Advisory Committee Meeting Notes, August 23, 1996

OHIO BOARD OF REGENTS

BORIS Steering Committee Meeting Notes
August 23, 1996

(References to BORIS and the BORIS Steering Committee are prior to project name change to HEI and committee name change to Advisory Committee, 10/04/96.)

Members Present

Richard Brace, Vice President, Academic Affairs, Jefferson Community College
Terrence Glenn, Vice President, Administrative Services, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College
Ralph Gutowski, Director, Budgeting, Planning and Analysis, Miami University
Robert Hallier, Vice President, Business and Finance, Stark Technical College
Judy Hample, Vice President, Academic Affairs, the University of Toledo
Rosemary Jones, District Director, Institutional Planning and Evaluation,
Cuyahoga Community College
Bill Knight, Bowling Green State University, representing Chris Dalton
Deidre Kundtz, Vice President, College Relations and Strategic Planning, Lakeland Community College
Eric Kunz, Assistant Vice President, Resource Planning and Institutional Research, The Ohio State University
Mitchel Livingston, Vice President, Student Affairs and Human Resources, University of Cincinnati
Robert Sheehan, Director, Assessment and Program Reviews, Cleveland State University
George Zurava, Director, Resource Analysis and Planning, Kent State University

Members Absent

Christina Rouse, Research Analyst, Institutional Planning and Research, Lorain County Community College

Ohio Board of Regents (Regents) Staff Present

Mary Copas, Administrative Assistant for Technical Support, BORIS Project
Chris Doll, Analyst, BORIS Project
Matt Filipic, Vice Chancellor, Administration
Karen Goodwin, Writer, BORIS Project
Patty James, Director, Information Systems & Research
Jay Johnson, Analyst, BORIS Project
Don Langford, Analyst, BORIS Project
Andy Lechler, Senior Analyst, BORIS Project
Stephanie McCann, Analyst, BORIS Project
Bob Myers, Technical Services Manager, BORIS Project
Rich Petrick, Associate Vice Chancellor, Budgets & Information Systems
Guy Thibodeau, Programmer, BORIS Project
Daryl Wright, Assistant Director, Information Systems & Research and BORIS Project Manager

Guests

Cindy McQuade, Assistant Director, Inter-University Council (IUC)
Terry Thomas, Executive Director, Ohio Association of Community Colleges (OACC)

Introductions

Matt Filipic opened the meeting reiterating the value of having policy-level personnel involved in the decision-making for the Board of Regents Information System (BORIS) Project, and then introduced the newest Committee member, George Zurava, from Kent State University

Historical Overview of the BORIS Project

Rich Petrick gave a historical overview of the BORIS Project beginning with an explanation of the Uniform Information System (UIS)--Regents' current data collection system designed to devise cost allocation schemes for subsidy distribution--that BORIS is replacing. UIS, Petrick explained, was simply a data collection tool. "We had a wealth of data, but couldn't produce any information about that data," he said.

He cited three reasons for Regents' movement from UIS to BORIS:

The legislature's interest in student-tracking. They want to know if Ohio's public colleges and universities are meeting the needs of the students.
The legislature and other state agencies saw a need for increased accountability among public institutions. Questions such as, Are Ohio's students achieving their goals? need to be answered.
The Legislative Budget Office (LBO), the Office of Budget and Management (OBM) and the Legislative Office of Education Oversight (LOEO) need answers to complex questions about collected data.

Petrick went on to explain the division of money. Regents asked the Legislature for $4 million for Fiscal Year 1996 and another $4 million for Fiscal Year 1997 and only received $2 million for each year. In addition, Regents asked for $50,000 for each institution to upgrade its system to be more compatible with BORIS, and only received $12,000. Regents plans to ask for more for the institutions, said Petrick.

Committee Structure

Election of Chair-Rosemary Jones nominated Robert Sheehan as chair of the Committee. Judy Hample motioned to elect Sheehan, and Robert Hallier seconded the motion. The Committee unanimously agreed, and the motion was carried.

Election of Vice-Chair-Sheehan suggested the Committee elect a co-chair from a community college. Jones suggested a vice-chair rather than a co-chair. Deidre Kundtz agreed with Jones. Ralph Gutowski nominated Rosemary Jones. Judy Hample motioned to elect Jones as vice-chair, and Eric Kunz seconded. The Committee unanimously agreed, and the motion was carried.

Establishment of Electronic Format-There was much discussion about using e-mail as the electronic format. Daryl Wright pointed out that an e-mail address already exists for the Committee as a whole: is_steer-comm@summit.regents.state.oh.us. He also pointed out that the BORIS home page on the World Wide Web will link to a separate Steering Committee home page. The Committee concluded that e-mail and a home page on the Web would serve as the electronic format.

The BORIS Name Change

Chancellor Hairston asked the Committee to devise a new name for the BORIS Project. There was some resistance to changing the name at all, but Mitchel Livingston pointed out that BORIS, as a name, does not reflect the system's association with colleges and universities.

The following names were given:

Higher Education Reporting in Ohio
Higher Education Comprehensive Information System
Ohio Database for Colleges and Universities
Higher Education Database for Ohio
Higher Education Link for Ohio
Ohio Higher Education Relational Database
Ohio College and University Data System
Ohio Higher Education Information System

The Committee recommends Ohio Higher Education Information System (OHEIS) to replace BORIS.

