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Troy Harkot

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AN INFORMATION STRATEGY FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN APRIL 2008 TROY HARKOT OFFICE OF THE ASSOCIATE VICE-PRESIDENT INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................. 3 INTRODUCTION ............................. 6 SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY ........ 9 OUR CURRENT SITUATION ......... 10 GOVERNANCE ................................................................................................................................................ 10 ROLES, RESPONSIBILITIES AND AUTHORITIES .................. 10 STEWARDSHIP OF DATA/INFORMATION ........................... 12 POLICIES, REGULATIONS AND LEGISLATION .................... 13 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT PROCESSES ..................................................................................................... 14 MEASURING PERFORMANCE ............ 14 INFORMATION QUALITY .................. 16 DEFINITIONS AND BUSINESS RULES . 17 TRAINING AND AWARENESS ............................................................................................................ 18 ACCESS AND SECURITY ................... 19 INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE AND TECHNOLOGY ........................ 20 ARCHITECTURE DESIGN PRINCIPLES ................................................................. ...

Sujets

• management
• managers

Informations

• Publié par: Udru
• Nombre de lectures: 25
• Langue: English

Extrait

 

           

   

 

                      A N I FNROAMITNO  S TRATEGY   F OR T HE   U NIVERSITY OF S ASKATCHEWAN     A PRIL 2008                    

  T ROY H ARKOT   O FFICE OF THE A SSOCIATE V ICE -P RESIDENT   I NFORMATION AND C OMMUNICATIONS T ECHNOLOGY  

 

T ABLE OF C ONTENTS     E XECUTIVE S UMMARY .................................... ................................................................ 3 ............................................. I ONTIUCODTRN ........................................................................6 .. .................. ................................................................. S COPE AND M YGETHODOLO . ............................................................................... 9 ........................................................ O UR C URRENT S ITUATION ......................................................................................................................................... 10 G OVERNANCE ................................................................................................................................................ 10 R OLES ,   R ESPONSIBILITIES AND A UTHORITIES .................................................................................. 10 S TEWARDSHIP OF D ATA /I RMFONNIOAT .. ................................................ 21 ......................................... P OLICIES ,   R EGULATIONS AND L GESIALITON ........ ...................................... ...... 13................................ I NFORMATION M ANAGEMENT P ROCESSES 14.  ................................................................................................ .... M EASURING P ECOFRENAMR ................................. ........ ... 41................................................................ I NFORMATION Q UALITY .................................................................................................................. 16 D EFINITIONS AND B USINESS R ULES ................................................................................................. 17 T RAINING AND A WARENESS ................ ........................................................................................ 81 .... A CCESS AND S ECURITY ................................................................................................................... 19 I NFORMATION A RCHITECTURE AND T ECHNOLOGY ..................................... ................. .. 20................................ A RCHITECTURE D ESIGN P RINCIPLES ................................................ ..0 ....2 .......................................... S YSTEMS ,   D ATABASES AND T OOLS ................................................................................................. 21 I NFORMATION A CCESSIBILITY AND D ELIVERY ................................................................................ 23 S TAKEHOLDER E XPECTATIONS AND R EQUIREMENTS ..................................................................................... 24 R ELATED I NITIATIVES AT P EER I STITUTIONSN ................................................................ .........................................7  2 S TRATEGIC I EVITSNAITI .......................................... .92 .................................................................. ................................ I NSTITUTIONAL P RIORITIES  ............................................................ 29 ................................................................ V ISION AND G UIDING P RINCIPLES .................................................................................................................. 30 V ISION ................. ............................3  0................................................................................................ G UIDING P RINCIPLES ....................................................................................................................... 30 G OVERNANCE ................................................................................................................................................ 31 R OLES ,   R ESPONSIBILITIES AND A UTHORITIES ......... .. 31.................................................... ................... S TEWARDSHIP OF D ATA /I NFORMATION  .3 .. 5........................................................................................ P OLICIES ,   R EGULATIONS AND L EIGLSTANIO .................................................................................... 37 I NFORMATION M ANAGEMENT P ROCESSES .. .................................................................................................7  3.. M EASURING P ECNAMROFRE ........................................3  8.... ................................................................ I NFORMATION Q UALITY .................................................................................................................. 39 D EFINITIONS AND B USINESS R ULES ................................................................................................. 40 T RAINING AND A WARENESS ............................................ ... ............................14 ................................. A CCESS AND S ECURITY ................................................................................................................... 42 I NFORMATION A RCHITECTURE AND T ECHNOLOGY ............ ........4  4.................................................................... D ESIGN P RINCIPLES ................... 45 ............................................................................................ .......... S YSTEMS ,   D ATABASES AND T OOLS ................................................................................................. 47 I NFORMATION A CCESSIBILITY AND D ELIVERY ................................................................................ 49 C ONCLUDING R EMARKS ............................................................................................................................................. 52  

