Project Management Framework

What is a Project?

A project is the work performed by an organization one time to produce a unique outcome. Projects are defined as unique, temporary endeavors with a specific beginning and end.  It is unique because the work result is different in one or more ways from anything the organization has produced before.  Examples of a project include:  

• Developing or launching a new software application

• Performing an assessment of current processes

What is not a Project?

All other work is considered to be operations work, namely the ongoing set of activities that sustain the organization.  Examples of ongoing operations include:

• Maintaining an established service with user support, critical upgrades, and patches

• Resolving issues and trouble-tickets for existing services

Categorization of Work

Since all work and/or efforts performed within an organization are characterized as either operations or projects, all of the costs of an organization must be distributed to either operations or projects. We call these work categories Mandatory and Discretionary work. Mandatory effort represents operational activity and basic service delivery. Discretionary effort represents all other work, namely one-time project work.

All effort will be categorized into these areas and managed via the ITS PRO platform.

• Projects (Discretionary): All projects greater than 100 total work hours will need to go through the formal Project review process and require a Project Charter (see Project Lifecycle & Project Initiation pages). Once initiated, Projects will follow the ITS PRO Ontology for tracking project effort and deliverables.
• Enhancements (Discretionary): A body of work less than 100 total work hours can follow a more lightweight process. This set of work is sometimes referred to as a request and includes things like bundling and delivering enhancements to an existing system. In order to meet the needs of our fast-pace environment, these requests will not need to go through the formal project review and chartering process.  Work on requests, however, will be managed using the same project ontology and can be started with the approval of the department Senior Manager or Service Manager. As a best practice, the enhancement workstreams should be managed and prioritized by the service area's governance body.
• Operations (Mandatory):  All other maintenance or operational work that does not require the same oversight from the PPMO. This work is sometimes referred to as non-discretionary work. A similar ontology for Service Operations will need to be managed for these work items, however since they are an ongoing body of work, they are not considered formal projects and will not require setting such info as estimates on tasks. Note: At times a body of work to support the service operations needs to be more formally managed. In this case, the project ontology can be used for greater control of the effort and deliverables. 
• Administrative (Mandatory): Service operations ("SVCOPS" in Jira); administrative overhead. Sick time, vacation, general ITS mtgs, professional development, etc.

Getting a Project Started

Formal projects start with discussions at campus IT Governance or Advisory bodies, and leverage a standard process, the Project Lifecycle. The first steps include working with key stakeholders to define why the project is needed and the value that this project will bring. This is defined by filling out the Charter TEMPLATE.