Project Management

Project Management Office

University IT’s project management staff are organized into two workgroups — one in Administrative Systems and one in IT Services. These teams support the planning, execution, and management of enterprise systems, infrastructure, and communications projects.

Together, we field a staff of professionals with Stanford expertise who ensure successful implementations, fulfilling the business needs of university stakeholders through application of best-practice project management processes, tools, and methods.

Services

The PMO offers expert project managers to conduct IT projects for schools and departments. UIT project managers manage IT projects using recommended methodologies, maximize the benefits of project investments, and minimize the risks. The project managers may be funded through either UIT operating budget or work on a charge back basis, depending on the scope and nature of the project.

PMO staff also provide consulting services, from answering general project management questions to assisting in the development of a project charter, risk analysis, or work schedule. This service may be provided for free or via charge back, depending on the scope of the work.

Request a Project or Project Manager

Portfolio Management

The PMO manages the Enterprise IT Systems Funding Process, also known as the Systems Governance Group (SGG), an annual planning and prioritization process for university systems project which has several typical outcomes:

Enhancements and small new projects funded by the SGG project fund
Recommendation to Budget Group, Provost, or President for larger projects
Recommendations to Budget Group and Provost for enterprise systems base funding

Current Project Dashboard (accessible to Stanford internal only)

Online Methodology and Tools

The PMO has developed a basic project management guide, training, and templates that are based upon the Project Management Institute (PMI) standards for use by anyone on campus, as well as UIT.

In addition, the PMO hosts an enterprise license for — and strongly recommends — the Smartsheet project management tool that is available to the entire campus for a limited annual fee. For more information, see the UIT Smartsheet service page. Other IT project management related tools hosted and operated by the PMO include JIRA for issue management, Confluence for project Wiki, and Zephyr for test management. See the appropriate UIT Service Page for additional information on any of these tools.

Business Analysis

UIT staffs a small team of Business Analysts in a consultative role for those business partners who have neither the expertise nor the bandwidth to staff this very important function on projects. The Business Analyst helps to define concise front-end, back-end, reporting, or Business Intelligence (BI) requirements and functional design, and assists during and/or leads the User Acceptance Test (UAT) phase and Conference Room Pilots (CRPs). Business Analysts work closely with business, functions, and project teams as well as end users to drive, facilitate, and document requirements for projects and enhancements, and to assist users in their verification activities.

Core Values

Vision

Engagement: We focus on communicating more and more effectively. We're a client services organization and a critical facilitator of UIT and its clients, helping them support the mission of the University.
Leadership: We model maturity and neutrality, but also step up to define a project's direction. We set the example for planning, decision making, and collaboration.
Process Driven: We follow our processes, plan time for doing so, and communicate them to our teams for every project we work on. We constantly review and improve our processes, tools, and best practices for use by both PMO project managers as well as those embedded in their organizations.
Professionalism: When we say we'll do something, we are prepared to do it. We strive to cultivate trust and respect by demonstrating the three preceding PMO principles.
Growth: We constantly work to improve our skills in order to maximize our contributions to the University.

Values

Transparency: Project information is shared in an open and timely fashion with team members and with the project's governing board.
Neutrality: As guardians of the project, Project Managers remain neutral with regard to competing priorities or concerns raised by the various business offices involved. The PM exhibits no favoritism toward any one department, focusing instead on the overall goals of the project.
Teamwork: Project Managers foster teamwork in support of project goals, encouraging mutual support within teams and across projects. Project Managers promote a spirit of respect, courtesy, and cooperation that enables all participants to succeed.
Excellence: Project Managers always ask, "Can we do better?" Evaluating the myriad inputs of the project, the PM constantly strives to identify opportunities for enhanced process or output. Recognizing and acting upon such opportunities that may benefit the project and, ultimately, the business of Stanford, is the PM's ultimate goal.

Goals

Increase PM assignment flexibility — develop utility players
Strengthen the Business Analyst team
Improve UIT portfolio management
Improve UIT resource management
Strengthen change management project efforts — training, communications, pre and post go-live outreach
Transition to User-Centered Design (UCD)

Project Management