Using a Dashboard to Improve Classroom Utilization

AACRAOMarch 26, 2008

Academic Support Resources

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TODAY’S PRESENTATIONProvide an overview of the University of Minnesota and Academic Support Resources (ASR) Unit

Introduce ASR’s concept and metrics based approach for creating the classroom utilization dashboard

Provide a student services approach to a dashboard

Share steps for creating your own metrics and dashboard

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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

Five campus system with over 66,000 students

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TWIN CITIES CAMPUSLocated in the heart of Minneapolis - St Paul Metropolitan area

Largest of the five campuses

Made up of 17 colleges and professional schools

Offers 161 Bachelor degrees; 28 Master’s degrees; 114 Doctoral degrees and 5 Professional degrees

Enrollment for Fall 2007 was 50,833

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ACADEMIC SUPPORT RESOURCESPresident

Senior VP Academic Affairs & Provost

Vice Provost Undergraduate Education

Academic Support Resources (ASR)

One Stop Student Services

Office of Student Finance

Office of the Registrar

Office of Classroom

Management

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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA CLASSROOMS

Aerial overview of the east bank of the twin cities campus, Minneapolis.© 2002 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota.Photo credit: Tom Foley, U of M Images Library

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OFFICE OF CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT (OCM)

Mission:To directly support high quality teaching

and learning by faculty and students in University classrooms

Be the primary point of contact, and single point of responsibility and accountability for ALL Twin Cities general purpose classroom issues

The Classroom “One Stop”

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OCM ORGANIZATIONAL UNITS

Scheduling Classroom Support

Course Data Base

Class Schedule & Course Guide

Scheduling & utilization of central classrooms

Event scheduling

Classroom Facilities

Coordination

Classroom Technical

Services (CTS)

Classroom & Faculty support; problem response

Lifecycle cost development & coordination

Classroom database

Classroom Website

Hotline

Classroomphysicalenvironment

Classroom facilities ops, readiness and maintenance

Condition assessment and documentation

FF&E standards &management

Classroom technology environment

Technology standards, design, installation, service and maintenance

Internal Service Organization (ISO) business unit

External sales

ClassroomPlanning

Classroom capital planning

New construction & Renovation

Project delivery

Classroom construction standards

Room design & coordination

Future inventory rqmts &plans

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FUNDAMENTAL BASIS OF OCM METHODOLOGY

Establish standards

Establish metrics to measure performance

Provide transparent information and reporting to constituents

Deliver improvement and results

Communicate with university community

LEVERAGE AND INTEGRATE OCM’s UNIQUE 360 DEGREE PERSPECTIVE OF ALL CLASSROOM

ISSUES

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KEY CLASSROOM METRICSClassroom Readiness Inspection ProgramFacilities Condition Assessment (FCA)- Buliding and classroom level

OCM internal performance reports- Hotline, CAMS and FM service request data & trends

Classroom Physical Environment SurveyClassroom Utilization Dashboards & reportsFaculty classroom needs data(course scheduling input)

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OCM BALANCED SCORECARD

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OCM & CLASSROOM PLANNINGOCM has unique perspective on classroom teaching & learning - Planning, Facilities Coordination, Faculty Support,

Scheduling & Utilization, and Technology

OCM collaboration with departments, colleges, administrators and faculty is an important part of the planning process

This allows OCM to provide specialized classroom-specific expertise and added value to other university units

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METRICS BASED CLASSROOM PLANNING

Project type; New, Rehab, Renewal (Scope)

Existing classroom inventory (Quantity)

Facilities condition audits (Quality)

Identified classroom features (Requirements)- Students, Faculty, Staff

Course scheduling needs (Utilization)

Classroom standards (Performance)

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COURSE SCHEDULING REQUIREMENTS AND UTILIZATIONElectronic Course Authorization System (ECAS)

Academic departments submit course information with title, description, credits and prerequisites

Electronic Course Scheduling (ECS) Academic departments submit room request, define meeting patterns and technology needs

Resource 25 scheduling software Schedule 25 – Batch scheduler that makes room assignmentsAlign resources with needs through utilization reports

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U of M INTERNALLY DEVELOPED SCHEDULING REPORTS USED

OCM Utilization DashboardElectronic Course Scheduling (ECS) Reports- Peak vs NonPeak- NonStandard Times- Cancelled Classes- Projected vs Actual Enrollment

