Dashboards
By now, I’m sure you have read many different articles pertaining to dashboards and their strategic value in an organization. There are numerous ways to implement a dashboard and they come in many shapes and sizes. However, some dashboards can look visually stunning yet provide no real insights or information. At Mountain Pass, we feel strongly that a dashboard in and of itself is of no value if it is not providing information that is useful and actionable.
For example, our faculty information system (FIS), SmartPath, features a notifications dashboard that is one of the most frequently used features in our product. The purpose of the dashboard is simple – provide power users with an at-a-glance view of all of their active faculty workflows. Each entry on the dashboard provides status information and a drill-down link to the related workflow.
When managing faculty, it is easy to miss important data or required deadlines. The notifications dashboard brings those tasks to you so you do not have to search for them.
A good faculty information system should make notifications easily found, highly organized and to the point. They should be role-driven to ensure the person using them is only seeing what directly helps them. For staff that only occasionally use a faculty information system, the delivery of notifications to an email inbox ensures they stay up-to-date without having to repeatedly log in. And, they should be configurable to your needs and follow the roles and security structure of your FIS.
A well-designed dashboard of notifications can save faculty affairs employees tens of hours a month and avoid the costly errors that occur when deadlines are missed.
Our Buying Guide was written to help you evaluate a potential faculty information system purchase. If you have not downloaded it, please do. It’s informed from our team’s combined experience working in faculty affairs and with faculty affairs departments.
Tom Simon is the Chief Executive Officer for Mountain Pass Solutions.
A growth-focused startup software executive, Tom has a proven history of success working with industry giants, including Intel, Kellogg’s, Deloitte Consulting, and Valassis. Developing strategy and tactics to strengthen the internal team and its roadmap, Tom has successfully used his leadership to advance core customer relationships and generate sustainable growth for Mountain Pass Solutions.
