Institutional Data Governance, in the University of Toronto context, is the process that both establishes and provides consistent and clear guidance around creating, accessing, using, and defining the University’s institutional data, while managing the associated risks, responsibilities, and legal obligations.
Program Scope
Institutional data comprise all of the data that are held by the University for the purpose of supporting its administrative operation, broadly understood. For the purposes of the Institutional Data Governance Program, research data are data that are held at the University for conducting scholarly research and are outside the scope of the Institutional Data Governance Program.
Guiding Principles
Data Stewardship
The University of Toronto strives to use the institutional data entrusted to its care to support its students, faculty, and staff in their pursuit of the University’s aims described below.
“The University of Toronto is dedicated to… fostering an academic community in which the learning and scholarship of every member may flourish, with vigilant protection for individual human rights, and a resolute commitment to the principles of equal opportunity, equity and justice.”1 The University will work to achieve this in accord with its Statement on Equity, Diversity, and Excellence.
1 – University of Toronto Governing Council, October 15, 1992, Statement of Institutional Purpose
Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security
The University respects the privacy of everyone whose information it holds. For data uses required for an official University purpose, clear and accessible notices will be provided. For optional activities, necessary consent will be sought, consisten…t with legal requirements and good privacy practice. The University will also use appropriate physical, technical, and procedural safeguards necessary to ensure the confidentiality and security of the data throughout its lifecycle.
Partnership and Inclusivity
Data governance is a collective responsibility. Everyone who manages, uses, or provides data should be a partner in its governance. The development, implementation, and administration of institutional data governance guidelines and procedures should …involve the University community, including end-users and data contributors.2
2 – A data contributor is a person or organization/unit that submits data for inclusion in a collection of data
Accountability and Responsibility
The collection, use, and maintenance of institutional data should have clear lines of responsibility and accountability.
Transparency
Guidelines and procedures regarding institutional data governance should be freely accessible to members of the University and to the public. In addition, notification about collection, use, availability, and disclosure are important features of tran…sparency.
Integrity
The University’s data governance guidelines and processes should advance uses of institutional data that demonstrate operational, analytical, and ethical integrity, free of actual or perceived conflicts of interest.
Clarity and Consistency in Access
Institutional data across the University should be subject to clear, consistent, and transparent access guidelines.
Efficiency
University data governance guidelines and procedures should support an environment wherein institutional data are not unnecessarily duplicated. Institutional data should be managed in an efficient fashion, taking into account human, digital, and phys…ical resources.
Foundational Reports
Towards an Institutional Data Governance Program Report
This report is a foundational document that outlines the goal, definitions, scope and guiding principles for the institutional Data Governance Program at the University of Toronto.
Implementation of an Institutional Data Governance Program
This program builds upon the first report by describing the partnerships, decision making structures, the role of the IRDG office and other support required to implement the Institutional Data Governance Program.
