DENVER, April 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- TopSchool, a leading SaaS provider of Student Lifecycle Management (SLM) solutions for higher education, recently held its Product Advisory Board meeting where education experts and college leaders discussed the importance of data, and specifically, which key performance indicators (KPIs) are critical in shaping success along the student lifecycle.

TopSchool's Product Advisory Board discussed the various stages of the student lifecycle from prospect to placement. In addition to identifying general data points, the group recognized KPIs they felt were important for schools to track and report on in order to measure where they are today, understand where they can improve and forecast where they want to be.  These specific data points include the following:

Marketing:

• Time to convert
• Campus visitation rate by lead source
• Leads that convert by program by source
• Effectiveness of content (collateral & messages)

Enrollment Management:

• Length of admissions process
• Activity by admissions representative by start
• Percent of students who change programs

Academics:

• Average absentee rates by program
• Drop-out rate by course, instructor and length in program
• Instructor effectiveness in driving attendance rates

Student Services:

• Activity by student services representative
• Highest risk students

Student Finance:

• At-risk students by debt load
• Aging receivables
• Payment source percentages

Career Services:

• Placement rate by career services representative
• Number of employer contacts made
• Average number of days between graduation and placement
• Number of students who are self employed

"While a lot of schools today are mindful of the data they need to track within marketing and enrollment, there clearly is a need to look at student activity and support across the entire education lifecycle," said Chris Chumley, who serves as vice president of Product Development at TopSchool and leads the Product Advisory Board.  "By managing and reporting on key performance indicators throughout the education process and into job placement, schools can more effectively use data to grow their programs.  While this may be a relatively new territory to navigate, it is encouraging to see educators starting to think about these other areas, and we believe this will become a more integral part of a school's student data management processes going forward."

TopSchool will hold its next Product Advisory Board meeting in Grapevine, Texas, prior to the APSCU Annual Convention on June 6, 2011. The group is seeking additional members, and interested educators should contact TopSchool at PAB@topschoolinc.com.

SOURCE TopSchool