IT Governance

Brandeis University’s information technology (IT) governance structure includes committees, processes, and communications aimed at ensuring IT-related decisions and investments effectively support institutional objectives and priorities.

Objectives

An effective IT governance framework improves the transparency of IT spending, clarifies decision-making boundaries and accountabilities, provides strategic direction of IT, and ensures that there is adequate IT capability and infrastructure to support University needs.

Governance Structure

Brandeis IT Governance is comprised of four advisory committees that guide the University’s technology decision making.

Technology Prioritization Council

The Technology Prioritization Council (TPC) serves as the parent to the four technology advisory committees. TPC validates the direction, resolves escalated issues, and provides approval and prioritization of projects requested by community members.

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Responsibilities

Membership

Workday Production Advisory Committee

Provides oversight and direction for Workday Production, approving and prioritizing changes stemming from needs across campus. These may include changes to business processes, system configuration, and security/roles, as well as changes stemming from Workday product releases.

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Responsibilities

Approve priorities for Workday Production’s ongoing operations, enhancements, and new initiatives to assure alignment with the university’s business goals and needs.
Monitor progress of Workday Production initiatives and provide guidance to ongoing administrative systems’ operations, support efforts, and enhancements.
Consider and discuss impact of administrative system changes on people, process, technology, standards, and policies.
Resolve the escalation of issues which span departmental or divisional boundaries, escalating issues to the Technology Prioritization Council when appropriate.
Review school and department systems in the context of enterprise systems.
Provide direction to prevent, where appropriate, unnecessary redundancy or non-sustainable implementations and their resulting inefficiencies and risks.
Assist in informing the broader campus community of approved changes to processes, policies, and standards.
In conjunction with data governance program launch, with approval from the appropriate data trustees if applicable:
- Encourage and facilitate the integration of systems and access to data across functional boundaries and guide the development of common data models.
- Champion effective information and IT security measures, policies and practices to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of resources are preserved.

Committee Membership

HR Representative
Finance Representative
Payroll Representative
Student Employment Representative
Institutional Research Representative
Provost's Office Representative
Security Representative
ITS Technical Representative
Communications Representative
Arts and Sciences Representative
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Representative
Heller School Representative
International Business School Representative
Rabb School of Continuing Studies Representative
Workday Student Advisory Committee Member Liaison
ITS Leadership Representative (advisor), ex officio

Workday Student Advisory Committee

Provides oversight, direction, and decision-making for the Workday Student implementation, reviewing and providing input on items such as the project plan, business processes and workflow, risk assessment, community readiness, training strategy, and policy recommendations.

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Responsibilities

Provide ongoing guidance and decision-making for the Workday Student project throughout implementation and transition to production.
Consider and discuss impact of administrative system changes on people, process, technology, and standards and policies.
Resolve the escalation of issues which span departmental or divisional boundaries, escalating issues to the Technology Prioritization Committee when appropriate.
Review school and department systems in the context of enterprise systems.
Provide direction to prevent, where appropriate, unnecessary redundancy or non-sustainable implementations and their resulting inefficiencies and risks.
Monitor project progress on items that affect scope, schedule, budget, and risk.
Assess requests for changes to the scope of the project.
Partner with the Workday project leadership and core team to ensure a successful implementation, and function as project champions.
In conjunction with data governance program launch, with approval from the appropriate data trustees if applicable:
- Encourage and facilitate the integration of systems and access to data across functional boundaries and guide the development of common data models.
- Champion effective information and IT security measures, policies and practices to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of resources are preserved.

Committee Membership

Functional Lead, Academic Records
Functional Lead, Financial Aid and Student Financials
Functional Lead, Academic Advising
Functional Lead, Student Affairs
Admissions Representative
Institutional Research Representative
Arts and Sciences Representative
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Representative
Heller School Representative
International Business School Representative
Rabb School of Continuing Studies Representative
Security Representative
ITS Technical Representative
Communications Representative
Workday Production Advisory Committee Member Liaison
ITS Leadership Representative (advisor), ex officio

Academic Technology Advisory Committee

Receives, proposes, prioritizes, and submits recommendations related to the use of technology in support of the academic mission of the University including the areas of teaching, learning, research and scholarship.

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Responsibilities

Make and receive recommendations, inquiries and proposals concerning the application of technology to teaching, learning, research and scholarship. Provide a channel for concerns and suggestions from the community.
Make decisions regarding proposals related to academic technology applications, policies, and standards, including the learning management system (currently Moodle).
Coordinating with other IT Governance working groups, compile an inventory of academic technology products in use across campus.
Discuss and seek to resolve issues which span departmental or divisional boundaries. Escalate issues and funding requests when necessary to the Technology Prioritization Committee when appropriate.
Provide direction to prevent, where appropriate, unnecessary redundancy or non-sustainable implementations and their resulting inefficiencies and risks.
When necessary, solicit information and assistance from other campus offices as needed.

Committee Membership

University Librarian (chair)
Executive Director, Center for Teaching and Learning
Arts and Sciences, Division Head of Sciences
Arts and Sciences, Division Head of the Humanities
Arts and Sciences, Division Head of the Creative Arts
Vice Provost for Research
Associate Dean for Academic Programs, IBS
Associate Dean for Academic Personnel, Heller School
Director of Programs and Assessment, Rabb School
LATTE Team Representative
Instructional Designer Representative
Help Desk Representative
ITS Leadership Representative (advisor), ex officio

IT Strategic Advisory Committee

Reviews, evaluates, and makes approval recommendations regarding IT proposals, priorities, policies, and technology investments in support of University objectives.

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Responsibilities

Review, prioritize, and approve recommendations for IT policies, standards, and guidelines.
Review, prioritize, and make approval recommendations for IT project proposals and funding.
Review and provide recommendations on the annual IT capital budget requests.
Receive updates and provide oversight on IT projects and capital budget expenditures.
Ensure alignment of IT projects and capital budget requests with the ITS Strategic Plan and the University’s Framework for the Future.
Provide a forum to discuss and consider new IT requirements or emerging technologies.
Contribute to the creation of a University-wide inventory of technology applications, projects, and investments.
Assist in communicating the University’s IT strategies, priorities, policies, and standards to the community.
Provide direction to prevent, where appropriate, unnecessary redundancy or non-sustainable service implementations and their resulting inefficiencies and risks.
Provide oversight to the Data Governance Program and ensure that related procedures and protocols align with the IT Governance Program.
Resolve the escalation of issues which span departmental boundaries, escalating issues and funding requests to the Technology Prioritization Committee when appropriate.
Champion effective information and IT security measures, policies and practices to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of resources are preserved.

Committee Membership

ITS Leadership (chair)
Office of Communications Representative
Registrar's Office Representative
Library Representative
Institutional Advancement Representative
Research Representative
Arts and Sciences Representative
Division of Science Representative
Heller School Representative
International Business School Representative
Rabb School of Continuing Studies Representative
HRIS Representative
Finance Representative
Security Representative
Communications Representative
Data Governance Committee Liaison