Successful technology implementations in health professions education depend on more than selecting the right platform. Strong executive leadership, close partnership between academic and technology teams, and clear project governance help ensure that decisions reflect institutional priorities and that the people affected by change have a meaningful voice in shaping it.
In the first episode of Elentra's vodcast, Voices of the Community, we spoke with Gráinne McElroy, Deputy Chief Information Officer of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC), about UBC’s transition to Elentra Cloud and the governance structure that helped guide it.
Why Did UBC Move to Elentra Cloud?
UBC’s Faculty of Medicine operates a highly distributed model of education across British Columbia, making technology essential to connecting learners, faculty, and programs.
As McElroy explained, "Elentra is a really core product for us," supporting undergraduate and postgraduate medical education as well as curriculum mapping for other health professions programs.
After assessing both the market and the resources required to continue supporting Elentra internally, UBC determined that "moving to Elentra Cloud was the only viable option for what we wanted to do at the scale that we needed to do it" without significantly expanding its local technology team.
Why Was Governance So Important?
Although the move from an on-premise platform to the cloud might appear primarily technical, UBC approached it as a broader institutional initiative.
"No matter how simple the IT pieces might seem, projects routinely fail because they don’t involve the process owners, the stakeholders, [and] the end users," McElroy said.
UBC created a steering committee using a "two-in-a-box type of approach," pairing academic and administrative or technology leadership. Academic participation was also required for quorum.
"We would not proceed with the meeting…if the academic leaders were not present," McElroy explained, because otherwise “the decision-making ends up falling to the administration, and then you don’t have academic buy-in.”
What Decisions Did the Governance Committee Make?
The steering committee was responsible for more than project oversight. It provided a forum for making consequential implementation decisions and collectively accepting their associated risks.
One example was UBC’s decision to compress the migration timeline. McElroy described the alternative as "kind of a big bang instead of a kind of phased cutover, which IT people would prefer."
Academic input helped determine when that transition could happen with the least disruption. The decision was to proceed, but "do it outside of any time frames that would impact the academy."
That governance structure helped ensure that technical risk, academic schedules, and operational realities were considered together.
How Does Governance Evolve After Implementation?
UBC also distinguishes between governance for an implementation project and governance for the platform over the long term.
For now, McElroy said, "we haven’t moved the committee beyond the implementation phase" while UBC remains in hyper-care.
Once that work is complete, platform oversight will move into broader educational governance. "This particular steering group had its time and its function, but now we will fold it into that larger governance," she explained.
At the working-group level, UBC also sees an opportunity to evolve toward a "user community of practice" focused on ongoing needs and priorities.
What Advice Would UBC Give Other Institutions?
McElroy’s primary recommendation is to ensure that all the necessary perspectives remain represented throughout implementation.
"It’s not just one group or the other," she said. "All the voices need to be at the table. You do need academic as well as administration as well as IT."
That participation can require persistence, particularly when academic leaders have competing clinical, teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities. McElroy emphasized the need to be "really determined to keep everybody at the table for the duration."
For UBC, that combination of governance, collaboration, and strong execution contributed to what McElroy described as "a really successful, very low-stress implementation."
The broader lesson is that governance should not sit alongside a complex platform implementation. Done well, it becomes one of the mechanisms through which academic, administrative, and technology teams make the implementation successful together.
Watch or listen to the full conversation and—for current Elentra Members—share your questions or thoughts on project governance and other topics related to successful implementation practices in our community platform, Elentra Connect.
If your institution is preparing for a major technology implementation or looking to strengthen the governance around an existing platform, Elentra can help. From supporting complex implementations to helping academic, administrative, and technology teams work from a shared foundation, we partner with institutions to make change more coordinated, sustainable, and successful. If you'd like to learn how Elentra can support your institution's implementation and governance goals—contact us today.