IT Project Management

The mission of the Project Management Office (PMO) is to support ITS by project intake and tracking, and to provide our project managers with the resources they need to deliver expected results. Our primary goals are:

  • Assessment of projects for their positive impact in alignment with the university's strategic plan.
  • Assessment of projects for the effort required to deliver the project.
  • Approval and awareness of the IT projects by executive leadership.
  • Priority determination for projects.
  • Alignment of IT resource commitments to deliver projects in a timely fashion.

Doing the Right Projects Right

We manage our project portfolio and project management plans with monday.com, allowing us to report project success more fluidly and integrate our workflow with other tools we use every day.

Submit a request.

Any Faculty & Staff member can Submit a Request and track projects. When requesting a project, be prepared to:

  • Provide a high level description of the project.
  • Identify the business case for the project.
  • Identify the university strategic goals the project supports.
  • Identify the metrics of success to measure the projects outcomes.
  • Work with ITS to develop an initial project plan.

Note: If you are requesting new software or service, a Software Analysis is required. You can contact the ITS Project Management Office at 757-683-3189 or pmo@odu.edu to initiate the process.

We'll review your request.

After we receive your request, a member of the PMO will work with an assigned project manager, the sponsor and stakeholders to fully assess and plan the project.

We will compare your project's timeline against our entire project portfolio to determine when the necessary IT resources will be available to undertake the project.

Upon division Vice President approval, the project will be scheduled for release on the identified timeline. The PMO will notify the project sponsor if the overall project portfolio indicates a need to amend the scheduled release date.

A Project Manager will shepherd the project through the project life cycle.

The following activities and deliverables are guidelines for any project that has been added to the Project Portfolio. By following the project life cycle, users can track the progress of projects, plan future stages of project development and ensure greater accountability throughout the project life cycle.

Define the project and how it will be completed.
Outline the description of the project and its various key attributes. Detail the activities, time, cost and resources needed to execute the plan.

Initiation & Planning Process

  • Assign a project manager
  • Clarify project scope working with sponsor and other stakeholders
  • Refine the project plan by
    • Identifying tasks
    • Identifying needed resources
    • Estimating effort
    • Constructing a timeline
  • Coordinate with the Project Review Team to determine project start date
  • Gain Division VP approval to move the project forward

Initiation & Planning Deliverables

  • Project Plan
  • Portfolio Scorecard (Impact & Effort score)
  • Sponsor Approval
  • Executive Approval
  • Estimated project start date

Execute the plan against the schedule.
Complete the work defined in the project schedule to accomplish the project's requirements.

Execution Process

  • Execute the detail plan
  • Execute risk strategies as needed
  • Execute the Communication plan

Execution Deliverables

  • Updated tasks and milestones in monday.com
  • Products and services defined in the scope of the project

Track progress against the schedule.
Control and monitor the execution of the plan and communicate status.

Monitoring & Controlling Process

  • Measure project performance against the plan
  • Manage project issues and risks
  • Conduct status review meetings; disseminate status reports
  • Conduct PMO audits

Monitoring & Controlling Deliverables

  • Acceptance of project deliverables
  • Project updates in monday.com
  • Project checkpoints
  • Documented Lessons Learned

Achieved project objectives.
Closing includes the formal acceptance of the completion of the project.

Closing Process

  • Conduct a Post Project Review to review the Project Charter and discuss lessons learned
  • Closeout project in monday.com

Closing Deliverables

  • Documented Lessons Learned
  • Hand off of operations and support responsibilities
  • Approval to close the project
  • Project closed and deactivated in monday.com