Proposal for the Creation of an
Information Technology Enterprise Committee
The University of Alberta has 58 information technology (IT) groups that are supported through the operating budget. These 58 groups spend roughly 10% of the operating budget on information technology purchases, people, and related expenses. These numbers exclude IT groups and expenditures that are related to research, centres and institutes, the SU, GSA, AAS:UA, and NASA.
The large number of groups results in duplication of IT infrastructure, services, and resources across the University. For example, a year ago the University of Alberta had 82 independent email systems. By September, all email service will be consolidated into one, provided by Google. This represents a major cost saving to the institution, improvement in the quality of service, and simplification to the University’s IT infrastructure.
Industry best practices supports an organization consolidating duplicated core services -- such as email, networking, and backups -- into one high-quality centralized service. These services are viewed as “utility computing”, drawing the analogy to the power, water, and heat utilities. For example, as indicated in the 2012 Federal Budget, the Federal Government is beginning such a process:
The newly created Shared Services Canada that's supposed to modernize and manage the government's aging IT systems is a key player in promised predicted savings. The government spends about $5 billion a year on IT. The new agency is expected to streamline more than 100 email systems into one, consolidate 300 data centres and more than 3,000 electronic networks. Still in its infancy, the agency must save $150 million by 2014-15.
The auditors have observed the highly decentralized nature of IT at the UofA and recommended a review of how IT is managed (so-called IT Governance). Internal Audit did a survey of IT stakeholders at the University (2011). This information was used to inform an external agency (Gartner) tasked to review University of Alberta IT management structures and make recommendations (2011). Internal Audit vetted these recommendations (2012) and the accompanying material is the result of those discussions.
The following proposal creates an Information Technology Enterprise Committee that has a mandate for offering and sustaining “core” IT services. The mandate for the committee reflects the need to centralize services where it makes sense to do so, while respecting the needs of our diverse community (such as geography, language, external relationships, etc.). By implementing this plan, the expectation is that the entire University community will receive the same high-quality service for all core systems.
This is not an attempt to eliminate IT groups at the University of Alberta. These groups will have their focus changed to supporting unit-specific research, teaching, and administrative needs. IT personnel providing core services in a faculty/department/unit could be reallocated to meet other unit needs or could continue providing core services through AICT. In the latter case, they will still have a physical presence in the unit.
The proposal also creates an Information Technology Advisory Committee to provide community input into the Information Technology Enterprise Committee.
Name
Information Technology Advisory Committee (ITAC)
Reports To
Information Technology Enterprise Committee (ITEC)
Purpose
The ITAC provides community feedback to the ITEC.
Responsibilities
● Provide a forum for discussion and resolution of ICT issues that fall under the mandate of the ITEC.
● Provide input on IT policies and procedures, make recommendations on new initiatives, and give input on prioritization of ITEC projects.
● Provide ongoing support and guidance on the maintenance and effective and efficient evolution of ITEC services to the benefit of the University community.
Membership
● Academic faculty representatives appointed by each Faculty/department (3 year term, renewable)
● Representative from each administrative unit (3 year term, renewable)
● Four undergraduate student representatives
● Two graduate student representatives
● Ex officio (5):
o Chair of the ITEC
o AICT Executive Director
o AIS Director
o Web Strategy Executive Director
o Center for Teaching and Learning Academic Director
o Internal Audit
● Chair to be nominated/selected from faculty member representatives.
Meetings
● Face-to-face five times a year (September, November, January, March, May) and as needed.
Name
Information Technology Enterprise Committee (ITEC)
Reports To
President’s Executive Committee Operational (PEC-O)
Purpose
The ITEC becomes the decision authority for core IT systems (defined below; see Scope of Technology and Services Covered by the ITEC). The goal is to reduce duplication, realize economies of scale, raise the quality of IT service, adopt best practices, and comply with audit requirements.
Responsibilities
Decision Making
The ITEC will (in no particular order):
● propose projects and investments that align with the long-range Information Technology Plan, the Academic Plan and/or are visionary;
● champion the information technology long-range plan (developed by the Vice Provost for Information Technology), including approval, monitoring progress, and resolving issues;
● be responsible for core IT services (see Scope of Technology and Services below) across all departments/faculties/units, including the consolidation and centralization (where appropriate) of the core IT services;
● review and make recommendations on any central or non-central University IT purchase or project with a cost of at least $50,000;
o This will maximize the value for the institution by avoiding duplication and encouraging use of central resources.
o The evergreening of desktop machines is excluded.
