Current Version

Version 3.0, Adopted January 30, 2014

Background

Enterprise, Business and Technical Architecture has grown in importance as complexity has increased. Universities facing pressures to eliminate wasteful duplication and to ensure sound stewardship of resources are looking to standardize and streamline delivery of processes. Solutions are now orchestrated across technical silos and business units. They are highly integrated to carry out complex business processes. Security risks are compounded and distributed with every file transfer and every integration point. The cost and complexity of maintaining, upgrading and integrating systems has risen. The need for enterprise-wide principles, business process driven designs and holistic requirements is driving the need for architected solutions. The need to implement new strategic initiatives quickly is driving the need for a well architected organization.

Mission

ITANA is focused on developing the skills, tools and a suite of resources to assist institutions with their enterprise, business and technical architectural needs. ITANA serves higher education while drawing from other architecture groups (The Open Group, Microsoft, etc.) and vendors as needed.

Goals

(See the ITANA Capability Map)

There are four strategic goals for ITANA:

Practice Development

  • Provide a space for new architects to get their feet wet, ask questions, get help and guidance.
  • Share the workload on large projects among several institutions and, by doing so, deliver a more universal solution.
  • Develop common artifacts and practices that are useful to many institutions rather than hidden away in a single institution.
  • Share representative architectures and approaches to common problems for others to learn from and build upon.

Knowledge Transfer

  • Aid in knowledge transfer to build architects who are well founded in their skills.
  • Provide a pool of expertise from a range of institutions and areas of interest for other projects that are looking for participation and input.
  • Build a repository of artifacts that is available to architects across academia.

Community Building

  • Provide a point of contact for other groups regarding the practice of architecture and act as a conduit for collaboration on architectural efforts with vendors.
  • Link architects to their peers, mentors and partners at their own institutions as well as across higher education.
  • Bring architects together virtually via conference calls, webinars, social media and for Face2Face meetings.

Outreach

  • Increase the awareness of the role of Enterprise, Business and Technical Architects in the enterprise and their value to the organization.
  • Act as a liaison to other groups of interest such as other architecture groups, middleware groups and software projects.

Activities

Meetings

  • Provide and support a variety of meetings including conference calls, longer and more focused Screen2Screen webinars and Face2Face meetings.

Instruction

  • Provide educational opportunities via on-line learning or Face2Face meetings.
  • Create a series of on-line tutorials focused on best practices in architecture.

Publications

  • Produce a variety of published artifacts ranging from wiki pages and a web posting and more formal publications.
  • Publish artifacts focused on the development of “common practice” include: frameworks, base requirement documents, common artifacts and best practices.
  • Support of professional development by sharing: lessons-learned, success and failure stories, reviews and assessments of various software packages.

Collaboration Spaces and Social Networking

  • Create spaces for collaboration between architects including a wiki, websitand web presence in many social networks.
  • Drive outreach within Higher Education – this includes activities explaining the role of architects in higher education, how various institutions have implemented architecture and lessons learned.
  • Provide broader outreach and education outside of Higher Education – this includes outreach to enterprise, business and technical architects outside of higher education and product architects for vendors who serve higher education.

Governance

General Membership

General Membership in ITANA is open to any interested participant. A General Member need not be an employee of a higher education institution, as long as their participation follows ITANA guidelines.

A person who is subscribed to the ITANA mailing list is considered a General Member.

Working Groups

Working Groups advance the goals of ITANA in specific topic areas. Any General Member may propose a new Working Group. New Working Groups are subject to approval by the Steering Committee.

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee governs the affairs of ITANA. Responsibilities of the Steering Committee include, but are not limited to:

  • Further the Mission and Goals of ITANA, as stated in the ITANA Charter.
  • Facilitate core ITANA activities, as stated in the ITANA Charter.
  • Ensure that necessary resources are made available for ITANA operations.
  • Represent the interests of ITANA at events such as conferences and coordinates with sponsor organizations, other organizations, and communities of practice.
  • Oversee the planning of Face2Face meetings and other ITANA events to ensure appropriate staffing and resources.
  • Support the Working Groups, review new Working Groups, and periodically evaluate the status of existing Working Groups.
  • Establish, publish, and carry out procedures to appoint ITANA officers.
  • Establish, publish, and carry out procedures to appoint Steering Committee members and govern the activities of the Steering Committee.
  • Define and appoint ITANA members to ad hoc roles as needed.
  • Establish, publish, and carry out procedures to revise the ITANA Charter.
  • Oversee and approve ITANA branded publications and outreach content.

The Steering Committee shall consist of at least three and no more than seven persons. Members of the Steering Committee serve for a two year term with the possibility of re-appointment. Members of the Steering Committee shall be nominated and appointed in accordance with procedures established by the Steering Committee.

Officers

The Steering Committee shall appoint, from its own members, the following ITANA officers. Officers are nominated and appointed in accordance with procedures established by the Steering Committee.

Chair

The Chair leads and represents ITANA to fulfill its Mission and Goals. Responsibilities of the Chair include, but are not limited to:

  • Ensure regular meetings of the Steering Committee and open meetings of the General Membership.
  • Chair meetings of the Steering Committee in accordance with procedures established by the Steering Committee.
  • Represent the Steering Committee in all external affairs.
  • Maintain relationships with sponsor organizations such as Educause and Internet2.

The Chair serves for a two year term with the possibility of re-appointment. The Vice-Chair shall be nominated and appointed in accordance with procedures established by the Steering Committee. The terms of the Chair and Vice-Chair shall be offset by one year.

Vice-Chair

The Vice-Chair carries out the responsibilities of the Chair at the request of the Chair, when the Chair is unable to carry out his or her responsibilities, or when the position of Chair is vacant.

The Vice-Chair serves for a two year term with the possibility of re-appointment. The Vice-Chair shall be nominated and appointed in accordance with procedures established by the Steering Committee. The terms of the Chair and Vice-Chair shall be offset by one year.

Secretary

The Secretary ensures that the day-to-day operations of ITANA are carried out, including publication of minutes, administration of ITANA web properties, and updates to the ITANA calendar. These responsibilities are expected to be delegated to members of an Operations Working Group led by the Secretary.

The Secretary serves for a two year term with the possibility of re-appointment. The Secretary shall be nominated and appointed in accordance with procedures established by the Steering Committee.