Data on Miami University is now more readily available, thanks to the new online Fact Book.

Implemented by the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness (OIRE), the Fact Book provides an overview of Miami created with fall term official data. While previous Fact Books existed in PDF form, the new version was designed to be user-friendly.

“We wanted a way we could present the same data but in a way that would be easier to update every year,” said Padma Patil, associate vice president of OIRE.

Sections include enrollment, socioeconomic status, retention, and more.

Patil credited Michael Light, associate director, and Chay Reigle, research analyst, for their work on the project.

Light said modernizing the Fact Book served to align with official data reported to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and also allow users to sort through the information for answers to high-level questions. This helps the Fact Book to support not only the university but also the broader public.

“The new Fact Book is able to address the needs of our external audiences while also proving useful to internal audiences who are wanting to dig into Miami’s data in regards to their own areas,” Light said.

Reigle said the Fact Book was designed to be straightforward, but there is also room to dig deeper into the data by using filters and additional dashboards for a more nuanced view of Miami.

“Perhaps most importantly, the data driving the dashboards is official Miami data that has been validated by OIRE,” Reigle said. “We encourage anyone who has questions about how to navigate or interpret the dashboards to reach out to us directly, and we will be happy to assist you.”

Being able to provide consistent data to all users was a key goal of the project, and the Fact Book will be updated yearly. Work on the project began in the fall, and the Fact Book was officially launched in May.