When we ask executives at Higher Education institutions how they assess campus performance, they may share 10 or more key metrics that they track on a regular basis. These key metrics, known as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), are sets of measures that track the effectiveness of a college or university in meeting its mission, goals and fiduciary responsibilities. KPIs represent the “vital signs” of the college’s performance against a predefined benchmark. They form a balanced scorecard that should give a strong indication of the institution’s health and progress. KPIs are always associated with a list of measures that scales the school’s performance. Thus, KPIs are directly derived from key focus areas that align with the institution’s vision and mission, and they aid it in achieving its goals.

Accordingly, development of a set of Key Performance Indicators should follow these guidelines:
• Do not confuse the number of indicators with their usefulness in decision-making. A greater number of indicators does not necessarily result in more or better information.
• Address issues of validity and reliability when creating indicators. Do they actually measure what you intend them to? Should you compare the results to those of other institutions and systems? If so, can you qualify your comparisons by identifying institutions and systems that are comparable in vision, mission and experience with assessment?
• Be sure to clarify how the indicators will be used. Recognize the different purposes inherent in public accountability and institutional improvement agendas.
• Develop performance indicators that represent all aspects of the institution.
• Use a variety of methods, both qualitative and quantitative, to capture, analyze and report your findings.
• Link performance indicators to institutional processes to improve performance and inform decision-making.
• Communicate clearly with all relevant constituencies – internal and external – concerning the goals, development, and reporting of data related to performance indicators.
• Ensure that all stakeholders are included in and participate in the development process

In our next entry, we’ll explain a little about the data warehouse’s role in the digital dashboard for Higher Education.

Here are some of the major benefits a digital dashboard for Higher Education provides:
• Enables administrators and campus executives to better support the education process by accurately compiling, analyzing and reporting information across systems to both internal and external decision-makers
• Empowers faculty with the information they need to create the best learning environment for all students
• Provides the right information at the right time to the right user group
• Maximizes the availability of information to all levels of the organization: the Executive level receives performance data, the Management level receives trend and summary data, and the Staff level receives detailed data
• Facilitates seamless processes supporting the full life cycle of student administration
• Enables campus executives and administrators to track and monitor campus key performance indicators in order to establish, improve and align them with the mission

We have mentioned Key Performance Indicators in a couple of my blog entries. We will discuss these further in our next entry.

Like other industries, Higher Education has adopted and accepted the digital dashboard, a Business Intelligence system, to manage the information of day-to-day operations related to recruiting, enrollments, student information, finance, etc., that drives institutional excellence. A major challenge for Higher Education is to manage the continued expansion of campus information in an analytical way in order to gain insights at the aggregate level. Business Intelligence plays an essential role in developing strategies for institutional effectiveness.

Digital dashboards highlight department- or institution-wide performance and trends against goals for recruiting and admissions, enrollment, financial aid, student billing, student retention and more. By having a clear understanding of the strategic impacts of their decisions and assumptions, campus executives can be more nimble in their decision-making. In summary, Business Intelligence is all about getting the critical performance information that the campus executives need, when they need it, in a form that’s easy to understand and deliver to all consumer levels.

Higher Education uses Business Intelligence to gain key insights that can dramatically improve college/university performance. These solutions provide key metrics and information, tailored to the needs of executives, that measure the performance of an institution and facilitate strategic vision and planning. Campus Executives use Key Performance Indicators to manage and monitor overall campus performance. Dashboard, Scorecard and Reports are some of the BI technologies being used to manage, monitor and view the Key Performance Indicators.

For our next blog entry, we thought it might be helpful to bullet point some benefits of the digital dashboard for Higher Education.

“Why do I need a dashboard? I’m a college department head, not a cab driver!” This is a response we commonly receive when we bring up the topic of the digital dashboard. However, we’re not talking about an automobile dashboard, of course, but a digital dashboard for Higher Education.

A digital dashboard is a Business Intelligence system designed along the lines of an automobile dashboard display system. However, digital dashboard is enhanced with sophisticated features that display real-time data in a more interactive and presentable way with color-coded visual effects – graphical representations of gauges and depictions that summarize institutional performance. While an automobile dashboard displays a speedometer, fuel gauge, temperature gauge, etc., the digital dashboard displays a Higher Education institution’s performance indicators with multiple gauges—in this case Key Performance Indicators, such as Retention Rate, Enrollment, Student Graduation Rate, Transfer Rate, etc. Much as a driver does with the automobile, college and university executives take appropriate actions based on alerts provided by the indicators.

In our next entry, we will share some thoughts on the digital dashboard as a Business Intelligence tool.