Judging from usage statistics, NCAA member institutions are embracing new technologies designed to make everything from day-to-day rules compliance to submitting legislative proposals easier.

One of those tools, the Web-based "Compliance Assistant internet" (CAi) that helps institutions maintain compliance records, posted a 400 percent increase in usage during the past two years, while nearly every membership-sponsored legislative proposal was submitted this year through another online tool, "Legislative Services Database for the internet" (LSDBi) — just two indicators that recent technology upgrades are proving popular.

"There are so many things that people have to monitor," said Dave Schnase, NCAA managing director of membership services. "People are trying to find the next tool or technique to keep up with all the rule changes and maintain the monitoring tactics they need to stay in compliance. Our increased emphasis on technology is, in large part, a response to the membership’s desire for additional tools."

With upgrades ranging from new modules to assist in monitoring playing and practice seasons, athletics personnel and recruiting, to improved search capabilities to assist in rules research, CAi and LSDBi increasingly serve as a "one-stop shop" for compliance and legislative needs, suggests Lynn Holzman, NCAA director of membership services, who oversees LSDBi.

"We want LSDBi — when the membership has a rules-oriented question, or it needs some background on something, or there’s a hot issue — to be the first thing that pops into mind, the place to start," Holzman said.

CAi, meanwhile, provides athletics administrators with a central repository for data needed to maintain institutional rules compliance.

More features for more users

Both programs have been available in some form for years: The NCAA created the legislative database during the late 1980s, and first offered the Compliance Assistant software program for installation on desktop computers during the early 1990s.

However, the programs’ adaptation for the Internet — LSDBi went online in 1999 and CAi in 2002 — created opportunities to offer an array of new features while offering access to a wider variety of users.

"The increased use is based in part on the increased sophistication of coaches in their use of technology," Schnase said, offering an example of how CAi’s use has spread beyond compliance personnel at institutions. "Coaches are starting to use technology to their benefit, and they’re also more inclined to use it for monitoring purposes. Instead of filling out phone logs, or recruiting logs, or contacts and evaluation forms, they can go to CAi and enter it in the database."

But core users of the program — compliance administrators — also have gained new capabilities. Among notable recent additions is a playing-and-practice-seasons module, which performs tasks ranging from calculating the first permissible day of practice to monitoring compliance with contest limits and student-athlete days off.

"I don’t know why any compliance person would do a calendar without at least checking it against CAi, because of its ability to count back," Walters said. "I think it can help a lot."

CAi offers users the flexibility of picking and choosing which features to use, and not every user takes advantage of every feature. It appears, however, that the newest capabilities not only are helping attract new users such as coaches online, but enticing veteran users to take fuller advantage of the program.

"We are getting more (help desk) questions in modules like playing and practice seasons and recruiting, which indicates that people are more comfortable with the core modules — financial aid and eligibility — and now are starting to move out into the other modules," Walters said.

CAi’s ability to export data for reports and other uses also is becoming more popular, not only in Division I, where it is useful for such purposes as compiling Academic Progress Rate data, but increasingly in the other divisions.

Division II aggressively is promoting use of the program by its institutions, Walters said, and about three-fourths of the division’s schools now are registered users. She foresees increased usage soon in Division III, where fewer than than 10 percent of institutions currently access the program but the membership is being encouraged to investigate features that could assist in compiling information for financial aid reporting, among other uses.

User-friendly makeover

While CAi probably has seen more substantive changes recently, LSDBi soon will get a makeover that will build on recent efforts to make that program more user-friendly, while offering access to an even greater array of information. A new "portal" providing access to LSDBi’s content and features currently is under construction.

LSDBi already is the online home of up-to-date legislation and interpretations, archived publications such as NCAA Manuals, and educational articles. It also features infractions databases, and provides assistance in submitting waiver requests.

"Again, it’s the one-stop shop theory: If something relates to a rule itself, or a waiver of that rule, you can find information in one place," Holzman said.

More recently, it has become the best place not only to research rules, but to submit proposed legislation for consideration in the Division I governance structure and by the Divisions II and III membership. Increasing use of that capability provides another indication that Web-based membership services technology is gaining popularity at NCAA member institutions.

"We’re getting to the point that just about every single proposal submitted in all three divisions was submitted through LSDBi this year," Holzman said. "That’s the most success we’ve seen, and the reality is, that’s where we have to be — it’s an electronic world."

The intent, Holzman suggests, is to make LSDBi indispensable for athletics administrators who want to be fully informed about NCAA rules.

"We want it to be the place where the most accurate, up-to-date information is available, and we want it to serve as a historical database, so it can be used to see how things have changed," Holzman said.

Other technological tools

CAi and LSDBi may be a focal point for NCAA efforts to wire itself into member institutions’ compliance efforts. But Schnase said the membership services staff — in partnership with the NCAA’s information services staff — has implemented a number of technology-related initiatives and also is experimenting with other new technological tools that could result in improved service to institutions while helping the staff do its work more efficiently.

Among the new initiatives is a video magazine (known as "MSi") that features short educational and informative segments that administrators can view on campus, and plans this fall to conduct compliance reviews at two institutions using videoconferencing and other technologies to conduct interviews and discussions.

Recent technological upgrades within the national office — including a new telephone system that enables the membership services staff to give priority to calls for assistance from member institutions while providing callers from the public with push-button access to recorded information that can provide answers for to a variety of questions — also are expanding availability of services.

Schnase said the Association’s growing commitment to technological solutions was boosted by adoption under Myles Brand of the NCAA’s strategic plan in 2004, and then by the national office’s information services staff, which suggested innovative ways to use capabilities like the new CAi modules and LSDBi tools.

Most of all, Schnase said, the willingness of administrators and coaches at member schools to use the tools and suggest improvements is resulting in even better programs.

"Our membership is buying in, and is committed to using technology," he said.