About this site

This site puts the AI Strategic Compass into practice: a working, shareable version of the rubric and success-metrics framework, built so campus teams can score real initiatives together rather than read about doing so.

Purpose

AI initiatives reach campus from every direction, and most institutions lack a shared way to decide which to pursue. The Compass offers a conversation-driven, low-barrier method for that decision, flexible enough for any mission and any maturity level. This site exists to make it usable on Monday:

  • The Compass explains the five dimensions, review bands, GRC integration, and the flow from idea to action.
  • Score an initiative is an interactive worksheet with a portfolio for comparing candidates.
  • Success metrics shows how to define KPIs, OKRs, and efficacy measures, with a worked example.
  • Downloads provides the spreadsheet worksheet and framework overview.

Who it's for

The Compass is built for the people who propose, evaluate, and fund AI initiatives. It works best when several of them score together.

Proposers

Faculty, staff, and researchers with an AI idea. Use the Describe and Plan steps to frame the problem and draft success metrics before asking for support.

Review & governance teams

AI councils, governance committees, and cross-functional review groups. Use the rubric and review bands to evaluate proposals consistently and set conditions.

Institutional leaders

CIOs, provosts, deans, and vice presidents. Use the portfolio to compare initiatives and prioritize investment against mission and risk.

Specialist reviewers

Privacy, security, accessibility, legal, and procurement staff. Use the ethics and financial dimensions to surface issues early, not at contract signing.

Project & unit leads

Owners of approved pilots. Use Track & Reflect to record actuals against targets and decide whether to scale, iterate, pause, or stop.

Peers at other institutions

Practitioners adapting the Compass to their own campus. Reuse the rubric and worksheet, and share what you change.

Relationship to the Campus AI Framework

The Campus AI Framework is a practitioner's playbook for AI strategy and governance in higher education: eight institutional pillars, four application domains, and a set of tools to assess, decide, and operate. The Strategic Compass complements the pillars as the framework's decision-making component, prioritizing initiatives by risk and impact.

The framework site presents the full model. This site goes deeper on one part of it: the Compass as a complete, hands-on workflow from screening an idea through reflecting on a pilot.

Relationship to the Campus AI Registry

The Campus AI Registry is a companion framework for documenting AI: governance, risk profiles, service, system, and model cards, supporting evidence, and publication controls. The Compass is where an initiative is decided; the registry is where the approved result is recorded and published. See what carries over.

Author

Concept and content by Joe Sabado. The Compass was developed as a framework in progress, and it improves through use: pilots, critiques, and adaptations from other institutions are welcome.

This is a personal project. It is not associated with, supported by, or endorsed by the author's employer, and any views expressed here are his own. More at CampusAiExchange.com.

Your data

Nothing you enter leaves your browser. The scorer saves your current initiative and portfolio in this browser's local storage only. There are no accounts, no server, and no analytics on your entries. Clearing your browser data removes them. Export a CSV to keep a copy or share with your team.

Because entries stay on one device, avoid entering confidential or personally identifiable information on shared computers.

Reuse & citation

You are free to share and adapt the Compass for any purpose, including at your own institution, with appropriate credit, under CC BY 4.0.

Suggested citation:
Sabado, J. AI Strategic Compass: AI Integration Rubric and
Success Metrics Framework for Higher Education.
Campus AI Framework. https://campusaiframework.com/

Feedback

Used the Compass on a real decision? Found a dimension that didn't fit your context? Share what worked and what didn't. Your feedback shapes the next version.

Let's keep refining it together

Pilots, critiques, and adaptations from other institutions are welcome.