Student Information System (SIS) Governance is based on joint-decision-making across Faculties, Administrators and Staff representing a wide-range of stakeholders at the University.
At the most senior level, executive sponsorship is provided by the Provost who gives guidance and direction to both the SIS Governance Committee and the Chief Information Officer. Decision-making committees supporting the SIS Governance structure are the SIS Governance Committee, chaired by the Associate Vice-President and Registrar, and the SIS Working Group, chaired by the Associate Director, Business and IT Alignment.
SIS Functional Working Group
- Associate Director, Business and IT Alignment (Committee Chair) - Liana Leung
- Associate Registrar & Director, Enrolment Services
- Deputy Registrar, Enrolment Services - UBC Okanagan
- Director, Science Student Services
- Academic Advisor, Arts
- Director, Finance, Enrolment Services
- Assistant Dean, Graduate Studies
- Student Interaction Transformation Program Director, Information Technology
- Project Manager, Information Technology
- Assistant Dean and Director, Sauder School of Business
- Director, Student Services, Forestry
- Director, Student Academic Services, Law
Strategic Projects
For those UBC strategic initiatives that require technology innovation and support, the SIS Governance Committee reviews and validates the strategic projects formed to implement the large-scale systems changes. In general, the SIS Governance Committee is responsible for setting the strategic direction of SIS development, including the overall prioritization of SIS enhancement requests and related applications (e.g. Ad Astra and ezRecruit).
Using the UBC strategic plan and the tactical priorities of the university as inputs, the SIS Governance Committee validates the recommendations made by the SIS Working Group to ensure requests are ranked according to institutional priorities.
Tactical Projects
On an ongoing basis, business units across the university require changes to information systems in order to support and improve their operational activities or improve service to students. The Chair of the SIS Working Group manages the process of collecting and evaluating requests for functional enhancements for prioritization. The SIS Working Group is responsible for discussing, reviewing and prioritizing those tactical project initiation requests (PIRs) that are related to the Student Information System (SIS).
In reviewing PIRs, the SIS Working Group makes recommendations to the SIS Governance Committee and provides guidance to the SIS Maintenance team. In the event of a conflict or a decision-deadlock by the SIS Working Group, issues can be escalated to, and resolved by, the SIS Governance Committee. Prioritized functional enhancements are validated by the SIS Governance committee and submitted to the Academic Systems Management group for implementation.
Maintenance and Support
As defects or SIS production issues arise, the SIS Support team implements systems resolutions and fixes. Additionally, the SIS Support Team performs annual maintenance activities (such as changes to Sessional Evaluation rules and admissions letters) and implements systems patches and performs technical upgrades that support the SIS. Systems requests of the SIS Maintenance team are sometimes submitted in PIRs.
While the SIS Maintenance Team typically prioritizes its own maintenance activities, the SIS Working Group sometimes provides guidance, with respect to prioritization.