Information Technology Governance

About IT Governance

Virginia Tech’s first IT Governance initiative was formed in 2022 after a thorough university-wide review of information technology operations and security and updated in 2025 to better serve institutional needs. The nine committees include broad representation from the university’s academic, research, and administrative organizational areas, as well as IT subject matter experts and leaders from both the Division of IT and distributed IT. The current framework ensures collaboration that leads to increased consistency and transparency in decision-making and prioritization of initiatives.

IT Governance Goals

• To establish a unified and coordinated model for IT governance at the university
• To develop clear processes and communication paths for escalation of recommendations between governance committees
• To ensure that IT work and service offerings meet the university's academic, research, and administrative needs
• To increase consistency and transparency in decision-making and prioritization of initiatives

Structure

Overview

There are three “levels” of IT governance bodies – The executive committee, the advisory committee, and a group of working committees.  The executive committee serves as the top-level IT governance and provides general oversight of IT governance as well as IT governance around enterprise level projects and activities.  The advisory committee serves as the operational bridge between the executive committee and the working committees and takes on, where appropriate, some of the decision-making responsibilities for things defined as “standard” projects and activities.  The working committees are divided into subject areas and have project oversight for things defined as “specialized” projects and activities.  See Appendix A for a responsibility matrix of the three levels of committees and Appendix B for a more detailed description of various committee member roles and responsibilities as well as the support provided for everyone to be successful.

To facilitate ongoing collaboration, communication, and shared decision-making, each of the layers of IT governance meet on a regular cadence.

Administrative support for all committees (including scheduling meetings, compiling agendas, taking/publishing minutes, and tracking action items) is provided by the Division of Information Technology.

Executive Committee

The IT governance executive committee guides university-wide IT strategy and proposed university policies.  It also provides executive-level sponsorship, feedback and review of significant IT initiatives and oversight of major IT investments and their impact.

Meeting Cadence

Three times per year (once in the fall semester, once in the spring semester, and once over the summer).

Membership

14 members (three ex-officio).  Quorum would be defined as the first whole number above fifty percent of the regular members.  Ex-officio members are permanent appointments.  All other members are appointed to three-year terms.

• Executive Vice President and Provost (ex-officio, co-chair)
• Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (ex-officio, co-chair)
• The Chair of the Faculty Senate (ex-officio)
• Three senior leaders from University Administration appointed by the EVP and COO for a three-year term
• Three senior leaders from Academic Administration appointed by the EVP and Provost for a three-year term
• One senior leader appointed by the President for a three-year term
• One Dean from an academic college appointed by the Council of College Deans for a three-year term
• Vice President for IT and Chief Information Officer (ex-officio)
• Associate Vice-President for IT Governance, Planning, and Strategy (ex-officio, non-voting - administrative support and represents the advisory committee)

Advisory Committee

The advisory committee advises Division of IT leadership on issues related to computing, enterprise and academic services/software, research computing, data management/governance, and IT security/risk.  It recommends policies, guidelines, and practices for IT at Virginia Tech and provide senior-level sponsorship and review of notable IT initiatives that are institutional in scope but fall below the threshold needing executive committee sponsorship or review.

Meeting Cadence

Every other month (January, March, May, July, September, November).

Membership

20 members.  Quorum is defined as the first whole number above fifty percent of the regular members.  This body is made up of the 14 co-chairs of the seven standing working committees (see below for more information on the working committees) plus one member appointed by each of the five senate bodies (Faculty Senate, AP Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, Undergraduate Student Senate, and Graduate Student Senate).  The Associate Vice President for IT Governance, Planning, and Strategy serves as the chair of the Advisory Committee.

Working Committees

Working committees are dedicated to a more focused topic and balance strategic and operations considerations.  Working committees may recommend policy, standards, or actions to the appropriate DoIT area or the advisory committee for further consideration. Working committees may provide review of tightly focused IT projects that align with their charter and/or that fall below the threshold needing advisory committee sponsorship or review.

