A place to share recent news, trends and to engage in general discussion around things happening in the Higher-Education industry
More on Strategic Planning
Thinking back on our discussion about strategic planning during our group meeting put a question in my mind that I did not ask. Does your institution have a strategic plan? I recently read a HubStar blog about why a strategic plan is important:
“ For higher education institutions, a strategic plan will chart the future course for all foundational and operational elements of a college or university, from academics to the physical plant to student life. Colleges and universities that undertake a thoughtful and realistic strategic planning process can set themselves apart from other institutions, which is extremely important in today’s marketplace where the competition for student enrolment can make or break an institution’s budget.”
This blog is a great summary of why a plan is important and tips for success. If your institution does not already have a strategic plan, the blog could be helpful to generate conversations about creating one.
Another post that I recently read was from SCUP (The Society for College and University Planning). This post also gives some great information about the nature of strategic planning. It spiked out the components of a good strategic plan as:
“The components of every strategic plan will vary according to an institution’s culture and needs but generally include:
- Explanation of the planning process
- Foundational information (an institution’s mission, vision, values)
- What your institution wants to achieve (goals, strategic issues, objectives, etc.)
- How your institution will achieve its goals (strategies, tactics, actions, etc.)
- How your institution will measure success (metrics, KPIs)”
Not only can Prophix help you to capture and store information about your plan, the last step is where Prophix becomes crucial to the process. A plan will not be successful if you cannot quantify and measure the KPI’s associated with that plan.
I would love to continue the conversation about Strategic Planning – what have you done and where have you found success?
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Is retrenchment a threat for your institution?
NACUBO highlights retrenchment in a chapter of its text: College and University Budgeting, 5th Edition by Larry Goldstein. This chapter is a go-to when economic challenges become severe and discusses both short-term and longer-term solutions.
Scenario planning with Prophix can help you to model these solutions. Help your colleagues by posting your ideas here in Red Carpet and reach out to your Customer Success Manager to make plans to execute scenario planning in your institution.
QUESTION FOR THE GROUP: What are you doing in the office of finance to contribute to a solution?
I attended Ellucian’s ELive event in New Orleans – how about you?
This year’s theme was Unlock Possibility. Ellucian invited everyone to “explore higher education’s greatest opportunities with future-ready ideas, solutions and best practices to get you there, faster”.
There were four pillars:
Build Institutional Resilience
• Cybersecurity threats and federal regulations are constantly evolving, and higher education can no longer just adapt in the moment. Institutions must think beyond the now to prioritize solutions that ensure business continuity through compliance, stability, security, and scalability.
Empower Faculty & Staff
• Achieving institutional initiative requires well-informed decision making that turns information into action. Schools of every size need to consider holistic data governance systems that enable staff and faculty to create strategic plans, execute efficiently, and analyze results.
Accelerate Student Success
• Today’s students are facing a new, unique set of obstacles that begin before they even step foot on campus. Institutions can ensure successful student outcomes by providing tools that reduce financial friction, eliminate confusion, and clear a path to the graduation stage.
Drive Innovation
• Higher education is charged with constantly evolving to meet changing learner needs and workforce demands. This will only be possible through forward-thinking strategies and agile technology.
There were many sessions and lots of good networking happening. My biggest takeaway from the conference was that there is still a need for better technology and the sharing of best practices. I was selected to do a presentation concerning financial transformation and will be sharing that information with our group in the future.
In the meantime, what best practices can you share with your colleagues?
Blended learning environments – are they here to stay? I think so, and that means another component added to your financial planning and analysis.
In today’s era of uncertainty around fees and enrollment, institutions may be leaving money on the table or spending it out of the incorrect budgets. For example, many schools received pandemic-related government funding for hybrid learning. If they don’t have an accurate way to track where that money is and if it has been used, there is the potential the schools will need to return those funds. Also, schools could be spending out of a general fund and not the one allocated for hybrid learning, causing them to divert money that could be used elsewhere.
I got the opportunity to share my thoughts on the subject in this article with eCampus News.
If you have hybrid/blended learning at your institution and are interested in looking at how to manage these two types of revenue streams in Prophix, reply back with a message in the thread.