IT Governance

Governance is necessary to ensure that IT investments are aligned to institutional priorities, and that we are focusing our energies on the right priorities.  IT governance at UBC is focused on ensuring that we have the right leadership, processes and structures to make decisions about what activities UBC should undertake.  The IT governance model for UBC incorporates existing governance bodies at the Executive and Program Leadership level, and specific operational groups as it reflects the operations of UBC's IT community.  The governance model for IT aims to identify the key decisions that need to be made, who is responsible for making them, as well as the process and supporting structures for making them.

At UBC the governance structure is made up of three key layers:

Executive Leadership:  This level is responsible for overseeing the alignment to Institutional strategy and priorities across all activities of the enterprise, the management of institutional risks and the verification of the value delivered by the use of technology across the enterprise.  IT governance is the responsibility of the board of directors and executive management. It is an integral part of enterprise governance and consists of the leadership and organisational structures and processes that ensure that the organisation’s IT sustains and extends the organisation’s strategies and objectives.

Program/Project Leadership:  This level assigns priorities within their specific scope of responsibility and makes decisions about project and program operational priorities relating how to approach implementations of new capabilities, systems, software and services. These groups identify new opportunities and prepare the case for action to submit investment proposals to the Executive Leadership for review and approval.

Operational Leadership:  This level is responsible for executing the implementations of the investment decisions, ensuring the benefit realization of the opportunities, and ensuring day to day operations is in alignment with University priorities.