HELP FOR SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS

  3 WAYS TO SIMPLIFY DATA COLLECTION & REPORTING IN THE BUSINESS OF EDUCATION

 

Work Smart!  You know the old saying, "better to work smart than hard".  Technology is your friend.  Use it.  It’s important to have technology that is flexible and easy to extract the data that you need.  Microsoft Excel is the most common program used for transferring information between data systems.  Often times, you can upload your data to state and federal agencies through a .cvs, .xlsx, or .xls file type.  Make sure that your financial and /or registration system is equipped with exports to Excel.  From Excel you will have many functions to manipulate and transfer the appropriate information.  If you have under 50 transactions per year, you may me able to track information efficiently with Excel alone.  As you grow, find a system that can grow with you.

 

Be proactive not reactive.  Analyze what data you need to collect before the new fiscal year begins so that you can add the information to your registration process.  For example, IPEDS requires you to report the number of applicants and admissions you have enrolled full and part time by sex; therefore, in your registration system, make sure you record gender and cohort at registration for your IPEDS courses.  As a post secondary education facility, only a system that is flexible will meet your needs.  If the system doesn’t come out of the box with all the data fields for your reporting needs then make sure it has the ability to create user defined data fields where you can create them to meet your specific needs without costly customization.

 

Take a look at how much labor it takes to document your transactions and base your budget for a registration system on that.  The more you can automate, the less labor, therefore operating expenses, it will take to finish administrative duties.  When your administrators are being overworked and they need another employee or  often times you are just starting new programs, that extra employee can be automated technology.  It costs thousands less to add technology rather than adding an employee, especially when you look at the benefit packages and cost of training a new employee.  Give your current administrators the tools to work smart using technology.  Classware v3 is a robust system for under 10k a year that works 24/7 processing registrations and automating billing and reporting for a fraction of the cost of adding staff.  This may not be popular with your entry level data entry clerk, but will save you big money.  Technology is your friend.