X-1.0      POLICY ON USM INSTITUTIONAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
     POLICIES, INCLUDING FUNCTIONAL COMPATIBILITY WITH THE STATE
     INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PLAN
                                
       Approved by the Board of Regents on August 24, 2001
                                
Background

Senate Bill 682 specifically outlines the requirements of the
University System of Maryland Board of Regents Information
Technology Plan concerning information technology policies and
standards:

     The Board of Regents shall develop an
     information technology plan for the University
     System of Maryland that includes information
     technology policies and standards, including
     policies and standards for information
     management and telecommunication systems, that
     are functionally compatible with the State
     Information Technology Plan established under
     Title 3, Subtitle 4 of the State Finance and
     Procurement Article.
          
The University System of Maryland (USM) is specifically exempted
from Title 3, Subtitle 4 of the state finance and procurement
article.  This exemption implies that the USM may develop its own
unique policies and standards for effective management of
information technology, provided that they are functionally
compatible with those in the State Information Technology Master
Plan (ITMP).

Unlike a typical state agency, where the majority of internal
users of information technology services are employees, in the
USM the majority of internal users are students.  Increasingly,
the computers connected to our networks and accessing our
services are not USM-owned computers, but personally owned
computers.  Furthermore, a typical state agency will focus
information technology policies around agency business processes.
In the USM, the focus is also on our mission activities of
teaching, learning, and research.  These activities naturally
require a flexible approach to policies and standards, and many
of the activities inherently push the envelope of current
technology.


Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to establish a framework, as
required in Senate Bill 682, for creating institutional
information technology policies, standards, guidelines, and
operating practices that address the requirements of policies
articulated in the State ITMP, where applicable.  Equally
critical, this policy fosters the development of additional
information technology policies, standards, and guidelines
indigenous to the higher education administration and mission
activities of teaching, learning, and research.

                                
Guidelines

USM institutions shall develop, document, and maintain
information technology policies, standards, guidelines, or
operating practices that are functionally compatible with the
State's ITMP policies and standards, where applicable.  The State
has identified policies and standards in the areas of information
technology management, hardware and software standards,
networking, systems development, web services, and security.

The USM Information Technology Coordinating Council (ITCC) will
provide copies of the current applicable State information
technology policies and standards as well as checklists and
guidelines to assist the USM institutions in developing
functionally compatible policies, standards, guidelines, or
operating practices.  The USM Chief Information Officer (CIO), in
consultation with the ITCC, will also propose and develop
additional information technology policies and standards as
necessary for consideration of the Board of Regents Technology
Committee and subsequently to the full Board of Regents.


Statewide Process

As outlined in the Statewide Policy Implementation Guideline,
State information technology policies will be reviewed semi-
annually and forwarded to the State Information Technology
Advisory Committee (ITAC) for review and comment.  Official
announcements of State policy publications and changes will be
made via ITAC.


USM Accountability

Each USM institution will establish procedures for annually
reviewing and certifying the functional compatibility of its
information technology policies, standards, guidelines, and
operating practices with the State ITMP.  These certifications
will be filed with the USM CIO and reviewed by the USM ITCC.


Time-Line

The certifications by the USM institutions will be filed starting
August 15, 2002 and every August 15th thereafter.