ACTS-an ABET Compliance Tracking System for Assessing Engineering Outcomes

There is nearly universal agreement among engineering educators that the ABET2000 rules, although very well intentioned, have unintentionally increased the workload required to document that all ABET outcomes (a through k) are met, and that a process of continuous improvement is in place. Although there is no magic wand to eliminate all of the documentation and record keeping, organization and technology can be used to considerably reduce the time needed for the ongoing self-assessment process. Towards this end, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Binghamton University has created a WEB hosted database system, referred to as the ABET Compliance Tracking System or ACTS. In this paper, the preparation of ACTS, its key components, its usage and continued development are described. ACTS can be readily adapted for use by other engineering programs.