AM360 provides a 360-degree view into the health of academic responsibility centers through a series of dashboards and data visualizations. The project turns IU’s vast stores of academic data into useful information, delivered in real time.
Scott Feickert is the director of administration and strategic initiatives for the Media School. One of his primary responsibilities is to collect, synthesize, analyze, and present data (both quantitative and qualitative) to guide strategic planning, resource allocation, and policy setting, and to assess the resulting outcomes.
Throughout each term, Scott monitors and analyzes student headcounts, course enrollments, and other key metrics. He must understand not only what’s happening in the Media School, but also how the trends in the Media School compare to those of other responsibility centers and campus as a whole. Conducting these analyses used to mean writing and running multiple custom inquiries.
AM360 allows Scott to quickly view core metrics and tweak them in ways most relevant to the questions being asked. Sometimes that gives him all the information he needs. Other times, it’s a jumping-off point to delve into the data at a more granular level by running his own queries.
“In my view, the single biggest value of AM360 is giving stakeholders across IU a common frame of reference. It’s also helpful to be able to customize data views instantly while talking through a question with others, and to have those data presented in a format that’s accessible to everyone. The DS reports help bridge the space between data ‘power users’ and those who need only the summary results.”