Governance

Purpose

The governance model ensures standards are relevant, effective, and aligned with UBC’s goals. It:

  • Provides a clear process for developing and approving standards.
  • Promotes consistent adoption of technology across the university.
  • Engages stakeholders in reviewing and shaping standards.
  • Encourages best practices in IT management.

Governance Structure

  • Architecture Review Board (ARB): Endorses standards and ensures strategic alignment.
  • Enterprise Architecture (EA): Maintains standards, facilitates reviews, and supports deviations.
  • Architecture Working Group (AWG): Develops and refines standards with stakeholder input.
  • Task Groups: Focused teams (e.g., Cloud, IAM, Collaboration) drafting domain-specific standards.
  • Stakeholders: Faculty, staff, and IT partners consulted throughout reviews.

Standards & Accountability

The EA team acts as the custodian of UBC’s technology standards and is responsible for:

  • Ensuring standards align with UBC’s enterprise architecture principles and strategic direction.
  • Maintaining a central, accessible repository of all published standards.
  • Supporting faculties, units, and project teams in understanding and adopting standards.
  • Evaluating proposed technologies for alignment, interoperability, and risk.
  • Monitoring and reporting conformance trends and identifying areas requiring corrective action
  • Facilitating exception discussions and advising on risks, impacts, and alternatives

Maturity Levels

Technologies are classified by maturity to guide adoption:

  • Matured – Proven, stable, widely used at UBC; recommended for broad adoption.
  • Emerging – Innovative, in pilot or limited use; may carry higher risk.
  • Deprecated – Phasing out; not recommended for new projects.
  • Demised – No longer supported or operational; must be retired immediately.

Guidance on Standards Use

When using UBC Technology Standards:

  1. Start with standards first
    Evaluate approved tools before considering alternatives.
  2. Engage early
    Contact EA if your project requires a different approach.
  3. Document decisions
    Record rationale and lessons learned for future reference.
  4. Stay current
    Standards are updated regularly; check for the latest guidance before planning or deploying technology.
  5. Consider maturity
    Prefer matured technologies for critical systems, emerging technologies for pilots or innovation projects, and avoid deprecated or demised technologies.

Conformance expectation

All projects, technology initiatives, procurements, and service changes are expected to follow UBC’s published Technology Standards unless a deviation has been reviewed and approved through engagement with the EA team.

Conformance to technology standards enables UBC:

  • Maintain consistent performance, security, and reliability across services.
  • Reduce integration challenges, support issues and long-term support overhead.
  • Simplify vendor management and purchasing decisions.
  • Ensure interoperability and compatibility across enterprise platforms.

Adherence to standards strengthens the UBC’s technology ecosystem and supports efficient, scalable service delivery.

Exception Management

Compliance with Technology Standards ensures that UBC’s systems remain secure, efficient, and interoperable. When a solution does not align with an existing standard, UBC encourages early, collaborative engagement instead of rigid, formal exception forms.

Our approach to exception management includes:

  • Early Engagement: Teams should consult EA early when exploring solutions that may deviate from standards, enabling proactive risk identification and alternative options.
  • Risk-Based Assessment: EA evaluates impacts related to security, privacy, compliance, operations, and interoperability.
  • Consultative Exception Handling: EA works with teams to assess feasible alternatives and determine whether an exception is justified.
  • Transparent Documentation: Approved deviations and their rationale are logged to support visibility, governance oversight, and continuous improvement.
  • Collaborative Decision-Making: Exceptions are guided by EA, with ARB oversight when deviations introduce institutional risk or strategic impacts.
  • Compliance Monitoring: EA and IT partners periodically assess technologies for adherence to standards and identify areas requiring remediation or updates.

This collaborative, consultative model provides flexibility while ensuring accountability and alignment with UBC’s strategic and operational requirements.