As you know, discussions have taken place over the last year on the need for more current information than 18 month old data to effectively represent the WTC System.  We are requesting a new data submission that will assist the System with more current enrollment information as we begin the State Biannual Budget deliberations. 

This new data submission plan has been discussed at meetings with Administrative Services and Student Service Committees, as well as meetings of the Chief Information Officers.  District staff, to date, has not expressed concern about their respective abilities to implement this new requirement, even if it was requested on a monthly basis.  In particular, we were advised that if the reporting format requirements were kept identical to the current Client Reporting requirements that colleges could readily provide a fall report; so that is what we are requesting.

Districts are asked to submit current year (FY 2004-2005) Client Reporting data for the Summer Session and for the Fall Semester enrollments on record as of October 15^th.  This enrollment cutoff date will also allow us to correspond it to IPEDS data that colleges are currently required to file with the federal government.  Matching the reporting timeframe with the data already required by the federal government for IPEDS we hope should make this data submission very feasible.

We are requesting that this data be submitted to the System Office by November 15, 2004.   We will be flexible on the November submission date given the fact that some colleges are doing ERP version conversions and the lateness of this request.  So please let our staff know if there are issues with this timeframe by your college. 

We will extract current year program and course enrollment information, including Basic Education, as well as the student demographic data from this fall information.  We will also expect Grant Activity Records to be reported, however it would be impractical to try to report outcomes at that point in time; but will use this information to provide information on how many people are being served. 

We will also expect similar reporting in February 2005 for Spring Semester data.  This is not a huge change from prior years’ reporting requirements, but we will be stressing its importance more than we have in the past.  This will give us further updated information for budget advocacy that will be helpful in the forthcoming legislative session.

This new reporting requirement will also be a specific topic on the agenda at the annual Client Reporting meeting that will be held October 26^th.  This meeting will be very timely to discuss and clarify the new reporting requirements with your staff.  Should significant issues be identified at the Client meeting related to this new requirement there will be an opportunity to address them before the November report date and make adjustments to better enable the colleges to report the needed data.

Rest assured, our staff will work with your college staff to resolve any issues, accommodate conflicts with other college priorities, and will communicate to your Client Reporting staff the technical details of how to report the data. 

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you have at 608-266-2947 or at greg.wagner@wtcsystem.edu .