A guideline and process document to
establish the governance framework for
technology related project requests laying
the groundwork for strategic portfolio
management
Xavier University:
IT Portfolio
Management and the
Project Request Process
IT Planning and Project Management Office
Information Technologies: Planning and Project Management Office
Contents
1
Purpose & Goals .................................................................................................................................... 2
2
Definition of a Project ........................................................................................................................... 2
3
Intake Process ....................................................................................................................................... 3
4
Business Case Requirements ................................................................................................................ 3
5
Business Case Assessment/Scoring....................................................................................................... 5
6
Approved/Denied/Needs More Information ........................................................................................ 6
7
Resource Allocation and Planning ........................................................................................................ 6
8
Project Approvals (See Figure 1 for workflow) ..................................................................................... 7
9
Communication Plan ............................................................................................................................. 9
10
Implementation .................................................................................................................................... 9
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Information Technologies: Planning and Project Management Office
1
Purpose & Goals
This document summarizes the methodologies, processes, and decision points related to the IT project
request process and IT Portfolio Management at Xavier University.
This document is intended to act as an end-to-end guide to performing portfolio management activities,
and as an essential component of executing IT efforts in support of the Xavier University institutional
strategy.
More specifically, the processes laid out in this document are intended to drive the following Enterprise
Objectives:
Portfolio Results
•
•
•
•
Business Case Process
Approvals Process
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Clarify the definition for what constitutes a project
Better align spending with department and overall strategic goals
Size the portfolio to better match resource constraints for both IT and the
business
Ensure that key stakeholders understand the value in building a more
formalized portfolio management approach
Establish value assessments for both hard and soft benefits
More fully capture project costs, including internal labor costs
Better identify dependencies and risks, including specific resource
requirements by name
Establish success metrics for on time, on budget, and ultimate value capture
Define an explicit process for project approvals and rejections
Describe the stage gates that will be included in this process
Define both IT and business roles in the approvals process
Leverage an analytical framework that’s Finance-driven
Definition of a Project
All IT requests will be expected to be follow the IT Project Request process described in this document.
Small and Large project requests will go through a formal review process governed by the Xavier
Technology Committee (XTC). Change Requests will be reviewed by the IT Leadership Team and a
quarterly status report will be submitted to the XTC for their review and comment.
1. IT Change Request: A change request involves a small system update that generally consists of
one or more of the following: Date or term changes, minor changes to existing system
integrations, regulatory or compliance updates, manual job runs
2. Campus Technology Project Request:
a. Small: A midsize project request which generally includes hardware, software, and/or
consulting dollars, one or more departments and several technology resources
i. Criteria consists of one or more of the following:
1. Approx. 40-150 hours of effort
2. Average financial investment
3. Cross-departmental initiative
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Information Technologies: Planning and Project Management Office
b. Large: A University-wide project initiative which generally includes hardware, software,
and/or consulting dollars, many cross-functional departments, and several technology
and subject-matter resource.
i. Criteria consists of one or more of the following:
1. Greater than 150 hours of effort
2. Large financial investment
3. University-wide engagement
3
Intake Process
Project requests will be entered via a new submission form located within the project and ticketing
system, TeamDynamix. (Xavier credentials can be used to access the TeamDynamix system.) The
form will contain the required inputs for developing a Business Case.
TeamDynamix Log in Instructions: VPN Access required if outside of the Xavier network
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Go to http://projects.xavier.edu/TDClient/Login.aspx
Log in using your Xavier credentials
Go to “Requests” Tab (top)
Click on “Service Catalog” (left)
Click on “I.T. Project Request Forms”
Select the appropriate request form to enter your Change or Business Case
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Business Case Requirements
Traditional Business Cases are compiled in a template designed in Microsoft Word or a similar word
processing application. The new project request form (TeamDynamix) has been developed to
incorporate high-level and detailed business criteria that automatically enters your business
requirements and proposal into the project request portfolio module.
These guidelines govern the preparation of business cases and are intended to ease the initial
preparation.
Business case
Change
Request
Small
Large
Comments
Project Overview & Definition
Summary & Background
•
•
Alternative Solutions
Define the problem being
addresses
Project categorization
•
What is the business impact if
the request is not approved?
•
Are there alternatives to
solving the problem?
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Information Technologies: Planning and Project Management Office
Business case
Success Criteria
Change
Request
Small
Large
Comments
•
How do we know we solved
the problem?
•
If approved, list
measurements that would
assume the project was
successfully completed.
Conclusion and Recommendations
•
Formally outline how you
think the organization should
address the problem.
