Academic department and administrative unit heads are responsible for the first step in building a compact plan by developing, with colleagues in their respective units, a document using the format described below. This document will be refined through a series of two to three meetings. Final compacts are completed, and executive summaries are published at the end of the planning cycle.

I. Introduction

Provide a brief overview of the unit: its mission, primary functions, composition, and size.

Provide a context for the initiatives that follow by briefly describing:

• how the unit has contributed to achievement of university goals in the last few years. (See Section II.A below.)
• the unit's goals and aspirations. Describe the next level the unit is working to reach, whether that level is defined by higher rankings and/or by expanding its reach and impact. (See Section II.B below.)
• key findings from recent evaluations of the unit and its programs, such as assessment, program or accreditation reviews, consultant reports, or other customer assessments. Summarize key issues surfaced during a review of performance on selected measures. (See Section II.D below.)
• efforts associated with the unit's and/or university's enrollment plan. Academic units should indicate the kinds of programs targeted for expansion, and all units should describe the strategies to be employed to support enrollment targets. (See Section III.D below.)

Include any other information that provides a useful context for the compact plan. Please restrict this section to two pages or less.

II. Initiatives

The substance of the compact is in the initiatives and accompanying objectives, schedule, resource needs, and outcome measures.

Five Kinds of Initiatives

Please consider initiatives associated with each of the following five categories:

• those contributing to achievement of university goals, including diversity, partnerships, and operational efficiencies.
• those contributing to the university's planning for "Student Learning in a Technology-Rich Environment", the focus of NC State's current accreditation endeavor.
• those contributing to achievement of unit-specific goals and aspirations.
• those that will improve the unit's performance on selected performance measures.
• those supporting established targets for enrollment growth.

A. Initiatives Supporting University Goals

In 1998, the deans and vice chancellors identified three goals for enhancing the university as a whole:

• building a diverse and inclusive campus community, fostering demographic and intellectual diversity.
• fostering new partnerships, both internally and externally.
• adopting a new business model that embraces efficiency and accountability.

Include in this section initiatives that contribute to achieving any of these university goals.

B. Initiatives Contributing to the University's Planning for "Student Learning in a Technology-Rich Environment"

NC State is developing a comprehensive plan to improve student learning
through enhanced use of technology (see suggestions for initiatives).

Include initiatives that will accelerate the movement to a learning-oriented
culture and use technology to facilitate student success, such as: improving
technology fluency among students, faculty, and staff; expanding distance
education; diffusing technology innovations into on-campus learning;
expanding technology-based learning and teaching tools; assessing the
effectiveness of these strategies; on-line student services and advising tools; or
others.

C. Initiatives Supporting Unit-Specific Goals and Aspirations

Consistent with your introductory comments and any strategic planning in which your unit has engaged, develop initiatives designed to support achievement of your unit's goals and aspirations.

Include initiatives designed to improve the quality and rankings of your programs, to expand their reach, and/or to enhance their effectiveness.

D. Initiatives Supporting Improved Performance

Some initiatives may be required to improve unit performance. In order to demonstrate to ourselves and to communicate to our constituencies that we are committed to improving quality and service, each unit monitors its effectiveness and efficiency and develops initiatives designed to improve performance.

Attach to the compact the list of the performance measures or "dashboard indicators" the unit uses to monitor the performance of its primary functions. Include trend data indicating the unit's performance and provide data definitions as appropriate. Unit performance, as indicated by these data are reviewed at least once a year as part of the annual compact plan update and budget review process.

The provost has identified common measures to be considered by each college, and University Planning and Analysis (UPA) provides trend data for these measures. In addition, the provost requires each college to select at least three additional measures that describe aspects of its performance not captured by the common measures.

UPA is prepared to assist both academic and administrative units by providing data from available university sources and by helping to identify appropriate measures and to make use of the data. UPA provides related information on the web as follows. (Call for URL).

• Discussion and examples of performance indicators
• Trend data on common college performance indicators
• University peer comparisons
• NC State student, alumni, and employer survey results

In combination with your unit's performance on these measures, consider the results of recent assessment activities, program or accreditation reviews, consultants' reports, relevant reports or analyses, survey results, or any other evaluations. Compare this performance to peers' wherever appropriate and possible.

Highlight the key findings in the introduction to your compact plan and develop initiatives designed to improve performance.

E. Initiatives Supporting Enrollment Targets

NC State plans to increase on-campus enrollment to 31,000 and distance education enrollment to 5,000 by 2010 (see university enrollment plan). The deans are negotiating college targets for the 2003-05 biennium and for 2010 with the provost via the Enrollment Planning and Retention Committee.

Include initiatives that would be necessary to support enrollment growth within your unit and/or across the university, as appropriate.

Format
For each initiative, provide the following information:

• a short title.
• a clear description of the initiative and the objectives to be achieved by implementing it.
• strategies for implementing the initiative. Describe and explain the actions to be taken, who is responsible for these actions, deliverables, and implementation schedule. Actions should be consistent with financial reality; if contingent upon new funding, describe those contingencies and, if appropriate, alternative approaches if new funding does not materialize.
• a clear description of the desired outcomes of the initiative and how the those outcomes will be assessed. Include baseline data if possible.
• on the summary spreadsheet, a summary of resources associated with successfully implementing the initiative and achieving its outcomes. This resource spreadsheet is required only for deans and vice chancellors; deans and vice chancellors will request the spreadsheet from subunits if desired.

Please limit each initiative to two pages or less.

Codicils
When two or more units collaborate on a single initiative, a codicil is written and signed by the head of each partner unit. These codicils follow the same format as other initiatives and appear in the compact plans of each partner.

Choosing Initiatives
Some initiatives may take two or more years to complete, and some may be completed within a single year. In either case, outline the steps and deliverables to be completed through 2003-04 and summarize steps (if any) for the two subsequent years (2004-05 and 2005-06.

The compact plan may include initiatives that:

• are carried forward from a previous compact and/or new ones introduced in this cycle. (Indicate whether initiatives carried forward were selected for funding and if so by what source.)
• describe new activities and/or improve the quality and effectiveness of existing activities, such as infrastructure improvements.
• require new funding and/or redirect existing resources.

The compact plan need not be limited to new programs and services, and it need not cover the entire range of activities in a unit. Instead, focus on the unit's highest priority activities for the planning period.

Resources for Initiatives
Many initiatives will require funds from multiple revenue sources for full implementation. It is not necessary to restrict the compact to those whose resource requirements can be funded in 2003-04 or to those for which new resources have been guaranteed. Implementation schedules, outcomes, and deliverables may be contingent upon resources or other actions, and those contingencies should be described.

Deans and vice chancellors should summarize new resource requirements associated with each initiative (if any) on the spreadsheet provided. Academic departments and administrative units need not prepare spreadsheets unless requested by the dean or vice chancellor to whom they report. A different spreadsheet can be developed for each fiscal year. Resource needs are divided into those for which the unit requests new funds and those that the unit will fund itself through reallocation, fund-raising, or another source of its own.

III. Summary

List by the date promised and by short title the actions to be completed within 2003-04.

Appendices
Compacts of subunits need not be appended.