Brand as Relevance

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Southern Polytechnic State University
Managing the Metrics Using Dashboard Indicators
to Improve Performance Dr. Robert A.
Sevier Senior Vice President Stamats, Inc. Cedar
Rapids, IA 52406 [phone] bob.sevier_at_stamat
s.com
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About Stamats

• We are an award-winning, nationally-recognized
  higher education research, planning, and
  marketing communications company. Our mission is
  to help college and university leaders achieve
  their most important marketing, recruiting, and
  fundraising goals through the creation of
  customized integrated marketing solutions.

• Research, Planning, and Consulting Services
• Image and competitive positioning studies
• Tuition price elasticity studies
• Alumni and donor studies
• Marketing communication audits
• Recruiting audits
• Campus visit audits
• Integrated marketing plans
• Brand clarification and communication plans
• Recruiting plans
• Strategy development and strategic plans
• Board presentations
• Project-specific consulting

• Creative Services
• Recruiting and fundraising publications
• Web site development
• Virtual tours
• Direct marketing strategies (search, annual fund)
• Targeted e-mail marketing systems
• Advertising
• Creative concepting
• Content management systems
• Dynamic news and events calendars
• Message boards/chats

Offices Cambridge, Richmond, Portland (OR),
San Francisco, and Cedar Rapids
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Some Key Questions

• Why is it important to measure performance?
• What are some options for measuring performance?
• Why are c/u sometimes unwilling to measure
  performance?
• What are the dangers of performance measurement
  in higher education?

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The Nomenclature of Measurement

• TQM
• CPI
• KPIs
• Six sigma
• Benchmarks
• Peer groups
• Norms
• Best practices
• Balanced scorecard
• Questions
• How do we get beyond the vocabulary?
• What are some problems with each of these options
  for measuring performance?

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Dashboard Indicators

• Primary assessments of progress toward achieving
  the institutional vision
• Empirical in nature
• Importantly, there is no right or wrong value for
  any indicator
• What is important is to know your position
  relative to
• Past performance (YTD or other measurement
  period)
• Goals
• Peers
• The key is not where you are the key is whether
  or not you are showing progress

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An Illustration

• Dashboard indicators for the human body might be
• Blood pressure
• Weight
• Respiration rate
• Cholesterol

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Key Themes

• Go for a few, alpha indicators (its a dashboard,
  not an instrument)
• Updated quarterly or annually
• Use consistent formula to define and measure

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Mission, Vision, and Strategic Planning
Strategic Plan
How you get there
Mission Vision
Where you come from Where you want to go
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Strategic Planning

• Differentiating yourself from your competitors in
  ways that target audiences value
• using institutional resources (time, talent,
  and treasure) to achieve your vision

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Strategic Planning Domains

• A strategic planning domain is a key (and
  existing) institutional process or activity
• Most strategic plans are executed through the
  following
• Academic affairs
• Recruiting and financial aid
• Advancement and alumni relations (fundraising)
• Facilities and IT
• Student development/retention
• Brand marketing and image
• Finance
• Human resources

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Houghton College Domains (example)

• Income stability
• Academic excellence
• Stewardship
• Competitiveness/selectivity
• Productivity
• Affordability
• Mission and program mix
• Facility planning
• Alumni support

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Houghton Domain Academic Excellence

• Metrics
• freshmen in top 10 percent of high school class
• of freshmen from top 25 percent of high school
  class
• SAT scores of freshmen
• Class size
• Student/faculty ratio
• Percentage of FT faculty with terminal degree
• Percentage of faculty who are full-time
• Freshmen retention rate
• Graduation rate
• of graduates immediately beginning full-time
  grad school
• of graduates receiving job offer within six
  months

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Houghton College

• Percentage of freshmen from the top 10 of high
  school class

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Everybody Pulling in the Same Direction
The Plan
Academic Affairs
Recruiting/Financial Aid
Advancement
Facilities IT
Student Development
Brand Marketing
Finance
HR
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Building Dashboard Indicators
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Building Dashboard Indicators

• For each strategic domain identify up to three
  metrics (indicators) that you can use to
  effectively evaluate performance
• Be macro
• Be specific
• Be measurable
• Remember, dashboard, not instrument panel

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A Quick Note

• If you were doing this for real, you would
• Develop a set of domains that fully describe your
  institution
• Often very context dependent
• After you have created these domains, you would
  identify historic data to establish your current
  state for each domain
• You would then identify numeric goals to describe
  future progress
• If you cannot create dashboard metrics for your
  entire institution, create them for your
  department/division

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Academic Affairs

• Current state

• Future state

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Recruiting and Financial Aid

• Current state

• Future state

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Advancement and Alumni Relations

• Current state

• Future state

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Facilities and IT

• Current state

• Future state

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Student Development/Retention

• Current state

• Future state

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Brand Marketing and Image

• Current state

• Future state

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Finance

• Current state

• Future state

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Human Resources

• Current state

• Future state

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Books by Bob Sevier



Available from strategypublishing.com