An Academic Management Portal

E-management is a definition for a group of tools and actions used in the organizational steering based on data systems. Emanagement can make strategic planning more solid and valid using data and information on past performance provided by the management information system (MIS). E-management requires a meta-level data system through which the data produced by the basic operational data system can be modified, restored and merged for use in operational steering. The possibility of merge the operational and financial data is especially important. This article describes how the strategic management and the balanced scorecard approach developed by Kaplan and Norton (1992, 1993) can be used as a basis of the MIS and an academic portal. The Balanced Scorecard translates the strategy into tangible objectives and measures. The implementation of the strategy can be continuously monitored openly by everyone in the organization. The trends and development of operations can be monitored and evaluated in order to make the changes necessary to achieve the desired strategic objectives. The empirical case of this article illustrates the development and the usage of an academic management portal at Turku Polytechnic. It is the largest multi-disciplinary polytechnic in Finland, having more than 8000 active students, six multidisciplinary educational departments, 36 degree programs and 750 full-time employees. The polytechnics in Finland are professionally-oriented higher education institutions (HEIs) unlike the universities, which have a scientific orientation. The increased autonomy and greater accountability of HEIs emphasise the importance of strategic management and management tools to implement strategies.