Community of Practice

    The HelioCampus Benchmarking Consortium membership provides every institution with the opportunity to learn and connect with other member universities for the purpose of networking and best practice sharing. With data services, events and incremental offerings, there are many ways to get extra value from your membership.

    Data Services

    Deeper analyses allow us to provide data and insights beyond what members can directly access in the platform. Membership comes with two additional analyses per year. The following are options to choose from:

    Academic Unit Analysis

    Examine an academic unit against other internal academic departments and/or the equivalent external benchmarks at peer institutions. For example, you could isolate and compare expenditures for only business schools across your peer group.

    Centralization & Organizational Structure

    Analyzes the difference in efficiencies of various organizational structures and budget models.

    Staffing & Compensation

    Examines spend per FTE, titles, and other analysis factors to better understand compensation and staffing levels relative to benchmarks.

    Standard Activity Model (SAM) Deep Dive

    Deep dive into specific drivers behind spend for a particular activity or sub-activity (titles, departments, functions). For example, you can do a deep dive into facilities expenses to understand why the cost to clean a square foot at one institution is more expensive than at another.

    Non-SAM Department-Level Benchmarking

    Benchmarking for a functional department, not included in the SAM mapping. For example, understand the spend, FTE and structures of mental health/counseling departments at various types of universities.

    Outcomes Analysis

    Use outcome measures relevant to a certain activity or sub-activity to benchmark and understand the benefit of that spend level and the impact it is having at the institution. For example, an institution may be spending above the benchmark on student services, but is seeing a correlation with higher retention rates that may justify that incremental spend.
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    Events

    Our Members gather frequently, both virtually and in person, throughout the year where we share our latest research, discuss current challenges, and share success stories.

    Member Summits

    Typically held virtually twice a year, in the winter and in the spring, these web meetings allow for member news, breakout sessions, and research updates.

    D.A.T.A. Meetings (Discussions About Trends in Academia)

    Periodic virtual meetings where we facilitate a discussion on a topic that is top of mind for our members.

    Annual Luncheon

    Aligned with the NACUBO Annual Meeting, this luncheon provides an opportunity for members attending the conference to connect.

    Annual Meeting

    Typically held in the fall, our annual meeting provides an opportunity for members to network in person, share best practices and present on topics of interest to them.
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    Incremental Offerings and Services

    There are incremental offerings, outside of your standard membership fee, for institutions that need more in-depth analysis.

    Administrative Quality Satisfaction Survey (AQSS)

    Only available to Benchmarking Consortium members, the satisfaction survey uses established survey questions aimed at assessing levels of customer satisfaction across SAM activities. Once the survey is created and the data is collected, it is coded and analyzed to help the institution determine the satisfaction level with various administrative departments across the institution.

    Campus Rollout and Analysis Services

    This augments the services included in your membership fee but adds additional custom analyses and consulting with key stakeholders. For example, deans, or campus leaders that want to understand more detailed opportunities to streamline their operations.
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    Kent State University Case Study

    Learn how Kent State partnered with the HelioCampus Benchmarking Consortium to ensure proactive fiscal stewardship ahead of a global pandemic.

    Read the Case Study
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    Join the Benchmarking Community of Practice

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