2012 SPOL Users Conference
March 4-7, 2012
Fort Lauderdale Beach, FL
About the Conference | Schedule | Registration | Hotel
For More Information
Hosted by:
Think Education Solutions
5411 N University Drive, Suite 203
Coral Springs, FL 33067 866.878.4465
www.thinkeducationsolutions.com
About the Conference
The 2012 Users Conference is exclusively for users of Strategic Planning Online (SPOL). The content of the conference has been designed to benefit SPOL colleges and universities who are new to SPOL or have been using the system for years. This conference will provide opportunities to:
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Learn best practices from peers for using SPOL for planning, assessment, accreditation, and budget preparation.
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Learn the latest news about SPOL, including the newly released v4.1 with the Accreditation Module!
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Provide input about new system enhancements that would benefit your school and support your processes.
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Network and meet professionals from other SPOL schools so that information and expertise can be shared beyond the dates of the conference.
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Meet the SPOL support, design, implementation, and training staff from Think Education Solutions and Strategy U.
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Who Should Attend the Conference
Institutional effectiveness (IE) and institutional research (IR) professionals; faculty and administrators with an interest in or responsibility for strategic planning, budget preparation, assessment, or accreditation; SPOL system administrators; accreditation liaisons (regional and professional); and IT professionals supporting SPOL.
Conference Schedule
Full schedule with descriptions and presenters coming soon; schedule subject to change
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Sunday, March 4, 2012
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6:00-9:00pm
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Welcome Reception at Sheraton Ft. Lauderdale Beach
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Monday, March 5, 2012
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8:00-8:30am
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Continental Breakfast
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8:30-10:00am
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Session 1: What’s New in SPOL v4.1
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10:15-11:45am
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Session 2: Using the Planning Module to Fulfill Your Mission, Goals, & Strategic Plan
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11:45am-12:45pm
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Catered Lunch
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12:45-2:15pm
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Session 3: Aligning Financial Resource Allocation with Your Institutional Mission & Priorities
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2:30-4:00pm
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Session 4: Customizing Your SPOL to Better Support Your Processes
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6:00-9:00pm
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Evening Dinner Outing (take water taxi from Sheraton Hotel to Las Olas Boulevard in downtown Fort Lauderdale)
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Tuesday, March 6, 2012
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8:00-8:30am
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Continental Breakfast
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8:30-10:00am
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Session 5: Managing & Publishing Your Accreditation Self-Study with SPOL
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10:15-11:45am
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Session 6: Demonstrating Outcomes-Based Evaluation & Improvement with the Assessment Module
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11:45am-12:45pm
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Catered Lunch
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12:45-2:15pm
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Session 7: Coming Soon to SPOL! Preview of the Faculty Credentials Module
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2:30-4:00pm
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Session 8: SPOL Technical Support: How to Make the Most of SPOL
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Wednesday, March 7, 2012
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8:30-11:30am
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Post-Conference Workshop 1: Getting Data Into and Out of SPOL – This session will take an in-depth look at inputting and exporting data to/from SPOL. Session topics will include SPOL Data Management (imports and exports), management of ERP IDs, making mass data updates, copying records (e.g., objectives and accreditation cycles), SPOL reports, data extract reports, accreditation publication, and tips for tweaking the output offline.
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11:30am-12:30pm
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Lunch on your own
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12:30-3:30pm
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Post-Conference Workshop 2: Using SPOL for Special Purposes – The broad, integrated environment of SPOL is perfectly suited for the creation, management, and reporting of special projects. In this session participants will learn how to use SPOL for grant writing and monitoring, documentation of QEP activities (SACS) and Action Plans (HLC), and coordinating the accomplishment of your strategic plan.
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Registration
Conference Registration:
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Early Bird
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Regular
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Early Bird: on or before February 3, 2012
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$315
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Regular Registration: February 4, 2012 or later
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$365
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Post-Conference Workshops:
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Early Birds
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Regular
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Workshop 1: Getting Data Into and Out of SPOL
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$125
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$150
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Workshop 2: Using SPOL for Special Purposes
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$125
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$150
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Both Workshops
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$200
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$250
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uuu For online Conference Registration, click HERE.
Hotel Information
The Sheraton Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotel – Rooms are reserved at the Sheraton Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotel. The conference rate is $179 per night, plus tax. The rate and room availability are guaranteed through February 3, 2012.
