Complete Overview of the IT Governance Process

Overview

If your project request exceeds thresholds for risk, complexity, cost, etc., involves an RFP for the purchase of a new application, or involves custom development of a solution, your project will go through the IT Governance process.  This process will determine whether your project will be approved to move to the next step.  An RFP cannot be issued until the project request has been approved to move forward by the Information Technology Governance Steering Committee (ITGSC). 

Projects that do not exceed the thresholds mentioned above, do not involve RFPs, or do not involve custom development, will not need to be routed through Governance.   

2025 ITGSC Meeting Schedule

  • 2/7/25
  • 4/18/25
  • 7/18/25
  • 10/17/25

If your request will need to be routed through the Governance process, the project request should be submitted at least a month before the scheduled ITGSC meeting.

Details / Instructions

  • The Governance process itself will take an estimated 4 weeks (sometimes quicker, sometimes longer), though when the request is submitted during the meeting schedule could extend the length. 
  • To start the Governance process, submit the project request in SpiderTechNet.  Once the request is received, the PMO will send the requester the Project Intake Questionnaire to begin filling out.  Additionally, we will send the requester our technical questions to forward to the vendor for completion.  
  • The PMO will schedule an intake meeting with the requester, once the Project Intake Questionnaire has been competed and returned.  
  • During the meeting, the responses to the questions will be reviewed and any follow-up questions answered.  These responses are then used to give the project a composite score to determine whether or not the project should be routed to Governance.  
  • The composite score is based on a number of criteria.  Examples include:
    • Number of IT and campus resources needed for the project
    • Sensitivity of any data that may be in the system
    • Number of campus customers that will be affected by the change/application
    • Number of systems that must be integrated
    • Ability to meet project deadline
    • Length of the project
    • Whether the data will be on or off campus
    • Cost
    • Alignment with the University Strategic Plan
  • The composite score documentation and the project intake questionnaire are sent to the various committees (ITGSC, Faculty Technology Committee (FTC), and Data Management Committee (DMC)) for review.
  • The DMC and the FTC separately discuss the request and provide feedback to the ITGSC before their quarterly meeting.
  • The ITGSC will invite the requester to their meeting so they may present their request to the committee.  The ITGSC will then have the opportunity to ask any follow-up/clarifying questions.  The requester is then excused.  After all other public meeting topics have been covered, the ITGSC will move to a closed session and have an internal discussion about the request and determine their feedback related to the following questions:
    • What benefits/merits and/or impact to user experience do you feel this request presents?
    • What concerns/advice (if any) do you have with this request?
    • What caveats/conditions would you recommend to move forward?
  • This feedback is then sent to the Executive Committee (Dave Hale, Joan Saab, and Keith McIntosh) for them to review and either approve, approve with modifications/caveats, or reject.
  • The requester is then notified of the decision as well at the PMO. 
  • If approved, the RFP (if applicable) can be issued and/or the implementation can begin.

See Also

IT Governance Website

Project Intake Process

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