People often confuse development, or fundraising, with advancement in the higher education industry. While the actions have many similarities, they are different. Advancement refers to making progress in various avenues related to a university's strategic plan. It can...
In the age of Big Data and Analytics, we find ourselves surrounded by data. While most of the data might reside in our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, it’s likely that there are several other ancillary data sources available to us. These sources may be...
So far, we’ve taken a look at the top mistakes made during IPEDS submission and some steps you can take to reduce bad data entry during that process. But once that process is done, that’s it. Right? You’ve crossed the finish line. You’ve slain the beast! The job is...
“To everything there is a season.” Whether you recognize that line from The Bible or The Byrds, it’s a commonly known phrase with wide-ranging applications. For Institutional Researchers, the everything is their IPEDS surveys and the season is nearly year-round. Every...
“One Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.” The phrase, often attributed to Fred Barnard after it appeared in the advertising trade journal Printer’s Ink, also applies to the visual presentation of data. While our focus is often on higher education, the above idiom...
To report, or not to report - that is the question. Okay, maybe it’s not a question. For many of you, reporting is your job, or at least part of it. As such, you need your report creation procedures to be as painless and as efficient as possible. That is where the...
As unpleasant as change can be in an organization, a lack of change is potentially more unpleasant. Some might even consider change a four letter word. After all, it is one of the most challenging issues that we face in life, much less in the workplace. It’s no...
These days, it seems like everybody has an easy-to-access place to hold all the digital information that’s important to them. No, not smart phones! We’re talking about the personal data dump. It Starts With A Question It all begins innocently enough: the end-user...