ESC Charter

Charge

The ESC sets direction for the university-wide IT vision, considering and recommending campus technology needs and requirements that support the foundational mission and current strategic goals of the institution. The committee works to encourage innovation while managing risk, considers the implications of policy recommendations on behalf of campus stakeholders, and promotes timely and sound decision making.

While ESC members are expected to understand and represent the needs of their direct constituents (workgroup, department, school, college, division), their role on this IT governance committee mandates a personal charge for each member to effectively participate in collaborative decision-making that best advances the overarching university strategic priorities and ensures that institutional technology resources are aligned toward best and highest use for the campus at large.

The role of the ESC is to ensure that IT resources are committed to the highest university strategic priorities and that institution-wide technology initiatives are successful. Specifically, IT investments must align with four analytically distinct but substantively interrelated university priorities:

• Provide a technology infrastructure that supports a high-quality educational experience for students.
• Provide a nimble, reliable platform for academic activities such as teaching and research.
• Create a technology environment that promotes community engagement and supports our capacity to coordinate and support regional opportunities to enhance our community through improved communications/connectivity, data storage, and knowledge sharing.
• Provide and support tools and services for the administrative sector of the university that facilitate efficient and effective business practices.

Scope

The ESC is responsible for all major IT decision-making for the University and provides guidance, as well as sets IT priorities, to enable the University to balance continuous quality improvement with available resources in alignment with the University’s strategic goals and mission. 

Committee Authority

The ESC is a decision-making body that establishes and prioritizes institutional technology services and service levels in alignment with university strategic priorities. Decisions are escalated to the Chancellor in cases where majority consensus cannot be reached.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic planning, prioritization, and investment activities for Information Technology at UNCG and assess the effectiveness of IT investments and services.
• Facilitate resolution of competing demands for IT resources. Review and adjust University-wide technology spending and staffing as necessary to optimize the use of UNCG resources.
• Ensure the University has a sustainable institutional funding model for IT infrastructure and services.
• Approve major changes in the delivery of technology services or service levels.
• Advocate for adoption of centralized IT services and operating standards, as appropriate, across the institution. Provide direction to prevent, where appropriate, unnecessary redundancy or non-sustainable service implementations and their resulting inefficiencies and risks.
• Adopt frameworks and guidelines that maintain an effective division of responsibilities for centralized versus locally provided technology services.
• Administer the IT governance framework, establish priorities for advisory committees, and consider recommendations they bring forward.
• Ensure compliance with relevant laws, statutes, and regulations.
• Ensure appropriate protection of university assets and stability of operations.
• Ensure policy exists to establish authority, accountability, and responsibility relating to information technology. Review relevant policies and guide implementation standards.

Membership

Membership in the ESC is based on appointment by the Chancellor. The ESC is convened and chaired by the Vice Chancellor for Information Technology Services and Chief Information Officer. Current members are:

• Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
• Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management
• Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer
• (Chair) Vice Chancellor for Information Technology Services and Chief Information Officer
• Additional appointees as designated by the Chancellor

Accountability

ESC members are required to maintain focus on top institutional priority issues and cascade IT decision-making along the following lines:

1. IT resources must be devoted to the most critical elements of the university’s mission and strategic priorities. 
2. The challenges and opportunities presented by external forces must be addressed in a timely fashion. These include constraints imposed by UNC System, state, or federal policy/regulatory changes.
3. The timing and scope of technology requests must be considered.  Some projects are extremely complex and time-consuming.  Others tax the institution beyond extant capacity.  Consideration of these factors must be taken into account when prioritizing projects.  It is not effective to follow a simple rule of “first in line.”  As a result, requests will move up and others down as decision makers apply a multivariate, multi-year lens to problem solving and planning.

ESC members must reinforce the Chancellor’s directive that each division consult with ITS as it lays plans for its own technology initiatives.  While divisions can best articulate their own needs based on their unique strategy and vision, consultation with ITS is needed to ensure alignment with compliance concerns and with the effective and efficient use of existing programs and platforms. 

The ESC reports to the Chancellor.

Committee Procedures

• The ESC will establish procedures for capturing minutes, communicating decisions, and periodically reviewing and updating the committee charge as needed.
• The ESC meets monthly and as needed additionally throughout the calendar year.
• The ESC chair serves as the committee liaison to the Chancellor and is responsible for recording and communicating committee decisions to campus.

Advisory Committees

The ESC appoints membership to the following committees charged with serving in an advisory capacity and with developing policies and procedures germane to their assigned areas of interest.  The ESC evaluates input these groups and reports annually to the Chancellor’s Council and Provost’s Council on major technology initiatives:

• Administrative Systems Advisory Committee
• Data Governance Committee
• Learning Technology Advisory Committee
• Research CyberInfrastructure Advisory Sub-Committee
• Web and Mobile Operating Committee