UC Davis Information Technology Standards Process

Owned by David Walker (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Aug 02, 2010Version comment

DRAFT - The UC Davis Information Technology Standards Process - DRAFT

This document describes the process by which information technology standards, guidelines, and other informational documents are drafted, proposed, vetted, and approved for use within UC Davis.  The repository of these documents is also described.

While this process is administered by the Software Standards Work Group (SSWG) , it applies to all such statements that are generated under the purview of UC Davis's IT governance structure, independent of which groups generate them.

Definitions

  • Specification - Any document that is vetted by the SSWG's process.  It may contain statements of standards, guidelines, or general information.  A specification's life cycle has the following stages:
    • Draft - The specification is being created.  It has not yet entered the SSWG's vetting process.
    • Proposed - The specification has entered the vetting process, but that process has not completed. A special case is "Proposed, returned to authors" for proposed specifications that have been returned to the authors for revision.
    • Approved - The specification has successfully completed the vetting process.
  • Compliance - The degree to which UCD's IT organizations are expected to conform with the specification.  Compliance may be dependent on scope.
    • Standard - Compliance is required.
    • Guideline - Compliance is recommended.
    • General Information - The specification does not state recommendations or requirements, only analysis of issues that is deemed of general interest.
  • Scope - A description of the conditions under which a specification is a standard, guideline, or general information.  Examples of scope might be "UCD-wide enterprise applications" or "applications local to a single department."  A specification may have multiple compliance expectations for different scopes.

The Specification Repository

The SSWG administers UC Davis Information Technology Standards Repository .  Proposed and approved specifications will be stored in the repository, clearly marked with their current life cycle stage.  Draft specifications are encouraged to be stored in or linked from the repository, and SSWG-generated drafts will be, but this is not required.

Each specification in the repository must contain the specification's compliance expectations and associated scopes.

The Vetting Process

The following process is used to vet Draft specifications with the outcome that the draft is either promoted to being Approved, or it is returned to the authors for further revision and potential resubmittal.  This document does not concern itself with the drafting process itself.

  1. The Draft specification is transmitted to the SSWG, or it is drafted by the SSWG itself.
  2. The specification is posted in the repository, marked as Proposed.
  3. The Proposed specification is announced as being available for comment to the following groups.  The usual review period is one month, but that may be lengthened on a case-by-case basis.
    1. The Dean's Technology Council (DTC) 
    2. The Technology Infrastructure Forum (TIF)
    3. The Technology Support Program (TSP) electronic mail list
    4. Other UCD organizations, as appropriate
  4. At the end of the comment period, the SSWG uses a consensus process to determine whether the Proposed specification should be forwarded to the IT Roadmap Coordinating Council for approval or returned to the authors.
    1. If it is forwarded to the IT Roadmap Coordinating Council, the Council will either promote it to Approved status or not. If the Council does not, the specification is returned to the authors.
    2. If the specification is returned to the authors, it is marked as "Proposed, returned to authors" in the repository until the authors provide an updated version.