Hand surrounding strategic words with the SPARC logo in the middle

Empowering Leaders with Data to Drive Enhanced Decision-Making​

In 2021, UMass identified the need for campuses to have a systemwide tool that provides information on student enrollment, operational effectiveness, and overall financial health.​ The Strategic Planning Analytics and Reporting for Campuses (SPARC) was collaboratively developed with academic and non-academic stakeholders to provide data for strategic decision-making.​ While it cannot answer all questions, SPARC provides the tools to ask better questions.​

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“SPARC empowers campus leaders to make informed, strategic decisions by providing clear visibility into enrollment trends, operational effectiveness, and financial health. While it cannot answer all questions, SPARC enables us to ask better ones - helping campus leadership measure impact, identify areas of strength and opportunity, and drive the coordinated decisions that will position UMass for continued success.”
Lisa A. Calise
Senior Vice President of Administration and Finance & Treasurer

The Value of SPARC

SPARC provides best-in-class access to data from disparate source systems, helping to address challenges faced by higher education.​ By utilizing the SPARC dashboard, you can: 

Measure Strategy Effectiveness​

  • Student recruitment in key states and regions.​
  • Impact of financial aid programs.  ​
  • Savings optimization for system-wide contract adoption. 

Reduce Delays & Identify Opportunities​

  • Manage expiring federal grants and contracts.​
  • Inform strategic budget and faculty resource allocations.​
  • Spot opportunities or gaps by geographic area (students, suppliers, etc.).

Drive Strategic Decision Making​

  • Explore enrollment opportunities for programs with capacity.​
  • Optimize student tuition pricing.​
  • Identify new system-wide procurement contract opportunities.

The Latest Innovations at SPARC

SPARC is actively evaluating interface enhancements, including exploring a more streamlined design, AI-assisted insights, and clearer analytics to help surface the most useful information for leaders.

Access the SPARC Dashboard

UMPO A&F offers several dashboards that utilize the power of SPARC. Below are direct links to additional dashboards for your convenience. Please note you may first need to request access to utilize each of the available dashboards.

SPARC Dashboard

Strategic Planning Analytics and Reporting for Campuses

Procurement Insights

Specialized Dashboard focused specifically on procurement (Formerly SPARC Pro)

Research Insights

Specialized Dashboard focused specifically on research (Formerly SPARC Research)

Resources

Our Knowledge Base has been curated to provide helpful information and tips for using SPARC. Topic covered include:

Requesting Support

Do you have questions or would you like to learn more about SPARC? Contact the A&F Support Services Team: