Institutional Analyst

Overview:
Under the direction and guidance of IAP leadership, the Institutional Analyst (IA) is responsible for the development of databases, models, analyses, and reporting as well as communicating the results of analyses internal and external to IAP. The IA will proactively contribute to IAP’s mandate of providing data, advice, analytical and planning support to the Senior Leadership of the university to inform policy development, strategic planning, decision-making and priority-setting.

**Responsibilities**:
Institutional data analysis and reporting
- Supports indicator development and ongoing reporting for Waterloo operational and strategic measures
- Analyzes trends and patterns in university performance over time using various benchmarks and comparative data
- Prepares annual and customized reports and presentations for senior leadership and university governance bodies, including monitoring student enrolment, retention and graduation rates, student survey outcomes, etc.
- Prepares standard and customized reports and accountability submissions for the Ministry of Colleges & Universities (MCU), Council of Ontario Universities (COU), U15 Data Exchange and other consortia, university rankings agencies, Statistics Canada
- Uses external data from a variety of sources including Statistics Canada, in combination with institutional data to prepare analysis and reports that address research questions

Institutional data management
- Ensures that institutional data is accurate, consistent, properly maintained and shared in compliance with relevant privacy protection, confidentiality and other ethical principles
- Identifies and addresses data integrity/reliability issues and uses data cleaning processes to achieve required data quality standards
- Works with large data sets to perform data mining and complete statistical analyses
- Transforms, synthesizes, and cleanses data: identifies opportunities to reduce duplication and errors and to ensure consistency in data; identifies data integrity issues and proposes data cleansing processes to develop clear and consistent data quality standards
- Helps lead the adoption and standardization of new data analysis tools and techniques, in partnership with stakeholders across campus

Communication
- Develops accurate graphs, reports, dashboards and presentations to convey complex information in an understandable and compelling manner
- Creates business/analytical models and related user interfaces that allow stakeholders to self-serve and explore planning parameters
- Ensures data and information is placed into the proper context by combining university data with both qualitative and quantitative environmental/external data and appropriate narrative
- Communicates with technical and non-technical users to gather data and data system requirements, reporting requirements, consolidate and document technical data requirements, transform data into visualizations, and assist with project planning
- Ensures timely communication to University leadership, managers, campus support units, Faculties, departments, research groups, appropriate staff through appropriate media, of developments and projects; also communicates on any related events that have the potential to directly or indirectly impact normal services
- Serves on University, and as appropriate, non-University committees and groups, offering data and analytical expertise and fostering data information sharing and collaborative approaches on a variety of projects
- Liaises with other departments campus-wide in providing technical support and guidance (e.g., IST)

Student supervision
- Assists with coaching, training and co-op student development to assure student growth and development
- Provides input into regular performance reviews with direct report(s), and supports achievement of performance goals
- Assists with making decisions on the hiring of his/her direct report(s), in consultation with the Managers, Institutional Analysis and Planning

The Institutional Analyst will support the following areas of work within the IAP office
- Budget and Planning
- Budget modelling: develops, maintains, and refines institutional models and associated business processes. Works with other stakeholders to prepare the annual institutional budget
- Financial viability analyses: develops financial viability models and prepares associated analyses in support of overall academic program approval processes
- Policy and Enrolment Planning
- Policy analysis: evaluation of government policy objectives, directions, and developments in order to assess the potential impacts of policy changes (e.g. tuition frameworks, strategic mandate agreements, and government funding formula changes). Support to the development and revision of internal policies stemming from government directives and requirements
- Enrolment planning: Support to enrolment planning and forecasting initiatives in relation to both short and long range planning efforts, reven