Process
As the university undertakes renewal of its strategic priorities and direction, a comprehensive digital foundation is an essential enabler.
Therefore, in parallel with the final phase of completing the university’s strategic plan, the digital strategy was created to provide a framework related to data governance, security, infrastructure, and services to ensure the university is digitally prepared to address the university’s priorities and requirements
- In September 2020; the provost and vice-president, academic appointed a Digital Strategy Steering Committee (DSSC) to develop a digital strategy for Dalhousie University based on broad university consultation, best practices, evidence-based information, and experience. (See Appendix A in the Digital Strategy).
The DSSC began meeting in October and created a process to quickly obtain input from across the university, through a series of 29 discussion groups, on six broad topics and subtopics related to the university mission. See Appendix B in the Digital Strategy for discussion group topics and Appendix C in the Digital Strategy for discussion group participants. Additional consultations took place with the six subcommittees of the Accessibility Committee during November.
The discussion groups met through November and early December, wrapping up with a reflection meeting on December 14, to confirm the discussions had been accurately recorded and synthesized into 10 potential goals and 10 potential values. See Appendix D in the Digital Strategy for the longer list of potential values and goals.
The DSSC took the synthesized data from the discussion groups and created the first draft of the Digital Strategy, to share with the university community for wide and extensive consultation in January.
A thoughtful, comprehensive Implementation Plan for the Digital Strategy has been identified as a critical success factor, including key performance indicators and clear accountability by the units involved.
Resource requirements will be outlined in the Implementation Plan to ensure goals in the Digital Strategy receive appropriate support.