UW–Madison announces new office for data, academic planning and research

The University of Wisconsin–Madison has announced the joining of two key campus offices: Academic Planning and Institutional Research (APIR) and the Office of Data Management & Analytics Services (ODMAS). The newly created office, Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research (DAPIR), leverages the strengths of the two offices to advance data-informed strategic efforts at UW–Madison.

“I’m pleased to officially join these offices that have worked closely over the years to help tell UW–Madison’s story through data,” says Provost John Karl Scholz. “Creating one office will further strengthen their ability to manage our institutional data effectively and deliver impactful insights.”

DAPIR is responsible for many important functions on campus. It is currently working to modernize the way UW–Madison manages its institutional data by implementing the latest technologies and expanding the data governance program. Goals include:

• Providing resources consistent with institutional reporting and analyses for individuals across campus to use,
• Expanding data availability for reporting and analysis,
• Expanding data literacy on campus, and
• Using business intelligence reporting to make institutional research analysts more available to leadership for complex analyses.

“Expanding access to data to support decision-making is critically important to UW–Madison,” says Rob Cramer, vice chancellor for finance and administration. “It’s an essential element for advancing strategic priorities in every division.”

The new office provides an opportunity to tackle these challenges while continuing the important work performed by APIR and ODMAS individually.

APIR supports strategic, academic and budgetary planning and decision-making through analytics, including presenting and distributing relevant and timely information, policy analyses, peer comparisons and projections of future trends. APIR coordinates the governance activity for curricular and program proposals. It oversees program review and academic policy development. APIR responds to internal and external requests for analytic information about UW–Madison’s people, programs, structures, and curriculum.

ODMAS is responsible for the maintenance of the InfoAccess warehouse, the Badger Data & Analytics Platform and the institutional data governance program. It provides optimized, secure and sanctioned back-end data architecture to support policy analysts and business intelligence developers across campus in delivering data insights through many tools, including Tableau and other query and data science tools. The data governance program will better describe the data being collected, define responsibilities for managing that data and establish a data quality culture that drives data-driven decision making.

DAPIR partners with units across the institution and collaborates closely with many, including the Division of Enrollment Management; Madison Budget Office; Division of Information Technology; Graduate School; Office of Human Resources; Division of Diversity, Equity & Educational Achievement; Teaching and Learning; Division of Business Services; Research and Sponsored Programs; and schools, colleges and divisions.

Read more about the new office and locate all information previously available through the former APIR and ODMAS websites on DAPIR’s new site.