Planning, Budgeting, and Analytics Forum

Proposal Details

The NACUBO 2023 Planning, Budgeting, and Analytics Forum program committee invites you to propose a session about what your institution has done (or what you have supported institutions in doing, if you are a corporate presenter) to improve planning, resource allocation, decision-making, data management, and the use of analytics to support the college or university mission. We are looking for in-depth and practical treatments on strategies and tactics that will resonate with a higher education audience, such as:

• Strategies you’ve applied to improve services, processes, efficiencies, success, or the bottom line
• In-progress initiatives and pilot programs or efforts where things did not go according to plan
• Ways institutional planning and data efforts supported budget processes, student success, and mission fulfillment
• How you created a data-informed culture, ways you improved processes to empower staff to use data, how you collaborated to use analytics effectively
• See the list of topics below for the full spectrum of what your proposal might cover.

We invite you to propose a session that is relevant, innovative, and useful for your college and university colleagues. The forum will be offered in Chicago and online, September 24–26.

Key Considerations

• All proposals must include at least one speaker from a college or university.
• Focus on practical application. Although providing some context is helpful in a proposal, focus more on how what you are sharing can be applied by colleagues at other institutions. Include as much detail as possible about the presentation.
• All proposals should include a focus that appeals to higher education business officers. Individuals at different institution types and in various business office roles—the chief business officer, a budget director, a business or financial analysts, a bursar, etc.—have different needs.
• Include at least 3 learning objectives that complete the sentence, “After participating in this session, audience members will be able to...”
• Consider these content questions: What is the story you plan to tell in this session? If your story is about solving an issue, what was the issue and how did you identify it? Who was involved in the process and how did you communicate with them? What challenges did you face? What would you have done differently? What lessons did you learn? What was your change management strategy? What steps would someone at another institution need to take if starting a similar initiative or project?
• Consider these delivery questions: How do you plan to engage the audience throughout your session? Will your audience members walk away with new tools or resources? Should you include any downloadable handouts with supplemental information?
• Address how your presentation will incorporate NACUBO’s principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Do session presenters represent diverse institutions, experiences, and/or backgrounds? Does your case study demonstrate the importance of considering the ethical use of student, faculty, and staff data? Are there other ways your session demonstrates the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education?

Guidelines for Submission

• Submission deadline is April 25, 2023. Submissions cannot be changed after the deadline.
• Submission of a presentation does not guarantee participation in the program.
• All proposals must include at least one speaker from a college or university.
• Include all speakers that will take part in the presentation. Do not list anyone as a speaker without their commitment that they will be able to attend the program. To facilitate scheduling, all speakers should plan to be available for all three days of the program. All speakers must agree to all the terms and conditions for participation.
• All speakers must be registered to participate in the program. Speakers from college and university member institutions will receive a registration discount. Speakers will not receive any royalties, honorarium, reimbursement of expenses, or other compensation from NACUBO in connection with the program, unless otherwise noted by NACUBO.
• All selected speakers will receive an official welcome letter. Speakers must complete an agreement form and be from NACUBO member organizations to be confirmed for a session.
• NACUBO reserves the right to revise presentation titles and descriptions for promotional materials and program publications.
• The proposal submitter will be informed of the final decision.
• Acceptance notifications will be sent by Friday, May 25; however, please allow until June 13 to request an update on the status of your proposal.

Topics

• Activity based costing
• Affordability and pricing
• Auxiliary planning
• Business and budget models
• Benchmarking, dashboards, reporting, and performance measurement
• Change management
• Creating efficiencies and scaling successes
• Data culture, governance, and literacy
• Engaging with stakeholders about financials and financial data
• Funding inflation increases
• Infrastructure and technology planning
• Linking strategic, operational, and financial plans
• Procurement
• Public-private partnerships
• Research portfolio planning
• Risk management
• Scenario planning
• Shared services and multi-institution collaboration
• Space utilization
• Strategic planning and prioritization
• Student success
• Workforce engagement, planning, and analytics