Apples to… Oranges? Challenges and Successes in Delivering Strategic Management Information to Academic Leaders Presented by Kristi D. Fisher The University of Texas at Austin

How Would You Answer? What percentage of lower division undergraduate classes have been taught by tenured or tenure-track faculty members in each department in each college over the past five years? What are the 4-, 5-, and 6-year graduation rates for each major in the College of Natural Sciences over the past five years?

Data-Rich But Information-Starved? Reliable transactional systems; weak reporting Programmers required to extract and format information Process to retrieve information can be time-intensive Coded data requires interpretation

Multiple Versions of the Truth Definition of tenure Organizational hierarchy Discrepancies between data definitions, naming conventions, and business logic: - across information systems - between processing units - across colleges - …like comparing apples to oranges

Our Answer… Project IQ

% Lower Division Classes by Tenure Status

% Lower Division Classes by Instructor Rank

Graduation Rates by Major

Overview Project IQ: Approach and Structure Critical Success Factors Challenges ROI / Benefits Demo

The University of Texas at Austin… 17 Colleges/Schools $2 Billion Budget $476 million in Research 20,000 Faculty/Staff 50,000+ Students 13,000+ degrees awarded annually

Project Information Quest Project IQ is an enterprise-wide business intelligence initiative that provides accurate and flexible analytical tools and management information to support University leaders in making data-driven decisions.

Project IQ Gives University leaders the information they need in the way they want it … Tools for reporting and analysis Quick extraction of data without custom programming Systematically updated data Flexible formatting of data Appropriate security

Project Scope Student Info Financial Info Alumni/Donor Info Facilities Human Resources Info Research Info Faculty & PBIS info

Project Structure Oversight Executive Sponsors Steering Committee Subcommittees of deans Project Sponsors Steward Committee Project Charter Technical Team Central Core Team (13) Steward IT Teams Steward Business Analysts Funding Centrally Funded Budget Council VP Financial Affairs Enterprise-Licensed

UT’s B.I. Environment Transactional Systems: ADABAS/Natural ETL tools: IBM Data Stage; Treehouse tRelational / DPS RDBMS: Oracle 9i/10g, SQL-Server O/S: Sun Solaris RAC, IBM Z/OS, Windows 2003 BI tools: Cognos Powerplay 7.4, Impromptu 7.4, Cognos 8.2/8.3 (new) Named User Accounts: 1,250

How IQ Works

Development Process 1. Determine Requirements 2. Identify Data Sources 3. Define Business Rules 4. Load Data 5. Validate and Cleanse 6. Develop Cubes and Reports 7. Validate and Cleanse 8. User (and Steward) Acceptance Testing 9. Develop Training Curriculum 10. Communicate to Campus

Project Phases Phase I: Financials Human Resources Fee Billing Phase II Academic and Student-related Information

Phase II – IQ/PBIS Academic Subject Areas 1. Course Enrollment / Planning 2. Teaching Assignments 3. Faculty Workload 4. Faculty Demographics 5. Student Demographics 6. Instructional Cost / Budgeting 7. Course Completions / Output / Evaluations 8. Progress to Degree / Degrees Awarded 9. Facilities Utilization / Planning 10. Admissions / Advising

Why is Academic Data Different? Rules are “softer” – more exceptions Data relationships are more complex No inherent hierarchy as with standard accounting practices Target users/audience are not business people – they are faculty

Project Approach Collaboration is critical Business/academic drivers, not IT Grassroots approach Focus on business questions that the colleges (i.e. Deans) want answered for decision-support

Project Approach 1. One-on-one interviews with leaders 2. Inventory the business questions 3. Clarify, refine, and categorize business questions 4. Prioritize deliverables 5. Detailed analysis for each deliverable (circle diagram sessions)

Project Approach 5. Translate information requirements into cubes or reports 6. Document all business rules applied 7. Develop and deliver training 8. Communicate successes to campus

IQ/PBIS Information to Support the Performance Based Instruction System and… Course and Instruction Planning Enrollment Management Bi-Annual Compacts Accountability Systems

IQ/PBIS Business Questions 1. What percent of our undergraduate courses are taught by professional faculty? By senior lecturers, visiting or clinical faculty, lecturers and specialists? 2. How many TA’s are needed? How are they being used? How many faculty do I have in each department that need TA support? 3. What programs does course “GOV 310" draw students from? What majors is this course serving? 4. How can we best utilize the space we have to offer enough classes? What percent of seats were taken for each course? Were room sizes commiserate with enrollment?

