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Initiatives and Strategy Implementation Plan Governance Committee - Membership and Terms of Reference

This is not a current document. It has been repealed and is no longer in force.

Section 1 - Establishment and Purpose

(1) The Initiatives and Strategy Implementation Plan Governance Committee is established by the Vice-Chancellor on the recommendation of the Senior Executive Committee.

(2) The purpose of the Initiatives and Strategy Implementation Plan Governance Committee (ISIPGC) is to provide direction to and strategic oversight of system initiative approvals, developments and implementations.

(3) The Initiatives and Strategy Implementation Plan (ISIP) is overseen by the ISIPGC which has cross-University representation and is chaired by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration).

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Section 2 - Scope

(4) Excluded from the ISIP are minor system maintenance upgrades, licensing, support and associated costs in the implementation of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure or equivalent internet based virtual services and/or significant projects that the Senior Executive Committee's determines should be managed through alternate processes.

(5) System upgrades are not normally resourced or prioritised within the ISIP, but major upgrades may be considered at the discretion of the ISIPGC where an upgrade requires significant resourcing or presents significant business change that could not reasonably be undertaken by a systems custodian as a business as usual activity. In consultation with the Division of Information Technology, system custodians should maintain a sustainable upgrade lifecycle that is planned into the activities and resourcing of the section.

(6) Major upgrades are characterised as follows:

  1. the new version is a major release and not merely a revision ('dot' release) or bug fix;
  2. may require the provision of new infrastructure or technology platform;
  3. new version delivers additional functionality, or new or changed business process/es thereby necessitating the implementation of the change in a controlled and managed fashion;
  4. impact of the activity is cross-Divisional; extends beyond three months; involves a range of different stakeholders; requires a mix of technical resources and needs to be undertaken as a project utilising high-level project delivery staff.

(7) Backlog maintenance activity may be undertaken on the ISIP, subject to approval by the ISIPGC.

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Section 3 - Glossary

(8) The Initiatives and Strategy Implementation Plan is a portfolio of strategic initiatives requiring planned change that transform process, information management and systems. Delivered within a project framework, these initiatives are complex undertakings incorporating a major Information and Communications Technology (ICT) component and with an impact that usually transcends organisational units.

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Section 4 - Membership

(9) The regular members of the ISIPGC shall be:

  1. Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) as Chair;
  2. Executive Director, Division of Information Technology;
  3. Chief Financial Officer;
  4. Pro Vice-Chancellor (Student Learning);
  5. Executive Dean (to be nominated by Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic));
  6. Director, Research;
  7. Dean of Students; and
  8. Director, HR Partnerships, Division of Human Resources.

(10) The ISIPGC will be serviced by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) Executive Officer.

(11) A regular member may appoint another person to attend a meeting or meetings on their behalf, or to act on their behalf for a specified timeframe. A person so appointed will be deemed to be a regular member of the Committee for the specified time and may vote as a regular member.

(12) Right of audience and debate shall be granted to:

  1. Manager, Technology Projects, Division of Information Technology;
  2. Director, Applications and Integration, Division of Information Technology ;and
  3. Director, Enterprise Architecture, Division of Information Technology.
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Section 5 - Conduct of Meetings

(13) A quorum shall be five regular members of the ISIPGC. Approximately six meetings will be held annually. These will be from one to three hours in duration depending on need. Of these, at least two meetings will consider submissions of new initiative proposals for inclusion in the Initiatives and Strategy Implementation Plan and schedule and for funding.

(14) Where approvals are required between meetings due to criticality or urgency of decision required, the Executive Director, Division of Information Technology may seek the approval of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration)to address such issues via 'flying minute' with the ISIPGC.

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Section 6 - Terms of Reference

(15) The ISIPGC has and may exercise the following functions for and on behalf of the University:

  1. assess project initiatives and make strategic decisions on projects based on their value contribution and in the overall context of the portfolio of activities to be undertaken through:
    1. maintaining alignment of the ISIPGC to the University Strategy;
    2. improving initiative handling proposals; and
    3. improving governance processes related to ISIPGC;
  2. authorise the initiation of a scheduled project, on agreement of scope, timeline, budget and expected outcomes;
  3. approve the prioritised backlog maintenance upgrade schedule, and funding;
  4. monitor and as appropriate, review, approved projects to ensure the health of the project portfolio expected project outcomes maintain their value contribution;
  5. authorise the launch of projects at the critical point in a project where infrastructure, timeline, downstream and other estimates are deemed to have been satisfactorily refined to provide a "go/no go" decision point i.e. at Project Definition;
  6. approve or reject requests to proceed at relevant "stage gates" (decision points) of a project based on spend, scope, quality, resources, strategy, timeline/ schedule, key risks and issues, business /support readiness, etc.;
  7. approve closure and mainstreaming of projects though a Project Closure Report submitted to the ISIPGC which has been signed off by the Project Sponsor and Project Manager;
  8. strategic review and guidance of the University Application Portfolio;
  9. strategic review and guidance of the University systems data assets;
  10. review, oversee and direct the Data Governance Committee and Mobile Coordination Committee;
  11. report to the Planning and Strategy Group's bi-annually on:
    1. identified downstream implications as individual projects progress toward mainstreaming (infrastructure, human resources, licensing, system maintenance and significant change components);
    2. progress of projects including budget;
    3. completed projects and extent to which they met their expected outcomes; and
    4. other issues as appropriate e.g. where the portfolio may impact or be impacted by external factors;
  12. make recommendations to the Planning and Strategy Group's on additional project funding requirements;
  13. approve funding and resource allocation to minor works to take place outside the portfolio;
  14. place projects on hold where it is deemed to be appropriate; and
  15. promote and support the rationale and objectives of the Initiatives and Strategy Implementation Plan Governance Committee within the University community.