Leveraging campus information systems for effective compliance certification and system improvements Presented by: Tim Logan Darryl Stuhr Trey Gorman Eric

Leveraging campus information systems for effective compliance

certification and system improvements

Presented by:Tim LoganDarryl StuhrTrey GormanEric Ames

Maximizing the Value:Overview

• Problem:

How to accomplish SACS site development for online submission efficiently and effectively?


System Design Criteria• Simplicity• Reliability• Accuracy• Usability• NO LIVE LINKS!!!!!• Single document format – PDF


Elements of site • Portal/Welcome• Institutional Overview• Help/Technical • Compliance Certification

Narratives Documentation

• Faculty Roster• Document Directory


Elements of the online compliance delivery system • Web site authoring and management system• Document management system• Faculty roster

• interactive query and display system


Options: Custom system for SACS reporting

• Pros– Allowed for customized system

– Complete control of system design

• Cons– Starting from scratch – time and cost of development

– Narrow base of technical support

– Little value beyond SACS project


Options: Adaptation of existing enterprise systems

• Pros– Improved support– Established reliability– Speed of implementation– Distributed workload– Focus on SACS-specific data & requirements– Possible long-term benefits to enterprise systems

• Cons– Less freedom of design – working within existing system parameters– LOTS more people involved – coordination of efforts, varying

understandings of importance and urgency– Integration of disparate systems


Decision: Use and adapt existing university systems

• Deciding factor: Support– Development

– Operation

– Redundancy

– Back-up

• Selling point: Improvements to university systems


Elements of the online compliance delivery system • Web site authoring and management system

• Baylor Content Management System• Welcome, Help, Compliance Narratives

• Document management system• DSpace – BEARdocs

– Documentation

– Faculty CVs

• Faculty roster – interactive query and display system• Baylor faculty/staff directory – adapted


Portal Sections

Person DatabaseSACS Database

BEARdocsDSpace

Simplicity, Reliability, Accuracy, Usability

Welcome, Help,Institutional Overview

Compliance Certification

Faculty Roster

Document Directory

Systems

SACS Reaffirmation of Accreditation Portal

Content Mgmt System

Maximizing the Value:Content Management System

Web site authoring and management system

Need:

System for creating and managing HTML for a Web site with well-defined structure and thousands of links to documentation.


Web site authoring and management system– background system that creates and maintains

university Web sites

Compliance site – 2 separate sites– General Information template (generic HTML)– Compliance Certification template (special within CMS)




Pros– Supported campus system– Reasonable functionality– Design, programming assistance

Cons– Limited flexibility– Limited HTML editing






Value added to CMS– Windows authentication– Stress testing– Print template

Maximizing the Value:Additional Information

Maximizing the Value:Document Management System

Document Management System

Need a system to:

• Store,• Secure,• Search,• Organize,• Manage links to thousands of documents


Options:

• BEARdocs (DSpace) • BearSpace (Xythos) • Baylor-developed Content Management System


DSpace/BEARdocs:

• BEARdocs – our Document Management System• BEARdocs is DSpace, a digital repository system

HP-MIT Alliance:http://www.dspace.org

• Extensive metadata• Authorization and security options• Full-text searching


Decision to use DSpace as our DMS

Pros:• Full-text searching capabilities of our PDFs

• Good security options

• Authenticate against Active Directory

• Jump start for Baylor’s institutional repository

• PostgreSQL backend

• Hierarchical organization for our documents




Decision to use DSpace as our DMS

Cons:• No document versioning

• Disparate system; second log-in needed

• Open-source project; limited community support

• “Noise” in repository– SACS documents are not scholarly research


Value:

• Implementation Speed• Enterprise System Support• Enhance Core Systems• Cost Savings


Backup and Redundancy

• Nightly backups with our campus-wide backup system• Warm server, using Rsync


Facts and Figures

• 2,030 items in SACS Narrative Collection• 1,381 Curricula Vitae• 4,191 total SACS documents• 662 documents accessed by reviewers (Nov. 1st)


Maximizing the Value:Faculty Roster

Faculty Roster

Need an interactive system to display faculty information– Name– Courses taught– Education– Other qualifications– Link to CV


Application Architecture Adaptation of online University Directory

SACS DB – Static clone of live Enterprise DB


Value addedUniversity Directory

• Accurate education data• Display of courses taught• Course descriptions added to course listings

Enterprise DB• Improved data organization• New data fields, incl. URL for CV• Administration hierarchy – provost, dean, chair


Search capabilitiesStandard – name, college, discipline

Filters: GTAs, Exceptions

Others: Course-based listing (all sections of a course),

Department-based


Data Display – Careful consideration of each field– Separate views for reviewers and admins




Benefits of Leveraging Existing Systems Implementation Speed and Focus

• More time for underlying data issues• Tradeoffs: Less flexibility, extra complexity initially

Enterprise System Support• Support from Head of Admin Computing, DBAs, HR

Enhanced Core Systems• Improvements to University Directory, Course Listings,

Enterprise DB

Cost Savings• No need for purchased application • Less programmer time required

Maximizing the Value:Document processing

Document processing

Handling the huge volume of paper and electronic documents


Process– Narrative process

• Deadlines• Collaboration• Accountability

– Document management• Standard platform/system• Lists!

– Data management• Acrobat• Good scanner• Automatic document feeder

– Staffing• Document manager


ProcessPros

• Better beginnings = happier endings• Standardization

Cons• Time intensive• Staffing concerns


Process – value addedBest practices for Institutional Effectiveness

• Faculty roster• Faculty credential gathering• Academic assessments

Digital CV collection

Value of Acrobat• Web page capture• Binders• Security

Maximizing the Value:Other considerations

Alternate delivery mechanisms

CD version (optional)• PDF of entire compliance site - interactive• Print version of faculty roster• No documentation

Print version (required)• Compliance narratives – 409 pages• Faculty Roster – 428 pages• No documentation

Maximizing the Value:Other considerations

Report a Problem mechanism

Maximizing the Value:Summary

Steps and Considerations– Choose between existing system vs. new system– Establish standards for documentation, narratives, etc.– Web site: tool to manage HTML and web pages– Roster: user-friendly interface with required information– Document storage: safety, reliability, ample space– Consider costs & benefits to university post-SACS

Also– NO LIVE LINKS!– Standard document format (PDF recommended)

Maximizing the Value:Questions

• Q & A

Maximizing the Value:Additional Information

• Link to this presentation and other relevant materials:– Baylor University SACS Presentation Dec06.pdf -

• https://beardocs.baylor.edu/handle/2104/4834

Documents

Leveraging campus information systems for effective compliance certification and system improvements Presented by: Tim Logan Darryl Stuhr Trey Gorman Eric