It doesn’t matter if your job requires you to design a new curriculum for your school or create a budget for your department — the strongest decisions are usually made after taking a look at relevant data.        

That’s where the Decision Support Group (DSG) at Georgia Tech comes in handy. Its mission is to help the Institute’s executive leadership, academic and administrative departments make informed decisions.

As part of this mission, the Office of the Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance, which oversees the DSG, is sponsoring a conference on Sept. 12 to help educate the campus community and beyond about how decision support, or using data to support decision making, is being used at Tech and other universities.

“Attending this conference is a great opportunity for faculty and staff to understand their roles at a data-driven institution like Tech and to learn what our peers are doing to improve institutional effectiveness,” said Amir Rahnamay-Azar, senior vice president of Administration and Finance. “This conference is also an opportunity for faculty and staff to tell us what we are doing right regarding decision support and what needs improvement, which is information that will be useful as we improve our services.”

The conference, which will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center, is geared toward administrative and academic faculty and staff who are responsible for providing data and information for decision making.

“One of the greatest challenges facing everyone, from administrative staff to senior leaders, is getting the right data and information, in the right format, into the right hands,” said Sandi Bramblett, executive director of Institutional Research and Planning and Decision Support Services. “A decision support system that provides the right information to the right people when needed reduces operating costs, increases staff productivity and improves the quality and timeliness of decisions.”  

The keynote address will be delivered by Rich DeMillo, director of the Center for 21st Century Universities, and will focus on “The Evolving University: Disruptive Change and Institutional Innovation.” Conference sessions will showcase new and emerging trends and ideas from the University of Michigan, the University of Illinois and Georgia Regents University.

“Our experts have not only studied decision support but have designed and implemented a culture of decision support at their institutions,” Bramblett added.

Some of the scheduled sessions include “Decision Support @ Georgia Tech (a Presentation of Progress to Date),” “Best Practice Perspectives: Development and Evolution of Decision Support” and “The Art and Science of Communicating Data: Information Design + Data Visualization Trends and Practices.”

Attendees will also have a chance to participate in a series of discussions where they can contribute their ideas to designing a new and improved decision support concept for their own unit and for Georgia Tech.

For more information about the upcoming Decision Support Conference or to register for the event, click here.