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Office of Institutional Planning and Student Success

Welcome to the Office of Planning and Student Success

SVC’s Office of Planning and Institutional Research (OPIE) provides leadership in the areas of institutional planning, student achievement, accreditation, program review, and data/analytical support. OPIE supports the mission and strategic priorities of the College by providing accurate, timely, and actionable information to facilitate evidence-based planning and decision-making to improve institutional effectiveness and support continuous program improvement throughout the institution. In this capacity, IR analyzes and interprets data about the performance of the institution; analyzes and interprets information about the institution’s internal and external environments; transforms data into information that supports College planning, policy making, decision making, and assessment; and communicates institutional information to the college and wider community.

The Office also conducts studies and gathers information for regular and ad hoc analysis such as: institutional questionnaires regarding college climate and employee satisfaction and sense of belonging, annual student surveys on college services, specialized accreditation reviews, program review data, and various ad hoc focus groups regarding a variety of topics.


Services Provided

The Vice President of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness serves as the college’s Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO) to the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), which is the College’s institutional accrediting body. OPIE leads the college’s accreditation process and coordinates cross-campus collaborative efforts related to accreditation self-studies. The office provides support and coordination for ongoing planning, implementation, and achievement of accreditation recommendations received.

The OPIE coordinates with all Vice Presidents and Division Heads to ensure a robust and ongoing assessment of college-wide outcomes through institutional Program Review.

The focus of these assessments is to:

  1. more efficiently achieve institutional strategic priorities,
  2. inform institutional, division, area, and department planning efforts,
  3. focus on ongoing program improvement and effectiveness, and
  4. ensure assessment of all service area and learning outcomes. 

The Office of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness provides leadership and project management for the College’s integrated data management system, coding procedures, IPEDs reporting, student access, equity, achievement, and other data, and ctcLink/PeopleSoft, including process creation, improvement, and documentation.

OPIE provides college-wide guidance and support for grant development and acquisition, supporting needs assessment and performance metric development, as well as cross-campus communication related to grant development. Grant acquisition efforts must be aligned with the strategic priorities of the institution and approved by Cabinet.

The Office of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness coordinates with all departments across campus to connect planning, assessing, and resource allocation/budgeting in support of mission fulfillment, including coordination of institutional program, process, and service improvement efforts. OPIE works closely with the Office of Administrative Services to provide effective budgeting for the institution and to ensure an ongoing and dynamic budgetary process. OPIE evaluates and reports on the College’s progress toward mission fulfillment.

The Office provides data to support ongoing operations and assessment efforts through the collection, analysis, and synthesis of information and the development and use of interactive data reporting tools that inform continuous improvement at the institution. Data dashboards are organized around the following performance indicator areas and each area has specific equity indicators embedded in the dashboards: 1) Enrollment, 2) Completion, 3) Retention, 4) Student Satisfaction, 5) Financial Aid, and 6) Grants and Special Projects. The IR department also provides dashboard for program review. College employees can access the SVC Institutional Research Dashboards here and the Program Review dashboards here. OPIE also ensures accurate reporting to the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) and other outside agencies such as IPEDs.

The Office of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness is responsible for leading and directing all institutional planning efforts at the institution, including: 1) long-term strategic planning and development of the SVC Strategic Plan, including the Mission, Vision, and Strategic Priorities that are approved by the SVC Board of Trustees. OPIE is also responsible for developing all goals, targets, and KPIs associated with the strategic priorities; 2) OPIE coordinates and leads annual operational planning efforts and the development and creation of the SVC Operational Plan; and 3) The office helps to set institutional priorities and provides data-informed recommendations to the President, Executive Team, and instructional leadership at the College. 

Provide project management training and tools to support and improve college projects by provides structure, data, and timelines around the project. OPIE manages and supports a variety of ongoing and ad hoc campus-wide projects related to the area.