Overview
The Fiscal Year 2026–2027 (FY27) Institutional Operational Plan (IOP) is ICC's roadmap of key projects for the year. It includes multidivisional work from the Strategic Plan and institution-wide projects that support belonging, student success, enrollment growth, employee support, and institutional sustainability. This page is updated as work progresses.
Quarter One (Q1) Progress
Quarter One is complete. Of the 33 FY27 tasks, 5 were due in Q1, and all 5 are complete. All 6 objectives and their 8 outcomes are in progress and on target.
Objective 1: Process Optimization – Workday and Slate
Status: In progress and on target
Outcome 1.1
Establish a fully operational Workday Student platform for the 2027–2028 academic year, ensuring processes are validated, staff are trained, and institutional data integrity is maintained, enabling ICC to retire legacy systems and deliver a seamless experience for students and employees.
Completed in Q1
- 1.1a. Validate data and test business processes through end-to-end testing to support the 1st Move to Production (MTP1) of Workday Student functions by Q1.
Remaining (Q2–Q4)
- 1.1b. Validate data and test business processes through 2nd Move to Production (MTP2) and SF parallel testing to support User Readiness Review by Q2.
- 1.1c. Validate data, test business processes, and train users through Mock Semester and MTP2 of Workday Student functions by Q3.
- 1.1d. Validate data, business processes, and facilitate user acceptance and adoption by Q4.
Outcome 1.2
Expand Slate CRM functionality to improve student support, improve scholarship access, and centralize CCE program engagement, directly contributing to retention, financial aid management, and enrollment pipeline.
Completed in Q1
- 1.2a. Implement a faculty and advisor-facing early alert portal to support student intervention and retention by Q1.
Remaining (Q2–Q4)
- 1.2b. Implement a Slate-based scholarship application and matching process to align students with eligible awards by Q3.
- 1.2c. Implement Slate to centralize application and event tracking for Corporate and Community Education programs by Q4.
Outcome 1.3
Deploy remaining Workday Platform modules to complete ICC's integrated ERP ecosystem, improving automation, data visualization, and employee experience while reducing manual workflows across divisions.
Remaining (Q2–Q4)
- 1.3a. Implement Workday Platform modules related to Learning, Help, Journeys, Peakon, Planning, Prism, and Extend to improve functionality, automation, and data visualizations by Q2.
Objective 2: Regional Education Gap Analysis
Status: In progress and on target
Outcome 2.1
Conduct Regional Education Gap Analysis and Community College Baccalaureate Readiness.
Remaining (Q2–Q4)
- 2.1a. Conduct a regional analysis to identify unmet bachelor's-level education and workforce needs within the ICC community college district, with particular attention to workforce-shortage areas, student access barriers, employer demand, and gaps not fully addressed by existing transfer, university partnership, or workforce pathways by Q2.
- 2.1b. Evaluate a range of potential solutions to address identified regional education gaps, including strengthened transfer pathways, expanded university partnerships, applied associate-to-bachelor's pathways, stackable credentials, employer-sponsored models, and Community College Baccalaureate options if authorized by future Illinois legislation by Q4.
- 2.1c. Identify a limited number of potential Community College Baccalaureate candidate areas that could be explored further if Illinois legislation is approved by Q4.
Objective 3: Employer Microcredential Structure
Status: In progress and on target
Outcome 3.1
Build a scalable, employer-responsive microcredential structure that streamlines cross-divisional collaboration, maps professional credentials to academic credit pathways, and connects students to in-demand careers, reducing time to completion and expanding workforce-aligned credential attainment across the region.
Completed in Q1
- 3.1a. Create microcredential oversight committee in coordination with curriculum committee by Q1.
Remaining (Q2–Q4)
- 3.1b. Train faculty and staff on SOP, development and approval processes, and documentation expectations by Q2.
- 3.1c. Launch a unified marketing and recruitment strategy for microcredentials, including where, when, and how to advise students by Q3.
- 3.1d. Scale microcredential offerings in a strategic, demand-driven manner that aligns with regional workforce priorities by Q4.
- 3.1e. Implement Slate for employer engagement, tracking, and systematic data integration by Q4.
Objective 4: Workforce Pell
Status: In progress and on target
Outcome 4.1
Launch ICC's Workforce Pell program with approved credentials, compliant financial aid packaging, and integrated student support systems, removing financial barriers for adult and underserved learners pursuing short-term workforce credentials and positioning ICC as a regional model for equitable access to career education.
