Academic Dashboards and SBP FAQ

Academic Dashboard and Strategic Budget Planning (SBP) Academic Award Data and Criteria FAQ

What is the difference between the Academic Dashboards and SBP Academic Award Data?

  • The Academic Dashboards (Program and Department) provide a comprehensive view of data related to a department and program.
  • Data within the Academic Dashboards are designed to provide context and insight to support a range of department and program planning needs.
  • Data presented within the Academic Dashboards frequently includes several years of data and/or a five-year average for each element to provide greater historical perspective in support of planning and decision making.
  • SBP Academic Award Data is a “snap-shot in time” or discrete set of data to be used in the evaluation of an academic program for university strategic budget planning.
  • SBP Academic Award Data is a focused set of data identified to support the evaluation of a program’s relative viability for university strategic budget planning needs.

Are there common data elements within the Academic Dashboards and SBP Academic Award Data?

  • There are a few common elements currently shared between the Academic Dashboards and SBP Academic Award Data including:
    • Program Degrees Conferred
    • Program Occupation and Labor Market Projected Demand
    • Program Declarations
    • Program Net Income
    • Department Course Net Income

Why does the data for common elements in the Academic Dashboards and SBP Academic Award Data not match exactly?

  • Data elements may be capturing a slightly different segment of data. For example, Program Declarations within the Academic Dashboard reflects Fall Term declarations on an annual basis. In comparison, Program Declarations within the SBP Academic Award Data reflects Total Academic Year (Fall + Spring) declarations on an annual basis.
  • Data elements may be calculated in a slightly different manner. For example, the Academic Dashboards frequently uses 5 yr. averages to provide a summary perspective. The SBP Academic Award Data/Criteria frequently uses 3 yr. averages to capture the most recent program data for evaluation purposes.

How often are the Academic Dashboards and SBP Academic Award Data updated?

  • The Academic Dashboard data elements are designed to be updated on an annual or more frequent basis. Significant time and talent has been directed over the past 2 yrs within the Office of the Provost, Institutional Analytics, and ITS to build a data infrastructure that enables greater data segmentation and refreshing capability. Through refinement, the Academic Dashboards will be able to provide a comprehensive source of data in one place for departments and programs replacing the need to access many reports for the same information.
  • SBP Academic Award Data is updated and used for evaluation every four years as articulated in the University’s adopted General Fund Strategic Budget Planning Process.