IT governance for public universities: developing a model

Information technology (IT) has become essential in supporting the growth and sustainability of all types of organizations. Universities are one of those types that are more and more dependent on IT having a technological infrastructure made of heterogeneous technologies that turns IT Governance into a real challenge. The teaching-learning and research processes, nuclear for universities, require effective and efficient IT governance so universities remain competitive. IT governance calls for the definition and implementation of formal practices at the highest level in the organization involving structures, processes and relational mechanisms for the creation of business value from IT investments. However, it is quite notorious the difficulty in defining and implementing those practices from frameworks such as COBIT, ITIL, ISO/IEC 38500, among others. The level of adoption of such frameworks at universities is quite low, superficial or limited in scope. To address these issues, we propose, using design science research, the development of an IT governance model for public universities. The model will be designed having the appropriate mechanisms identified through survey research and case studies involving Portuguese and Brazilian public universities. We expect to contribute with a model having structures, processes and relational mechanisms suitable for the public sector universities with the guidelines for effective and efficient IT governance. Moreover, contributions to the body of knowledge, regarding the adoption of frameworks such as COBIT and ITIL, taking in consideration contextual and contingency factors, are also expected in what particularly relates to Portuguese and Brazilian public universities.CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior(UID/CEC/00319/2013)This work was supported by CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil Process n.º10415/13-0 and by FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology, project UID/CEC/00319/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Governança de TI em universidades públicas: proposta de um modelo

O objetivo deste trabalho de investigação é o desenvolvimento de um modelo de governança de TI em universidades públicas para que mais eficaz e eficientemente cumpram a sua missão. A investigação irá identificar os mecanismos de governança de TI utilizados em diferentes realidades universitárias e avaliar a eficiência e eficácia na sua implementação considerando fatores contingenciais. Recorrer-se-á à administração de surveys em contextos sobre os quais já se detém e se tem facilidade em adquirir conhecimento, nomeadamente, universidades federais brasileiras e universidades públicas portuguesas. Design Science Research será utilizada pela sua adequação à resolução de problemas organizacionais complexos que requerem o desenvolvimento de artefactos, neste caso, um modelo para governança de TI em universidades públicas. O modelo proposto gerado será avaliado por especialistas e profissionais da área TI através de surveys, entrevistas e workshops. Analisar-se-á a eficácia e facilidade de implementação de mecanismos e ferramentas que auxiliem na governança de TI. Espera-se contribuir com um modelo e um guia para a sua implementação nas universidades públicas enquanto se reforça o corpo de conhecimento na governança de TI.Este trabalho foi suportado pela CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior), Processo n.º 10415/13-0 e pela FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia no âmbito do projeto UID/CEC/00319/2013

Gobernanza de TI para universidades públicas: propuesta de marco usando diseño de investigación en ciencias

Universities are complex organizations dependent on information technology. Their technological infrastructure consists of a variety of applications, different platforms, academic systems, cloud applications and heterogeneous technologies. The goals and objectives of a university are different from traditional organizations. As organizations aim to generate economic value and reduce costs, the universities, the public ones, are particularly concerned with generating, sharing and transferring knowledge to the society that support them. In this way, IT support to core activities such as research and teaching require appropriate IT governance mechanisms making use of frameworks and maturity models. The literature presents a variety of frameworks to help organizations implement IT governance. However, these frameworks are complex, complicated and difficult to interpret and use. Organizations usually choose to develop their frameworks considering their features and business reality. This work highlights of the importance of developing an IT governance framework specifically to the context of the university, and delineates a set of steps for a proposal building upon identification mechanisms, techniques and IT governance tools used in universities of different countries. In this way, this article purpose a development framework using the method design science research.Las universidades son organizaciones complejas que dependen de la tecnología de la información. Su infraestructura tecnológica consiste en una variedad de aplicaciones, diferentes plataformas, sistemas académicos, aplicaciones en la nube y tecnologías heterogéneas. Las metas y objetivos de una universidad son diferentes al de las organizaciones tradicionales. Como organizaciones tienen como objetivo generar valor económico y reducir los costos, las universidades, las públicas, son particularmente preocupados por generar, compartir y transferir conocimiento a la sociedad que los apoyan. De esta forma, soporte de TI a las actividades básicas tales como la investigación y la enseñanza requieren mecanismos de gobernanza de TI adecuadas que hacen uso de marcos y modelos de madurez. La literatura presenta una variedad de marcos para ayudar a las organizaciones a implementar el gobierno de TI. Sin embargo, estos marcos son complejos, complicados y difíciles de interpretar y utilizar. Organizaciones por lo general optan por desarrollar sus marcos, considerando sus características y la realidad empresarial. Este trabajo destaca la importancia de desarrollar un marco de gobierno de TI específicamente para el contexto de la universidad, y delinea una serie de pasos para un edificio propuesta sobre mecanismos de identificación, técnicas y herramientas de gobernanza de TI utilizados en universidades de diferentes países. De esta manera, este artículo finalidad un marco de desarrollo mediante el método de investigación de la ciencia del diseño.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

