Overview
As part of the recent reviews and organisation changes, The Planning and Funding Office is being transformed into the Strategy, Analytics and Reporting (SAR) Office. The core tasks of this Office include:
Strategy and Advisory
- Manage and facilitate the development and application of the University Strategic Plan and associated frameworks that support and underpin University operations and decision making
- Undertake and manage the provision of consistent and integrated strategic and operational planning, review processes for client portfolios, and monitor strategic initiatives throughout the University. Manage or be actively involved in selected initiatives where required
- Provide the primary contact between the SAR Office and other Divisions, engaging with committees, divisions and departments to facilitate analysis, reporting and advice to assist in the development and achievement of plans
Analytics and Insights
- Conduct institutional research (analysis to inform University operations)
- Coordinate a cross-university institutional research group, to collaborate and share related analytics
- Gather and analyse marketing intelligence and market research
- Forecasting of student load (EFTS) and other indicators
- Combine internal and external information to inform and develop computational models and calculations
- Coordinate and institutional benchmarking (e.g. UniForum and Tribal) and international rankings (e.g. QS, Time Higher Education)
- Coordinate surveys related to SAR operations, in collaboration with the Quality Advancement Unit and other stakeholders
Reporting and Compliance
- Responsible for the University's compliance with statutory student reporting to the Tertiary Education Commission, including the Single Data Return, Fees-Free reporting, and maintenance of relevant components of eVision
- Monitoring funding-related student performance
- Coordinate Government compliance change projects such as the evolution of Fees-Free policy, and a new Single Data Return
- Provide student numbers (headcount and EFTS) and related reporting for all parts of the University
- Responsible for, or participate in, the development of other regular reports such as the Triannual Report and the University's Annual Report
Business Intelligence
- The new SAR office has been charged with leading the further development of the University's business intelligence capability. This will be a multi-year programme of work which will require separate consultation which be conducted at a later time.
- Business Intelligence is a broad term that encompasses the software, systems, tools, and infrastructure used to facilitate dissemination and analysis of data and information to inform data-driven decision making. BI topics include data governance, data warehouses, online dashboards, predictive analytics, and many other topics.
- In the University of Otago context, this programme of works is envisioned to bring together disparate sources of data, to allow staff throughout the university to easily access to a consistent suite of data via an online-self-service dashboard, and to aid analytics teams in conducting more complex analytics.
- Once developed, the University BI capability will help the SAR Office deliver its core operational tasks, and will support data-driven decision making to achieve the University's strategic goals.
Further information
Please email planning@otago.ac.nz
Physical address
Leith Street Central
1st Floor, Room 138
Clocktower