What is the purpose of ITLC?
The University of Texas IT Leadership Council is a group of IT directors and leaders from academic units, administrative units, and the central IT group (ITS). The council was formed in 2018 to facilitate better communication and collaboration between the independent and interdependent IT groups represented in ITLC. Our mission is to align IT projects with an overall strategy that improves the quality and efficiency of IT services on campus in support of UT’s teaching, research, and public service mission.
Is ITLC the new version of IT governance at UT?
Yes, ITLC is a foundational piece of a developing strategy for IT governance at UT. The Council will address some of the issues surfaced in the 2017 Central IT Executive Commission (CITEC) report. CITEC summarized the state of IT at UT and made recommendations for the future. This group fulfills one of the CITEC recommendations to establish a group that links past IT governance efforts with the changing IT environment at UT, tackling a variety of prioritized strategic issues. ITLC will work with its executive sponsors (the CFO and Provost) and other campus leaders to recommend IT strategies and the resources needed to execute them. ITLC itself does not authorize or allocate central resources for campus efforts.
ITLC has a specific and defined scope and is not intended to be the only such group on campus. The Council of University Business Officers (CUBO), for example, is another important governance group on campus. ITLC will work with CUBO to connect IT strategy and projects with a focus on effectively stewarding campus resources.
How was the council formed?
The council was formed in 2018 as a large collaborative group with a charge from the CIO to develop a new approach to working together across campus administrative units. FY18-19 was spent in an interim, organizational phase during which we wrote by-laws and established several working groups and committees to address immediate campus IT issues.
For Fall 2019, our strategic focus is on:
- Planning for the possibility of a centralized network support model
- Improving information security and communication about information security
- Talent management for IT professionals at UT
- Online collaboration tools (e.g. Office 365 and Zoom)
- Integrating Identity and Access Management projects with campus IT initiatives
How did you decide to focus on the topics you are working on?
We reviewed numerous sources of input to decide which issues to tackle first. Some of them were surfaced in the CITEC report and others came from internal data collection in ITLC. The results of ITLC’s data collection are posted here and here. Future topics for consideration can be submitted by anyone on campus through the “Share Your Ideas” page.
How can I learn more?
ITLC is committed to effectively communicating what we are doing and how we are doing it. Our web site includes our by-laws, pages for each of the working groups and committees formed by ITLC, and documents that detail work in progress and final recommendations. We welcome your feedback through the “Share Your Ideas” section of the site.
How can I get involved?
Please reach out to any ITLC member if you would like to learn more or get involved with our ongoing initiatives. For specific topics, please reach out to the appropriate committee chair.
Comments
ITLC will post responses to frequently received feedback or questions here.