Enterprise Web Advisory Council

Purpose and authority

The University Enterprise Web Advisory Council (EWAC) is entrusted with identifying and discussing issues that affect University of Utah web properties, the online ecosystem, and website visitors. The EWAC is expected to make recommendations to the President's office in the best interests of the University of Utah as a whole, based on consensus of the major campus web property service providers: marketing and communication leaders for academic and administrative units partnered with IT staff. The EWAC will coordinate recommendations as needed with other oversight committees, such as the Senate Advisory Committee on IT, Strategic IT Committee, Architecture and New Technology Committee, etc.

Mission, scope, and key goals

The EWAC considers the holistic view of web visitors’ experience, addressing issues raised by university stakeholders and visitors related to the ecosystem underlying the web experience, such as content, presentation, infrastructure, policies, funding, tools, templates, and technologies. The EWAC has a fiduciary responsibility to identify solutions that align with the university’s strategic goals and represent what is best for the University at large.

Scope

EWAC considers programs, policy, and initiatives involving all U web properties and the ecosystem, such as:

• University home page suite interactions, content, infrastructure, tools, and template support to campus units
• IT architecture and common elements to provide a high-quality experience and seamless navigation for visitors
• Campus-wide web policies and best practices
• Website accessibility, security, and privacy
• Recommendations for funding and strategic purchases benefiting web property owners or presentation of content and image
• Strategic institutional programs affecting the U's web presence
• Online and face-to-face communities of practice for sharing information and resources
• Holistic web strategic planning such as:
• Coordination of UIT, ITS, and UMC strategic initiatives with local campus units
• UIT-UMC strategic plans
• Special enterprise project planning
• Accessibility, security plans and issues

Out of scope issues include:

• Web applications
• Functional group priorities and projects (student, finance, HR, colleges and other campus-wide applications)
• Content on individual administrative and academic web properties
• Scheduling and managing UIT or UMC resources and operational decisions
• Functional and technical specifications for specific projects (applications)

Goals

• Analyze, vet and obtain consensus on recommendations for the president’s executive leadership team (ELT)
• Manage, approve, and recommend campus web properties support services and university architecture (content, tools, data, infrastructure, process, accessibility)
• Obtain campus-wide input using task force groups to explore and propose solutions
• Develop, approve and update the Holistic Web strategic plan
• Analyze and make recommendations regarding overall spending on web properties
• Identify risks and take appropriate action
• Develop unified plans among web property managers on campus
• Update web policy
• Develop and administer the community of practice for web/content managers and web property owners

Membership and voting structure

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Marketing Communication Officer (CMCO) will invite members to serve on the committee, representing the various functional and system perspectives, such as content, marketing, public relations, communications, tools, infrastructure, architecture, web managers, cyber security, web accessibility, visitors and consumers of web content (students, faculty, staff), etc. Representatives will be the associate dean or senior director with strategic responsibilities for the unit’s web site suites, funding and marketing and communication strategies. The council will also include a member from the Senate Advisory Committee on IT and the Communications Council.

A council chair and executive committee will be appointed by the CIO and CMCO to serve at least two years. After the original appointment, the executive committee will elect a chair every two years and recommend individuals to fill empty positions on the council as needed.

All council members will have full voting rights for matters on council meeting agendas.

Chair: Holly Christmas, College of Fine Arts senior systems administrator

Voting members:

Staff Support:

Responsibilities, roles, and duties

Council members are expected to review governance documents and participate in the evaluation and recommendation phases of the process. Council members are also asked to act as the first line of communication regarding campus web governance to other marketing and communication, academic or administrative units. Representatives will contact functional experts and other knowledgeable stakeholders to gather input for making the best decisions for the university. Voting members are expected to attend all EWAC meetings and vet issues in their communities (marketing, public relations, communications, technology) to help make the best decisions for the university. Members also may be asked to serve on ad hoc committees or to find suitable stakeholders to serve on ad hoc committees.

Tenure/duration

Representatives serve on the EWAC at the discretion of his or her dean or vice president. Members of the executive team will serve a minimum of two years; there is no specified minimum requirement or maximum term limit for council members.

Agenda and meetings

The EWAC agenda is gathered and prepared by a governance liaison (Deputy CIO and CMCO) and approved by the council chair. The council meets once a quarter, but may meet more frequently or hold virtual meetings and votes if necessary. The executive committee may meet more frequently in preparation for the quarterly meetings. The EWAC council meetings are open and welcome all stakeholders, but physical meeting space may limit the number of attendees.

Reporting

Written agendas and meeting summaries are prepared by a governance liaison within University Information Technology and posted publicly.

Further detail

Additional information related to ongoing governance council operations can be found in the operating guidelines.

Modifications

Changes to this charter must be approved by the Executive Committee and the President’s Executive Leadership Team.

Questions or comments?

Contact Aimee Ellett.

Meetings

Next meeting: Thursday, October 5, 2023, 11:00 a.m. - noon, online.

Governance committee members will receive meeting information via email.

If you're a current U community member (faculty, staff, student) and wish to participate in the online meeting, please email Aimee Ellett for access.

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Agendas and summaries (requires authentication)