The University of St. Thomas

project procedures

IRT Project Procedures

What is a Project?

A project is a work effort that is separate from day to day duties. For the purposes of IRT a project is defined as a work effort involving more than one person and more than forty hours of work, when working on an effort that is not listed on your Job Profile as a routine job function. Additionally a project has a definite deliverable, and a definite end date.

Project and non-project examples:

Is a Project Is Not a Project
Implement new administrative system Write small Cognos report
Replace leased equipment Install more RAM
Roll Outlook out across campus Fix Outlook problem
Install NT across campus Reboot server due to problem
Wiring for the new McNeely Hall Resetting a Password
Implement web content management system   Update web page content

 One-on-one training

 Restoring a database

 Fixing a crashed server

 Creating an AD or Banner account

Project Phase Descriptions:

Concept—Required Phase

Definition: Someone has thought of something and we want to track the ideas.
Common activities:
  • People talk about the idea (hallway conversations)
  • A few meetings may occur
  • Some emails are sent around regarding the idea
End deliverable:
  • Project Proposal

Proposal—Required Phase

Definition:

Document of work being requested, benefits, resources, anticipated
outcome

Common activities:
  • Project Proposal is submitted
End deliverable:
  • Project Proposal
  • IRT Project Review Group Reviews and Approves Proposal

Planning—Required Phase

Definition: Prepare a Statement of Work and Task List                                  
Common activities:
  • Prepare a Statement of Work document
  • Put together task list
  • Identify Milestones and delivery dates
  • Conduct cost estimation
  • Conduct risk assessment
  • Put together risk mitigation plan
  • Identify roles and responsibilities
  • Monthly Status Reports due on the 15th of each month
  • Create Project Folder under IRT\Projects\ folder
End deliverable:
  • Statement of work
  • Task list
  • Statement of Work and Task List Walkthru

Requirements—Optional Phase

Definition:

Explains what the end product is to do. Details the functions,
interfaces, reports, and screens that are needed by the end user.   
Also specifies the business rules that system must adhere too.
Should be written with enough detail to be testable.

Common activities:
  • Interviews with customer
  • Brain storming sessions with customer
  • Joint Application Development (JAD) Meetings
  • Process flow definition
End deliverable: Requirements Document

Design

Definition:

Explains how the end product will function. Database design,
module development, class and objects identified. Interfaces,
reports, screen layouts. Should be written with enough detail
to be traceable back to the requirements document.                      

Common activities:
  • Database Structure Determined
  • Data Flow Diagrams (DFD)
  • Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERD)
  • File Lay Outs Determined
  • Object Classes Identified
  • Objects Defined
End deliverable:
  • Design Documents

Development

Definition:

Actual building of an application, database, forms, reports, etc.       
based on the documented design

Common activities:
  • Coding
  • Modification to support vendor modules
End deliverable:
  • Functioning code

Testing

Definition: Execution of test cases based on documented requirements.          
Common activities:
  • Writing test plan – who, what, when, how
  • Writing Test Cases
  • Creating a Text Case Matrix
  • Executing Test Cases
  • Problem tracking
End deliverable:
  • Executed Test Cases
  • User Acceptance Testing sign-off

Implementation

Definition: Steps to setup project in the production environment.                      
Common activities:
  • Writing user documentation
  • Writing Help Desk documentation
  • Training the users
  • Training the Help Desk
  • Conduct train the trainer sessions/end user training
  • Write user policies & procedures document
  • Write administrators policies & procedures document
  • Installation of project into production environment
End deliverable:
  • User Documentation
  • Training in Place
  • Project Moved to Production Environment

Completed

Definition:

Project running in production, outstanding issues resolved and final   
user acceptance sign-off provided.

Common activities:
  • Project post-mortem meeting
  • Identify and document lessons learned
  • Celebration!
End deliverable:
  • Post Implementation Review Report

On hold

Definition: Project temporarily stopped. The plan is still to complete the project at
some later date.
Common activities:
  • Inform customer that the project has been put on hold
End deliverable:
  • NA

Cancelled

Definition: Project is stopped. The plan is to not restart project.                          
Common activities: Inform customer that the project has been stopped.
End deliverable: NA

All projects must go through a planning phase. Projects may or may not begin in the Concept phase. Projects then go through the phases that are identified in the Project’s Statement of Work. Additionally projects may be put on Hold or Cancelled depending on funding, resource availability, and UST priorities.