Annual Update: 2007-09-10
A. Describe the past year's accomplishments and the current status of this Action Project.
The Presidents Advisory Council (PAC) was formed in September, 2007 and consists of
members representing administration, academics, institutional services and both full time
and adjunct faculty. Upon formation, the PAC adopted a format for strategic planning
(previous AQIP Action Project) similar to Carol Community College, and began
formulating a list of initiatives that were either in process or already planned. These
initiatives were forwarded to the president, who in turn created five strategic initiatives
for school year 2007-2008. These initiatives were then used to develop the 2007-2008
fiscal budget. During the summer months, the PAC worked on developing dashboard
indicators relative to the Board of Trustees Goals to be used in the future as measurement
tools. In October, the first round of quarterly reports will be presented on the status of
each strategic initiative and their supporting task statements. Shortly thereafter, the
planning cycle will begin again, in preparation for strategic planning and budget
considerations for the 2008-2009 school year.
Review (10-14-07):
The project accomplishments are impressive and indicate a very purposeful undertaking
of cost effective institutionally supported initiatives which rolled out based on
structured/documented objectives prioritized by the leadership of the institution. This
approach is very effective and will help ensure that subsequent initiatives are of equal
success and respond well to the directives in 8P2 - 8P4 of the AQIP process.
B. Describe how the institution involved people in work on this Action Project.
The PAC has continued to meet on a biweekly basis since its inception. As the
membership makeup represents all facets of the college, communication on projects,
initiatives and budgets has been greatly improved. Once the strategic initiatives were
established and presented to the Board of Trustees, it was then presented to the school at
large, emphasizing that the planning of the college was being developed by a broad
spectrum of ideas from the entire college community. The status of the PAC and its
strategic initiatives has been presented at each open forum during the year to update the
college community. By virtue of the planned quarterly reports on each strategic initiative,
the implementation phase and involvement by the committee members has been kept at a
high level of involvement.
Review (10-14-07):
The continuous communication to the stakeholders of these initiatives is in alignment of
identified high performance organization characteristics, specifically, involvement, focus
and leadership. The use of quarterly reports, ongoing committee meetings and various
other activities to keep the stakeholders otherwise engaged will maintain momentum in
the organization and ensure continuous progress relative to 8P7 paving the way for
effective outcomes and strategic impact of projects undertaken.
C. Describe your planned next steps for this Action Project.
The first year of the PAC was used to develop the framework of creating strategic
initiatives. This next year will be used to refine the measurement vehicles for both the
initiatives themselves, as well as developing the dashboard indicators to measure the
achievement of Board Goals. The PAC will continue its efforts in establishing a well
organized method of enhancing long range planning at the college. The model that the
PAC chose will soon come full circle, where the process will start anew in developing the
direction of the college for the future.
Review (10-14-07):
The outline presented by the institution for next steps holds promise. The dashboard and
measurement tool development initiatives will help the institution obtain key qualitative
and quantitative feedback on effectiveness measurements and institutional impacts as
well as identify any anomalies that may be indicated. This type of baseline identification
can help the institution identify barriers and opportunity areas early on and provide
insight for future initiatives so that problems can be avoided especially during evaluation
of new initiatives as well as in the early stages of newly executed ones. As it relates to
8P8 the tools identified will aid in further analysis and evaluation of these new processes
being implemented.
D. Describe any "effective practice(s)" that resulted from your work on this Action
Project.
The entire planning process at North Central State College has been re-energized by the
creation of the President’s Advisory Council. A number of committees that had worked
independently have been absorbed into the PAC, which has created a better flow of
communication within the college. The continuous process format prevents this planning
process from being “shelved” after completion, which had occurred in the past. In
addition, the format of the PAC, being comprised of members from all areas of the
college, allows for open communication on any and all projects that are being planned or
are in process, improving the morale of the college tremendously.
Review (10-14-07):
The "effectiveness practice" identified is on target and crucial to the ongoing success of
this project. Maintaining momentum and finding ways to keep stakeholders informed and
otherwise engaged is going to make the difference between continuous improvement or
stagnant activity within the institution. Obtaining information from other institutions such
as the one mentioned early in the project discussion on what has worked for their
initiatives will also help to uncover additional "effective practices" which can be utilized
to ensure all of the initial groundwork is not lost.
E. What challenges, if any, are you still facing in regards to this Action Project?
Although the strategic planning process has been developed and initiatives have been
identified, the challenge before the PAC now is to ensure that the assessment portion of
the plan is effective. The process will take two full years before being completely
utilized, as this coming school year will be used to gather data on the effectiveness of the
task statements that were developed to complete the primary strategic initiatives. This
challenge is being met by assigning Project Coordinators that are in charge of each
initiative, plus assigning Reports that will be responsible for keeping the Coordinators on
track. A second challenge is developing a way to handle “off budget” projects that come
before the PAC outside of the school’s budget planning cycle. Since the entire process is
continuous, plus the fact that some projects can be completed at any time, the PAC is still
in the process of formulating a plan to incorporate these type of situations.
Review (10-14-07):
The institution is being proactive in the identification and implementation of action steps
to circumvent the problems that have been identified. Providing accountability within the
ranks of the organization is a great start and the checks and balances that are being put
into place appear to be relative and should be effective in their utilization. As all
initiatives go through the committee which reports directly to the leadership of the
institution perhaps a secondary budget for contingencies needs to be established which
earmarks additional resources that may be available for "off budget" initiatives that may
arise. A contingency allocation should alleviate any issue of where the resources will
come from and establishing criteria for those "off budget" processes may provide an
opportunity to address and implement some benchmarks to identify criteria to be met
before the consideration to either execute or table these for the next round. This could be
a priority for the PAC so that this does not become a barrier to continued momentum
within the institution.
F. If you would like to discuss the possibility of AQIP providing you help to stimulate
progress on this action project, explain your need(s) here and tell us who to contact and
when?
Review (10-14-07):