The Sheraton Fort Lauderdale is located directly on Fort Lauderdale beach, just minutes from the Fort Lauderdale Beach strip – famous as a Spring Break destination – as well as Las Olas Boulevard, the Riverwalk Arts and Entertainment District, and the Galleria Mall. The conference hotel rate will be honored should you wish to book a couple of extra days to spend at the beach. Some of the best local attractions can be accessed directly just across from the hotel via the water taxi or beach trolley, so you may not need a rental car.
The conference will be held at the hotel. Free WiFi will be available in the meeting rooms, so you may want to bring your laptop so that you can access your SPOL during the sessions.
uuu For online Hotel Reservations, click HERE.
Sheraton Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotel
1140 Seabreeze Blvd
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
(954) 524-5551
Air Transportation
The Sheraton Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotel is located approximately 6.5 miles from the Ft. Lauderdale International Airport (FLL), with alternative airports in Miami and West Palm Beach. Taxi and shuttle service are available from each.
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AIRPORT
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DISTANCE
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TAXI SERVICE
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SHUTTLE SERVICE
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Ft. Lauderdale International Airport (FLL)
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6.5 miles
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$20 each way
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$11 each way
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Miami International Airport (MIA)
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48 miles
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$75 each way
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$40 each way
$12 each additional passenger
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Palm Beach International Airport (PBA)
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50 miles
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$80 each way
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Per passenger rates not available
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All rates are approximations, based upon rates published on the hotel and airport websites.
For More Information
The SPOL Users Conference is sponsored by Think Education Solutions and Strategy U, exclusive certified providers of user training and implementation support for SPOL.
For more information about the conference, user training, or other system implementation services, please contact:
Erin Bell
TES Office (954) 905-0318
Home Office (772) 237-2344
Cell (772) 979-5586
ebell@strategyu.com or strategyu@live.com
www.strategyu.com
Click here for a print-friendly version.
Technology is a wonderful thing, and can certainly make your job and your life easier. But have you ever found yourself in a situation where you start down a technological path only to realize halfway that you’ve created a difficult process or model that’s going to be hard to sustain as the project grows? I’ve encountered this scenario a number of times when trying to manage large projects, such as the SACS self-study.
The initial plan for managing the task before you seems very reasonable and doable. As you progress in the task, you gain faith in your plan, because it has proven itself to be manageable. But then you hit a point of critical mass, where your narrative is so long, with so many web links to be added, checked, and updated; you have so many versions of narrative for every standard being emailed amongst your team members, and those inevitable “oops!” moments where you’re told in all caps to DISREGARD THE LAST EMAIL AND USE THIS ONE INSTEAD!; and your collection of evidentiary documents has become so large, and you’ve perhaps lapsed in your organization, knowing that some are simply saved to your desktop and you need to figure out which files are good files.
I’ve talked to enough accreditation liaisons and self-study chairs to know that this pain is not merely a function of quirks in my own working style, but a function of the size and complexity of the project, the time you have to accomplish it, and the Murphy’s Law that says that more work will fall in the 11th hour than anyone anticipated. It’s a pain that is shared by so many of us. It’s a pain that sometimes becomes literal and physical. But it’s a pain that can be alleviated with the proper use of the best systems to manage the job.
If I were to boil down the biggest “pains” that I’ve encountered in managing the self-study, three would jump to the top of my list: 1) keeping track of the most current version of narrative; 2) managing the ever expanding document library; and 3) ensuring that the many web links proliferating the narrative remain current. There is good news! Strategic Planning Online provides an incredibly efficient solution for these crucial issues.
PAIN 1: Keeping track of the most current version of the narrative: Self-study best practices dictate that the accreditation standards are individually assigned to the personnel best equipped to answer the question, which often means multiple people working collaboratively on a single narrative for a standard. While the writing is progressing, the self-study chair is often in the dark about the progress being made on each standard, not actually laying eyes on the narrative until a “final” draft is submitted by the writing team. Then you enter into the stage where the draft bounces back and forth between the readers, editors, and writers as changes are made, sections are added, and pieces are dropped. Trying to manage this through email and live with the inherent uncertainty can by excruciating!
