Information Technology governance is a process for assuring that the University’s information technology practices and investments serve its strategic goals. This encompasses IT across the University, including Information Services, as well as the technology managed within administrative units, colleges, research centers and other components of the University. More than just the technology itself, IT governance also guides the investment decisions, standards, business processes and policies related to that technology.
The University’s current system for IT governance has developed out of the work of the Advisory Council on Budget and Strategic Planning. Provost Sabah Randawa chaired an IT Alignment and Cost Reduction Work Group during the fall and winter terms of the 2010/11 Academic Year to implement the Council’s cost reduction recommendations. The committee spent its time assessing the information technology resources across the campus, and while its initial focus was on cost reductions, its work also led to the creation of a framework for a new IT governance structure for the University. The IT Governance system described on this web site is a continuation of the ideas put forward by that group.
The following are guiding principles for IT at the University:
- IT is an enabling capability for the core mission of the university
- IT needs are diverse and IT strategies must address that range of needs
- IT must evolve as users adapt new technologies and IT structures must evolve in response
- IT use in a university environment will be highly distributed and IT strategies must coordinate those distributed elements with central services and infrastructure
- All participants in IT delivery must be accountable for the good of the whole enterprise
- IT should be user focused – and governance must include users
- IT governance must be transparent in process and in decision-making
GOALS FOR IT GOVERNANCE
The committee identified a number of issues with IT Governance at the University. The original list of issues reflected a set of aspirations for how governance should function. The issues have been restated to offer the goals for IT Governance:
- To ensure that accountability for IT strategy is clear and coherent
- To make it easier to fund strategic investments
- To clarify how IT decision are made across organizational boundaries
- To make it easier to assess, compare and control IT costs
- To foster and reward collaboration towards building critical IT capabilities.