The ESC will oversee committees, existing or developed, that serve as inputs to its overall scope. Active committees established prior to the university-wide IT Governance (ITG) framework who wish to input or integrate into the ESC, require approval by the CIO and Strategic Chairs Committee (CSCC) to be recognized in the ITG framework.

New operational groups, task forces, IT Communities of Practice (ITCoPs) or Stakeholder Steering Groups (ITSsGs) may be created by the ESC.

The ESC produces the following outputs, including, but not limited to:

• Identify and prioritize technology-based solutions for university-wide IT service needs (outside of research, teaching and learning), set priorities and ensure coordination on the effective use of information technology resources to meet the operational needs of the university.
• Optimize the design, delivery, operation, and sourcing of university-wide IT services, including shared services and commodity services.
• Conduct an annual review of the overall Texas A&M University IT Service Portfolio and provide recommendations to the CSCC for adding, changing, and removing services with recommended changes in investment levels.
• Assess university-wide application and institutional data needs and make operational, planning, and technical recommendations for stakeholder groups (i.e., faculty, researchers, students, and staff.)
• Evaluate potential university-wide and institutional data systems projects against the impact on the university’s mission and strategic goals and objectives, generating recommendations as an output to the CSCC.
• Creating a shared understanding between university stakeholders and IT service providers regarding the onetime (project) and ongoing (system lifecycle) resource implications for university resources of new systems investment.
• Evaluate the impact of proposed university and institutional data systems, infrastructure, and applications to existing resources with corollary recommendations for the retirement of existing services from a business impact perspective.
• Develop, implement, maintain, and promote university-wide data management policies, standards, guidelines, and operating procedures related to University Institutional Data assets (as approved by the Security and Policies Committee (SPC)).
• Advise on university-wide strategic plans for data management including sourcing, distribution, maintenance, and quality of University Institutional Data assets.
• Advise on university-wide data management practices for decision making including data warehousing, business intelligence, master data management and metadata management.
• Recommend plans and methods for assessing data management value and risk.
• Assist in enhancing Institutional Data with consistent definitions and classifications according to data management standards and guidelines.

An enterprise application or system is robust, scalable, and available to all Texas A&M University stakeholder groups collectively or by group (e.g., faculty, researchers, administrators, staff, undergraduate students, graduate students, etc.). The funding method utilized by the CSCC is not used to pre-determine which application or system is considered enterprise. The ESC, at the CSCC’s approval, will manage an active list of systems and applications within IT Governance (ITG) operations that are recognized as "enterprise."

The ESC votes and makes decisions within the above charge and scope. The ESC receives the following inputs, including, but not limited to:

• Recommendations and decisions that are out of scope for the following committees:
  • CIO and Strategic Chairs Committee (CSCC)
  • Research Technologies Committee (ITC)
  • Security and Policies Committee (SPC)
  • Student and Academic Technologies Committee (SATC)
• Any recognized ITG input body.
• Analysis activities and recommendations requested by any ITG committee.

The ESC transitions risk, policy, and security issues to the SPC identified through the course of its scope. All other exceptions are raised to the CSCC.

Chair Elect. A chair elect shall be elected during the July meeting of each year. The chair elect acts as the co-chair for the committee and serves a one-year term that begins during the September ESC meeting, followed by a one-year term as the chair.

Member Terms. Each member shall serve a term of one year (unless designated for a two-year term) beginning in the month of September and ending in the month of August, for a total attendance of five meetings in addition to related ESC events that occur during the term. The chair elect may request up to three members for a second term to ensure continuity of experience in the committee.

Meeting Frequency. The ESC meets on the fourth Tuesday of September, November, February, April, and June. The committee will determine modifications to the meeting schedule as needed based on current activities.

Time Commitment. In addition to the scheduled meetings, members can expect to spend 4-6 hours between the meetings via correspondence methods reviewing related material and handling more routine matters via electronic methods utilized for decision-making.

Meeting Structure. The Office of the CIO will collect and confirm agenda items with the co-chairs and circulate agendas in advance of each meeting to ensure informed discussion of scheduled topics. Staff will be available to aid in the facilitation and documentation of the meetings. Robert’s Rules of Order will be the parliamentary authority.

Reporting. The Office of the CIO will report on decisions and maintain electronic communication mediums for distributing university-wide information for the ESC.

Documentation of Proceedings. All meetings will have minutes of discussions, decisions, and action items that are published within two weeks of the proceeding.

Voting. Each member shall have one vote counting toward a decision/vote, where a quorum is half of the permanent attending members. The chairperson shall have authority in deciding tied or failed votes/decisions.

Research and Supplemental Input Mechanisms. The committee may establish, at its discretion, operational groups, task forces, ITCoPs, or ITSsGs, as needed.

Committee Support. The Office of the CIO will provide administrative support.

Questions about IT Governance can be submitted to: itgovernance@tamu.edu