In Strategic Planning Online (SPOL), each standard is a stand-alone record that is viewable at any time by the parties participating in the process, including the self-study chair. There is never a question about which version is the latest, because there is only one version being shared by all concerned. The chair, readers, and editors can monitor progress daily, because the narrative resides on a shared space, rather than on someone’s hard drive. The writers can self-report progress as they write, add web links, and collect evidentiary documents.
Diagnostic pages within SPOL tell you at a glance who is working on what, the percentage completion achieved, and the existence of evidentiary documents. Whatever role you play in the self-study process – writer, reader, subject matter expert, editor, chair, or president – SPOL makes clear what is complete, what needs to be done, who is responsible for the next steps, and the items awaiting your actions.
PAIN 2: Managing the ever expanding document library: As evidence is collected throughout the self-study process, someone is designated as the central receiving point. This person must create a system for organizing the documents, keep track of where each document appears in the self-study (often in multiple locations), create a master list of evidentiary documents, assemble the documents into an appendix to the self-study report, and be certain that all documents submitted were received and are accounted for.
In SPOL, there is a central document repository that holds all evidentiary documents. The repository allows you to set up and name your folders and sub-folders following any convention that works for you. Because a single document can be referenced in the narrative in multiple places, SPOL allows you to add the document to the repository a single time and create as many links as are required to reference the document. Anyone working on the self-study can add documents to the SPOL library, maintaining the integrity of the source document and ensuring that nothing gets lost. Should the document change – for instance, should a new College Catalog come out – you need only update the document in the directory; all the links stay intact and are automatically updated to the new document.
SPOL makes explicit all of the documents referenced in the narrative and where each reference occurs, which enables creation of the table of appendices, assemblage of the appendix documents, and establishment of a list of documents to make available in your resource room to your on-site team. AND the entire document directory can be published to an external drive, alongside the self-study narrative, dynamically keeping the links intact, giving you a self-contained document and library that can be sent to your accrediting agency, given to your administration or board of trustees, and kept as an archival file of the self-study and all associated evidence.
PAIN 3: Ensuring that the many web links proliferating the narrative remain current: Because the self-study typically takes place over a couple of academic years, web links will inevitably require updating on an ongoing basis. Think about the many places in the narrative that you might reference the College Catalog, student handbook, employee handbook, or other major document that can typically found online. When a new version of one of these documents comes out, all of the links in all of the narrative files for all of the standards must eventually be updated by someone.
With SPOL, web links are filed in a central directory, and then the narrative references the directory for the most current link. This means that you only need to change the link one time within the directory, and all links are automatically updated throughout every narrative for every standard!
Should you wish to keep active web links embedded in your narrative, the links directory will also be published to your external drive when the time comes. Should you wish to convert all of the web links to screen views captured in pdf format, you simply go through your link directory, create the screen captures, add the pdf files to your document directory, and convert the web links to document links.
As someone who has done things the hard way, I’m almost looking forward to my next opportunity to manage a self-study using Strategic Planning Online!
First Annual SPOL User Conference
October 17-20, 2010
Dallas, TX
About the Conference | Schedule | Registration | Hotel
For More Information
Hosted by:
North Lake College
Dallas County Community College District
5001 North MacArthur Boulevard
Dallas (Irving), TX 75038
www.northlakecollege.edu
About the Conference
The First Annual User Conference is exclusively for users of Strategic Planning Online (SPOL). The content of the conference has been designed to benefit SPOL colleges and universities who are new to SPOL or having been using the system for years. This conference will provide opportunities to:
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Learn best practices from SPOL schools in using SPOL for planning, assessment, accreditation, and budget preparation.
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w
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Learn the latest news about SPOL, including the newly released v3.3.5.0 and system enhancements currently in the works.
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Network and meet professionals from other SPOL schools so that information and expertise can be shared beyond the dates of the conference.
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w
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Meet the SPOL support, design, implementation, and training staff from Think Education Solutions and Strategy U.
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The SPOL User Group Meeting is sponsored by Strategy U, exclusive certified providers of user training and implementation support for SPOL. As a client benefit, conference registration fees are offered at a discount to current and former Strategy U clients. If you are interested in Strategy U services, click here for more information.