A N I NFORMATION S TRATEGY FOR THE U NIVERSITY OF S KAASAWNCTEH  

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    E XECUTIVE S UMMARY     Information is one of the most important assets that the University of Saskatchewan owns. If managed diligently and leveraged effectively, it can greatly assist in advancing the strategic directions and integrated plans of the institution. Conversely, if our information is not available, not accurate or not complete, it can be detrimental to our planning and decision-making activities. The vision of the Information Strategy states that our ability to obtain information that is accurate, timely and relevant will provide us with opportunities to base our planning and decisions on evidence, measure the progress of our plans, compare our performance with peer institutions, and meet our needs while increasing the institution’s potential to remain competitive, accountable and transparent in its activities. This is the impetus for managing and leveraging our information assets in a strategic and coordinated manner.   At this time, we face many challenges in attempting to provide information to meet institutional needs. Inadequate processes, unclear roles, inconsistent definitions and stand-alone systems have all contributed to our inability to provide timely and relevant information to meet our planning, decision-making and performance measurement needs. For example, if our information suggests that enrolment numbers are decreasing for a particular college or cohort, we may seek to address this trend by establishing important plans or making key decisions on investments or disinvestments in that college or for that cohort. However, if the information is incomplete, it does not explain why a downward trend exists. If the information is inaccurate, a downward trend may not have occurred at all. In both cases, the lack of quality information can misguide our plans and decisions, which emphasizes the importance of ensuring that reliable information is available to make effective decisions.   Our information challenges also impact our ability to measure and demonstrate our performance. Like us, many of our peer institutions develop multi-year strategic plans to advance their institutional agendas. Similar initiatives exist in many of the plans with respect to attracting and retaining outstanding students, faculty and researchers; increasing the quality of teaching and research activity; outreach and engagement, and so on. Of further interest is the realization that the U of S is competing for the same students, faculty and researchers that other institutions are. One of the most distinguishing factors that set institutions apart from one another may arguably be performance, which emphasizes the importance of both measuring and demonstrating progress internally and in comparison with our peers. As a result, this has become one of the primary catalysts for institutions to embark on initiatives pertaining to information management, business intelligence and performance measurement activities (such as developing performance indicators, dashboards and scorecards). Some of our peers have advanced significantly while others are at the early stages, but they all appear to be planning for future development and investment in these activities. We must do the same.

A N I NFORMATION S TRATEGY FOR THE U NIVERSITY OF S TCKAASNAWEH  

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  The primary intent of the Information Strategy is to present a way of managing and leveraging our information assets in a strategic and coordinated manner. In doing so, we increase our capabilities for collecting, processing, interpreting, storing and provisioning information in an effective manner to: •   support our planning and decision-making activities; •   increase our potential to leverage previous investments in our enterprise systems to obtain more value from these systems and investments; •   address demands placed on the institution for accountability and transparency; •   to requirements from external agencies or accreditation bodies such as Statisticsrespond Canada, CAUBO, CEAB, etc.; •   support academic and administrative leaders in establishing and monitoring institutional metrics and key performance indicators; and, •   assist the Board of Governors, University Council, the President’s Executive Committee (PEC), the Provost’s Committee on Integrated Planning (PCIP) and colleges and administrative units in assessing the progress against plans.   The Information Strategy presents a series of initiatives pertaining to governance, information management processes and technology. While some initiatives have been developed to build on or enhance our current processes or investments (such as leveraging our existing information repositories, stewardship activities, software tools and processes for defining and correcting data), others are new concepts for consideration. For example, the establishment of a University Data Steward role that has full and ultimate authority on all information management activities on campus will provide much needed leadership and direction to our information management practices. As well, the creation of an Information Management Office within the portfolio of the Associate Vice-President (Information and Communications Technology) seeks to establish an independent office with a mandate to coordinate information management at the U of S, maintain the technical architecture and identify opportunities to leverage information to meet our institutional needs. These initiatives, coupled with a clear articulation of roles, responsibilities and authorities of campus entities in managing and using information will enhance the governance structure that is currently in place so that we have the structure we need to be effective.   Many of the existing processes in place for managing information are not effective and at times can limit our ability to provide timely, relevant and accurate information. In their current state, many of these processes are vague, complicated or do not work as intended. As a result, there are situations where information is not interpreted consistently across the campus causing “multiple versions of the truth.” As well, we are at risk of violating campus policies, Provincial legislation and information security standards due to the difficulties that exist in managing access to our information and/or understanding the rules or regulations with which we must comply. To address this, initiatives are presented to attempt to provide coordination and structure around how we define, correct and secure the data in our systems. The intent is to enhance our ability to provide quality information while also ensuring that it is provided to those who are authorized to access it according to the responsibilities of their job.  

A N I NFORMATION S TRATEGY FOR THE U NIVERSITY OF S EWCHATSKAAN  

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