IT governance maturity in higher education: A study in Brazilian and Portuguese Universities

The use of Information Technology has become prominent in teaching, learning, research, service and management activities in higher education institutions. Such prominent usage has caused a critical dependency on IT that demands adequate IT governance beyond simple and daily IT management. One way of achieving IT governance is through an appropriate set of structure, process and relational mechanisms. We have examined these types of mechanisms in six universities, four in Brazil and two in Portugal. This study was carried out using interviews to assess the level of implementation for seventeen structure, fifteen process and fourteen relational mechanisms. Findings show that the relational mechanisms were the most implemented in these six universities under study. Anyway, from this sample, we are led to the conclusion that IT governance maturity appears quite low in higher education.This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013

Frameworks used for IT governance at universities: An exploratory study

Frameworks are essential to assist the organizations with the implementation of effective IT governance. COBIT and ITIL, among other frameworks, can be considered for the implementation of IT governance. This work uncovers which frameworks and related standards have been adopted to implement the governance of IT at universities. Using a qualitative approach, interviews were carried out with IT directors at universities in three countries: Brazil, Portugal, and the Netherlands. Findings reveal that ITIL is the most used framework with Service Desk and Incident Management as the most implemented processes in the six universities under study. While the Brazilian and the Portuguese universities have adopted ITIL, the Dutch universities preferred to adopt BiSL. Something similar happens for IT project management with Brazilian and Portuguese universities adopting PMBOK while Dutch universities have adopted PRINCE2. Something that is common to all universities under study, it is the option for IS0:27001 regarding information security. Overall, it seems that IT at universities is still focused on operational and managerial issues. The case for the governance of IT is still to be made in order to make clear that IT can play a crucial role to deliver a winning strategy in the business of higher education.FEDER - Federación Española de Enfermedades Raras(UID/CEC/00319/2013). COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/201

Information technology governance for higher education institutions: a multi-country study

Information Technology governance (ITG) calls for the definition and implementation of formal practices at the highest level in the organization, involving structures, processes and relational practices for the creation of business value from IT investments. However, determining the right ITG practices remains a complex endeavor. Previous studies identify IT governance practices used in the health and financial sectors. As universities have many unique characteristics, it is highly unlikely that the ITG experiences of the financial and health industry can be directly applied to universities. This study, using Design Science Research (DSR), develops a baseline with advised practices for the university sector. The analysis of thirty-four case studies from the literature review provides a set of practices as a starting point for the development of the baseline model proposal through multiple case studies involving interviews with IT directors, in ten universities in five countries: eight new practices emerge in this study. The model proposed was evaluated by experts. The result is a baseline model with adequate practices for IT governance in universities as well as a set of guidelines for its implementation. Findings revealed that is possible to extend the ITG practices’ baseline when looking at specific contexts.This work has been supported by CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil Process n.º10415/13-0 and by FCT Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020

Baseline mechanisms for IT governance at universities

The pervasive use of technology has created a critical dependency on Information Technology (IT) that requires IT Governance (ITG). ITG calls for the definition and implementation of formal mechanisms at the highest level in the organization taking into account structures, processes and relational mechanisms for the creation of business value from IT investments. However, determining the right ITG mechanisms remains a complex endeavour. Previous studies have identified ITG mechanisms in use in the financial and health care industries. While universities also increasingly depend on IT for their success, ITG implementation in universities has not received much attention. As universities have many unique characteristics, it is highly unlikely that ITG experiences from the financial and health care industries can be directly applied to universities. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify an ITG mechanisms’ baseline for universities. Six case studies comprising of in-depth interviews three international universities in Brazil, Portugal and the Netherlands, led to the proposal of a minimum ITG baseline for universities that is compared with the financial and health care industries. This article concludes by presenting key contributions, limitations and future work.CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil Process n.º10415/13-0This work was supported by CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil Process n.º10415/13-0 and by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology, project UID/CEC/00319/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Business process management heuristics in IT service management: a case study for incident management

