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IT Strategies Committee

The IT Strategies Committee provides executive direction and oversight to Simon Fraser University’s information technology strategies, priorities, initiatives and investments. The committee advises the University Executive Team on IT decisions, performance and investments. They help ensure that the right IT investments are made at the right time and are strategically aligned to support the academic, research and administrative needs of the university.

IT Strategies Committee Goals

  • To ensure all IT initiatives are directly connected to SFU strategic goals
  • Increase level of transparency and oversight with the Executive Team
  • Provide committees the right information to make informed decisions
  • Simplify process from idea to execution
  • Ensure that IT investments are managed in a sustainable way

Sub-Committee Visions and Goals

On-campus Digital Experience

Create a digital experience for the university community wherein members can connect, collaborate, communicate, teach, learn, and access relevant information everywhere on campus.

  • Provide the university communication tools and capabilities to disseminate information that is relevant to the community, and in a timely manner.
  • Enhance connectivity by bridging the gap to allow seamless transition between physical and virtual campus experience, and by being accessible and inclusive to community members.
  • Improve campus digital infrastructure across all campuses to enhance Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity.

Student and Instructor Experience

To implement sustainable, consistent IT systems that empower instructors to create engaging and accessible learning experiences for students in all modalities.
 
To provide a seamless IT experience for students and instructors when accessing support and resources on or off campus
 
  • Provide reliable and consistent classroom and online technologies which enable engaging and responsive teaching & learning experiences for instructors and students.
  • Improve student experience and retention by providing seamless access for students to diverse services (recruitment, advising, registration, learning supports, etc).

Faculty and Staff Experience

Create a streamlined, interconnected IT experience wherein faculty and staff can work efficiently and access data to inform decisions

  • Transform regular day-to-day manual, non-automated processes into interconnected, streamlined, automated digital workflows.
  • Improve and streamline our data capability so that data from multiple sources can be accessed, processed, formatted, and shared with the right level of information for different types of decision making.

Researcher Experience

Provide SFU researchers equitable access to computing and network infrastructure to conduct research in all disciplines

  • Provide affordable and equitable access to data storage, network and computing infrastructure.
  • Enhance functionalities of research administrative systems to provide ease of access to grant information and related workflows.
  • Provide research computing advisory/consulting services for researchers from different disciplines, regardless of their computing backgrounds or research focuses.

Projects in Progress

Data Intelligence Program

The Data Intelligence Program is a multi-year, multi-phase initiative designed to transform SFU’s ability to make data-informed decisions that enhance student success, financial agility, and institutional effectiveness.

Integrated Faculty Management System Program (IFMS) - Teaching Assistants Management / Sessional Instructors Recruitment

This project is about implementing end-to-end workflows for hiring, assigning, and managing Teaching Assistants (TA) and Sessional Instructors (SI), from recruitment and selection through appointment and tracking. It will centralize and streamline processes for faculties, improve data accuracy, and provide better visibility into TA/SI roles and workload. 

Course Scheduling Upgrade and Cloud Migration

This project will upgrade and migrate SFU’s Infosilem scheduling system to the cloud, ensuring support beyond 2028 and improving overall scheduling processes.

Enterprise Awards Management System

The purpose of this project is to select and implement a centralized awards management platform for Student Services, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, and Advancement and Alumni Engagement. This system will enhance the student experience, reduce inefficiencies, support donor reporting needs, and replace outdated systems to ensure long-term sustainability and effectiveness

Modernization of the SFU Phone System

The purpose of this project is to modernize aging / obsolete telephony solutions with new solutions including soft phones (MS Teams Phone) and Emergency calling capabilities, while providing significant savings for operating these services.

IT Strategies Committee Members

FAQ

What kind of projects does the ITSC review / process?

All IT projects will go through the IT governance process. Each ITSC subcommittee has defined the vision and goals that will deliver the ideal experience for each group. Project requests, whether they are generated by the committees, SFU community or IT Services, will be prioritized into a roadmap of projects that follows the overall vision, goals, and priorities defined by ITSC and its subcommittees. The CIO will review all IT project requests and decide whether to approve or forward to ITSC or ITSC Subcommittee for discussion.

How do I start the process? And how does a project get submitted?

Create a business case. The business case is a lightweight document that outlines and communicates why this idea is important. The ITSC will review this, provide feedback and prioritize this business case on the roadmap. After it has been reviewed, it will have a tentative start date on the ITSC project roadmap.

Projects can also be initiated directly from the subcommittee, or can come from the SFU community through subcommittee membership or IT Directors / CIO. Business cases submitted into the subcommittee for discussion should be drafted into a standardized business case template and sent to the Digital Transformation Office (its-pmo@sfu.ca). Each subcommittee will review and discuss these business cases and prioritize them into a ranked list.

Contact 

Inquiries can be directed to the Digital Transformation Office.

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