Establishing IT Project Priorities

1. Establishing IT Project Priorities Dr. Sharon Blanton CIO, Portland State University Mr. Kirk Kelly Vice Chancellor and CIO Pima Community College Mr. Barry Gillaspie Dir. Of Development Services Pima Community College

2. Agenda • Introductions • Issues, Observations • A Tale of Two Institutions • Pima • PSU • Demo • Wrap Up, Discussion, Q&A

3. Issues/Challenges • Overwhelming Project List • Increasing Expectations • Perceptions • Culture

4. Project Submission Scenarios 1 Back Door Executive Mandate Mandate Deny Request 80% Completion Mad Scramble Eternal Tweaking

5. Project Submission Scenarios 2 Persistent Requesting Ask Someone Else Deny Request Grant Bribe Someone Deny Person Granting has no authority Project is never fully supported

6. Project Submission Scenarios 3 Community Decision Community Decision Queue Request Everyone gets a Priority A listing Project Process Can’t leave anyone out. Does anything ever get completed?

7. Project Submission Scenarios 4 Project Portfolio Management Grant/Deny PPM Request Schedule Communicate Prioritize Injects objectivity into the process. Project Management

8. What is PPM? A Somewhat Official Definition Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is a term used by software companies and consulting firms to describe various approaches characterized by treating project management (PM) projects as part of an overall project investment portfolio. PPM advocates see it as a shift away from one-off, ad hoc approaches to project management. Most PPM tools and methods attempt to establish a set of values, techniques and technologies that enable visibility, standardization, measurement and process improvement. PPM tools attempt to enable organizations to manage the continuous flow of projects from concept to completion. Treating a set of projects as a portfolio would be, in most cases, an improvement on the ad hoc, one-off analysis of individual project proposals. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_portfolio_management)

9. What is PPM? A Completely Unofficial Definition A method of injecting objectivity and transparency into the project acceptance and prioritization process while considering organizational culture, goals, and governance structures. (Sharon Blanton)

10. Getting Started “End-user organizations seeking improved project and portfolio management (PPM) should primarily spend effort identifying needed changes in roles, skills and processes before exploring which tools can best support — and enhance — PPM capabilities. They should then carefully scope PPM implementations to ensure that they are neither too narrow nor too broad, but "just right" — and insist on modular, progressive implementations that will fit immediate, then evolving, requirements. Technology providers should pursue broader markets with solutions tuned to various capability levels that feature more-flexible packaging and pricing.” "What You Need To Know" from the Magic Quadrant for IT Project and Portfolio Management, 2007

11. PPM Goals Customer/Community Input Customer/Community Satisfaction

12. Do The Hard Work • Software? – avoid the temptation • Catalog your projects • Determine your goals • Learn about organizational priorities • Gather existing academic, administrative plans • Discuss culture

13. PimaCommunityCollege Pima Community College District • Serves ~75,000 students annually. • Services provided at a district office, six campuses, and dozens of satellite locations. • ~40 IT staff - Network Services, Technical Services, Development Services, and Client Services.

14. Pima - Statement of Problem • Central IT department did not have a methodology for accepting and prioritizing projects. • Users were not sure of the process. • IT staff did not have clear direction.

15. Pima Goals • Improve communication throughout the District • Improve project level visibility and overall productivity • Improve efficiency through elimination of redundant efforts • Prioritize projects, drive more projects to completion • Allocate resources to highest priority projects

16. Pima Scope and Approach Stabilize • Create Project Portfolio • Documented Priorities • Review “As-IS” PMO process/tools • Define and Communicate new PMO process/tools • Define tactical plan for addressing Project Portfolio

17. Pima Scope and Approach cont. Re-align • Define Governance Model for PMO function • Start using PMO process/tools • Initiate PMO Governance Model • Define long term plan for PMO (staffing, maintenance, etc.) • Assess Project Portfolio, re-allocate resources to priority projects • Develop “To Be” Organization Structure • Define Metrics

18. Building the Tool • Pima Planning Docs • Project List • To Be PMO Process • Functional Specs

19. Conceptual Design - Business Analyst: Project Submission Form Reports Logout Home PMO Tracking Tool Project Submission Form Project Title: Project Description: Project Category: External Mandate? Yes: No: Type: Compliance Date: MM/DD/YYYY College / Capital Plan? Yes: No: Strategy / Line #: Plan Delivery Date: MM/DD/YYYY MM/DD/YYYY Desired Delivery Date? Project Requestor: Requestor Dept: Primary Contact: Primary Contact Phone: User currently logged in Primary Contact Email: User@pima.edu User currently logged in Cabinet Sponsor: (520) 206-XXXX Submit Cancel

20. Pima Scope and Approach cont. Deploy • Fully deploy PMO tools • Incorporate processes into daily operations • Pilot Project Portfolio Dashboard • Communication of priorities and project schedule

21. Portland State University • Serves ~40,000 students annually. • Enterprise IT services provided by Office of Information Technologies & departmental support is provided via local IT support staff (~40). • OIT consists of ~ 80 staff and 200 students including User Support Services, Instructional Technology Services, Research Computing, Network and Telecom Services, Information Systems, and Client/Enterprise Computing.

22. PSU – Statement of Problem • 3 high profile projects • IDM – 5 years overdue • Portal – 2 years overdue • E-portfolio – under supported, unused • Recent layoffs and restructuring • Historically under funded

23. PSU – Statement of Problem ...combines involvement and expertise in all things urban with a passion for cultivating all things "green." ...embodies and contributes to the vision and character that make Portland a progressive, entrepreneurial city with growing international connections.

24. PSU Goals • Improve communication to users • Improve project level visibility and overall productivity • Improve internal efficiency and communication • Prioritize projects, drive more projects to completion • Allocate resources to highest priority projects

25. PSU Process • Modeled after Pima • Develop Project Catalog (203 items) • Collect existing plans • Administrative Priorities Committee • Advisory Committee on Academic Information Technologies • Capital Plan • Student Tech Fee • Understand Culture

26. Demo

27. Wrap Up and Discussion Key Takeaways • Understand culture • Understand institutional plans and priorities • Develop matrix • The tool is less important than the process • Communicate – tell the IT story

28. Thank You Questions?Sblanton@pdx.edukkelly@pima.edubgillaspie@pima.edu