Decision support systems in academic planning: Important considerations and issues

Abstract

Academic planning is becoming a very complex problem due to a variety of changes that have impacted the availability of funds for education. Some of these changes such as demographic shifts, social pressures and technological advances are external to the academic institution affected. These factors make planning increasingly important. This paper describes the use of technologically available tools to combat the problems faced in the planning activities at universities. It proposes the use of mathematical models and forecasting techniques to predict and therefore plan for change with enough leadtime so as to make these changes effective. This paper describes how administrators can allocate limited resources to where they are most effective. A model-based decision support system which is used by the decision-maker in planning and responding quickly to changes is presented. The system includes a number of alternative quantitative techniques that vary in complexity to suit the decision-maker's needs of forecasting change before it happens so as to plan for it. The changes insure the requisite quality of graduates. The system also identifies popular software packages referred to as spreadsheets to evaluate “what if” scenarios of budgets and enrollments.