IT Governance

The IT governance structure establishes the strategic, operational, and technical decision-making process required to ensure IT enables the University to excel in its mission. IT governance provides strategic leadership, establishes campus-wide IT priorities and policies, and is accountable and transparent to the University community. The IT Governance Executive Committee will form subcommittees to set agendas that cover the topics of interest as depicted below and form task forces as needed to address particular areas. The following diagram illustrates the structure for IT governance at CSUSB and is followed by a text description of its information:

IT Governance Chart

  • Academic Technologies and Distributed Learning (ATDL)
  • Administrative Technologies/Business Intelligences (CMS Executive Council)
  • Information Security, Compliance & Emerging Technologies
  • Institutional Data Team
  • Technology Operations & Customer Support

 

General Responsibilities of the IT Governance Executive Committee

The IT governance executive committee is responsible for the following:

Establishing and communicating a campus-wide IT vision that supports the University mission and goals

Establishing IT policies that support strategic, campus-wide IT priorities

Defining technical architecture and standards for the University

Establishing best practices and tools for IT across campus

 

IT Governance Values

For IT governance to be successful, the committee must hold the following values:

  • Transparency — Governance committee and processes must be clear. How decisions are made and who has input rights and decision-making rights must be readily apparent to campus.
  • Communication — Communication must occur into, out of, and across the committee and with campus.
  • Accountability — Sub Committees and task forces must be held accountable for delivering on their responsibilities. Clear escalation paths for issue resolution must be defined.
  • Assessment – Making sure that measureable objectives are met within the agreed upon timelines
  • Responsibility — Governance structure must focus on results rather than implementation and project management.
  • Appropriate representation — Constituency groups across campus must be represented.
  • Active support — Governance structure requires staff to support the process. Agenda setting, meeting logistics, issue tracking, and communication are all essential aspects of active support. 

 

Subcommittees and Task Forces

Subcommittees are defined as ongoing groups responsible for issues and decisions in a certain area of IT at the University. Task forces are defined as time-bound groups assigned specific problems to solve or tasks to accomplish.
The IT governance executive committee can form subcommittees and task forces as needed. Existing committees may be asked to establish formal relationships with the IT governance executive committee.
There is an intermittent need to create task forces to investigate issues and explore different IT solutions. Task forces can be appointed by the IT governance executive committee on an as‐needed basis. The task forces meet for a set timeframe to accomplish specific objectives related to resolving an issue or implementing an IT strategy; they are not be considered standing or ongoing governing bodies. Task force membership can consist of IT governance executive committee members or any qualified personnel identified by IT governance executive committee members.

Customer Steering Committees

Customer steering committees serve as representative customer groups that work with IT project teams to determine the best course of action and to provide accountability for IT projects at the University. Customer steering committees help project teams:

  • Develop a project charter that directs the project towards what customers need most from the service
  • Create a thorough and effective communication plan to distribute information to affected customers across the University
  • Refine the project plan and be accountable for changes to that plan
  • Direct research about the project or service at the University and peer institutions
  • Deliver the projects and services that the University truly needs

Customer steering committees may be called upon to present information and updates to IT governance executive committee.

Academic and Distributed Technologies Committee

Chair: Dr. Janine Kremling

Charge:

  • The Academic and Distributed Technologies Committee will monitor policy issues that arise with regard to the University Policy on Distributed Learning and shall, as it considers appropriate, (a) refer a particular issue to one of the standing committees of the Faculty Senate for the development of a policy or (b) develop a policy on a particular issue itself and then refer the proposed policy to the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate.
  • The Committee will monitor and report on instructional technology and distributed learning trends and issues on campus.
  • The Committee shall seek to gather and represent faculty perspectives on questions relating to teaching, learning, or researching with instructional technologies, including distributed learning and other learning technologies, and it will work with ATI to provide services and support to the faculty. Faculty are free to bring questions and requests for support to either the Committee or ATI as they choose.
  • The Committee will recommend to ATI mechanisms that will support faculty in staying current on instructional technologies and distributed learning, such as opportunities for training, experimenting with emerging technologies, and support from instructional designers.

The Committee will be responsible for gathering feedback from faculty on the effectiveness and usability of the instructional technologies employed.

CMS Executive Council

Co-Chairs: Dr. Jake Zhu and Lenora Rodgers

Charge:

  • Business Intelligence Driven Decision Making
  • Predictive Analytics
  • Enterprise Data Warehouse
  • Institutional Data Management
  • Data Ownership and Access
  • Common Management Systems Projects

Information Security, Compliance & Emerging Technologies

Co-Chairs: Joon Son and Dr. Javier Torner

Charge:

  • Information Security and Privacy
  • Identity Management Systems
  • Technology Accessibility
  • Emerging Technologies Research & Development
  • Single Sign On and Portal Development and Enhancements
  • Security and Compliance Audits
  • Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity
  • Information Technology Policies and Procedures
  • Sensitive Data Security Audit
  • Data Center Operations Audit

Institutional Data Team

Co-Chairs: Dr. Muriel Lopez-Wagner and Dr. Samuel Sudhakar

Charge:

  • Perform an Inventory of current data
  • Determine current sources of data – Primary, Secondary, Tertiary
  • Location of the data – Internal or External
  • Ownership of Data
  • How is the data currently accessed by those who need the data?
  • What data mining tools are currently used?
  • What data warehouses does the institution own/maintain?
  • How and in what frequency is the data dispersed? Ex. Dashboards, reports
  • Formulate recommendations for the IT Governance Executive Committee

Technology Operations and Customer Support

Co-Chairs: Dr. Mike Chao and Gerard Au

Charge:

  • Best of Class Customer Support
  • Infrastructure
  • Cloud Technologies
  • Web Technologies
  • Centralization and Standardization
  • End User Empowerment
  • Operational Sustainability and Excellence
  • PDC Technology Enhancements and Support
  • High Performance Computing
  • Research Networks
  • Enterprise Applications Development

Updated September 2016