Page 23 - OIT Progress Report: 2023 Edition

Continued Evolution
in Project and Portfolio
Management
BALANCING THE DEMANDS OF OPERATIONAL AND PROJECT ACTIVITIES IS A DAILY CHALLENGE IN A LEAN ORGANIZATION. IN LATE 2022, OIT COMPILED A LIST OF PROJECTS THAT WE ANTICIPATED BEGINNING DURING 2023. THESE PROJECTS ORIGINATED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES INCLUDING OUR OIT STRATEGIC PLAN AND VARIOUS INITIATIVES UNDERWAY ACROSS THE UNIVERSITY. ALTHOUGH THE LIST OF ACTUAL PROJECTS LAUNCHED IS TWICE WHAT WE ANTICIPATED, WE HAVE MADE SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS IN COMPLETING 122 PROJECTS THUS FAR. AS WE NEAR THE HALFWAY POINT IN OUR CURRENT OIT STRATEGIC PLAN, WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT 53% OF THE OBJECTIVES WE OUTLINED ARE EITHER COMPLETE OR IN PROGRESS.
As project requests are entered, each is evaluated and assigned a score based on several criteria. Projects are aligned to the University strategic plan as well as the OIT strategic plan. IT Governance reviews and determines the priority of projects to ensure OIT is focused on the initiaves most critical to the institution. Typically, these projects are assigned to either a Tier 1 or a Tier 2 category and receive additional project management oversight and structure. These higher-tier projects represent roughly 40% of our total
portfolio.
Our tier 3 projects
represent 60%
of the portfolio
and are typically
around 3-4
months in
duration, requiring
a smaller number of
resources. These projects
however capture critical activities in OIT. These include internal activities such as software upgrades, security changes, automation activities, and more. Also captured is development work on
forms and processes for customers that require less than 80 hours but are valuable activities supporting SMU departments.
While the number of completed projects is laudable, our current project portfolio shows the ever-increasing demand for our work. With 70 current projects in flight and over 50 projects already in the backlog, it is imperative that we continue to develop as an organization to better collaborate, automate, and coordinate both the operational and project requests. As a result, organizational changes were made within the PMO to establish four full-time project managers to help shepherd these requests.
cOnTInuEd EvOluTIOn In PROjEcT And PORTFOlIO mAnAGEmEnT
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