Data Management Sub-Committee

Approved: 12 Nov 2014

The Data Management Sub-Committee is a sub-committee of the Information Technology Steering Committee.

Governance is critical to the success of information management at NIU and must be well defined with a clear direction regarding roles and responsibilities, objectives, and enforcement of information management programs. NIU must ensure an appropriate organizational structure exists to provide oversight and governance for information management related planning, and associated risk management practices.

Charter

A data management/data governance model is based on the three branches of a democratic government:

  • Executive Branch: Data Trustees are typically university officials with authority to approve policies and procedures and make data usage and access decisions.
  • Judicial Branch: Data Custodians are appointed by Data Trustees and often directly report to Data Trustees. Data Custodians are the subject matter experts of how data is defined and used and they understand the business processes surrounding the data. They have the responsibility of enforcing data policies and procedures within their business unit.
  • Legislative Branch: The Data Management Committee (DMC) is part of the IT Steering Committee (ITSC) structure. The DMC is NIU’s governing authority for information management programs and provides support and advice regarding the administration, access and use of NIU data. The DMC works with NIU’s management and committees chartered to support the institution’s business processes. The DMC’s efforts focus on the roles and responsibilities for providing the required accountability, leadership/ownership and resources for the development and support of NIU’s strategic information management assets.

Scope

The Data Management Committee’s scope includes information management for University institutional data assets and institutional information as defined in the NIU Institutional Data Management Standards documentation.

Responsibilities

  • Develop, implement, maintain and help enforce university-wide data management policies, standards, guidelines, and operating procedures related to university institutional data assets.
  • 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 and approve controls or plans for assessing data management value and risk.
  • Assist in enhancing institutional data with consistent definitions and classifications according to data management standards and guidelines.
  • Coordinate compliance requirements related to laws and regulations that have information management implications and impart a duty upon the university.

Chair

The committee will appoint a chair who will be responsible for:

  • Calling all meetings;
  • Setting meeting agendas;
  • Presiding at all meetings;
  • Ensuring that minutes are compiled for each meeting;
  • Finalizing minutes before distribution;
  • Preparing information for presentation to the ITSC; and
  • Enforcing Data Management Committee procedures

Meetings

The Data Management Committee should meet on a regular basis, at least monthly, to: by the Chair) to:

  • Review the activities of its sub-committees or committees
  • Establish priorities and procedures for the implementation of data management policies, standards and guidelines
  • Review Institutional data definitions and classifications
  • Review the project priority list and adjust to reflect need
  • Develop recommendations for the ITSC

All members of the Data Management Committee are expected to attend and participate in each meeting. Voting by Proxy is allowed when members of the Management Committee are unable to attend meetings.

Membership

Members may be nominated by anyone, but the IT Steering Committee approves all initial members and subsequent membership changes.

Members are expected to represent the best interest of the entire institution and not just their own unit. However, members are also expected to communicate the activities and decisions of the sub-committee back to their own unit and bring unit concerns back to the sub-committee.

Members will serve three-year terms, with membership terms staggered in equal measure throughout the sub-committee. All members may serve consecutive terms. 

Criteria Description Role
1 Individuals who are accountable for information management decisions according to university policies, standards, and guidelines that are sponsored or endorsed by the DMC. Data Trustees (i.e. Vice Presidents, Vice Provost, Deans, etc.) and Data Custodians (i.e. Associate or Assistant Vice Presidents, Vice Provost, Deans, Directors, Managers, etc.)
2 Individuals who provide oversight and direction on risk assessment and compliance with laws and regulations that have information management implications and impart a duty upon the University. The CISO and Subject Matter Experts for the laws and regulations (i.e. Central Business Office Administrators, Academic Unit Administrators, Business Analysts, etc.)
3 Designated officials for information management administration and technology infrastructure. Central IT Administrators, Academic Unit Directors, Managers of Enterprise Systems and Databases, etc.
4 Experts for evaluating and implementing enterprise information management practices (data definitions, data integration, data access and use, data backup and recovery, data warehousing, business intelligence and reporting, etc.) Subject Matter Experts in Information Management (i.e. Central Office Functional Leads, IT Development Staff, Data Warehouse Architects, Business Intelligence Architects, etc.)

Membership Guidelines

Core DMC membership is targeted at 12 to 14 members and represents the official decision making body. Adjunct members represent participants serving on an as-needed basis for specific sub-committees. All sub-committees chartered by the core members shall appoint a chair that serves as an adjunct member on the DMC.

Membership Number of Members
Co-Chair structure, 1 person from an academic unit, 1 person from an admin unit 2
At least 1 person that is a criteria 2 in each major data domain (likely that most will also be a criteria 1) 7
At least 1 person that is a criteria 3 1
At least 1 Administrator and 1 Computing Director 2
Core Members 12-14
Adjunct Members, Chair of Sub-committees (Access and Roles, Education, Guideline Development, etc.)  
Adjunct Members 2-4
Total Members 14-18

NIU Data Domains will be determined by the Data Management Committee; those listed below represent examples of domains. Some members may have expertise in multiple domains.

Members

  • Co-Chair: Jeff Reynolds
  • Co-Chair: Nick Choban
  • Celeste Latham
  • Crystal Garvey
  • Dan House
  • Deidre Young
  • Greg Brady
  • Jason Rhode
  • Jerry Montag
  • Ritu Subramony
  • Irene Sanderson (non-voting)
  • Shannon Sohl
  • Shannon Stoker
  • Stefan Groebel
  • Tim Webster

Adjunct Members

Adjunct Members may or may not also be Core Members. They chair the sub-committees that the DMC may charter and regularly report to the DMC on their sub-committee’s efforts and receive direction on sub-committee activities. These DMC sub-committees may be temporary or permanent, but no more than 4 sub-committees should be active at the same time.

Tentative sub-committees are:

  • Access and Roles
  • Guidelines and Policies
  • Institutional Data Definitions

Content Experts

Guests and content experts will be invited to DMC meetings on an as needed basis to provide insight on topics that relate to their specific area of expertise. These areas are:

  • Business Intelligence
  • Data Warehouse
  • Enterprise Risk Management
  • HR Academic Personnel Data Domain
  • Identity and Access Management
  • Institutional Research
  • Master Data Management
  • Metadata Management
  • Records Management
  • Security and Privacy
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