This article describes a project undertaken as part of a cross-campus strategic planning effort. The project documented current campus practices and systems in use for collecting, analyzing and reporting key research metrics. The project identified organizational issues around siloed data collection and lack of clarity on data stewards, data…

Most universities use Information Systems (IS) to perform their daily administrative activities (student enrollment, data files, accountancy, etc.), and an integrated Learning Management System (LMS) to support teaching and learning. However, although a lot of effort has been put into deploying these computerized systems, the data that they…

Data and information needs of college administrators are discussed, along with the uses of information to support decisionmaking. Difficulties in applying information technology to the administration of higher education are briefly reviewed. Data and information are discussed both in definitional and functional terms. Data are defined as either…

University information systems are designed to make decisions easier and to provide good information for administrative tasks. Data do not by themselves produce better decisions, and more data can make agreement on issues more complicated. When collegial decisions are made, the precise impact of data and models is uncertain. When there is no…

The concepts of need and needs assessment are examined in the context of information needs for college administrators. A description is included of the conceptual framework underlying the Needs Assessment Information System (NAIS), which was developed by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. Attention is directed to: (1)…

The purpose, audience, methodology, and statistics of classroom utilization reports used at the University of Colorado, Boulder, are examined with a view toward an evolving report on a schedule of classes. Utilization reports from the past decade are examined in terms of information attributes discussed by Kleijnen (1980). A computer-generated…