IQ/PBIS Business Questions (cont.) 5. How do we effectively evaluate classes? Is there some correlation between evaluation results and class size, the use of technology, faculty rank, etc…? 6. What are our 4-year graduation rates? How do they change if we exclude special classes of students (such as those in 5-year programs)? 7. How can we best manage enrollment? What is the impact of readmissions? SCH in excess of requirements? Admissions under CAP? 8. What is our student/faculty ratio by student level? etc…

IQ/PBIS Subject Areas 1. Course Enrollment / Planning 2. Teaching Assignments 3. Faculty Workload 4. Faculty Demographics 5. Student Demographics 6. Instructional Cost / Budgeting 7. Course Completions / Output / Evaluations 8. Progress to Degree / Degrees Awarded 9. Facilities Utilization / Planning 10. Admissions / Advising

IQ/PBIS Circle Diagram

IQ/PBIS Translate to Cube

IQ/PBIS Business Rules 1. Example of Business Rules (give handout)

IQ/PBIS Training Materials

33 Training Activities DW 310* – Intro. to Academic Info. (Course Enrollments) DW 320 – Teaching Activities and Faculty Workload DW325 – Faculty Demographics DW 330 – Student Demographics DW335** – FTIC (First Time in College) Graduation & Retention Rate From November 1, 2005 to September 1, 2008: Approx. 230 people have attended DW 310 Approx. 550 enrollment seats for all PBIS courses 100+ formal classes taught plus approx. 40 one-on-one sessions * DW 310 is a prerequisite for all other IQ / PBIS courses **DW 330 is an additional prerequisite for DW335

34 Business Dean - Question #1

35 Answer: Seats Taken by Major

36 Question #2

37 Answer: Trend for ACC 311

38 Question #3

39 Answer: % Taught by TN/TT

40 Answer: % Taught by TN/TT

41 Analyze a Specific Class

42 Class Profile Report

43 Outcomes

44 12 th Day Teaching Activities

45 Teaching Activities Detail Report

Instructional Summary 46

Critical Success Factors Involve executive leaders Under-promise, over-deliver Provide accurate, complete data Actively listen, establish trust Deliver

Methods of Engaging Campus Leaders Incorporate project into established academic performance initiatives (Provost’s Office and Information Management): Performance Based Instruction System “Compacts” (Performance Based Budgeting) Faculty Workload Policy Review Accountability Systems SACS Accreditation

Methods of Engaging Campus Leaders Meet with appropriate deans groups Academic Affairs Deans Student Affairs Deans University Business Officers Meet with University Leadership Council (President, Provost, VP’s, Deans)

Methods of Engaging Campus Leaders Form volunteer subcommittees self-select or hand-picked (Assoc or Asst. Deans) meet periodically (e.g. every 2 weeks) determine scope, priority define business cases to tackle clarify business definitions assist in beta testing reports, cubes, and training represent the project to colleges and campus

Methods of Engaging Campus Leaders Offer on-site and/or individualized training Offer college information sessions Establish dean’s office contacts Provide “Frequently Needed ANSWERS”

Frequently Needed ANSWERS

Challenges Dual majors and joint degrees cross-listed class sections Grade inflation factor/index “My” faculty? Joint appointments… Research award amounts vs. expenditures Management data vs. THECB definitions Momentum and PERSONNEL RESOURCES

Customer Testimonials Marilyn Kameen - Senior Associate Dean, College of Education “This is a wonderful tool for analyzing longitudinal data by individual department and faculty.” Neal Armstrong - Vice Provost, Executive Vice President & Provost “IQ gives us incredible insight into the University’s academic operations.” Arthur McDonald – Coordinator & Director of the HUB program, Financial Affairs “A quick turn-around was needed and I was able to produce the report in a matter of minutes (with IQ).”

ROI: College of Engineering “I was able to put together the financial part of our college’s 6 year accreditation survey in 1 ½ days with our Cognos cube, as opposed to several months the last accreditation cycle. And I was able to give our dean a special report that he needed on the spot (in 15 minutes) just the other day.” Cindy Brown, Assistant Dean, College of Engineering

ROI: More Time for Decisions Data Gathering Analyze & Interpret Consider Options Consider Options Information Gathering Analyze BEFORE AFTER

ROI: New Enterprise Metrics / Grade Inflation

Other Academic ROI Also created cubes and reports to assist executive officers with: SACS - Faculty Credentialing Legislative Inquiries into Faculty Workload Formula Funding Analysis NSF/NRC Survey Task Force on Enrollment Strategy Tenure Track Progression Gender Equity Task Force Affordability Initiatives

Other Benefits Apples to Apples – “Single Version of the Truth” Common definitions (headcount, tenure, grade inflation) Process streamlining and coordination Improved data quality (source system and warehouse) person identifier updates cross-walked between OIR,HR, faculty and student databases common definition of graduate “discipline” between units Identification of authoritative source systems for key data elements when they are redundantly occurring across systems

DEMO

SCREEN SHOTS

Project IQ / PBIS Demo #1 – Majors in Classes

All Seats Taken by Majors

Filter on Your College, Department, or Course ID Filter on College or Dept.

Answer for Communication

Project IQ / PBIS Demo #2 – Sections Offered

Change Measure

Drill Down on Communication Click on college

Drill Down on Advertising Click on department Then click on subject area

Select ADV 344K Select course

Select “Line Graph” Chart Button

Trend for ADV 344K

Project IQ / PBIS Demo #3 – Faculty Workload

Teaching Load Credits by Category

Average TLC’s Per FTE

Individual Teaching Activities

Reports – Teaching Activities

Reports – Class Profile

Questions? Kristi Fisher (512)