This press release was originally posted by Purdue University and is available here.
Purdue University’s Office of Provost has selected Symplectic Elements as a new streamlined faculty reporting tool that will reduce manual data entry and allow faculty and leadership to collect and view data such as research awards, publications, presentations and teaching innovations in one location, ultimately reducing faculty time required for such reporting.
“We are pleased to be able to provide this robust tool to faculty,” says Cherise Hall, vice provost for finance and strategic initiatives. “Our goal is to provide a seamless data tool that reduces redundancy, provides an intuitive user interface and satisfies multiple functions – simplifying and streamlining this kind of reporting for our faculty. Symplectic will interface with other university sources, such as Sponsored Programs, Banner, and Human Resources to create helpful user profiles more efficiently.”
Symplectic Elements software will be used to support processes such as annual reviews, updating faculty web profiles and the collection and reporting of data used for department external reviews and accreditation. Longer term, the efficiency of the tool may be helpful to the promotion and tenure process. The tool also will provide a central repository of uniform information for ongoing institutional analysis and assessment. Although a few colleges have already been using a similar tool, Digital Measures, the goal is to create a single enterprisewide solution.
“Based on some initial feedback from a number of deans, an advisory committee was developed to create a list of needs and wants for a new unified data system where faculty and leadership can enter their activities to be used for multiple purposes,” says Peter Hollenbeck, vice provost for faculty affairs. “After seeking faculty and leadership input, the committee recommended that we implement the product from Symplectic.”
To ensure smooth implementation and adoption of the reporting tool, each college will be asked to identify one or more “college success managers.” Those individuals will learn the system, train and support users within their college, generate ad hoc reports and engage with college leadership.
Institutional Data Analytics + Assessment (IDA+A) will provide institutional management of Symplectic. IDA+A will work with the college success managers to support and implement the new program. The implementation phase is estimated to take eight to 10 months with a targeted completion date of spring 2023.
Members of the advisory committee that provided input for a unified data system are:
- Cheri Rawles, senior business analyst, Information Technology Relationship Management.
- Alee Gunderson, faculty activities administrator, Digital Measures, College of Agriculture.
- Nina Collins, scholarly publishing specialist, Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies.
- Susie Swithers, professor of psychological sciences and associate dean for faculty affairs, College of Health and Human Sciences.
- Wei Hong, professor of applied linguistics and senior associate dean for faculty affairs, College of Liberal Arts.
- Wayne Wright, professor and the Barbara I. Cook Chair of Literacy and Language and associate dean for research, graduate programs and faculty development, College of Education.
- Alan Zillich, the William S. Bucke Professor and head of the Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy.