From Dashboards to Direction

Moving Beyond Reporting to Action

Let’s be honest about dashboards.

Higher ed doesn’t have a dashboard problem. Higher ed has a decision problem. 

Over the past decade, colleges and universities have poured millions into business intelligence platforms, data warehouses, and sleek dashboards. And yet, ask most provosts or presidents what’s actually changed because of those dashboards, and the room goes quiet.

Here’s the truth: if your dashboards aren’t spurring coordinated action, they’re just expensive wallpaper. A chart isn't a strategy, and a report doesn’t move the needle unless it speeds up and drives the decision process.

Today’s piece makes the case for a pivot: away from reporting for reporting’s sake, and toward a culture where data interpretation, ownership, and follow-through are baked into the leadership fabric. Because strategic data isn’t about prettier charts; it’s about tighter alignment and faster response.

Why Dashboards Alone Aren’t Enough

According to EDUCAUSE’s 2023 Trend Watch, “data-informed decision-making and reporting” ranks as one of the top three IT priorities in higher education. Demand for analytics capabilities is clear. But follow-up research shows the gap between aspiration and reality is wide: outdated systems, unclear processes, and siloed data leave many institutions stuck with under-utilized tools.

Three recurring issues show up again and again:

1. Interpretation - Many universities can generate reports, but few have leaders consistently trained or incentivized. to act on what those reports actually mean.
2. Ownership - Dashboards often live in IT or Institutional Research. Without clear executive accountability, red flags go unanswered.
3. Execution - Even when action happens, it comes in episodic, special initiatives here and there rather than a sustained, integrated rhythm of decision-making. Show me an institution that makes fast decisions, and I will show you a successful institution. 

In other words, the data isn’t the problem. The problems lie the way leadership culture interacts (or, in many cases, doesn't interact) with it.

From Reports to Results: A Case Study

Consider Georgia State University. I’ve mentioned this one before, but bear with me. A decade ago, their leadership team recognized that simply tracking data wasn’t enough. They had to actually use it to act. Enter the Georgia State predictive analytics initiative, known as GPS Advising.

Every night, algorithms flag over 800 at-risk students for advisors, who then reach out proactively. That’s not a dashboard gathering dust, that’s a dashboard turning into direction.

The results are staggering:

• Graduation rates up 7% in less than ten years
• Achievement gaps for low-income and minority students narrowed dramatically, proving demographics are not destiny
• Roughly 2,000 additional degrees awarded annually, translating into more than $10 million in incremental tuition revenue each year

The takeaway? GSU didn’t just build reports. They operationalized them. Data wasn’t just an accessory. Instead, their data became an engine for equity, revenue, and institutional resilience.

Data Governance as a Strategic Priority

Another example: Florida State University recently appointed James Hunt as Associate Vice Provost and Chief Data & Analytics Officer. Hunt’s mandate is explicitly about moving beyond dashboards: improving governance, embedding analytics into academic and administrative processes, and giving leadership shared ownership of data-driven decisions.

What stands out isn’t the tech stack but the organizational design. FSU elevated data strategy to a leadership function, signaling that dashboards are only the first step. The true value comes when senior leaders co-own data, integrate it into planning, and use it to accelerate institutional priorities.

The Opportunity Cost of Stopping at Dashboards

So what happens when institutions stay stuck at the reporting layer? Three things:

1. Student Success and Equity Gaps Widen. Data-fluent campuses pinpoint exactly which students need help and when. Georgia State proved this. Data-flailing schools, meanwhile, lose at-risk learners to late interventions and missed opportunities (an issue GSU worked to address).
2. Budgets Go Blind. Without trustworthy, actionable data, every budget line is a guess. Fluent institutions optimize space, staffing, and scholarships. Flailing ones misallocate resources and miss critical investments until it’s too late. Usually because of approvals and blue ribbon committees who long since stopped being stewards of action and have become stewards of not wanting to be responsible for any decisions.
3. Reputation and Innovation Erode. The future belongs to campuses wielding AI and analytics as competitive levers, launching personalized learning, dynamic scheduling, and grant-winning research. Those that don’t risk being outcompeted for students, faculty, and funding.

This is what I mean by dashboards as wallpaper: nice to look at, useless when the roof starts leaking.

What Action Really Looks Like

So, what does it mean to move beyond dashboards? Here are three practices that distinguish fluent institutions:

1. Governance at the Top - Data councils co-chaired by presidents, provosts, and CIOs where policies and KPIs are treated as strategically as budgets or academic programs.
2. Unified Metrics and Tools - A single data warehouse feeding self-service dashboards for faculty, staff, and students, ensuring everyone speaks the same KPI language.
3. Predictive, Not Reactive - Embedding AI and predictive analytics into enrollment forecasting, advising, and resource planning and turning foresight into a competitive advantage.

That’s a culture shift, and it’s one that starts at the top.

A Call to Action

Here’s the good news: you don’t need to rip out your dashboards to get on the right side of this divide. What you need is alignment and constant simplification.

• Elevate governance to the presidential level.
• Define clear KPIs that cross academic, operational, and financial silos.
• Embed data milestones into your annual planning cycle.
• Hold leadership accountable not for producing reports, but for producing data-driven results.

The bottom line: dashboards are not the destination, they’re just the starting point. Strategic data leadership is about turning information into alignment, and alignment into action.

Presidents, provosts, CIOs, you don’t need another report. You need to use your data to decide on a direction, and start moving.