| Critical Information, Notes, Justification, Rationale | In our ongoing efforts to support student success, empower our faculty and staff, and achieve institutional excellence, we are excited to announce a new initiative focused on transforming how we access, analyze, and interact with institutional data. As we move forward, we aim to replace our current reporting tool, Cognos, with a modern, more intuitive solution paired with a robust data lakehouse platform.
Why This Matters:
At SUNY Orange, we often describe ourselves as “data rich but insight poor.” While we generate and collect a vast amount of data across departments, our ability to turn this data into actionable insights has been limited by outdated tools and processes. This initiative addresses that challenge by introducing solutions designed to:
- Enhance Access to Data: Provide faculty and staff with user-friendly tools that simplify data access and reporting, empowering everyone to make data-informed decisions without requiring advanced technical expertise.
- Support Student Success: Offer deeper insights into student performance, retention, and success metrics to help us identify challenges early and implement effective interventions.
- Streamline Reporting: Simplify the process of meeting accreditation, assessment, and compliance requirements, saving valuable time and effort for faculty and staff.
- Encourage Collaboration: Promote transparency and data sharing across departments to foster a culture of collaboration and informed decision-making.
- Drive Innovation: Lay the foundation for more advanced research, predictive analytics, and opportunities to leverage external data partnerships.
What This Means for You:
This initiative is designed with our entire campus community in mind. Here’s how it will benefit different groups:
- Faculty: Gain quicker access to insights on student performance, course success rates, and retention patterns to enhance teaching and curriculum design.
- Staff: Streamline workflows by reducing reliance on cumbersome reporting tools, making it easier to manage data and focus on strategic priorities.
- Leadership: Access meaningful, real-time data to drive planning, resource allocation, and long-term institutional success.
Next Steps:
We are in the early stages of evaluating potential reporting tools and data lakehouse platforms. As we move forward, we will be engaging with faculty, staff, and leadership to ensure the selected solutions meet the diverse needs of our campus community. Training and support will be provided to ensure a smooth transition and successful implementation.
Your input and collaboration are critical to the success of this initiative. We encourage you to share your thoughts, concerns, or specific needs with us as we shape this transformative effort.
Together, we can move from being data rich to insight empowered, enabling us to better serve our students and fulfill our mission as a college. |
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| Consequences of this initiative not being funded | The consequences of not completing this initiative would have significant short- and long-term impacts on SUNY Orange County Community College. Here’s an outline of potential repercussions:
1. Limited Access to Actionable Data
- Impact: Faculty and staff will continue to face difficulties accessing and interpreting data effectively, leading to slower decision-making processes and missed opportunities for improvement.
- Result: Departments may rely on outdated or incomplete information, limiting their ability to respond to challenges like student retention, course performance, and resource allocation.
2. Missed Opportunities for Student Success
- Impact: Without modern tools, it will remain difficult to identify at-risk students and implement timely interventions. Data insights that could improve student outcomes, such as analyzing barriers to success, will remain underutilized.
- Result: Retention and graduation rates could stagnate or decline, potentially affecting the college’s reputation and funding.
3. Increased Operational Inefficiency
- Impact: Current reporting tools like Cognos require significant manual effort, technical expertise, and time. Without an upgrade, staff will continue to waste valuable time on cumbersome processes.
- Result: Productivity will suffer, with more time spent on generating reports and less on using data strategically to support institutional goals.
4. Difficulty Meeting Accreditation and Compliance Standards
- Impact: Accreditation agencies increasingly require robust data to demonstrate institutional performance and student success. Outdated tools may not support the granularity or speed of reporting needed to meet these demands.
- Result: The college could struggle during accreditation reviews, risking its standing and credibility.
5. Stalled Innovation and Research
- Impact: Faculty and staff conducting research or exploring innovative approaches will be hampered by insufficient access to comprehensive data and analytical tools.
- Result: Opportunities for grant funding, partnerships, and advanced research will be limited, putting the college at a competitive disadvantage.
6. Data Silos and Fragmentation
- Impact: Without a unified platform like a data lakehouse, data will remain scattered across systems and departments, making it difficult to collaborate or gain a holistic view of institutional performance.
- Result: Departments will continue working in isolation, leading to inefficiencies and inconsistent decision-making across the college.
7. Decreased Morale and Engagement
- Impact: Faculty and staff may grow frustrated with outdated tools and processes, which can hinder their ability to achieve goals and support students effectively.
- Result: This could lead to lower morale, reduced engagement, and even retention issues among college employees.
8. Falling Behind Peer Institutions
- Impact: Many institutions are investing in modern data platforms to stay competitive in the higher education landscape. Without this initiative, SUNY Orange risks falling behind peer colleges.
- Result: Students, faculty, and external stakeholders may view the college as outdated or less capable, affecting recruitment, partnerships, and funding.
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