Remaining (Q2–Q4)
- 4.1a. Establish Workforce Pell governance to conduct comprehensive eligibility mapping of existing short-term workforce certificates against federal Workforce Pell requirements, ICCB guidance, and state workforce criteria and validate labor market demand using Lightcast/EMSI data and employer advisory input to prioritize eligible programs by Q2.
- 4.1b. Prepare and submit prioritized Workforce Pell programs for state approval through the Governor's Office and Illinois Workforce Innovation Board processes with compliant Workforce Pell financial aid packaging models, and design an integrated student support framework incorporating advising, coaching, WIOA coordination, public benefits navigation (SNAP/TANF), and employer engagement by Q2.
- 4.1c. Build and finalize admissions, enrollment, advising, and Workday/Slate workflows for Workforce Pell students, train stakeholders on compliance and service delivery and launch employer-aligned recruitment and marketing campaigns coordinated with "Make It In Illinois" and regional workforce initiatives by Q3.
- 4.1d. Enroll initial Workforce Pell student cohorts and begin full-service delivery; implement performance dashboards tracking persistence, completion, and employment outcomes; and complete initial compliance reporting and operational evaluation to inform continuous improvement by Q4.
Objective 5: Pathway Optimization
Status: In progress and on target
Outcome 5.1
Establish a data-informed, cross-divisional pathway infrastructure that tracks and supports student transitions from high school, community programs, and non-credit entry points into credential-seeking programs and on to transfer partners—reducing barriers, improving persistence, and making pathways visible and easy to navigate for all learner populations.
Remaining (Q2–Q4)
- 5.1a. Align pathway data with institutional data systems by working with Institutional Research, SEM, and IT to identify opportunities for expansion, more seamless transitions, and process automation; this includes strengthening high school-to-ICC pathways by conducting a review of existing dual credit pathway agreements, early college partnerships, workforce and professional credit entry points and articulation agreements to identify at least two opportunities for expansion via formalized agreements with partner high schools Q1 through Q2.
- 5.1b. Monitor pathway transitions and persistence by tracking student progression from entry programs into credential pathways and identify barriers affecting persistence and completion by Q3.
- 5.1c. Develop coordinated outreach and advising plan (in conjunction with SEM) connecting high school students and counselors to ICC credential pathways by Q3.
- 5.1d. Conduct annual cross-department review of pathway information and student transition data to ensure pathways remain accurate, aligned with new offerings, and responsive to identified barriers by Q4.
Objective 6: Post-Credential Achievement Outcomes
Status: In progress and on target
Outcome 6.1
Demonstrate ICC's capacity to systematically collect, verify, and communicate graduate employment and continued-education outcomes through a structured pilot that establishes the definitions, workflows, accountability, and reporting infrastructure needed for institution-wide implementation and external stakeholder trust.
Completed in Q1
- 6.1a. Establish a steering team and executive sponsor, define decision-making authority and accountability for framework design, pilot implementation, and reporting, and meet monthly with documented decisions and action items by Q1.
- 6.1b. Conduct a campus-wide readiness and design phase to enable reliable tracking and use of graduate employment and continued education outcomes, including a change-impact assessment across processes, tools, roles, and workflows; establishment of shared outcome definitions, reporting rules, data sources, calculation methods, and privacy standards; and definition of pilot success criteria and performance targets to guide implementation and evaluation by Q1.
Remaining (Q2–Q4)
- 6.1c. Design and document the end-to-end workflow for collecting, confirming, recording, analyzing, and reporting graduate employment and continued education outcomes, including clear handoffs and responsibilities across offices, by Q2.
- 6.1d. Provide role-based training and a simple playbook so staff know how to collect, verify, record, interpret, and communicate post-completion outcomes data consistently and appropriately by Q2.
- 6.1e. Launch a communication plan that explains the purpose of the framework, the responsibilities of campus groups, the role of graduates and partners in sharing outcomes information, and the ways results will be communicated clearly to internal and external stakeholders by Q2.
- 6.1f. Identify and build repeatable methods to confirm employment and continued education outcomes through external partners and campus channels, such as employers, transfer partners, alumni engagement, and faculty or staff referrals, with named points of contact, documentation expectations, and a set cadence by Q3.
- 6.1g. Develop simple stakeholder-facing reporting tools for pilot use, including at least one executive summary format, one internal dashboard view, and one external-facing summary suitable for trustees, community partners, and prospective students, by Q3.
- 6.1h. Run a pilot using the full framework for both employment and continued education outcomes, including outreach, survey, verification, tracking, analysis, and reporting, and assess pilot performance against defined success criteria by Q4.
- 6.1i. Produce a pilot improvement and scale-up plan that identifies lessons learned, recommended process changes, resource needs, accountability owners, and next steps for broader implementation by Q4.