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University of Maine at Fort Kent

Planning and Evaluation

University of Maine at Fort Kent • 23 University Drive, Fort Kent, ME 04743

Administrative Unit Outcomes (AUOs)

An administrative unit outcome (AUO) is a statement about what a client will experience, receive or understand as a result of a given service.

A client can be anyone receiving a service, such as:

  • A UMFK student
  • A faculty member
  • A staff member
  • A parent or a high school

A service can include the following:

  • Training sessions
  • Campus store services
  • Professional development
  • Business Office window services, etc.

AUOs are statements that identify client responses to a certain service that your department provides. They identify activities that are critical and central to the unit. Designed and developed by your department, these statements provide evidence that positive client reaction has occurred as a result of a specific service.

Example: Printing Services department has the following AUO: "Faculty will experience improved access to printing services by making it easy to submit print jobs via the web."

Other Examples:

  • ESL - The ESL Team will improve the percentage of complete data sets (intake, test, and update forms) required to report benchmark gains to (funding agency).
  • Library - Patrons will be satisfied with the library facilities.
  • Nursing - Employers will be satisfied with the educational preparation of UMFK nursing students.
  • Food Services - Sodexo dining services will increase student usage of the Dining Services card.
  • Bridge Program - Students enrolled in tow additional English clusters added to Summer Bridge 2010 will have an increase retention rate of 30% above a standalone English 67 and 68 courses.
  • Career/Transfer Services - Increase student, faculty and staff awareness of Career Placement and Transfer activities, events and services.
  • Mailroom - The Mail Services unit will provide timely and accurate mail services campus-wide.

Assessment Methods for AUOs

  • Focus groups
  • Surveys
  • Pre-/ Post- analysis
  • Interviews

Eight-Step Process for AUOs

  1. Preliminary discussion
    Schedule meeting with staff to brainstorm ideas for outcomes. Review departmental goals, enrollment plans, etc. to help you determine departmental outcomes.
  2. AUO Statements
    Develop a list of measurable AUO statements.
  3. Assessment Plan
    Develop an assessment plan for each AUO.
  4. Data Collection
    Assess student learning or client experiences.
  5. Data analysis and summary
    Aggregate and analyze the data.
  6. Develop Recommendations -- Closing the loop
    Develop a list of recommendations.
    • Determine ways to use the data and make applicable revisions to the departmental processes and the outcomes.
    • If recommendation(s) involve cost, a budget is needed. List recommendations in order of priority.
  7. Documentation and Planning
    Submit your AUOs to the Institutional Effectiveness Committee (IEC) and upload AUOs into IEC's website.
  8. Resource allocation
    IEC will review departmental priorities and may recommend revisions. Then it will forward departmental priorities to the Budget Committee for review and resource allocation.