● prioritize centrally-funded projects;
● review and endorse IT-related policies and procedures;
● resolve conflicts for any matters that fall under the mandate of this committee;
● ensure that business continuity plans are in place;
● provide oversight on IT security and risk management; and
● ensure that audit requirements (internal and external) are properly addressed.
The committee may strike advisory subcommittees to support the IT decision-making process. These subcommittees may include such special focus areas as an IT architectural review committee, IT security steering committee, IT policies committee, or an IT standards committee. Subcommittees will report to and be responsible to the ITEC Chair.
Monitoring and Advice
The committee will be expected to monitor and advise on:
● the creation, development, and operations of services defined in the section on Scope of Technology and Services (below);
● performance levels of key IT metrics;
● progress of major IT projects;
● the creation, development, and reporting of an IT Project Management Office;
● the annual level of IT spending from the University’s operating budget;
● the alignment of the University’s IT architecture with academic and business goals;
● the acquisition and divestment of significant IT-related resources;
● maintains an inventory of all major IT projects and investments on campus, including those that fall outside the scope of this committee; and
● communicates the value of IT to all stakeholders.
Responsibilities
● Quorum requires a minimum of 9 of the 13 voting members being present.
● All meetings will have minutes taken and made publicly available (with the exception of any in camera sessions).
● Decisions will be voted on, with a majority required to pass a motion.
● At the discretion of the Chair, ITEC decisions can be appealed to PEC-O, whose decision will be final.
Membership
In the following, “Senior rep” refers to a senior member of a unit, at the level of Dean, Vice Dean or Associate Dean; Vice President or Associate Vice President.
Membership is 13, with four attending ex officio.
● Vice Provost and Associate Vice President (Information Technology) – Chair
● Large Information Technology units (5):
o Senior rep from F&O
o Senior rep from F&A
o Senior rep from University Relations (Web Strategy Executive Director)
o Senior rep from Advancement
o Senior rep from the Registrar’s Office
o Chief Librarian
● Faculties (3):
o Senior rep from a CIHR faculty
o Senior rep from a NSERC faculty
o Senior rep from a SSHRC faculty
● Dean (chosen by Dean’s Council)
● Chair of the Information Technology Advisory Committee
● External person (CIO or equivalent)
● Ex officio, non voting (4):
o AICT Executive Director
o AIS Director
o Centre for Teaching and Learning Academic Director
o Internal Audit
All members of this committee must put the best interest of the University of Alberta first, ahead of their unit affiliation.
Meetings
● Face-to-face five times a year (September, November, January, March, May) and as needed.
● Email and/or conference calls may be needed for urgent matters.
Communications
● Annual summary of activities to PEC-O
● Web site
Accepts Input From
● Information Technology Advisory Committee (ITAC)
● Information Technology Student Advisory Board (ITSAB)
● Information Technology Managers Group
● Administrative Information Systems (AIS)
● University of Alberta Computer Support Group (UACSG)
● IT project oversight committees
● IT groups in Departments/Faculties/Units
Scope of Technology and Services Covered by the ITEC
● Unified University-wide core IT systems to all units, including but not limited to:
o CCID management and user authentication
o Network (internal, external, wired, wireless)
o Email and calendaring
o Telephones and associated infrastructure
o Data centers
o Firewalls
o Security
o Teaching and learning related infrastructure, including learning management systems,
lecture capture, and iClickers
o Exceptions need to be approved by this committee
● Centrally supported services, including but not limited to:
o Service desk for core services and those supported by AICT
o Shared cloud services in support of virtualized computing resources
o On-line storage and backups
o Central application support (e.g., Office, Google Apps)
o Centrally scheduled lecture rooms
o Centrally scheduled computer labs
o Exceptions need to be approved by this committee
● IT standards for centrally supported infrastructure, including but not limited to:
o Classroom technology
o Computer labs
o Desktop applications
o Mobility
● Outside operational scope but will be considered for institutional planning:
o PeopleSoft
o Web strategy (except for the infrastructure)
o Research infrastructure (although this equipment needs to conform with university
standards, such as location and security)
Metrics
The Office of the Auditor General requires that we specify metrics to evaluate whether the new governance model is working. These metrics will evolve, but some initial suggestions include:
1. Cost of IT as a percentage of the operating budget;
2. Cost of IT for central support vs. cost of IT for non-central support;
3. Number of IT-related operational risk incidents within centrally supported areas and outside of centrally supported areas;
4. Quality of service offered by central services (as measured by a user satisfaction survey); and
5. Number of new IT projects launched within existing funds (to show that the costs we save through elimination of duplication are being used to further the goals of the institution).