Due to KSU’s rapid expansion the IT Department and the Department of Fiscal Operations partnered with SAS Enterprise Intelligence Suite for Education to implement new Comprehensive Financial Reports, in place of the current Budget and Expense Reports.
In the past, if administrators wanted information they had to request data from the IT Department, but in July 2012 that will change.
The SAS powered Comprehensive Financial Reports will allow information to be delivered in greater detail and with more flexibility. It will allow administrators to access data they need to plan classes, develop budgets and track students, as well as free up the IT staff and keep administration expenses down.
Executive Director and Chief Data Officer of SAS Erik Bowe said, before SAS, there was no integrated database or uniform set of reporting tools on campus.
“Data was left in data jails where we couldn’t easily access, edit, extract, transform or analyze data,’’ said Bowe.
The new system will condense 320 Oracle-based student information reports into 89 reports, in nine categories, corresponding to the main business functions of the university. These reports will be easily accessible to approximately 230 users on campus- predominantly deans, department chairs, professors and administrative unit directors.
“Many of our users had some mistrust about IT-generated reports. Meanwhile, when the IT professionals weren’t answering basic queries, they were bogged down writing code to answer what-if questions,” Bowe said.
Administrators use the system predominantly to manage enrollment, track degree requirements, track progression and graduation rates and export data.
KSU’s next step is to take two additional SAS solutions online, SAS Financial Management and SAS Human Capital Management.
Bowe said these Comprehensive Financial Reports will have a significant impact in KSU’s Budget and Sponsored Operations Department, currently directed by Dawn Gamadanis and her team. Faculty Executive Assistant to the President Sara Robbins said Gamadanis has a remarkable mind for detail and unbeatable organization.
“Her capacity for situating the smallest details of budgets within the larger vision of the University and its work makes her a remarkable asset to KSU,” Robbins said.
The program officially launches in July 2012 and is expected to improve productivity, specifically for the Budget and Sponsored Operations Department.
