Established in 2017, the IT Governance framework at McMaster is a continuous improvement effort to ensure coordinated, transparent, and effective planning and decision-making for strategic IT initiatives that have institutional impact.  

The purpose of IT Governance at McMaster is to enable:

• Integrated and collaborative strategic planning and alignment to institutional goals and strategy 
• Clear accountability for IT services 
• Transparency in decision-making 
• Insight to IT budget prioritization and control over IT spending 
• Appropriate stakeholder representation 
• Effective communication of decisions 
• Clearly defined roles and responsibilities 
• Management and reduction of IT risks 
• Appropriate planning and resourcing  

Led and supported by the Office of the AVP & CTO, McMaster’s IT governance model convenes leaders and participants from across every department and Faculty at McMaster to ensure appropriate representation and leadership for key IT initiative decisions.  

Standing committees focused on key areas for institutional IT: 

The IT Executive Committee is comprised of senior leaders who provide formal endorsement and prioritization for proposed initiatives. 

In addition to transparent and shared decision-making, the McMaster IT Governance process is critical to ensuring your initiative can access any required institutional IT resources (e.g. IT security, data/system integrations etc.). 

See the sidebar to learn more about McMaster’s IT Governance model, including how to submit a proposal for an IT initiative.  

Please note that McMaster’s IT Governance framework is not a funding body. In most instances, it is anticipated that initiatives proposed have or will have secured funding.