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Who Should Attend the Conference
Institutional effectiveness (IE) and institutional research (IR) professionals; faculty and administrators who have an interest in or responsibility for strategic planning, budget preparation, assessment, or accreditation; SPOL system administrators; accreditation liaisons (regional and professional); and IT professionals supporting SPOL.
Conference Schedule
Full schedule with descriptions and presenters coming soon; schedule subject to change
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Sunday, October 17, 2010
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6:00-9:00pm
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Welcome Reception at Omni Mandalay
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Monday, October 18, 2010
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8:00-8:30am
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Continental Breakfast
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8:30-10:00am
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Session 1: Increase Strategic Planning Outcomes using the 4 Disciplines of Execution
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10:15-11:45am
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Session 2: Using SQL Reporting Services for Customized Reports
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LUNCH
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(included)
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1:15-2:45pm
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Session 3: Preparing the College Operating Budget with SPOL
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3:00-4:30pm
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Session 4: Preparing for Accreditation Review with SPOL
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6:00-9:00pm
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Evening Dinner Outing (meet at Omni Hotel)
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Tuesday, October 19, 2010
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8:00-8:30am
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Continental Breakfast
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8:30-10:00am
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Session 5: Implementing the Assessment Module (including Data Imports/Exports)
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10:15-11:45am
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Session 6: Coming Soon to SPOL (with Preview of Accreditation Enhancements)
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LUNCH
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(included)
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1:15-2:45pm
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Session 7: SPOL for System Admins: Training, System Maintenance, Rolling Over a New Planning Year, and More
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3:00-4:30pm
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Session 8: STARS Online – Scholarship Tracking and Review System
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Wednesday, October 20, 2010
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8:30-11:30am
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Post-Conference Workshop 1: Training Users in SPOL Assessment
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LUNCH
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(on your own)
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1:00-4:00pm
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Post-Conference Workshop 2: Training Users in SPOL Planning
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Registration
For Early Bird discount, register by September 15, 2010:
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Strategy U Clients
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All Others
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Early Bird Registration:
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$340
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$380
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Regular Registration:
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$350
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$390
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Post-Conference Workshops:
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Strategy U Clients
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All Others
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Assessment Workshop
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$150
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$200
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Planning Workshop
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$150
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$200
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Both Workshops
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$275
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$375
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uuu Strategy U clients register online HERE.
uuu All others register online HERE.
Hotel Information
The Omni Mandalay at Las Colinas – Rooms are reserved at the Omni Mandalay at Las Colinas. The conference rate is the prevailing governmental rate at the time of check-in, which is currently $117 per night, plus tax. This rate is subject to change. College ID is required at check-in for the governmental rate. Hotel parking is free.
The Omni Mandalay offers free shuttle service within a 5-mile radius of the hotel, including pick-up and drop-off at North Lake College. Morning and afternoon mass transportation between the Omni Mandalay and North Lake College will be available at scheduled times. The hotel shuttle should be used for late arrival to or early departure from the conference.
uuu For online conference hotel registration, click HERE.
Omni Mandalay at Las Colinas
221 East Las Colinas Boulevard
Dallas (Irving), TX 75039
(972) 556-0800
Air Transportation
North Lake College and the Omni Mandalay are located approximately 11 miles from the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and 10 miles from Dallas Love Field (DAL).
Transportation is available from both airports at reasonable fees:
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Taxi Service: Approximately $25 each way
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Shuttle Service: Approximately $15 per person each way
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For More Information
The SPOL User Group Meeting is sponsored by Strategy U, exclusive certified providers of user training and implementation support for SPOL.
For more information about the conference, user training, or other system implementation services, please contact:
Erin Bell
Office (772) 237-2344
Cell (772) 979-5586
ebell@strategyu.com or strategyu@live.com
www.strategyu.com
Click here for a print-friendly version.
Happy New Year!
Spring semester usually means kicking off a new planning cycle and preparing the operating budget for the upcoming academic year. There are several tasks that must completed in SPOL in preparation for the work ahead.
1. Add New Planning Years
We often make future planning years available to users to support their planning for future projects. You might check your planning years to see how far into the future they go, and add any if necessary.
