok 662-679-1927, ext. 200

Venezuela■■ InfoServices Consulting

Caracas 58-212-763-1653

Toll-Free NumberSales, ISV, VAR, and SI Partner Information■■

(800) 969-4636

* Training facilities are located at these branches.

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