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OHIO
BOARD OF
REGENTS
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Advisory Committee Meeting Notes
July 10, 1998
Members Present
Sam Bassitt, Vice President for Instruction, Lima Technical College
Chris Dalton, Vice President, Planning and Budgeting, Bowling Green
State University
Barb DeYoung, Senior Budget Analyst, Ohio State University
Robert Hallier, Vice President, Business and Finance, Stark State College
of Technology
David Lindsley, Associate Vice President, Academic Affairs, University
of Toledo, representing Judy Hample
Eric Kornau, Chief Information Officer, Cincinnati State Technical
and Community College
Joan Patten, Research Associate for Institutional Planning and Research,
Sinclair Community College
Darrell Winefordner, Associate Provost for Budget and Planning, Ohio
University
Members Not Present
Wynette Barnard, Interim Vice President for Institutional Advancement and
Strategic Planning, Lakeland Community College
Ralph Gutowski, Director, Budgeting, Planning and Analysis, Miami University
Rosemary Jones (Committee Vice Chair), District Director, Institutional
Planning and Evaluation, Cuyahoga
Community College
Mitchel Livingston, Vice President Student Affairs and Human Resources,
University of Cincinnati
Rob Sheehan (Committee Chair), Director, Institutional Research, Assessment
and Analysis, Cleveland State University
Ohio Board of Regents (Regents) Staff Present
Charlie Corbato, Director, Information Services
Chris Doll, Financial Data Area Analyst
Matt Filipic, Vice Chancellor for Administration
Matt Heinrich, Applications Programmer
Jay Johnson, Administrator, Information Systems and Research
Don Langford, Faculty-Staff Data Area Analyst
Andy Lechler, Senior Analyst
Stephanie McCann, Facilities Data Area Analyst
Rich Petrick, Associate Vice Chancellor, Budget and Information Systems
Jackie Seevers, Administrator, Information Systems and Research
Amber Stephens, Writer-Editor
Guests
Cindy McQuade, Assistant Director, Inter-University Council
Nancy Zajano, Director, Legislative Office of Education Oversight
Handouts
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Draft HEI Advisory Committee Meeting Notes, May 8, 1998
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Regents Web Activity Report
-
Subsidy FTE Calculation
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Draft HEI Subsidy Reports
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Matt Filipic Memo: Flexibly Scheduled Course Sections Reporting Guidelines
Welcome Eric Kornau and Joan Patten
The Committee welcomed the newest members of the group: Kornau, who succeeds
Terrence Glenn of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, and
Patten, who succeeds Christina Rouse of Lorain County Community College.
Agenda Review
The agenda was approved without changes.
Approval of May 8, 1998 Meeting Notes
Notes were approved with the addition of comments and suggestions made
by a Committee member.
Report on Regents Web Activity
Corbato reviewed the history of Regents Web activity, which started in January
1995. Analysis shows that the Regents Web site is most often visited during
work hours with a significant slump in activity during the lunch hour.
This is different from recreational or promotional sites which see increased
usage during the evening, Corbato said. The Regents site received more than
1 million hits from January 4-July 4, 1998. The HEI Web site, which accounts
for about one-fifth of the total Regents site, received some 133,000 hits during
this same time period.
Corbato said the load capacity of Web activity is fairly low compared
to the capability of the server. To date, there has not been a problem
keeping up with load requests. At the current time, Regents does not have a
back up server.
One member suggested including more pdf files from the Basic Data Series.
Another member also suggested including more flags about what has changed
recently on the site.
Student FTE for Subsidy
Lechler reviewed the Student FTE for Subsidy process with the Committee.
One of the major questions Regents has about Student FTE for Subsidy is how
it should be presented to campuses, Lechler said. The process will begin
with the Course Enrollment (CN) and Cross Registration (XR) files and will
eventually include medical enrollments.
Lechler said campuses will be able to drill down to see more detailed
reports. Queries can be executed against a detailed table and then saved
and opened as an Excel spreadsheet. The main relation, however, is FTE
by campus, by model. FTE by rate is not yet included in the reports, he
said.
Members said this new process will be very helpful for campuses calculating
their FTE. Members discussed various access possibilities, including access
for data reporters and other government agencies. Some members suggested
institution level passwords. There was some concern that server performance
will decline if institutions are executing interactive queries between
institutions. One member suggested providing higher level static reports,
which would eliminate the need to run queries for those items and increase
performance. Another member said campuses will be interested in more than
just summary data by FTE.
Members all agreed that student Social Security Numbers must be protected.
Petrick said system performance, system security, and the context and meaning
of the information are all important concerns. He also noted that it is
important to have data definitions available to provide clarity.
Members suggested presenting the Student FTE for Subsidy process during
the regional meetings or developing a one day workshop for data reporters
later in the year.
Flexibly Scheduled Course Section Reporting
Johnson reviewed the June 23, 1998 memo from Filipic regarding flexibly
scheduled course section reporting. Johnson said it may be necessary to
include a "switch" for flexibly scheduled courses meeting more than 11
days. Filipic said the switch would give Regents a list of courses, which should
have a paper file back up. Petrick noted that the memo does not change
the course definition, it only changes the reporting guidelines.