Instructions:
1.1 In the Admin module, System section, click on <Planning Years> to display all of the planning years in your system.
1.2 If you need to add more years, click on the <New Planning Year> button.
1.3 Enter the details of the planning year on the Planning Year Detail page:
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Field
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Type
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Content Description
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Example
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Planning Year
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text
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The name of the planning year
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2009-2010
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Start Date
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date
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The first day of planning year
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07/01/2009
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End Date
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date
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The last day of the planning year
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06/30/2010
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Current
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check box
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Check to make this year the default planning year, so that the records associated with the year will be automatically displayed
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P
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Active
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check box
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Check to indicate that this year is available for use
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P
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1.4 Click on the <save> icon.
2. Add Planning Years to Institutional Goals
The Institutional Goals are planning year-specific, so the next planning year must be added to each record that you wish to make available to users in the coming planning year.
Instructions:
2.1 In the Admin module, Planning section, click on <Institutional Goals> to display all of the records for a specific year.
2.2 Select the next planning year from the <Planning Year> drop-down and click on the <Search> button to see the records that are already tied to that planning year.
2.3 If no records are displayed, select the current planning year from the <Planning Year> drop-down and click on the <Search> button to display all of the records for the current year.
2.4 Click on a record to navigate to the Institutional Goal Detail page.
2.5 Toward the bottom of the page, click on <Add Planning Year> to navigate to the Planning Years Search page.
2.6 Click on a planning year to add it to the goal. (See image under 1.1 above.)
2.7 Click on the <save> icon at the top of the page to return to the Institutional Goal Search page. You may also click on the <back> icon, since the new planning year has already been saved to the goal.
2.8 Repeat steps 2.3 – 2.7 to add the next planning year to all of the appropriate goals.
2.9 If the goal has changed in any way, it is best to not edit the existing text of the goal if it has been used in prior planning years, because it will change the goal for all of those years. Instead, click on the <New College Goal> button to add a new goal. (See the image in 2.4 above.)
2.10 Enter the details of the institutional goal on the Institutional Goal Detail page:
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Field
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Type
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Content Description
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Example
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Goal Number
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numeric
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Determines the order in which the records will be displayed
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1
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Goal Category
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text
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If your goals fall into categories, enter the name of the category – if not, repeat the Goal Title
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Operational
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Goal Title
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text
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A short title for the goal – this will be displayed on the Objective Detail Page to identify the institutional goal(s) selected
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Access to Learning
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Goal Description
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text
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The complete text of the goal
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Provide the necessary land, facilities, information technology resources…
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2.11 Click the <save> icon.
2.12 If you wish to enter sub-goals for this goal, click the <Add Sub Goal> icon to expand the page and display the edit fields.
2.13 Enter the details of the sub-goal:
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Field
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Type
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Content Description
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Example
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Sub-Goal Number
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numeric
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Determines the order in which the sub-goal records will be displayed. NOTE that your sub-goals are numbered 1.1, 1.2, etc., simply number them in the system as 1, 2, etc. They are going to nest under the goal, which has the number before the decimal point.
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1
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Sub-Goal Title
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text
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A short title for the sub-goal. This will be displayed on the Objective Detail Page to identify the institutional sub-goal(s) selected.
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Access to Learning
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Sub-Goal Description
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text
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The complete text of the sub-goal.
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Provide the necessary land, facilities, information technology resources…
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2.14 Click the <Save> button below the sub-goal detail.
2.15 Repeat steps 2.12 – 2.14 to add another sub-goal to this goal.
2.16 To add the coming planning year to this goal, follow steps 2.5 – 2.8 above. If this goal is going to be in effect for a number of years in the future, you might add planning years beyond the upcoming year.
2.17 If you have any new goals for the coming year, begin at step 2.9 above to add a new goal.
3. Add Planning Years to Objective Types
The Objective Types are planning year-specific, so the next planning year must be added to each record that you wish to make available to users in the coming planning year.
Instructions:
3.1 In the Admin module, Planning section, click on <Objective Types> to display all of the records for a specific year.
3.2 Select the next planning year from the <Planning Year> drop-down and click on the <Search> button to see the records that are already tied to that planning year.
3.3 If no records are displayed, select the current planning year from the <Planning Year> drop-down and click on the <Search> button to display all of the records for the current year.
3.4 Click on a record to navigate to the Objective Type detail page.
3.5 Click on <Add Planning Year> to navigate to the Planning Years Search page.
3.6 Click on a planning year to add it to the objective type. (See image under 1.1 above.)
3.7 Click on the <save> icon at the top of the page to return to the Objective Type Search page. You may also click on the <back> icon, since the new planning year has already been saved to the record.
