Criterion 7:
Measuring Effectiveness
February 13, 2008
Members present: Paul Heintz, Janice Michael, Kathi Richards,
Jane Salisbury, Becky Telford, Mona Walters
Absent:
Chip Hare, Susie Wise
Dr. Salisbury
reviewed the team action project goal statement for the team:
Our-cross functional team has designed a three-pronged Action Project
that will address the college’s needs for student record storage while
protecting personal information and abiding by all FERPA, HIPPAA,
specialized state and federal requirements, and program
licensing/certification requirements. It is our intent to develop
processes and capabilities that will reduce error, limit record
duplication, and decrease the possibility for any type of identity
theft. Included in our project will be the researching of digital
imaging techniques that are more environmentally friendly than paper
storage along with possible grant funding.
The team
spent time reviewing the information on type of records, storage,
retention practices, and disposal of records from Admissions Office,
Registrar Office, Business Office, Darke County Campus, Financial Aid
Office, and the Early Childhood Education, Nursing, and Human Services
programs. There was discussion about the differences in terminology
used to designate students based on their attendance and the processes
used to determine which records could be destroyed. Specific questions
were raised about the definition for “storage” and which practices were
just practices and which were formal written policies.
The team also
spent time looking for commonalities between departments and offices to
determine what could be starting points for formalized practice
guidelines to reduce the number of multiple practices across different
departments. Further discussion also centered about the usefulness of
digital imaging – would it be a help or a hindrance and how would access
be determined? It was also apparent that there may be other
departments who handle student records that were not included in the
initial survey. Dr. Salisbury will be sending out a college-wide email
asking that anyone who handles student records has an opportunity to
provide the same input as departments/offices already surveyed, with
specific mention made of bookstore and new health care programs as
additional departments with specific student record practices.
The team
agreed by consensus that further efforts will be focused on:
1.
Physical location of records
2.
Who has access to records
3.
How physically secure are the records
4.
What disaster plans (tornado, flood, fire)
are in place/need to be in place to minimize risk of accidental release
of sensitive information
5.
What records absolutely have to have a student
social security number and what records are sufficiently identified with
the student ID generated in Datatel to reduce the usage of the social
security number.
Next meeting
will be convened in several weeks with date and time to be determined.
