Division II institutions will be able to access the Web-based Academic Tracking System beginning this Friday to fulfill data-entry requirements for the 2009 cycle.

The ATS is the Web application through which institutions that sponsor Division II sports can enter Academic Performance Census data.

Division II approved legislation at the 2008 Convention requiring schools to submit APC data to help Division II governance groups make informed academic policy decisions in the future. The first report included academic performance and outcomes of entering student-athletes in 2006-07 and 2007-08.

This year, institutions will need to enter first-year academic data for student-athletes who first enrolled at their school full time in 2008-09, as well as update academic data for student-athletes who were entered into the ATS last year (2006-07 and 2007-08 enrollees).

The national office will send institutional passwords and IDs to Division II athletics directors via U.S. mail late this week. Other institutional staff, including compliance coordinators, will receive an electronic carbon copy of the memo.

The deadline for data submission is 12 weeks after the institution’s first day of classes in the fall term. Failure to submit data by the deadline will subject the institution to forfeiture of institutional enhancement funds for 2010-11.

No significant changes were made to the user interface this year other than updates to include additional validations (data checks) to help users ensure that they are submitting data correctly.

To help institutional personnel meet the submission criteria, they will receive initial e-mail reminders 30 days before the deadline. Subsequent prompts will be delivered 14 and seven days out – with a final notice 24 hours before the deadline.