3.8 Repeat steps 3.3 – 3.7 to add the next planning year to all of the appropriate objective types.
3.9 If the objective type has changed in any way, it is best to not edit the existing text of the record if it has been used in prior planning years, because it will change the objective type for all of those years. Instead, click on the <New Objective Type> button to add a new record. (See the image in 3.4 above.)
3.10 Enter the details of the objective type on the Objective Type detail page:
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Field
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Type
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Content Description
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Example
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Objective Type
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text
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A short title for the objective type. This will be displayed on the Objective Detail Page to identify the objective type(s) selected.
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Accreditation Compliance
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Description
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text
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A description of the objective type. This might explain why a user would select this particular objective type.
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This objective supports an accreditation mandate or consists of strategies designed to address compliance…
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3.11 Click the <save> icon.
3.12 To add the coming planning year to this objective type, follow steps 3.5 – 3.8 above. If this objective type is going to be in effect for a number of years in the future, you might add planning years beyond the upcoming year.
3.13 If you have any new objective types for the coming year, begin at step 3.9 above to add a new record.
4. Add Planning Years to Planning Priorities
The Planning Priorities are planning year-specific, so the next planning year must be added to each record that you wish to make available to users in the coming planning year.
Instructions:
4.1 In the Admin module, Planning section, click on <Planning Priorities> to display all of the records for a specific year.
4.2 Select the next planning year from the <Planning Year> drop-down and click on the <Search> button to see the records that are already tied to that planning year.
4.3 If no records are displayed, select the current planning year from the <Planning Year> drop-down and click on the <Search> button to display all of the records for the current year.
4.4 Click on a record to navigate to the Objective Priority Detail page.
4.5 Click on <Add Planning Year> to navigate to the Planning Years Search page.
4.6 Click on a planning year to add it to the planning priority. (See image under 1.1 above.)
4.7 Click on the <save> icon at the top of the page to return to the Planning Priorities Search page. You can also click on the <back> icon, since the new planning year has already been saved to the record.
4.8 Repeat steps 4.3 – 4.7 to add the next planning year to all of the appropriate planning priorities.
4.9 If the planning priority has changed in any way, it is best to not edit the existing text of the record if it has been used in prior planning years, because it will change the planning priority for all of those years. Instead, click on the <New Planning Priority> button to add a new record. (See the image in 4.4 above.)
4.10 Enter the details of the planning priority on the Planning Priority Detail page:
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Field
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Type
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Content Description
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Example
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Planning Priority
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text
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A short title for the planning priority. This will be displayed on the Objective Detail Page to identify the planning priority(s) selected.
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Efficiency
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Priority Number
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numeric
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Determines the order in which the records will be displayed.
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1
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Description
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text
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A description of the planning priority. This might explain when an objective would fit within this particular planning priority.
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Operating at a more efficient level in order to maximize available resources.
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4.11 Click the <save> icon.
4.12 To add the coming planning year to this planning priority, follow steps 4.5 – 4.8 above. If this planning priority is going to be in effect for a number of years in the future, you might add planning years beyond the upcoming year.
4.13 If you have any new planning priorities for the coming year, begin at step 4.9 above to add a new record.
5. Import Budget Data
Budget data must be imported to initialize the budgets for the coming year and to provide users information upon which they can base their budget request decisions.
Instructions:
5.1 In the Admin module, System section, click on <Data Import> to navigate to the SPOL Data Importing page.
5.2 Under the Budget section, click on <Budget Data> to navigate to the Upload CSV File to Import page.
5.3 Click on the <download file format> button to open the document download window. This is a pop-up, so if the window doesn’t open, check your pop-up blockers. The Internet Explorer pop-up blocker will display a yellow banner across the top of the window, just beneath the toolbars. Right click on this banner and select “Always allow pop-ups from this site.” Be sure to also disable any other pop-up blockers, such as might be found on a Google or Yahoo toolbar.
5.4 Once the document download window opens, Internet Explorer will block the download. You will see a yellow banner at the top of the window as shown below. Click on the banner and choose “Download File” to begin the download.
