Archive for 2010

Project intake presentation video

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A presentation about A&IT's new project intake process was made to the IT Policy and Planning Committee (ITPPC) last Thursday.

A narrated, captioned recording of the presentation is now available:

View the Project Management update for December 2010 (about 12 minutes)

The slides are also available for download.

As a reminder, A&IT clients can now submit new project requests via the A&IT Project Request Form

Feel free to share these links with your colleagues, and let us know if you have any questions!


What is a project?

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Seems like this is a simple question, but the answer forms the basis for our entire project management process and activities.

From our perspective, a project is:

A temporary endeavor undertaken to create or update a unique product, service, or result. In particular, a project in A&IT is undertaken to create a new service that has not existed before.
Projects can be small or large, simple or complex, with focused or wide-ranging impact.

Projects are not operations. The difference is:
  • Projects have a defined start and end, operations are ongoing with definitive start or end
  • Projects create unique product/outcome, where operations typically produce the same outcomes
  • A project will contain a group of activities that requires 10 or more hours of A&IT staff time to complete, where operations typically are completed in less than 10 hours. 
Learn more about our definition of what a project is and our project intake process on the A&IT Projects web site.


Project intake process goes live

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Over the past few months, we've been working on formalizing our process for taking in new projects.

This is the first element in any project management business process, and probably the most important. Project risk is always highest at the beginning of the project, so making sure that the project intake process is thoughtful and useful can help reduce that risk.

So how does the process work? In a nutshell:

  1. A client submits a  project request
  2. A&IT staff are assigned to that request
  3. A&IT staff gather high-level project information, and assemble a Project Charter
  4. The project is given initial approval by the client & A&IT.
  5. The project charter information is archived and published in our Project Repository and added to our Project Calendar.
We've tried to keep the process as light as possible:
  1. Small projects only need the assigned A&IT manager's approval to continue
  2. Medium & large projects will need the CIO's approval


In addition, you can read about our complete business practice for project intake in MS Word format (to view, download Microsoft Office).

In the next few months, we'll make both the Project Repository and Project Calendar available to the public; they are both currently stored in our internal SharePoint instance.

Welcome! Our Purpose

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Hi there! I'm Peter Mosinskis, IT Project Supervisor. I work in the Division of Academic & Information Technology (A&IT) at CSU Channel Islands. My primary responsibility is to help A&IT lead and manage technology projects in support of its strategic plan and the mission of the University.

A&IT at CI provides central support for technology issues to the University. Our division consists of over 40 staff and student assistants that support both day-to-day technology operations and projects.

Resources are always limited to support University operations and projects, so as an organization, A&IT must always make strategic decisions about:

  • what projects and operations to support;
  • how to support them; and 
  • when to support them.
This is where project management can help. 

According to the PMI Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide, project management is "the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet project requirements."

Project management knowledge, skills, tools and techniques help A&IT (and the University as a whole):
  1. Get projects done according to customer requirements
  2. Get projects done on-time and within budget
  3. Manage project risk
  4. Facilitate communication to the campus community about A&IT project activities from start-to-finish.
The 4th benefit really is key: the main reason to use project management knowledge, skills, tools and techniques is to enhance communication about project activities with project customers and stakeholders. 

In future posts, we'll dive into more detail about what a project is, and  how A&IT will use project management knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to facilitate communication about A&IT projects and issues, as well as definitions of common terminology.

So where are we now? 
  • We have a project management web site (www.csuci.edu/it/projects)
  • We have this blog.
  • We're developing and implementing project management process within IT, starting with project intake. 
We're starting small, and poised to grow quickly. Stay tuned to this blog for latest news on A&IT project management at CI. In the meanwhile, if you have any questions about project management, you can email me at peter.mosinskis AT csuci.edu, or post comments to this blog.