Arcadia University uses tech to turn plans into progress
“When Arcadia started its strategic process, we knew that we didn’t want it to be traditional,” says Rashmi Radhakrishnan, Chief Information Officer of Arcadia University in Glenside, PA. “We wanted it to be highly adaptive, and it has served us well. Part of the initiative was also a digital transformation effort. We knew that whatever technology we would invest in had to be sustainable.”
Enabling data-informed improvement
Arcadia settled on Nuventive’s technology solutions and services, enabling institutions and higher education individuals to plan more consistently, collaborate more effectively, make smarter decisions, and create a culture of data-informed, goal-aligned improvement.
Arcadia is invested in the Microsoft stack, so it made sense to go with a system based on Microsoft technology. Nuventive’s ability to integrate with pre-existing dashboards and data was a significant selling point. The university is also implementing its data warehouse, leveraging Power BI and eventually Azure for the data and analytics need, which also integrate seamlessly with Nuventive.
Bridget Miller, Arcadia’s director of institutional research and effectiveness, says “Arcadia needed a platform to assist with planning, assessment, and reporting for our approved adaptive strategy, Arcadia2025”. Also, the university had just finished its self-study for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s eightyear review of accredited institutions. Arcadia needed a system to access the relevant data for rigorous compliance and regulatory requirements. Nuventive hit the criteria in terms of its ability to be flexible, accessible, and to grow with the university’s needs.
Nuventive adapts to unique
institutional plans
“We also wanted something that was more ours,” says Bridget. “In other words, we didn’t want to take our adaptive strategy, our institutional assessment plan, our operational plans, or our student learning plans and adapt all of those to a tool. Instead, we wanted to work with a partner that could adapt a tool to how the culture of assessment, planning, and transparency was evolving at Arcadia. Nuventive provided us with some options that allowed us to build the solution we needed.” Nuventive’s solution was also straightforward for everyone in the university community to adopt and use. It also helped break down, connect, and integrate previous data silos.
A single source of truth for
adaptive planning
So far, Nuventive has proved itself to be a single source of truth for Arcadia’s adaptive strategy tracking and progress – which means a reduction in data duplication. As phase one draws to a close, all of the university’s operational units and academic programs are already on the system.
The next step is to pull together a holistic view across the organization. This picture will help assess whether or not the initiatives of operational units and academic programs enable the progress and ultimate success of the university’s adaptive strategy.
About Nuventive
Nuventive enables higher education institutions to turn their plans into progress through the better use of information. Its cloud-based platform-as-a-service brings business process and information together to support any improvement initiative, including overall strategy, accreditation, student success, learning outcomes, general education, sustainability, administrative outcomes, program review, and diversity. Nuventive is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with distribution in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions. For more information, please visit www.nuventive.com or call +1.412.847.0280.
Overview
Location: Glenside, PA
Nuventive Solutions: The Nuventive Improvement Platform Premier Edition
Industry: Education
Sub-Vertical: Higher Education
Industry Priority Scenario: To help a university plan, collaborate, make better decisions, and create a culture of data-informed, goal-aligned improvement.
“Nuventive was ready to grow with us, and that was very important as a partnership for Arcadia.”
-Rashmi Radhakrishnan
CIO