Our interpretation of the major issues and concerns that resulted in this recommendation:

A pervasive issue throughout the accreditation report was our inability to make productive use of institutional data. An outdated, confusing, and non-relational data management system was identified as a crucial weakness. Given the broad campus impact of the system, this recommendation is the purview of the central IT structure and campus IT governance. However, given the close relationships with recommendations 1, 2, and 5, the Office of Institutional Research must be an important player in the response to this Recommendation.

We see immediate objectives as:

• Engage in a careful, systematic study of the various data dictionaries to establish common data element definitions, including identifying principal ownership and dependencies.
• Reach a decision on whether to update the current data management system or invest in an “enterprise” system.
• Identify and plan solutions for specific, immediate needs such as a degree audit system and a system for recording continuing education units (CEUs).

For the long-term:

• We must realize an IT system that can provide for planning, analysis, outcomes assessment, and institution and program evaluation.
• Create a culture that will demand a commitment to consistent, reliable, understandable and accessible data.

How this recommendation links to other recommendations??

The efforts to address the issues raised in this recommendation are at the core of the efforts at resolving Recommendations 1, 2 and 5 and to a lesser degree Recommendations 8, 9 and 10.

What has already been done to address this Recommendation:

• Appointment of CIO, ending interim status of Director of Computing and Communications.
• Restructure of centralized Computing and Communications to Information Technology Services
• Creation of a new “Manager of Enterprise Applications” position (search now open) to take leadership in working with campus-wide administrative applications
• Assignment to Associate CIO to create development standards, teams, and to facilitate project management training.
• The creation of a new, more efficient, governance structure for centralized IT (attach and explain)
• The appointment of a Data Integrity Officer within the Office of Institutional Research (See also Recommendation 2), working closely with IT to address the data elements definition objective.
• Hiring of Gartner Consulting to help us assess needs/concerns and present options/solutions.

What activities are currently underway:

• Award of a consulting contract, first visit scheduled ___???____
• Hiring processes underway for open positions
• Identify dedicated IT systems resources (hardware, software, and staffing) for the OIR
• Data element project, with the DIO and OIR
• Implementation of new governance structure (Kay: What does this mean? Top Down?)

What needs to be done to meet this recommendation: