New York State, University at Albany Work toward State IT Governance Framework

Not long ago, the Center for Technology in Government at the University at Albany (N.Y.) announced it is working with the state CIO and Office for Technology to create an enterprise IT governance framework for the state. According to the press release:

CTG will bring together key stakeholders in the NYS IT enterprise such as the NYS Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council, which represents approximately 87 CIOs from state and local agencies throughout NYS, to work collaboratively on the creation of an enhanced IT governance framework. The framework will draw on insights from current enterprise-wide IT governance structures within New York State, other U.S. states, and the private sector.

NYS CIO Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart says a new framework will enable the state IT decision-makers to speed up their processes as well as the quality of those decisions.

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak with CTG Director Theresa Pardo and program manager Donna Canestraro about how the 16-month long project is unfolding. And the one thing they made clear is that it's definitely still in the research stages at this point. They don't know what the statewide IT governance framework will look like, if the framework will cover every government agency, or even if it will happen at all. As Pardo put it, "If the research shows that a statewide IT framework will not be of value to the state, then we won't build one."