This research aims to understand how Business process management (BPM) can be applied for the improvement of Information Technology service management (ITSM) processes. A case study is conducted for the improvement of the time performance of the incident management process, since it is pointed as a quick win for ITSM. The results obtained identified three best practices—activity automation, activity elimination and integral technology—as the best suited for the improvement of the time performance of the incident management process. Using a simulation tool for business processes, it was revealed that the employment of these best practices in the analysed incident management process eliminates the effort required in the 1st support level and reduces in 10.7% the average processing time in the 2nd support level

Effective IT governance mechanisms in higher education institutions: An empirical study

Particular attention to IT Governance is required when the pervasive use of technology has created critical dependencies on IT for organizational performance and prosperity. This study attempts to assess the importance of specific mechanisms for the effectiveness of IT governance in the context of higher educational institutions. Using a qualitative approach with in-depth interviews and document analysis to collect data, a study was carried out across several countries. A mechanism in each type (structure, process, and relational) emerge as quite important: IT Strategy Committee (structure), IT Strategic Planning (process) and IT Leadership (relational).CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil Process n.º10415/13-0 and by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/201

Diretrizes, Recomendações para os programas de pós-graduação obterem o máximo de impacto junto à CAPES

The objective of the present research is to suggest how to design, according to Capes' evaluation rules, Academic and Professional programs in the areas of Engineering-III and Public and Business Administration, Accounting Sciences and Tourism. The objective is to help in the planning of these graduate Programs such that they are sustainable from an evaluation point of view. The evaluation rules vary a lot among the different areas of Capes, which makes a general study for all areas of knowledge impossible. Therefore, it was decided to consider the areas of Engineering III and Public and Business Administration, Accounting Sciences and Tourism, as these are areas that tend to have great interest in professional programs. A comparative study of the evaluation criteria will be carried out, seeking to identify the ideal profile of professors for the Academic and Professional Programs in the two areas analyzed. It is important to remember that Capes introduced changes in the evaluation in 2021, seeking to align this evaluation with international declarations on this topic and to have a greater focus on quality instead of quantity of products. Other criteria related to institutional objectives and missions must be taken into account in this process, but it is a situation that must be studied individually and it is not possible to include them in the present study.El objetivo de la presente investigación es sugerir cómo diseñar, según las reglas de evaluación de la Capes, programas Académicos y Profesionales en las áreas de Ingeniería-III y Administración Pública y Empresarial, Ciencias Contables y Turismo. El objetivo es ayudar en la planificación de estos programas de posgrado para que sean sostenibles desde el punto de vista de la evaluación. Las reglas de evaluación varían mucho entre las distintas áreas de la Capes, lo que imposibilita un estudio general para todas las áreas de conocimiento. Entonces, se decidió considerar las áreas de Ingeniería III y Administración Pública y de Empresas, Ciencias Contables y Turismo, por ser áreas que suelen tener gran interés en los programas profesionales. Se realizará un estudio comparativo de los criterios de evaluación, buscando identificar el perfil ideal de profesores para los Programas Académicos y Profesionales en las dos áreas analizadas. Es importante recordar que Capes introdujo cambios en la evaluación en 2021, buscando alinear esta evaluación con las declaraciones internacionales sobre este tema y tener un mayor enfoque en la calidad en lugar de la cantidad de productos. En este proceso se deben tener en cuenta otros criterios relacionados con los objetivos y misiones institucionales, pero es una situación que se debe estudiar individualmente y no es posible incluirlos en el presente estudio.O objetivo do presente trabalho é sugerir formas de fazer um planejamento, de acordo com as regras avaliativas da Capes, de programas acadêmicos e profissionais nas áreas de Engenharias-III e Administração Pública e de Empresas, Ciências Contábeis e Turismo. O objetivo é ajudar no planejamento desses Programas de pós-graduação para que sejam sustentáveis do ponto de vista de avaliação. As regras avaliativas variam bastante entre as diferentes áreas da Capes, o que torna impossível um estudo geral para todas as áreas do conhecimento. Sendo assim, optou-se por considerar as áreas de Engenharias III e Administração Pública e de Empresas, Ciências Contábeis e Turismo, pois são áreas que tendem a despertar grande interesse por programas profissionais. Será feito um estudo comparativo dos critérios de avaliação, buscando identificar o perfil ideal de docentes para os Programas Acadêmico e Profissional nas duas áreas analisadas. É importante lembrar que a Capes introduziu mudanças na avaliação em 2021, buscando alinhar a avaliação com manifestos internacionais sobre o assunto e ter um foco maior em qualidade do que em quantidade de produtos. Outros critérios ligados aos objetivos e missões institucionais devem ser levados em conta nesse processo, mas é uma situação que deve ser estudada individualmente e não é possível incluí-las no presente estudo