Strategic Assessment*
•
*Answers to the Strategic
Alignment, Risks, and Score
Card make up the 100-point
scoring system
Alignment to Strategic or Operational
Objectives
•
How will each Strategic
Objective be supported?
•
What key metrics will be
used?
•
Business Case requires
greater depth (i.e. more than
a paragraph)
Risk Assessment
•
What are the risks of
“DOING” the project?
Score Card
•
A more granular needs
assessment for alignment and
urgency
Technology Assessment*
•
*To be filled out with your
PPMO Liaison
Timelines
•
High-level timeline
expectations
Dependencies & Risks
•
Fast Track requires less depth
(i.e. bullet points)
Resourcing
•
Cost-Benefit Analysis*
•
Include both IT and Business
resources required to
complete the project
*Template provided and
developed outside of the
TeamDynamix application.
Must be attached to project
request at time of
submission.
Tangible Benefits
•
Business Case has emphasis
on specific ROI
•
Smaller projects should
articulate benefits within a
broad category and range
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Information Technologies: Planning and Project Management Office
Business case
Change
Request
Small
Large
Comments
Intangible Benefits
Capital Costs
Labor Costs
Other Costs
•
Startup implementation costs
•
Ongoing operations &
maintenance costs
•
Include normalized / loaded
cost for both internal labor
and external contractors
ROI & Payback
5
Business Case Assessment/Scoring
This scoring system provides an objective / quantitative process for comparing the relative merits of
business cases.
100-point Project Request Scorecard
Weighted
Goal = 40 potential points
Achieve Global Excellence
Business Process Improvement
Enhance educational opportunity
Expand resources and improve effectiveness
N/A
Improve Student Success
Integration of systems and resources
Provide civic leadership through local and global partnerships
Criteria = 30 potential points
This project helps improve Student Retention
500.00%
This project supports compliance/audit-related requirements
500.00%
This project has security-related objectives
400.00%
This project is related to critical software/hardware updates
300.00%
This project will increase revenue for the university
300.00%
This project will lead to significant cost reduction for the institution
300.00%
This project will help increase enrollment
250.00%
This project helps improve Customer Satisfaction
150.00%
This project will Increase business process efficiencies
100.00%
This project will provide enhanced functionality not currently available within the institution
100.00%
This project helps give the institution a competitive advantage
This project is related to environmental sustainability
50.00%
50.00%
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Information Technologies: Planning and Project Management Office
Risk = 30 (Based on a possible 30 points if there are zero risks of doing)
Difficult Learning Curves
Impact On Other Projects
Increased Workflow Complexity
Lack of cohesive stakeholder buy-in/support
N/A
Resource Bottlenecks
Unknown Complexities
Vendor Dependability
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Approved/Denied/Needs More Information
When a project is approved, denied, or needs more information the PPMO will inform the project
owner or sponsor. This will be done via email no later than the end of business hours on the day the
decision is made. If the business case has been approved, but with some conditions, those
conditions must be described in the email informing the project owner or sponsor of the approval.
In addition, approvals, project backlogs, and ongoing status will be posted on the PPMO Nexus site.
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Resource Allocation and Planning
a. Capacity-Based Allocation
It is recommended that a Capacity-Based Allocation model, where the organization
approves only those operational projects that can be realistically delivered, be delivered in
the near term. To make this model succeed:
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Reserve sufficient capacity for strategic initiatives and predictable technical support
issues
Approve operational projects based on remaining resource capacity for short, fixedlength periods (e.g. quarterly)
Discontinue the practice of managing a backlog of approved-but-undeliverable IT
projects
The recommendations in this document are collectively defined as a practical approach to
overcoming IT’s supply-demand mismatch with a Capacity-Based Allocation model.
b. IT Planning
At present, Xavier University’s resource budget for strategic IT investments sits with the
individual requesting division or department. In addition, large capital requests are often
initiated through the University Resource and Planning Committee (UPRC) which will
ultimately need XTC approval for IT resource allocation purposes. Operational IT projects
are funded through the IT Student Technology Fee. Some unintended consequences
include:
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Information Technologies: Planning and Project Management Office
•
•
Potential for operational projects to interfere with strategic projects: Operational
projects are budgeted separately and could run the risk of delaying strategic
projects. This is particularly the case when new operational projects are
incorporated into an already full project calendar.
Potential over-commitment of capital and labor resources: Having both strategic
and operational projects vie for the same resource pools makes it difficult to
monitor and enforce cap limits. By separating the budgets and creating a more
explicit understanding of desired levels of investment for strategic and operational
projects respectively, the Xavier can more easily enforce its underlying objectives.
