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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- Resolution of escalated issues
- Project approval and prioritization including funding recommendations
- Project demand/capacity assessment
- Chief Information Officer (chair)
- Vice President, Human Resources
- Chief Financial Officer
- Provost Designee
- Dean, College of Arts & Sciences
- Dean, Heller School
- Dean, International Business School
- VP of Rabb School
- Four committee chairs
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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- 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.
- 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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Provide ongoing guidance and decision-making for the Workday Student project throughout implementation and transition to production.
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Consider and discuss impact of administrative system changes on people, process, technology, and standards and policies.
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Resolve the escalation of issues which span departmental or divisional boundaries, escalating issues to the Technology Prioritization Committee when appropriate.
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Review school and department systems in the context of enterprise systems.
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Provide direction to prevent, where appropriate, unnecessary redundancy or non-sustainable implementations and their resulting inefficiencies and risks.
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Monitor project progress on items that affect scope, schedule, budget, and risk.
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Assess requests for changes to the scope of the project.
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Partner with the Workday project leadership and core team to ensure a successful implementation, and function as project champions.
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In conjunction with data governance program launch, with approval from the appropriate data trustees if applicable:
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Encourage and facilitate the integration of systems and access to data across functional boundaries and guide the development of common data models.
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Champion effective information and IT security measures, policies and practices to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of resources are preserved.
- 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
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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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Provides direction to prevent unnecessary redundancy or non-sustainable implementations and their resulting inefficiencies and risks.
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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.
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Make decisions regarding proposals related to academic technology applications, policies, and standards, including the learning management system (currently Moodle).
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Coordinating with other IT Governance working groups, compile an inventory of academic technology products in use across campus.
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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.
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Provide direction to prevent, where appropriate, unnecessary redundancy or non-sustainable implementations and their resulting inefficiencies and risks.
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When necessary, solicit information and assistance from other campus offices as needed.
- University Librarian (chair)
- Executive Director, Center for Teaching and Learning
- Arts and Sciences, Division Head of Social Sciences
- 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, International Business School
- 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
Requests for new academic software technology products to be evaluated or purchased should be submitted using the Academic Technology Request Form. Representatives from the library will reach out to all who submit a request to be sure the committee understand the needs and to initiate the process for the ATAC to make decisions on requests.
The following products have been approved by the Academic Technology Advisory Committee for implementation in the 2020-2021 academic year and beyond (last updated: February 2021).
Available starting in fall 2020
Available starting in spring 2021
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MacMillan Achieve
- Sapling Plus
Available starting in fall 2021 (planned; contracts pending)
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MacMillan Launchpad
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PsychLearn
Currently being evaluated
Products evaluated but not implemented
Questions
For additional information regarding these products, please contact library@brandeis.edu.
LATTE Subcommitee
The Subcommittee reports to the parent Academic Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC).
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Makes recommendations regarding the features, procedures, and policies related to LATTE, the University's learning management system (LMS).
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Ensures that LATTE's features meet the campus' evolving needs, providing a repeatable process to gather, evaluate, and prioritize requests for features and functionality in LATTE while maintaining stable and efficient performance.
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Respond to campus needs as new forms of course delivery are established and recommend adjustments to LATTE features based on pedagogical needs.
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For LATTE features with numerous or complex options, analyze, prioritize, and propose a simplified default set of options that will meet campus needs while concurrently reduce training time and increase feature adoption.
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Analyze the applications that integrate with LATTE (plug-ins) and make recommendations to retain, upgrade, and discontinue when appropriate.
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Assist in validating technology needs, platforms, and practical solutions to ensure a satisfactory user experience within available university resources.
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Engage with members of the campus community to receive input, provide feedback on proposals, and communicate approved decisions.
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Center for Teaching and Learning Representative
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Arts and Sciences, Division of Social Sciences Faculty Representative
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Arts and Sciences, Division of Sciences Faculty Representative
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Arts and Sciences, Division of the Humanities Faculty Representative
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Arts and Sciences, Division of the Creative Arts Faculty Representative
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Heller School Faculty Representative
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International Business School Faculty Representative
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Rabb School Faculty Representative
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Library Representative
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ITS Leadership Representative
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Associate Director, LMS & Service Management (chair)
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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Review, prioritize, and approve recommendations for IT policies, standards, and guidelines.
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Review, prioritize, and make approval recommendations for IT project proposals and funding.
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Review and provide recommendations on the annual IT capital budget requests.
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Receive updates and provide oversight on IT projects and capital budget expenditures.
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Ensure alignment of IT projects and capital budget requests with the ITS Strategic Plan and the University’s Framework for the Future.
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Provide a forum to discuss and consider new IT requirements or emerging technologies.
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Contribute to the creation of a University-wide inventory of technology applications, projects, and investments.
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Assist in communicating the University’s IT strategies, priorities, policies, and standards to the community.
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Provide direction to prevent, where appropriate, unnecessary redundancy or non-sustainable service implementations and their resulting inefficiencies and risks.
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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.
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ITS Leadership (chair)
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Office of Communications Representative
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Registrar's Office Representative
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Library Representative
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Institutional Advancement Representative
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Research Representative
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Arts and Sciences Representative
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Division of Science Representative
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Heller School Representative
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International Business School Representative
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Rabb School of Continuing Studies Representative
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HRIS Representative
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Finance Representative
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Security Representative
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Communications Representative
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Data Governance Committee Liaison