The Project's Mission Statement

Committee members were asked to develop a mission statement for the project. Wright submitted the following draft mission statement:

The mission of the BORIS Project is to design, build, and install a higher education database for Ohio that is effective, valid, and secure. The database must provide the means to describe the State's higher education activity. BORIS must also provide the data basis for state-level policy and resource allocation decisions. To serve these purposes, data must be defined, collected, compiled, and presented clearly and efficiently.

From that draft, Committee members began working on a new mission statement. They agreed upon the following:

The mission of the Ohio Higher Education Information System (OHEIS) is to design, build, and operate a statewide information system that meets the needs of higher education in Ohio. The data shall be defined, collected, and compiled, and information shall be presented in an accurate, efficient, timely, secure, and collaborative fashion.

Committee Schedule

The Committee decided to meet on October 4 at the Inter-University Council offices, 175 South Third Street, Columbus, at 10 a.m., and on November 8 at the Board of Regents' offices, 30 East Broad Street, 36th Floor, Columbus, at 10 a.m. After that, the Committee decided to meet once every two months.

The Committee's Mission Statement

The Steering Committee began the process of defining their mission and scope. A draft mission statement will be prepared by Sheehan and Jones and circulated by e-mail to the rest of the Committee and to Regents staff. Discussion of the Steering Committee's mission will occur at the next meeting.

Defining Course Completion

Jones opened this discussion reporting on concerns about the Regents' definition of fees paid. The Committee decided to tackle the definition of fees paid at the next meeting. Jay Johnson will send Committee members a copy of an e-mail he sent to other institutional representatives who were concerned about the definition of fees paid.

As for the question, What constitutes a course completer? some members of the Committee expressed strong reservations regarding the collection of course completion data. Reservations related to the fact that this variable is defined so differently on campuses and is driven by a variety of enrollment and registration procedures.

An ad hoc subcommittee, composed of Judy Hample, Deidre Kundtz, Ralph Gutowski and Terry Glenn, will prepare a brief statement on the course completion issue and have it ready for discussion at the next meeting.

Staff Activity Update

Wright introduced the project analysts who each gave presentations: Jay Johnson for Enrollment Data Area; Don Langford for Faculty-Staff Data Area; Stephanie McCann for Facilities Data Area; and Chris Doll for Financial Data Area.

Enrollment Data Area--Johnson reported that his area is in the computer programming stage. The BORIS Enrollment Data Submissions for Practice Period document has been distributed and the practice period has begun. Gutowski expressed some concern that there wasn't enough time between the start of the practice period and the real start-up of the project to make the programming changes in institutions' systems. "Because the cost of programming is so high, people are going to want to put a lot of thought into it before they do it," said Gutowski.

Johnson also reported that Andy Longbrake, BORIS Systems Administrator, is busy establishing accounts for institutions' data reporters and that Regents is a week away from accepting the first practice file.

Jones expressed concern about how much input the original statewide consultation representatives had in the BORIS Enrollment Data Submissions for Practice Period document prior to its distribution. Wright and Johnson agreed to address her concerns in two ways: giving her and others plenty of opportunity to comment on the practice period document and ensuring that the other data area processes include a step where the analyst goes back to the original consultation participants for comments before distributing the practice period document.

Sheehan asked members to get a "guesstimate" of how much time and money it will take for institutions to implement data collection for BORIS.

Faculty-Staff Data Area--Langford reported on the progress of the Faculty-Staff Data Area. Gutowski pointed out that Langford's efforts were clearly to examine issues beyond those restricted to resource analysis and subsidy distribution. Langford agreed, while acknowledging that there was a definite relationship between the Faculty-Staff Data Area and the resource analysis/subsidy distribution process. "It will be made clearer on Tuesday (the date of the first Faculty-Staff Data Area Statewide Consultation) that the work we're doing is taking the baton from the Resource Analysis Subcommittee, but it is also dealing with larger, broader issues," said Langford.

Once again, Committee members expressed a need to be kept apprised of the results of the project's processes. Wright assured members that by using the Web in combination with e-mail they would be kept well informed of the project's progress on all levels.

Facilities Data Area--McCann reported that the Facilities Data Area is the new name for what was previously called the Physical Plant Data Area. Members expressed a need for better record-keeping at the institutional level in this data area.

Financial Data Area--Doll's presentation led to a discussion about collecting duplicate data for the federal government and the state government. Members expressed a need to supply a common core of data and allow requesters to extract information for their own personal needs.

Bill Knight said that the National Study of Institutional Costs and Productivity, coordinated by Michael Middaugh, Director of Institutional Research at the University of Delaware, addressed these very concerns. He also pointed out that many national associations, such as the Joint Commission for Accountability and the American Association for Community Colleges, promote the idea of using data elements recognized nationally.

Resource Analysis/Subsidy Distribution--Andy Lechler, Senior BORIS Analyst, reported on the progress of the Resource Analysis Subcommittee, the group charged with re-engineering resource analysis. Committee members expressed concern about how the subcommittee addresses cost allocation for time spent advising and time spent on research. Wright pointed out that editing the volume of information created about resource analysis was not the best use of Committee time.

Sheehan adjourned the meeting at 3:20 p.m.

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Last updated July 2, 1998

BORIS Steering Committee Meeting Notes August 23, 1996