ITS Technology Standards Development Methodology

Owned by Louis King
Last updated: Jul 07, 2023
3 min read

Created: 2018-07-19

Benefits of Technology Standards to the Organization

  1. Standards improve operational excellence through consistent, repeatable, secure, and reliable service delivery
  2. Standards align solutions to common and often repeated processes
  3. Standards lead to optimized platforms, tools, and infrastructure, containing costs over time
  4. To the extent that standards describe successful ways to solve common problems, they will foster broader adoption elsewhere in the University
  5. The development of practical and useful standards encourage other service teams to develop standards

Benefits Of Technology Standards To Service Teams

  1. The service team develops and owns the standard to describe their current state (with help and advocacy from the TAST)
  2. The service team can revise working copies of the standard to keep it up to date between approvals of major versions
  3. The standard is a unifying document for the service team
  4. The standard is a communications tool for the service team to disseminate, socialize, and communicate the service to key stakeholders
  5. The standard is a benchmark to gauge compliance
  6. The standard is a starting point for the service team's planning and change management
  7. The service uses the standard to onboard new staff and consultants

Use of Technology Standards

  1. Use the standards as a working document to guide your service team
  2. Use the standards to communicate, train and drive adoption (change management)
  3. Use the standards to engage project teams in advance of the design phase of projects to help them clearly understand the ITS Standard and how it applies to their project
  4. Conform to the standards to streamline ITS gating and planning processes. 
  5. Easily access standards in the IT Architecture Standards Repository.

Responsibilities

  1. Service Team (Team: 1-2 hours, Keeper: 10-20 hours)
    1. Meet with TAST to inform them of interest in developing a standard
    2. Develop a standard using the uniform template for ITS Standards
    3. Have appropriate stakeholders review the standard and provide feedback
    4. Present the standard to the TAC for approval
    5. Post the standard for a 30-day community review and put an article in IT Update about the standard
    6. Submit the final version of the standard for inclusion, after the community comment period, in the IT Architecture Repository
    7. Post an IT Update article stating that the standard is finalized
  2. Enterprise Architecture Liaison Liaison (5-10 hours)
    1. Meet with Service Team to go over the standards development process
    2. Assist Service Team in getting started through consultation
    3. Review and comment on drafts of the standard as needed
    4. Work with the Service Team and TAC to coordinate approval
    5. Review and comment on IT Update Articles
    6. Evangelize standard and foster adoption

Identifying Service Readiness

The Enterprise Architecture Team is seeking ITS service teams ready to document their services as technology standards. ITS Technology Standards are the established set of principles, architectures, technologies, tools, and processes implemented by a service in order to deliver its capability.

Standards Development Lifecycle

This diagram depicts the development lifecycle of standards and the actors responsible for each event.


Standards Development Methodology

The TAST will support service teams in developing ITS Standards through consultation, editorial review, writing, soliciting community comments, approving, communicating, and evangelizing the ITS Standard.

  1. Meet with a TAST member to let them know you are interested in developing an ITS Technology Standard and solicit team support.
  2. Identify the service
  3. Identify goals for setting the standard
  4. Inform key stakeholders and request engagement in setting the standard
  5. Review the current state of the service and gather artifacts pertaining to implemented principles, architectures, technologies, tools, and processes
  6. Develop an initial draft using the IT Architecture Standards Documentation Template (also excerpted below)
  7. Request a review of the draft from your service team, key stakeholders, and the TAST
  8. Incorporate feedback as you deem appropriate and finalize the initial draft 
  9. Work with the TAST to schedule an IT Architecture Standard Review by the Technology Architecture Committee (TAC) that governs the approval of ITS Standards
  10. Present the ITS Standard to the TAC for approval
  11. The TAC will post approved standards to the IT Architecture Repository
  12. The TAST will work with you to submit an article in the Yale IT Update when your standard is approved and available for a 30-day review period

IT Architecture Standards and Annual Review

  1. Continue to make minor upgrades to the ITS Standard on a local copy and when appropriate request that the TAC post a revised document to the IT Architecture Repository
  2. Perform an IT Architecture Standard Review annually

ITS Technology Standards Documentation Template Excerpt

This template can also be found at ITS Technology Standard Documentation Template.

IT Architecture Standards Documentation Template
      Title Page – Standard topic, primary service and date

      Table of Contents – a list of the major sections and sub-sections and their page numbers

  1. Document Control
    1. Document Information
      1. Document Identifier
      2. Document Name
      3. Document URL – Link to document in ITS Standards Repository.
      4. Service Name - The name of the service that primarily supports the topic of the standard.
      5. Document Author – The individual(s) responsible for writing the document.
      6. Document Keeper – The contact for  content questions and recommended revisions.
      7. Document Version – The document's current version number.
      8. Document Status – In Revision, Pending Approval, In Effect.
      9. Effective Date – Date the document went into effect.
      10. Last Reviewed Date – Date the document was last reviewed by the document keeper for changes, updates, or document retirement.
      11. Next Review Date – Date the document will be reviewed by document keeper for correctness, changes, updates, or document retirement.
    2. Document Edit History – A list of edits made to the document – Version, Date, Modifications, By.
    3. Document Review and Approval – a list of reviews and approvals of the document – Date, By/Title , Organization, Comments.
    4. Document Distribution – a list of recipients and access links to the document – Name/Title, Organization, URL of containing page.
  2. Introduction & Purpose
    1. Introduction – The purpose of the document, including its intended outcome and value proposition.
    2. Industry Standards and Reference Models – Highlighted industry standards and reference models related to the topic.
    3. External References – Documents not specifically referenced in the standard but may provide useful information.
    4. Terms and Abbreviations – Terms, definitions and acronyms used in this document.
  3. Scope
    1. Scope – The extent of the topic that the standard deals with including but not limited to platforms, tools, IT infrastructure, processes, procedures and methods.
    2. Assumptions – Something foundational to the topic that is accepted as true without proof.
    3. Constraints and Limitations – Something inhibiting the scope or application of the standard. 
    4. Dependencies – Something that is required in order to comply to the standard.
    5. Risks – Institutional exposure to danger related to the failure to comply with the standard.
  4. Governance & Compliance
    1. Governance – ITS organizations and processes that govern the topic and standard.
    2. Compliance – The requirement to comply with the standard, where to report non-compliance, and where to request exceptions. Proposed language: IT solution architectures are expected to comply with this standard unless there is a compelling reason, consistent with IT Architecture Principles, to do otherwise. Teams may request an exception to the standard through the Enterprise Architecture Team.
  5. Guiding Principles
    1. Enterprise Architecture Principles – The underlying general rules and guidelines for the use and deployment of all IT resources and assets across the organization.
    2. Topic Architecture Principles –  The underlying general rules and guidelines for the use and deployment of topic related IT resources and assets.
  6. Platforms and Tools – The standard technologies used to support the topic.
  7. Processes, Procedures & Methods – The standard processes, procedures and methods used to support the topic.
  8. Decision Tree – A guide to architects to determine the best standardized approach to use for their solution.
  9. Engagement & Support – Access points to resources, systems and training available to support constituents in complying to the standard.