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IT Project and Portfolio Management

Presenters:
        Bob Haring-Smith, West Virginia University
        Sid Morrison, West Virginia University
        Amy Baker, West Virginia University

The success of an IT organization in implementing change is greatly affected by its ability to manage projects. For the past few years at WVU, we have had a committee of administrators from around the university to consider proposals, ensure that they are aligned with the university`s needs, and establish priorities for completing approved projects. What we lacked were any effective means for judging the labor demands of approved projects and staff prepared to provide support for proposers and managers of projects.

We established a project management office (PMO) and began to implement a project portfolio management system (PPMS) during 2005. They were incorporated into the project approval process that began in 2006 for projects to be executed during fiscal year 2007. Those whose proposals were approved during a first round of consideration that focused on the project`s purpose used the PPMS to outline a project plan and specify the project`s resource needs. We then used the reporting capability of the PPMS to analyze resource needs, adjust project schedules, and select a set of projects that could be accomplished with the resources at hand. Now that many of those projects are underway, the PPMS is used to monitor their progress and collect data on actual staff time devoted to each project.

Implementation of the PPMS and the associated establishment of an IT PMO have led to continuing examination and refinement of the means by which we manage projects. As we prepare for a new round of proposals, we hope to improve the support we provide to project proposers, do a more effective job of establishing project priorities, use data gathered on current projects to devise better estimates of the resource needs of new projects, and convert plans used for successful projects into templates for planning similar projects in the future.