Leveraging campus information systems for effective compliance certification and system improvements Presented by: Tim Logan Darryl Stuhr Trey Gorman Eric Ames

Maximizing the Value: Overview Problem: How to accomplish SACS site development for online submission efficiently and effectively?

Maximizing the Value: Overview System Design Criteria Simplicity Reliability Accuracy Usability NO LIVE LINKS!!!!! Single document format – PDF

Maximizing the Value: Overview Elements of site Portal/Welcome Institutional Overview Help/Technical Compliance Certification  Narratives  Documentation Faculty Roster Document Directory

Maximizing the Value: Overview Elements of the online compliance delivery system Web site authoring and management system Document management system Faculty roster interactive query and display system

Maximizing the Value: Overview Options: Custom system for SACS reporting Pros –Allowed for customized system –Complete control of system design Cons –Starting from scratch – time and cost of development –Narrow base of technical support –Little value beyond SACS project

Maximizing the Value: Overview Options: Adaptation of existing enterprise systems Pros –Improved support –Established reliability –Speed of implementation –Distributed workload –Focus on SACS-specific data & requirements –Possible long-term benefits to enterprise systems Cons –Less freedom of design – working within existing system parameters –LOTS more people involved – coordination of efforts, varying understandings of importance and urgency –Integration of disparate systems

Maximizing the Value: Overview Decision: Use and adapt existing university systems Deciding factor: Support –Development –Operation –Redundancy –Back-up Selling point: Improvements to university systems

Maximizing the Value: Overview Elements of the online compliance delivery system Web site authoring and management system Baylor Content Management System Welcome, Help, Compliance Narratives Document management system DSpace – BEARdocs –Documentation –Faculty CVs Faculty roster – interactive query and display system Baylor faculty/staff directory – adapted

Maximizing the Value: Overview Portal Sections Person Database SACS Database BEARdocs DSpace Simplicity, Reliability, Accuracy, Usability Welcome, Help, Institutional Overview Compliance Certification Faculty Roster Document Directory Systems SACS Reaffirmation of Accreditation Portal Content Mgmt System

Maximizing the Value: Content Management System Web site authoring and management system Need: System for creating and managing HTML for a Web site with well-defined structure and thousands of links to documentation.

Maximizing the Value: Content Management System Web site authoring and management system –background system that creates and maintains university Web sites Compliance site – 2 separate sites –General Information template (generic HTML) –Compliance Certification template (special within CMS)

Maximizing the Value: Content Management System

Pros –Supported campus system –Reasonable functionality –Design, programming assistance Cons –Limited flexibility –Limited HTML editing

Maximizing the Value: Content Management System

Value added to CMS –Windows authentication –Stress testing –Print template

Maximizing the Value: Additional Information

Maximizing the Value: Document Management System Document Management System Need a system to: Store, Secure, Search, Organize, Manage links to thousands of documents

Maximizing the Value: Document Management System Options: BEARdocs (DSpace) BearSpace (Xythos) Baylor-developed Content Management System

Maximizing the Value: Document Management System DSpace/BEARdocs: BEARdocs – our Document Management System BEARdocs is DSpace, a digital repository system HP-MIT Alliance: Extensive metadata Authorization and security options Full-text searching

Maximizing the Value: Document Management System Decision to use DSpace as our DMS Pros: Full-text searching capabilities of our PDFs Good security options Authenticate against Active Directory Jump start for Baylor’s institutional repository PostgreSQL backend Hierarchical organization for our documents

Maximizing the Value: Document Management System

Decision to use DSpace as our DMS Cons: No document versioning Disparate system; second log-in needed Open-source project; limited community support “Noise” in repository –SACS documents are not scholarly research

Maximizing the Value: Document Management System Value: Implementation Speed Enterprise System Support Enhance Core Systems Cost Savings

Maximizing the Value: Document Management System Backup and Redundancy Nightly backups with our campus-wide backup system Warm server, using Rsync

Maximizing the Value: Document Management System Facts and Figures 2,030 items in SACS Narrative Collection 1,381 Curricula Vitae 4,191 total SACS documents 662 documents accessed by reviewers (Nov. 1 st )

Maximizing the Value: Document Management System

Maximizing the Value: Faculty Roster Faculty Roster Need an interactive system to display faculty information –Name –Courses taught –Education –Other qualifications –Link to CV

Maximizing the Value: Faculty Roster Application Architecture Adaptation of online University Directory SACS DB – Static clone of live Enterprise DB

Maximizing the Value: Faculty Roster Value added University Directory Accurate education data Display of courses taught Course descriptions added to course listings Enterprise DB Improved data organization New data fields, incl. URL for CV Administration hierarchy – provost, dean, chair

Maximizing the Value: Faculty Roster Search capabilities Standard – name, college, discipline Filters: GTAs, Exceptions Others: Course-based listing (all sections of a course), Department-based

Maximizing the Value: Faculty Roster Data Display –Careful consideration of each field –Separate views for reviewers and admins

Maximizing the Value: Faculty Roster

Benefits of Leveraging Existing Systems Implementation Speed and Focus More time for underlying data issues Tradeoffs: Less flexibility, extra complexity initially Enterprise System Support Support from Head of Admin Computing, DBAs, HR Enhanced Core Systems Improvements to University Directory, Course Listings, Enterprise DB Cost Savings No need for purchased application Less programmer time required

Maximizing the Value: Document processing Document processing Handling the huge volume of paper and electronic documents

Maximizing the Value: Document processing Process –Narrative process Deadlines Collaboration Accountability –Document management Standard platform/system Lists! –Data management Acrobat Good scanner Automatic document feeder –Staffing Document manager

Maximizing the Value: Document processing Process Pros Better beginnings = happier endings Standardization Cons Time intensive Staffing concerns

Maximizing the Value: Document processing Process – value added Best practices for Institutional Effectiveness Faculty roster Faculty credential gathering Academic assessments Digital CV collection Value of Acrobat Web page capture Binders Security

Maximizing the Value: Other considerations Alternate delivery mechanisms CD version (optional) PDF of entire compliance site - interactive Print version of faculty roster No documentation Print version (required) Compliance narratives – 409 pages Faculty Roster – 428 pages No documentation

Maximizing the Value: Other considerations Report a Problem mechanism

Maximizing the Value: Summary Steps and Considerations –Choose between existing system vs. new system –Establish standards for documentation, narratives, etc. –Web site: tool to manage HTML and web pages –Roster: user-friendly interface with required information –Document storage: safety, reliability, ample space –Consider costs & benefits to university post-SACS Also –NO LIVE LINKS! –Standard document format (PDF recommended)

Maximizing the Value: Questions Q & A

Maximizing the Value: Additional Information Link to this presentation and other relevant materials: –Baylor University SACS Presentation Dec06.pdf -