University of Michigan. Office of Academic Planning and Analysis.

Unit of the Office of Vice President for Academic Affairs, established in 1974 for purpose of conducting research on academic administration at University of Michigan and coordinating evaluation and planning activities of the VPAA and units under its juridiction. Successor of the Office of Institutional Research.

The Office of Academic Planning and Analysis (OAPA) was founded as the Office of Institutional Research in 1962. Dr. Donald Lelong was the Director of the office from 1967 to 1973. Under Lelong's direction, steps were taken to align the activities of the office to support university-wide systematic and comprehensive planning. In 1973, the office was renamed to the Office of Academic Planning and Analysis due to a subsequent administrative reorganization. It was at this time that the office acquired new responsibilities including developing planning structure and procedures, conducting specific evaluation and planning studies, and evaluating and planning data to aid in decision making.1 The office also transferred back to reporting to the Vice-President for Academic Affairs from reporting to the Office of the Vice-President for State Relations and Planning from 1969 to 1973.

Through the 1970s the office continue to evolve from data collection to strategic planning. One such project that moved the office towards strategic planning activities built on the work of the three committees overseen by the Office of Budgets and Planning (Long Term Planning, Program Evaluation, and Budget Priorities). In 1974, the OAPA developed an evaluation and planning project linking evaluation of academic units to planning and budgeting activities within the Office of Academic Affairs. As originally conceived, the project was to be implemented in three phases over a three year period. The ultimate goal of the project was to improve the processes by which the university: a) evaluated its activities and programs, b) established priorities, and c) allocated resources. A series of grants were obtained from the Carnegie Foundation beginning in 1975 to conduct case studies of the planning process at other universities and to formulate procedures for the Evaluation and Planning Project. The project encompassed academic units (colleges, schools, and departments) academically related units, and academic service units. Impetus for the project came in part from the budget crisis the university faced in the mid-1970s.

In Phase I of the project, each unit answered an OAPA questionnaire designed to elicit an articulation of the unit's objectives and their operational implications. Phase II consisted of the evaluation of each unit's operations in light of the objectives stated in Phase I. In Phase III, each unit delineated preferred courses of actions and contingency alternatives based on the results of Phase I and Phase II. This resulted in a "Memorandum of Understanding" between the unit and OAPA intended to serve as operating guidelines for the unit over the next five years. Although originally seen as an ongoing process of periodic review, the Evaluation and Planning Project was significantly altered and eventually abandoned as a distinct project when Harold Shapiro succeeded Frank Rhodes as Vice President for Academic Affairs in 1977.

The office again changed its name in 1997 to the Office of Budget and Planning. The office reports to Associate Vice President for Budget, Planning and Administration within the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. Glenna Schweitzer currently serves as the Director of the office (2002). The office provides online access to the Standard Survey Response Document (SSRD) and University Common Data Set. This information is available at http://www.umich.edu/~oapainfo.