Metropolitan Community College

Metropolitan Community College: Transforming Strategic Planning and Institutional Effectiveness Through Data-Driven Innovation

Overview

Metropolitan Community College (MCC), Missouri's oldest community college, serves more than 20,000 students annually across its five campuses. Its strategic planning process aligns organizational goals with measurable outcomes. With ClearPoint Strategy software, the college turned its institutional effectiveness program from a manual process into a data-driven system that energizes its team and supports decisions.

About Metropolitan Community College

Metropolitan Community College (MCC) is the oldest public institution of higher learning in Kansas City, Missouri. It was the first community college established in Missouri. MCC educates about 20,000 students annually through credit and noncredit courses. MCC has five campuses: MCC-Blue River, MCC-Longview, MCC-Maple Woods, MCC-Online and MCC-Penn Valley. Its mission is preparing students, serving communities, and creating opportunities for all. Its Board of Trustees adopted the strategic plan, MCC Reimagined, on November 18, 2021.

The Foundation: Two Guiding Principles

When MCC revamped its strategic plan during the COVID-19 pandemic, it recognized that alignment and buy-in would be critical. Two tenets emerged that shaped the approach:

1. "If it gets measured, it gets managed"
2. "Strategy is all about choices"

These principles, combined with the college's mission, values, and vision, became the foundation of its three-tiered strategic planning framework.

MCC's Three-Level Strategic Planning Architecture

Level 1: MCC Reimagined

The highest level is a ten-year strategic plan with four key themes ("MCC's 4 Es") and 14 overall organizational goals. Drawing on the Balanced Scorecard Framework, MCC organized goals by perspective so that all stakeholders' viewpoints were represented.

Level 2: MCC's Playbook

This operational level contains actionable plans across campuses and shared services, outlining specific deliverables that advance the strategic goals.

Level 3: Institutional Effectiveness Planning (IEP) Cycles

The most granular level involves annual reporting cycles for each of the college's 61 planning units, all housed within ClearPoint Strategy.

The Institutional Effectiveness Planning Process

MCC's IEP cycle serves as a systematic mechanism for data-driven evaluation of operations and processes. As Amie Kendall, Senior Project Lead at MCC's Office of Enterprise Project Management, Planning & Institutional Effectiveness, explains: "The IEP cycle serves as a mechanism for the college to engage in ongoing, systematic, and data-driven evaluations of our operations and processes."

The Annual Cycle

June - Opening the Loop:

• Each of the 61 planning units establishes four annual goals
• Three goals are unique to the department
• One Global Goal aligns with the college's overarching annual objective
• For each goal, managers identify tactics, performance measures, and targets

Throughout the Year:

• Metrics and progress are continuously tracked in ClearPoint
• Real-time data analysis informs decision-making
• Cross-department collaboration is facilitated through shared visibility

May - Closing the Loop:

• Leadership reviews lessons learned
• Departments request necessary resources for the next fiscal year
• Performance data is analyzed and compared across units and previous cycles

The Transformation: From Manual to Digital

The Challenge

Before ClearPoint, MCC's IEP process was hindered by inefficiency:

• 61 planning units submitted individual PDF reports
• Tactics were tracked in Excel spreadsheets
• Changes required redistributing forms to all participants
• Reports were stored in SharePoint folders
• Administrators had to manually read every form to assess goal achievement
• Knowledge sharing between departments was limited

The Solution: ClearPoint Strategy

MCC partnered with ClearPoint to change its institutional effectiveness process. The software platform, customized and branded as "ClearWolf" (after the college's mascot), added several capabilities:

Streamlined Processes:

• Automated data collection and analysis
• Color-coded fields indicating update timelines
• Automatic redirection to specific planning unit pages
• Updates completed within an hour instead of days

Enhanced Visualization and Reporting:

• Real-time dashboards aggregating information across all units
• Visual tracking of goal progress and strategic theme alignment
• Comparative analysis across departments and IEP cycles
• Natural demonstration of alignment through tagging features

Improved Collaboration:

• Centralized information repository
• Cross-campus and cross-department visibility
• Dedicated 'Launch Page' for managers to connect and collaborate
• Knowledge sharing across the entire organization

Impact and Results

ClearPoint has delivered these benefits to MCC:

Operational Efficiency

• Less time required for updates and reporting
• No more manual PDF form management
• Automated data analysis providing real-time insights

Cultural Transformation

• Enhanced culture of assessment throughout the college
• Increased employee engagement at all levels
• Rejuvenated institutional effectiveness process
• Positive feedback from planning unit managers

As Amie Young notes: "Our managers feel more connected to the process and are more energized to make updates. ClearPoint has rejuvenated the whole process here at the College. We've received nothing but positive feedback."

Strategic Alignment

• Natural alignment across planning components
• Clear demonstration of interrelationships between strategic elements
• Balanced focus across all strategic themes
• Direct connection between daily operations and long-term goals

Accreditation Support

The streamlined process has impressed accreditation boards, including the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). The centralized tracking system in ClearPoint makes it easy to:

• Prepare required accreditation reports
• Demonstrate continuous improvement efforts
• Showcase strategic alignment and data-driven decision-making

Looking Forward

MCC's plans for ClearPoint Strategy included:

• Further expand automation capabilities
• Enhance focus on accreditation requirements
• Continue strengthening alignment between strategic plan components
• Share their success model with other institutions

Key Takeaways

MCC's experience shows how strategic vision, systematic processes, and enabling technology can improve institutional effectiveness. Working from the principles that "what gets measured gets managed" and "strategy is all about choices," MCC has built a planning process that:

• Reduces administrative burden while increasing strategic focus
• Empowers department leaders with real-time data and insights
• Fosters collaboration across organizational boundaries
• Maintains continuous improvement as a living practice rather than an annual exercise
• Provides clear accountability and transparency at all organizational levels

MCC continues to serve its 20,000+ students while adapting to changes in community college education.

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