Each working committee would be assigned a technical subject matter expert from within the Division of IT by the Vice President for Information Technology to serve as an advisory, non-voting member of the working committee.

Meeting Cadence

Monthly meetings.  If there are no agenda items a week out from a given meeting date, the meeting would be cancelled.

Membership

The number and makeup of the working committee membership is determined by their charter, and all members would officially be appointed by the executive committee.  Quorum would be defined as the first whole number above fifty percent of the regular members.   

Types of Working Committees

There are two types of working committees – standing and ad hoc.

Standing Working Committees

Standing working committees would be chartered by the executive committee and report to the advisory committee.  Their charters are reviewed by the advisory committee every three years to recommend either continuation or cancelation to the executive committee.  As part of a continuance decision, the advisory committee may recommend changes or modifications to a standing working group’s charter.  Membership appointments would be for three-year terms.  One co-chair would be selected by the executive committee to serve a two-year term, and the committee members would select a second co-chair to serve a two-year term (selection of co-chairs would be offset by one year for continuity).  Each working committee would be assigned at least one IT subject matter expert from within DoIT to act in an advisory and ex-officio capacity.  There are seven IT governance committees:

• Administrative Technology Working Committee
• Data Governance Working Committee
• IT Risk Working Committee
• Research Technology Working Committee
• Teaching and Learning Working Committee
• IT Services Working Committee
• AI Working Committee

Ad Hoc Working Committees

Ad hoc working committees would be chartered by either the advisory committee or the executive committee and report to the advisory committee.  They will normally be chartered for a single year and can have their charter extended for one additional year by the advisory committee.  One co-chair would be selected by the advisory committee and one by the committee members.  The advisory committee may recommend to the executive committee elevation an ad hoc working committee to a standing working committee.

Triage of IT Demand and Prioritization of IT Resources

One of the significant roles for IT governance is to guide the triage of IT demand and assist in the prioritization of IT resources across the institution.  This section is not meant to describe the entire project process/lifecycle – that is covered in a separate document.  This section describes the intended intersection between the IT project process and IT governance.

The IT Project Categorization Process

As part of the intake and discovery process, the IT Project Management Office (IT PMO categorizes an IT project into one of three groupings based on an initial analysis of the level of risk the project presents and an estimate of the scope of the project impact.

Mapping IT Project Categorization to IT Governance Areas

To ensure all IT projects have an appropriate level of review and oversight that does not over burden smaller projects or under manage larger ones, each IT governance area is responsible for reviewing and receiving updates on one category of projects.  In cases where there are concerns about resource availability, the appropriate IT governance body is asked to weigh in on prioritization of the project portfolio for a given category.

• Enterprise IT projects need review and sponsorship from the executive committee.
• Standard IT projects need review and sponsorship advisory committee.
• Specialized IT projects are shared the appropriate IT governance working committee. Should any member of the group wish to discussion the project in more detail, it is added to the appropriate meeting agenda.

For enterprise and standard projects, the project management office (PMO) prepares updates for each meeting of the appropriate governance group (three times a year for the strategic projects monitored by the executive committee and monthly for the standard projects monitored by the advisory committee).  Depending on the volume of projects for any given meeting, these might be written updates only with a brief amount of time set aside for specific questions.  If there are a small number of projects or projects of specific current interest, the IT PMO may supplement the written update with a presentation. The advisory committee gets interim updates on enterprise projects as well, although those are formatted as more informational updates.

For specialized projects, written updates are provided as needed to the appropriate working group.  Like the other project categories, the IT PMO can provide more in-depth updates on certain specialized projects as requested.

Ties Into Existing University Governance

For any policy related outcomes from IT Governance, the Division of IT shepherds those policy additions or updates through the existing policy processes for the institution.  For general activity, the representatives from the five senates are asked to update their respective bodies on the activities and decisions of the IT Governance groups, and the AVP for IT Governance, Planning, and Strategy is available to do updates either as requested or periodically with the various senates.  The IT governance executive committee will eventually be part of the University Council structure and will provide updates as needed in that forum.