Institutional Data Governance Policy
1.0 Scope
The Institutional Data Governance policy endorses the establishment of a data governance framework for managing the University’s institutional data resources. While all data captured in the course of performing University business are an asset of the University, the assets collected vary in their degree of relevance to the strategic goals of the university. This policy applies to those data which support the administrative, educational, competitive, or institutional research functions of the University, regardless of where they are used or maintained. While these data exist in different source systems and/or may reside in different physical locations, these data in aggregate are considered part of a single, logical database known as the Institutional Database (IDB). As part of the Institutional Database, the procedures for data management and governance will be applied uniformly and as part of a coordinated effort.
1.1 Policy Statement
Institutional data are a strategic asset of the University. This data governance policy is based on the philosophy that the value of data as an institutional asset increases with availability and appropriate use. In order to support access and appropriate use, data must be managed using sound data governance principles. This policy endorses these University data governance principles:
- Institutional data stewardship roles and responsibilities are necessary for proper data management,
- Standards for management, access, and usage of University institutional data (subject to information security standards Information Security Office website) are necessary and are facilitated vis‐à‐vis roles in the University’s data stewardship model,
- Data access and usage will increase to support official University work as a result of are liable and understood set of data management processes for all University data stewards.
- Data access should not be unduly burdensome and restrictions will be based on legal, ethical and competitive considerations, and
- The value created by University data assets will be maximized by expanding the understanding and usage of the data.
1.2 Rationale
The volume and variety of available institutional data resources have grown exponentially over time. Concurrently, the strategic relevance of these data continues to broaden. Together, these trends necessitate University‐wide data governance to manage the data along with security, access to and usage of it. The procedures that support this policy can be found on this data governance website.
2.1 Definitions
Data Management – the function of applying formal guidelines and tools to manage the University’s information access decision rights, and accountability for acquiring, valuing, creating, storing, monitoring, using, deleting and archiving data.
Data Stewardship Model ‐ establishes roles through which data management procedures will be established and governance standards will be upheld.
Executive Data Sponsor – Executive officers with policy‐level responsibility for managing a major area of the university’s information resources.
Domain Data Steward – Senior level University official who has planning and policy‐level responsibilities for data in their respective domain(s). The Domain Data Steward has oversight of subject areas within a data domain and identifies subject data stewards.
Subject Data Steward ‐ University staff that have operational‐level responsibility for the capture, maintenance, and dissemination of data for specific subject areas. A subject data steward must have hands‐on expertise with acquiring, valuing, creating, storing, using, deleting and archiving data in their respective subject area.
Custodian – Any individual, employee or affiliate, who needs and uses University data as part of their assigned duties or in fulfillment of their role in the University community.
Institutional Data ‐ Those data, regardless of format (print, electronic, audio‐visual, or other), maintained by the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) or a party acting on behalf of RIT for reference or use by multiple University units. Institutional data does not include data that is personal property of a member of the University community, research data, or data created and/or kept by individual employees or affiliates for their own use. Institutional Data is a subset of the University's information resources and administrative records that meets the following criteria:
- Acquired and/or maintained by University employees in performance of official administrative job duties;
- Created or updated via use of a University enterprise system or used to update data in an enterprise system;
- Relevant to planning, managing, operating, or auditing a major function at the University;
- Referenced or required for use by more than one organizational unit; and
- Included in official University administrative reports or official University records
Institutional Database (IDB) – a conceptual term used to identify a body of data that is defined as the University’s institutional data.
RIT Affiliate ‐ a party acting on behalf of RIT
3.0 Responsible Office(s)
Responsibility for this policy resides with the office of Institutional Research, Data & Analytics
www.rit.edu/fa/irda