2022 Planning, Budgeting, and Analytics Forum Online

9–10 am PT • 1 CPE Credit

In the business office, it can sometimes be easy to be focused on tasks, challenges, and the here-and-now so that staff may lose focus on their college or university’s mission and how their work fits in to the institution’s strategic goals. Working together, higher education leaders at all levels in all departments can help an institution move towards its vision. Hear perspectives from one college president on how business officers fit into these conversations. The transformational changes faced by colleges and universities will be covered as he draws upon personal experience to emphasize how to stay true to mission in turbulent times and beyond.

• Michael Baston, Cuyahoga Community College

10:15–11:15 am PT • 1 CPE Credit

As student-centered practices become more deeply integrated into all aspects of strategic planning and operational priorities, chief business officers and their teams are discovering new ways to contribute to student success and equity initiatives. This session will present current trends in business office practices and explore opportunities for business office professionals to support and facilitate positive changes in student outcomes. The presenters will also provide an update on the tools and frameworks being developed by NACUBO’s Strategically Financing Equitable Student Outcomes grants, funded by Ascendium, College Futures, and Trellis.

• Jo Ann Kern, Tarleton State University
• Laura Lupei, Sonoma State University
• Kelli Rainey, NACUBO

10:15–11:15 am PT • 1 CPE Credit

It is not uncommon for senior leaders to make commitments for financial resources. Things like "3 years of support for this new center" or "move this position over to a new area and move the funding with it" seem straightforward but can quickly become complex. Worse, if there is a change in leadership, how do you know what was or wasn't agreed to? This presentation will discuss a process put in place to track, monitor, and manage multi-year commitments and agreements in a way everyone can live with. Take home templates for such a commitment process that can be adapted for any institution, its priorities, and its other systems.

• Susan Wynn, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

11:30 am–12:30 pm PT • 1 CPE Credit

To leverage analytics for data-informed decision-making, institutions need to focus on change management and both technical and process needs. In this session, you’ll learn how an institution built their data intelligence capabilities and dashboard solutions to support planning and budgeting efforts. Miami Dade College will share how they implemented this analytics initiative and how they utilize student, finance, HR, and facilities data to provide actionable, consistent, and integrated views of institutional information. Attendees will view example data visualizations so they can experience how the information is presented.

• Marta Mitzenmacher, Miami Dade College
• Chuck Persky, Performance Architects

11:30 am–12:30 pm PT • 1 CPE Credit

Three years ago, the University of North Texas System embarked on a journey to completely integrate all budgeting, accounting, and strategic planning processes. The organization has since achieved the goal of establishing a cohesive financial planning structure, which ensures the budget is informed with a comprehensive perspective of strategic goals and available resources. This session will provide an overview of the system’s integrated financial planning framework and the path they followed – from coalition building to technology adoption – to create a circular flow of data to create institutional financial reports, annual budgets, and strategic plans. Panelists will share use cases detailing how they have utilized this new structure to drive data-informed financial decisions across their organization and the value they have realized as a result.

• Kerry Romine, University of North Texas System
• Paige Smith, University of North Texas System
• Jill Winkler, Syntellis

2:30–3:45 pm PT • 1.5 CPE Credits

Higher education is undergoing momentous changes at an accelerated pace. The need for proactive, long term decision making is increasingly necessary for institutions to remain sustainable and, ideally, thrive. By analyzing alternative options around key business areas such as enrollment, new programs, capital expenditures, and funding sources, two institutions gained insight into the direction they were each headed, while senior leadership gained confidence that their decisions were supported by strategic analysis. This session will explore the stories of Texas State and Lehigh University – what their challenges were, how they tackled them, and what the outcomes were. Best practices, as well as lessons learned, will be shared, along with examples of how to communicate results to leadership.