Members discussed when reporting should go into effect. It was decided
that reporting will begin in Summer 1999.
Update on Social Security Number Change File
Lechler said that development of an SSN Change file has stalled while staff
try to determine how often students change SSNs. One member said 23 students
out of some 20,000 changed their SSNs during the last school year. Lechler
said one of the problems with the file is figuring out how to handle students
who change their SSN to an identifier held by another student in the system.
Petrick said perhaps these students who have changed identifiers could
somehow be flagged. He also noted that creating the file is slowed by stretched
resources.
Institutional Requests for Data Changes
Johnson reported that several institutions have requested a change to data
after the edit window has closed. Johnson stressed the importance of submitting
accurate data. Lechler said there are problems making retroactive changes
when summary edits have been performed. He suggested setting a deadline
for data changes. Petrick recommended creating a special journal entry
for corrections made after edit windows have closed.
A member noted that this situation will probably be more prevalent during
the first year of reporting. He said Regents may want to take into consideration
the size of the error. Petrick said it is very labor intensive to correct
errors and he is reluctant to let campuses know that errors can be corrected.
Another member suggested creating a window of time when edits could be
performed. Petrick said each case could be reviewed individually, but the
emphasis is on submitting clean data the first time.
Interim Report from the Data Access Subcommittee
Patten said the subcommittee has met two times and plans to give recommendations
to the full Committee by this fall. The subcommittee agrees that the Basic
Data Series was not timely and needs to be replaced with more timely data
that emphasizes analysis. The subcommittee also has recognized a strong
need for student tracking data. The group would like a method of identifying
SSNs to track students.
Patten said the subcommittee would like to see summary data at various
levels. These levels would include: broad data, sector driven data, and
institution driven data restricted by campus.
Members asked how people will be able to access the information. Petrick
said access by outside groups has been discussed. One solution may be the
creation of a menu driven system that creates quick facts. Patten said
the subcommittee has not fully addressed the issue of access. There was
some concern that other government agencies would not have as much access
to the data as potentially needed or wanted. The subcommittee was asked
to consider these issues further.
Report on the First Data Users Group
Petrick said several campuses came together June 26, 1998 at the Regents offices
to develop a data structure that can replicate the HEI system. He praised
the campuses for working together and realizing the benefits of HEI at
the campus level. The Data Users Group has completed most of the conceptual
work and will now work on the uses of such a system. He recommended that
all campuses be made aware of the effort.
Planning for the Fall
Petrick announced that members of the Regents staff will present a formal presentation
to the Board about HEI this fall. Regents will also start a new series of regional
meetings in the fall.
Regional Meetings
Petrick asked members when would be a good time to hold regional meetings
and how many meetings are appropriate. The group agreed that October or
early November would probably be the best time. Petrick proposed three
meetings this fall with the possibility of making broad based invitations.
One member suggested a simultaneous teleconference which would reach
all sites at once. The teleconference could be enhanced with a few staff
members at each site to answer questions and meet campus partners. Members
thought the regional meetings should be a celebration of HEI and its recent
implementation. Petrick said Regents would look into the possibilities of hosting
such a meeting.
Presentation to the Board
Petrick said one of the issues to be brought before the Board is the
need to secure technology funding that doesn't necessarily include just
HEI. Another important issue to present is the need to continue base support
for HEI. Members said it is important for the Board to understand the continuous
cost of HEI. By building enthusiasm for the system, institutions will be
more interested in reallocating funds for the project.
Update on Regents' Information System Vacancies
Petrick reported that HEI is in the process of filling an applications
programmer vacancy. Regents has also selected about six final candidates to
interview for the Director of Information Systems and Research position
that was recently vacated by Patty James. James will continue to work with
Regents on a contract basis from her home in Washington state to help create
an "expert system." The newly created Enrollment Manager position will
be filled after the new director is selected, Petrick said.
Interim Report from Faculty Sample Survey Subcommittee
Langford reported that the subcommittee has met three times and is in the
process of developing a draft sample survey. To date, the subcommittee
recommends an anonymous written survey as opposed to a Web based survey.
The survey will focus on full-time faculty initially and will be limited
to four pages. The subcommittee would like the survey to be scan scored,
but there are cost issues involved. Langford also said it would be ideal
to conduct the survey in January to track fall activity.
Filipic said the subcommittee has stayed focused and made good progress.
The plan is to collect information on broad discipline areas and insure
confidentiality. A member recommended periodic surveys that could be sector
or issue oriented. Langford said he hopes to share copies of the draft
survey before the next meeting. He will lead another discussion about the
survey during September's Committee meeting.
The next HEI Advisory Committee meeting will be held Thursday, September
10, at the Ohio Board of Regents offices, 30 E. Broad St., 36th Floor,
in the Board Room.
The meeting adjourned at 2:30 p.m.
Notes submitted by Amber Stephens.
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Last updated September 11, 1998