Classroom Management Trends- Class Sections- Utilization and Scheduling

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SCHEDULING EFFECTIVENESS

The big picture of demand, including room capacity requirements, organization sponsorship, and recurrence patterns

Measure compliance with scheduling meeting pattern/day distribution guidelines

Assess demand across the day & week

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THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA DIFFERENCE

In most institutions, this information, if it is even available, is compartmentalized in academic units, FM, IT, Planning, Registrar, Space Management and several Helpdesk offices

The OCM concept integrates and leverages all of these diverse information elements on a daily basis

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THE FINAL ANSWER

There is no “silver bullet” program that will deliver the correct final answer in classroom building planning

However, the use of quantitative and qualitative metrics from all spheres of the classroom environment, and the successful integration of that data will arm decision makers with the best and most complete information upon which to base these complex decisions

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ONE STOP BALANCED SCORECARD

Financial Perspective

Customer Perspective

Innovation & Learning Perspective

Internal Process Perspective

How well do we support customers?

Can we sustain excellence over time?

How productive & efficient are we?

How well do we use resources?

Making a positive difference in students’

lives

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ONE STOP SERVICE QUALITY MEASURES

Point of Service Comment Cards

Bi-annual Customer Survey

Quantity/quality of compliments

Web usability testing

One Stop website comments link

Bi-annual Student Veteran Survey

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ONE STOP ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY MEASURES

Wait time in phone queue

Wait time for walk-in customers

Turn around time for email inquiries

Transaction speed and volume

Timeliness and accuracy of fax and mail requests

Number of transaction per staff

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Four Steps to Creating a Dashboardwith Excel and Dashboard Design Software

1) Determine key performance indicators (KPIs) or metrics.

2) Develop a streamlined process for data collection and accurate metric calculation.

3) Create a summary of metrics in Excel.

4) Create a dashboard that links to Excel summary with dashboard design software.

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1) Determine KPIs or metrics.

Graphic by Juice Analytics, Inc. (http://www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/2007/07/choosing-right-metric/)

People in the organization recognize what the metric

means

The data can be acquired with modest

effort from a source that people trust

How the metric is generated is shared

and easy to understand

It is clear the source of the problem or necessary actions

when the metric goes up, down, flat or off-target

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2) Develop a streamlined process for data collection and metric calculation.

The details will vary according to individual circumstances, but the goal should be a streamlined automated process.

Data SourcesMetric Calculation

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3) Create a summary of metrics in Excel.

An Excel workbook is used as the basis for the dashboard, requiring intermediate-level Excel knowledge.

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4) Create a dashboard that links to Excel summary with dashboard design software.

Link metrics in Excel to dashboard charts and other visual components of the dashboard software.

Dashboard Design Software

Excel Summary of Metrics

Dashboard

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Dashboard Design Software

• Bona Vista Systems (http://www.bonavistasystems.com/index.html)

• Cognos (http://www.cognos.com/index.html)

• SAS/GRAPH (http://support.sas.com/rnd/datavisualization/dashboards/)

• Crystal Xcelsius (http://www.xcelsius.com/) Currently used by Office of Classroom Management and One Stop Student Services

Several helpful dashboard design resources exist.

• http://dashboardspy.com/• http://www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/• http://www.perceptualedge.com/

Several software packages aiding in dashboard design exist. These packages have a wide-range of complexity and require a wide-range of programming experience and investment. Design processes will vary with software packages.

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OCM/One Stop dashboards have been developed with Crystal Xcelsius.These are good places to start.

• Trial software is available here www.xcelsius.com .

• Examples of dashboard metrics and displays are found here www.xcelsius.com/Examples/Overview.html .

• Xcelsius requires a intermediate-level knowledge of Excel. Examples of Excel workbooks linked to Xcelsius dashboards can also be found here www.xcelsius.com/Examples/Overview.html .

Start up Tips

Note: This does not constitute an endorsement of any software package or company. This presentation is for INTERNAL information and training purposes only.

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COMMENTS AND FEEDBACKMary Koskan

Director

One Stop Student Services

University of Minnesota

(612)625-0160; m-kosk@umn.edu

Email: classrm@umn.edu

Website: www.classroom.umn.edu