Projects

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Corporate IT Planning for 2002/2003  

The Prioritised list of Projects
Monitoring Progress
Current Status
The Planning Process
Business Area Index
Review of Planning Process

Monitoring Progress of the 2002/2003 IT Plans
Throughout 2002/2003 MIS will update and publish a projects status list as at the end of the previous month. This list is based on a variation of the approved prioritised list of potential projects for 2002/2003 but also shows unfinished projects carried forward from 2001-2002 and new approved projects that were not known about when the original plans were prioritised.  Status and descriptions are listed below.

Not Yet Planned	Business area and MIS have not yet planned the project
Planned	MIS and Business area have agreed when project could start
In Progress	MIS is working on the project i.e. TOR approved & time has been recorded against project
Implemented	MIS deliverable has been achieved
Closed	MIS part of the project formally closed off by Business area
Suspended	MIS and Business area have agreed to temporarily stop work on the project
Deferred	Project will be deferred to a future year
Withdrawn	Project no longer required

    Current Statistics - as at 31 July 2003

NOTE: 
As a result of feedback from MIC two changes took effect from end November 2002: 
1) Project status list was reordered to show all support projects at the top of the list.
2) Project status statistics are displayed in slightly differently format:-

a) All support projects i.e. work to keep existing systems/services running are shown as a separate line.
b) Statistics on projects 'below the line' are NOT shown as the expectation is that very few, if any will get done in 2002-3.
c) Statistics on any 'new' projects or any projects below the line which the Director of MIS gives approval to go ahead in 2002-3 are now shown in a section called 'New Approved Projects'.

The status statistics as at end of August, September and October held in the archive remain unchanged but will be flagged 'old format'.

     Archive Statistics

Details of the Planning Process for arriving at the 2002/2003 IT Plans
A new process was introduced for academic year 2002/2003 aimed at a more holistic approach to Corporate IT planning that both engages the plans for IT with those for the business and prioritises across the different business areas. There was a more detailed discussion of the issues around this and the resources available to MIS at the October MIC. In addition a paper covering some of the issues to consider when planning was issued in October 2001. 

During December 2001 and January 2002 MIS and Business partners developed project proposals and costed them. This work was then prioritised through a number of iterations involving consultation with the Faculty Group Officers seeking views from devolved administrators, Management Information Committee, Heads of Support Group 2, and senior Faculty Group Managers as a proxy for the future College structure. This process produced a prioritised list of potential projects and agreement from the MIS business partners that they could resource their part of the plan.

Below is a grid which enables the reader to access the details of the IT projects for each business area, an index of projects containing a brief description of each project with a link through to the more detailed proposal document, project costings and comments from each business area regarding the overall priorities.

Business Area	Overview of Projects	Project Index	Project Costs	Priority Comments
Accommodation Services	Overview	Index	Costs	David Ross
Estates	Overview	Index	Costs	Angus Currie
Finance	Overview	Index	Costs	Elizabeth Welch
Human Resources	Overview	Index	Costs	Ian Pilbeam
MIS	Overview	Index	Costs	Mark Ritchie
Other Areas	Overview	Index	Costs	Bob Porrer
Research	No Projects
Student, Admissions & Curricula	Overview	Index	Costs	Fiona Longstaff

The prioritised list is not actually the MIS plan, that is dependent on a wide number of other issues such as availability of resources, interdependencies between projects, etc. but is a critical input to the planning process which is ongoing and iterative. However, the priority list will be reported on in future years and as such all new projects undertaken by MIS must refer to the priority list or explain why they are not on the list so that we can show how well we have delivered against our priorities.

Review of 2002/2003 Planning Process
A paper reviewing the planning process detailed above was presented to and accepted at the MIC meeting held on 5th June 2002.