Accountability.fiu.edu: The promise of big data fulfilled

Pulling data from multiple sources, the new FIU Accountability site includes “dashboards” that give users the ability to access critical information in seconds.

In an age where information is ubiquitous but not always useful, the goal of new university website accountability.fiu.edu is simple: to make good data available to FIU employees, who will then use this information to make better, more strategic decisions for the university and its students.

“In the world of data analytics, it’s all about asking ourselves, how can we get smart with the data?” says Joyce Elam, interim vice provost of the Office of Analysis and Information Management and College of Business dean emerita. “But first you have to know what the data is.”

Elam and her team created accountability.fiu.edu five months ago using Tableau, a data visualization and analysis software. Pulling data from multiple sources, the site includes “dashboards” that give users the ability to access critical information in literally seconds. FIU employees with an active directory account can access the site using FIU’s Single-Sign-On credentials.

Popular dashboards are filled with a treasure trove of information regarding admissions, enrollment, the university’s progress toward the BeyondPossible2020 strategic plan goals, student demographics and faculty/staff information. Elam and her team will create new dashboards based upon requests from users of the website.

“It’s all about discovery and exploration,” says Elam. “It’s putting tools in people’s hands that they did not have before.”

Users of the site give it an enthusiastic thumbs up.

“It’s given us an easily accessible, up-to-date ‘pulse’ on the status of the college, particularly in reference to student metrics,” says College of Engineering & Computing Interim Dean Ranu Jung. “The historical data is also very useful in assessing trends.”

Much of the impetus for accountability.fiu.edu comes from the Florida Board of Governor’s (BOG) new performance-based funding model, which measures each university’s performance in predetermined BOG metrics against other State University System institutions.

“There is a tremendous focus on being accountable. In order to be accountable to specific goals, you have to understand where you are in relation to those goals and what is influencing them. This data allows [university employees] to be more effective decision-makers,” says Elam, who wants everyone working for FIU to know this tool exists – and to use it.

In the case of the College of Engineering & Computing, Jung says that faculty, staff and advisors, in particular, now have a quick, easy way to assess the status of any degree program.

“[This is] needed to make sure appropriate progress is being made in reaching desired metrics,” says Jung. “The data is also very useful for inclusion in presentations and proposal submissions.”

Hiselgis Perez, director of Institutional Research and a member of the team that built the site, says future upgrades to the site will include adding data analytics, projection capabilities, statistical models, and fine-tuning it for an audience that wants to influence change on a micro rather than macro level.

Says Perez, “It’s putting the powers of data analysis and data sleuthing in the hands of a wider audience.”