IT Governance is a framework that aligns IT strategies with overall institutional goals, facilitates effective decision-making through transparency, and ensures that investments in technology are optimized to maximize their impact on organizational objectives. 

Because IT services are integrated throughout the work that faculty, students, and staff do, CU Boulder has developed a comprehensive governance model with defined roles and responsibilities that support effective oversight, collaboration, and prioritization of IT investments across the University. 

CU Boulder IT Governance Model

CU Boulder's IT governance model, which is illustrated in the diagram, is comprised of various committees and groups that represent the academic and research interests of the campus and guide strategic IT direction. This structure ensures engagement and dialogue between key stakeholders.

Enterprise IT Governance

The Executive IT Governance Board, chaired by the Vice Chancellor for IT and CIO, oversees and makes decisions on enterprise-wide IT strategy, enabling executive-level sponsorship of IT initiatives, deciding on projects above certain thresholds, determining exceptions from approved standards, and providing oversight of IT investments and their impact.

The remaining IT Enterprise Governance committees are cross-functional recommendation groups comprised of IT, administrative, and academic representatives and chaired by OIT Cabinet members. The committees provide oversight, coordination, and collaboration on specific domain and mission-focused areas and allow for broad stakeholder representation in IT decision-making and direction setting. These include:

  1. Student & Academic Technology Committee
  2. Administrative Technology Committee
  3. Research Technology Committee
  4. Data Governance Committee
  5. Information Security Committee
  6. UIS Support Systems Committee

Cross-Campus Groups

There are a number of cross-campus groups that discuss IT priorities and are part of the IT Governance model. These groups provide recommendations to support the development of a common approach to specific domains and functions of IT across CU Boulder. Groups may be standing or ad-hoc and convened to drive collaboration or develop solutions for specific initiatives and projects. Groups also include communities of practice. They are represented by the black boxes in the diagram.

Some of these groups include:

  • Campus-wide Program Governance for CRM
  • Campus-wide BFA Academic Technology Services Committee
  • Campus-wide Architecture Review Board
  • Campus-wide Research Cyber Security Advisory Committee
  • Cross Campus IT Procurement Committee

View the Cross-Campus Groups page.

Support Structures

Support structures function to provide a baseline set of tools and processes to enable the effective operations of the various governance groups and ensure consistency in outputs. These include processes for document sharing and collaboration, using templates, and meeting follow-ups.

Data Governance

CU Boulder manages a wealth of data, crucial for our educational, research, and service missions. This data spans student, staff, research, and financial information. For effective use, the data must be clear, accurate, and easily shared across our systems, backed by solid policies on data handling.

Working with the CU System data governance program, we align our data practices with the other four campuses in developing definitions, standards, and policy around data governance.

Learn more about Data Governance at CU Boulder.