• Christine Black, Texas State University
• Alexia Pereira, Synario
• Jim Quinn, Lehigh University
• Michael Nicolescu, Synario

2:30–3:45 pm PT • 1.5 CPE Credits

Higher education is facing myriad challenges, and one of the resources that all institutions should use to help them navigate this environment is data. To leverage data as an institutional asset, colleges and universities need to have an information strategy that allows them to integrate and analyze data, disseminate information, and ensure data-informed decisions support institutional priorities. Presenters will share elements of their institutions’ information strategies, including linking data to mission, data governance, data access and usage, reporting, and navigating information challenges. Audience members will have the opportunity to reflect on their own institutions’ information strategies.

• Orkun Toros, University of Texas at Dallas
• Karen Tumlinson, Central College
• Jackie Agustin, NACUBO

8:15–9:30 am PT • 1.5 CPE Credits

As challenging times continue for higher education, data literacy and data-informed decision-making are even more important for student and institutional success. We have a lot of data, yet well-designed data presentations that foster effective decision-making are few and far between. How do you move from simply sharing data to connecting with your audience in a meaningful way? In this session, we will explore the importance of storytelling and the effective use of visuals to communicate with data. Our goal is to provide the audience with a toolkit they can use to up their game when it comes to presenting and communicating with data.

• Jasmine Yang, Hamilton College
• Kirk Kelly, Vantage Technology Consulting Group

8:15–9:30 am PT • 1.5 CPE Credits

Hear how three institutions embarked on journeys to overhaul their existing planning processes to improve resource allocation, increase stakeholder engagement, and enhance administrative efficiencies. Each institution will discuss how they have successfully transformed planning capabilities and now spend less time reviewing data entry, inefficient consolidations, and manual reporting—and more time optimizing institutional resources by aligning them to strategic priorities. Presenters will provide attendees a practical framework to follow, including key considerations for success and common pitfalls to avoid. Join this presentation to learn how you can help your institution enable agile planning and improve data-driven decision-making.

Speakers

• Rebecca Barber, associate vice president, financial planning, budget, and analysis, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• Kelly Epting, associate vice president for finance and budget, University of South Carolina
• Kevin Edelblute, associate vice president for finance, Mississippi State University
• Mela Fezzey, director, higher education, TruED Consulting

9:45–10:45 am PT • 1 CPE Credit

In the wake of the pandemic, colleges and universities are reconsidering how to best utilize their physical spaces. If all employees don’t return to their offices, what are the opportunities for these spaces? What lessons have we learned from how academic spaces and program offerings were transformed during the pandemic? What about co-curricular spaces? In this session, panelists will share a framework for how the use of data and analytics can support institutional space planning. Panelists from different institution types will share examples of how they are using data to optimize space utilization.

• Raijanel Crockem, Texas Southern University
• Jason Hornberger, University of Kansas
• Lindsay Wayt, NACUBO

9:45–10:45 am PT • 1 CPE Credit

The staff at University of Montevallo knew they had a need to improve financial planning and reporting processes, link strategic plans, as well as promote more transparency into the processes. These changes facilitated updates and easier data flows for the in-year forecasting and budget reporting project as well as improving the budget development process. With the updates to data, processes, and technologies a foundation has been set for improved capabilities and transparency for the future evolution of the planning and reporting processes. Discover what has already been completed and what items remain on the roadmap for this institution.

• Susan Hayes, University of Montevallo
• Alicia Smith, University of Montevallo
• Curtis Gratz, Spaulding Ridge

 11 am–12 pm PT • 1 CPE Credit

Using data for strategic decision-making is more vital than ever for higher education institutions. Technology and approaches to transform data into information and describe it in robust and flexible ways have certainly leapt forward. But for many organizations, the processes that underpin the productive and responsible use of information remain bundled in complexity and practices of ownership rather than stewardship. Hear how promoting data as an institutional resource and establishing a practical roadmap can chip away at these challenges and move towards the goal of answering strategic questions for the right people at the right time, in an environment of trust and shared responsibility.

• Suneetha Vaitheswaran, Princeton University