5.5 When the file download dialog box opens, click on <Save> to save the Excel file to your computer.
5.6 Download the appropriate data from your finance system, manipulate the data as needed, and then copy it to the ImportBudgetData.csv file you downloaded from SPOL. Follow these guidelines:
· Do not change the column headings.
· Do not rearrange the order of the columns.
· Do not use any punctuation – all money values must be rounded to whole dollars.
· The account number columns should be in text format so that leading zeroes are not dropped.
· Save the file as a .csv file.
· You may change the name of the file, but keep the .csv extension.
The data to be imported is described in the following table. Refer to the image of the Budget Detail page below to see how the data is used by SPOL in the budget module.
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Column
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Content Description
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Example
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u
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Acct_Number_1
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The number used to identify a cost center is called an account number in SPOL. Account numbers can extend over three fields, which are separated by hyphens. Your account numbers are broken into some combination of these three fields.
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11110400
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Acct_Number_2
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141040
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Acct_Number_3
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41
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v
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GL_Code
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The number used to identify the object code or expenditure code. The GL code, together with the account number, creates a line in your chart of accounts
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625
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w
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Initial_Budget
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The budgeted amount at the beginning of the fiscal year. The % change is going to be calculated against the values in this column, so it should not be left blank. If your finance system does not preserve the original budgeted amount, repeat the modified budget in this column. You may want to populate this column with the a modified amount if you received budget cuts during the year that will not be recovered in the coming year. This column sets the baseline for % increase or decrease in the new budget requests.
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10000
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x
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Modified_Budget
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The current budget, which reflects any budget transfers made during the year.
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9800
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y
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Total_Expenditures
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Total expenditures for last year, which would be the last fiscal year ended.
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10251
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z
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YTD_Obligations
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The total of all encumbrances, expenditures, and obligations (funds in the requisition process that have not yet been encumbered or expensed).
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4756
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5.7 Click on the <Browse…> button and use the dialog box to find your saved .csv file. Click on filename, and then click the <Open> button to enter the filename and location in the <CSV File name> field. Click <Next>.
5.8 From the drop-down box, select the planning year that represents the next fiscal year – the year for which you will be preparing the budget.
5.9 If the file contains any new budget accounts that are not currently in SPOL, you will be given a list of these exceptions. Click on each record to provide any missing data and add the budget account to SPOL. If there are no exceptions, you will see no records in the list. Click <Next>.
5.10 If the file contains any new GL codes that are not currently in SPOL, you will be given a list of these exceptions. Click on each record to provide any missing data and add the GL code to SPOL. If there are no exceptions, you will see no records in the list. Click <Next>.
5.11 Select the fields that you are updating by clicking on the check boxes. If this is the first data import for the year and you have data entered in all money columns on the spreadsheet, you should select all of the fields. Click <Next>.
· If you have already initialized the budget and are simply updating the YTD Obligations and/or the Modified Budget, select those fields to overwrite the existing data.
· If you are adding more budget accounts, select all fields. The new data will be added to the budget accounts without overwriting any existing data.
5.12 The next page will display any data that currently exists in SPOL for the account numbers in the file. To continue and update this data, click <Next>.
5.13 The next page will list all of the data to be imported. Click <Next> to complete the import.
6. Lock Prior Year Budget
The budget should be locked for all prior planning years to ensure that users enter their budget requests in the correct year. The budget may already be locked from the end of the previous budget cycle, but it’s a good idea to check to be sure.
Instructions:
6.1 In the Admin module, Budget section, click on <Budget LockOut> to display all of the planning years and the locked status of the budget for each year.
6.2 In the <Locked Out> column, click on the current planning year and all previous years to lock the budget to users. If you had previously locked future planning years, click on the coming year to remove the check, opening it for the users to develop their budget requests.
6.3 Click on the <save> icon.
7. Change the Default Planning Year
Typically the current planning year is set as the default so that users will see current data when they login to SPOL. Because the system gets a lot of traffic during budget prep, and to ensure that users are inputting their budget requests correctly, you should change to default planning year to the coming planning year when you kick off the budget prep cycle.
Instructions:
7.1 In the Admin module, System section, click on <Planning Years>.
7.2 Click on the planning year that you wish to make current.
7.3 Click the <Current> check box, and then click on the <save> icon.
7.4 Notify your users that you’ve changed the default planning year so that they can find their current objectives.
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