Purpose
The purpose of the IT Service Management Board is to focus on the operational coordination of information technology (IT) services at the University of Washington, including to:
- Ensure alignment of UW Information Technology services with UW strategy and priorities, based upon strategic direction received from the IT Strategy Board and prioritization from the IT Service Investment Board.
- Optimize the design, delivery, operation and sourcing of IT services.
Scope
The scope of the IT Service Management Board is the services in the UW-IT Service Catalog, including end-user-facing services and services intended for “distributed” IT staff.
Responsibilities
- Recommend the appropriate introduction and sunsetting of UW-IT services based upon both value and costs.
- Recommend ways to optimize the design, delivery, operation, and sourcing of services, including determining the appropriate definition for UW-IT end-user services and determining the appropriate services for University IT staff, including shared services and commodity services.
- Review the UW-IT Service Catalog and provide recommendations to the IT Service Investment Board for adding, changing, and removing services or any associated recommended changes in investment levels.
- Review major UW-IT services and make recommendations to the Vice President for UW-IT and CIO for service life-cycle improvements, including changes and enhancements to service design, delivery, and operations that will improve the value of the service to the University community.
- Provide recommendations to the Vice President for UW-IT and CIO for IT service management process improvement efforts.
- Inform the UW-IT Service Investment Board about operational issues related to the UW-IT Service Catalog and escalate issues as appropriate.
Structure
The establishment of three boards to govern IT at the strategic, project and service levels is intended to make decision-making about information technology across the University more comprehensive and holistic. The IT governance structure was established in 2012 and builds upon previous governance efforts.
The structure is comprised of three IT governance boards:
- IT Strategy Board provides strategic direction on information technology at the University of Washington.
- IT Service Investment Board makes recommendations about services provided by UW-IT, including priorities and investments for major UW-IT projects.
- IT Service Management Board ensures alignment of UW-IT services with institutional IT strategy and priorities, as identified by the other two governance boards, and optimizes the design, delivery, operation, and sourcing of those services.
The IT Service Management Board is guided by direction on strategy from the IT Strategy Board and by direction on priorities from the IT Service Investment Board. The IT Service Management Board also brings issues and recommendations to the IT Service Investment Board for its consideration.
Background
There is a spectrum of choices for delivering IT services to end-users—at the personal level, where end-users may elect to bring their own devices and to find their own services; at the local unit level; at the school or college level; at the central level (UW-IT or UW Medicine); or from outside the UW (cloud or other external provider). The optimal delivery spot depends on the type of IT service, and it adjusts as the technology landscape and the needs of students, faculty, researchers, and staff change. Thus, agility is key to delivering IT services successfully to the University community.
In order to be most effective, the members of the IT Service Management Board need a common framework for discussing the management and coordination of IT services. This framework provides a shared understanding and vocabulary, and it helps central and distributed IT staff to be agile enough to shift the delivery of a service to the optimal spot on the delivery spectrum.
The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is the service management framework used by UW-IT, and it will serve as the common framework for the IT Service Management Board. It is therefore necessary for IT Service Management Board members to have an understanding of ITIL. ITIL is about best practices—done in a rigorous, comprehensive, and well-integrated way—and a well-defined vocabulary.
The IT Service Management Board continues the work started during the Campus IT Costing study and follows up on certain of the recommendations from that study.
Membership
The Chair of the IT Service Management Board is appointed annually by the Vice President for UW-IT and CIO. The IT Service Management Board is comprised of approximately 15 members including:
- Academic unit IT directors or managers
- Academic unit administrators (paired with an IT director or manager)
- UW-IT Business partners
- AVP, UW-IT Customer Services and Support
- Director, UW-IT Service Management Office
The IT Service Management Board is advisory to the Vice President for UW-IT and CIO, and to the IT Service Investment Board.
The term of appointment is a minimum of one academic year.
Foundational Framework
Members should have an interest in leveraging Integrated Service Management (ITIL and LEAN) as a framework for decision-making and change implementation for UW-IT. Members will be provided an orientation to the terminology and framework.
Meetings
The IT Service Management Board meets monthly, or as needed, and is supported by UW-IT.