ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan recently honored three business intelligence (BI) innovations that not only save time and resources for their own unit or business function, but show promise for use elsewhere in the University?and beyond.

U-M established the Business Intelligence Data-into-Action Awards to encourage staff to share their BI practices, increase awareness and educate others in the University community. The award program honors recipients with cash prizes totaling up to $12,000. This year’s award winners are:

? Patient Safety Indicator Case Review System (PSI-CRS)?University of Michigan Health System.

? Key Performance Indicators (KPI) System?College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

? M-Reports?Michigan Administrative Information Services (MAIS).

“The Business Intelligence Awards identify best practices that can be replicated to provide business value across campus. It truly is a return on investment for the University of Michigan,” said Laura Patterson, associate vice president for MAIS. “The real power of BI is that we are able to leverage our investment in Enterprise Resource Planning systems for people throughout the University to make data-driven decisions.”

In its inaugural year, the 2007 Business Intelligence Data-into-Action Awards prompted 11 nominated projects. The winning projects have since been put to use by more than a dozen other units on campus, significantly improving revenue capabilities, trend identification and the allocation of resources. 2007 award winners were:

? Scholarship Match Tool?College of Engineering.

? M-Dash?Medical School.

? 340B Virtual Inventory Management and Compliance Application?Pharmacy Services.

U-M is promoting campus-wide adoption of BI as a strategic decision-making tactic by connecting experts at the University. The culture change goal, which began in 2006, is to develop a virtual Business Intelligence Competency Center to support a highly decentralized campus.

“Business intelligence is not just technology. It is a powerful management approach that can deliver knowledge, improve the quality of decisions and drive a more effective use of resources,” said Tim Slottow, executive vice president and chief financial officer. “BI provides the means to work smarter and will ultimately shape the future of this University.”

Guided by a strategic oversight group, the BI Council sponsors forums and networking groups for the U-M community to share solutions, talk about ideas and develop skills.

As campus awareness and education toward the use of data for decision-making purposes improves, more and more units have created BI solutions that can be leveraged across campus. The 181-percent increase in BI Award nominations from the previous year validates the culture change efforts are paying dividends.

“Through a people-focused culture, the University has successfully leveraged the confidence, enthusiasm and support of its leadership, faculty and staff,” Patterson said. “When the BI community was formed in 2006, many members had a narrow focus and only considered unit-specific solutions. Now the demand for BI applications outpaces our ability to deliver solutions to all of campus. Consequently, a new Business Intelligence division was created in December 2007, enabling the University to increase its BI capabilities and services.”

2008 awards