All things considered it is recommended that the overall University IT investment strategy
should be considered across four primary categories:
Category
Description
Strategic Initiatives
For large IT & business
initiatives
60-80%
Business Operations
For business initiatives
5-10%
IT Operations
For IT initiatives
5-10%
Management Reserve
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Range
10-20%
Rationale
• Strategic initiatives should
represent the majority of IT
investment
• Create sufficient reserve to
expedite operational
projects
• Separate the approvals
processes for Business & IT
initiatives
• Maintain a contingency for
overruns and strategic
initiatives that may occur
over the course of the year
Project Approvals (See Figure 1 for workflow)
c. Environment:
At present, the project approvals process is not explicit to all stakeholders. Some of the
challenges include:
• Projects that circumvent the process and get worked on without common
understanding
• Definition of a project – when does something cross over from support to becoming
an actual project
• Inconsistent use of business cases and lack of a common business case template
• Unclear criteria for how business cases will be assessed
• Uncertainty surrounding approvals and activations, many of which linger for months
or even years before reaching kickoff
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Information Technologies: Planning and Project Management Office
•
Uncertainty surrounding backlogged business cases, and what the current status is
To improve this process going forward, it is recommended that the Xavier adopt a three-part
approval process for all strategic and business operational initiatives.
d. Approval Logistics
The existing process for approving and monitoring strategic projects is transforming to a
steering committee model based on the newly formed Xavier Technology Committee
(XTC). The committee will meet monthly within an annual budget cycle 1.
Some of the key dates and milestones in this process include:
1. April: All Strategic and Business Operational Business Cases required for upcoming
Fiscal Year
2. May: Strategic Business Case scoring and assessments are completed
3. June: Project budgets and IT resources locked down for upcoming Fiscal
It is recommended that the XTC follow a more formalized project approval process that
combines a formalized business case with explicit allocation of financial and human resources.
A separate cost-benefit analysis template will be provided to the requestor. The analysis report
should be attached to the project request prior to final submission and subsequent XTC
approval.
1.
Activity
Business case approval
2.
Financial approval
Strategic Projects Approval Process
Responsibility
• XTC
•
UPRC and/or Division VP
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3.
Resourcing allocation
•
PPMO
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Key Tasks
Review and score each
Business Case according to
pre-set Assessment Criteria
Confirm availability for
proposed initiative
Validation of the financial model
employed in the business case
Ensure availability of necessary
resources within both the
Business as well as IT
The flow of business cases increases involvement from the Planning and Project Management
Office (for confirmation of resource availability) and a Finance representative (for validation of
the financial model and confirmation of budget availability). It is also recommended that a
formalized communication process be established for the delivery of Approve/Decline decisions.
1
To be introduced in FY16
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Information Technologies: Planning and Project Management Office
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Communication Plan
Message
•
We are moving to a quarterly planning process for business operational and strategic
projects.
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The backlog of project requests has outpaced our capacity.
There is a lack of clarity as to when and why projects get started.
As our backlog increases, we risk losing credibility with the company.
A combined effort to look at intake with staffing simultaneously will yield realistic delivery
estimates and reduced date reforecasting.
•
We will schedule a prioritization meeting for March 2014 to prioritize projects for next
quarter.
Please submit a project request via TeamDynamix for each of your top one to three ITrelated projects that you’d like to have reviewed during this meeting.
We’ll need to have your request submitted one week prior to the prioritization meeting in
order for them to be considered – that way the team can prepare in advance and ask for
additional information where appropriate.
Why?
What?
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When?
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•
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XTC – January 2014
Cabinet – February 2014
Information Technologies Division – February 2014
Key stakeholders (Director’s, Deans, Associate Deans, Business Managers) – February 2014
Implementation
IT Project Intake Process and Governance Review
I.
Phase I: Communicate and Kickoff – Winter 2014
a. Introduce Project Request Intake Process and XTC Approvals
i. Showcase current IT investment mix
ii. Define target investment mix
iii. Define Project
iv. Define process
v. Instructions for TeamDynamix
b. Reporting Site for status and information
c. Formalize IT planning meetings for resource allocation and communication
d. Standardize deck for business case pitching
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Information Technologies: Planning and Project Management Office
II.
III.
e. Standardize cost benefit analysis template
Phase II: Portfolio Monitoring – Summer 2014
a. Define and build KPI’s for portfolio management and tracking
Phase III: Enterprise Portfolio Management – Summer 2015
a. Align intake process with the fiscal year and university budget cycle
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Information Technologies: Planning and Project Management Office
Figure 1
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