Page 13 - OIT 2015 Progress Report

SUPPORTING BUSINESS
AS TECHNOLOGY CHANGES AT AN EVER-INCREASING SPEED, OIT HAS STRENGTHENED ACCOUNTABILITY AND COMMUNICATION BY RESTRUCTURING AND STRENGTHENING RESOURCES AND PARTNERSHIPS. THIS ALLOWS US TO GAIN AGILITY TO SUPPORT THE UNIVERSITY AT LARGE.
IT LEADERSHIP COUNCIL
The Information Technology Leadership Council was created to ensure that IT strategy is developed with input from academic and administrative areas.
The council’s objective is to balance and prioritize academic and administrative computing needs by taking feedback from the Academic Technology Council, the campus community, and the Office of Information Technology. Key responsibilities of members include providing input to technology strategy, helping prioritize projects, providing input to service levels, advocating for SMU’s IT users, and serving as an ambassador to OIT.
The IT Leadership Council is comprised of 6 members representing the Academic Technology Council, Research, Provost, Business and Finance, and OIT. The council is chaired by the Chief Information Officer, Joe Gargiulo. The members of the council are Julie Forrester, associate provost; Vinh Pham, business and finance senior manager; Curt Herridge, IT director; Xin-Lin Gao, research PI; Joe Gargiulo, CIO; and James Quick, associate vice president for research, dean of graduate studies and professor of earth sciences, serves as the Academic Technology Council Chair.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE
For the past six years, IT has focused efforts towards improving our project and portfolio management processes. However, these efforts were guided by individuals in addition to their regular responsibilities. With the increasing demand for portfolio management and project governance, OIT established an official project management office (PMO), led by Teena Newman. The PMO will focus on completing projects on time, on budget, and meeting intended business goals.
Since the PMO initiation, OIT has begun meeting weekly to discuss all active OIT projects, identify challenges, and celebrate successes. In addition, the first round of Project Management Methodology training took place in November. In 2016, PMO will partner with HR to continue training the remaining OIT project staff. The Project Management Office will continuously evolve to meet the ever changing business needs, while staying aligned with SMU’s strategic goals.
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