IDR305 Project Brief
IDR305 - Azure Governance and Operations
Project Brief v 3.0
Document Sign-off
|
Name |
Role |
Date signed off |
|
Murray Dippie |
Project Sponsor Senior Supplier |
7/6 |
|
Ian McNeil |
Senior User CAHSS representative |
7/6 |
|
TBC |
Service Owner |
n/a |
|
Maurice Franceschi |
Project Manager IDR Programme Manager |
7/6 |
|
Sean McGeever |
CSE representative |
7/6 |
|
Doug Redpath |
CMVM representative |
7/6 |
Working draft should be version 0.x and 1.x Draft sent for Approval/Review should be version 2.x Approved Project brief should be 3.0 Post-approval changes should be change controlled via Issue Log and Scope Change Page, and version 3.x
Background
Presently, the University has at least two Enterprise Agreements with Microsoft for Azure, as well as multiple individual accounts (e.g. credit card PAYG, educational staff and student entitlement).
This arrangement is at best inefficient – across a range of functions - including auditability, billing, administration, security and on-premise integration and presents a large surface area of risk in linked areas, such as financial, security and business continuity.
What the university requires is a single tenancy on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform :this project is undertaken by ISG and CAHSS working with Microsoft to deliver this single enterprise tenancy for Azure that replaces not only the two enterprise agreements currently in place but any other enterprise agreements in place at the university – we will call this The Tenancy for convenience henceforth.
Scope
The scope of The Tenancy will encompass
- the capability for ISG, schools and others to develop, host and support services that require or would benefit from the platform’s capabilities
- the co-location all UoE Azure business activity within a framework that meets the needs of all stakeholders in addition to the Tenancy
- The Tenancy will operate within the framework of a new Governance Group that works across business units, colleges and ISG for the administration and oversight of Azure services and which has the primary relationship with Microsoft and Softcat
- The Tenancy will operate with a new process for the billing and payment for the consumption of Azure services
- The Tenancy will require new institutional standards to positive assurance on in regard to access and consumption and supporting the compliance with the new processes
Changes to Scope will be logged on the Issue Log and also recorded on the Project Scope Change page.
Out of Scope
Individual accounts where staff or students may take up various offers in the form of Azure credits are not in scope of The Tenancy.
The projects has no other scope than to provide The Tenancy and the associated Governance Group and supporting processes.
Objectives and Deliverables and Success Criteria
To establish a single tenancy on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform by July 31st.
Unless otherwise indicated, the deliverables are a success when accepted by the Project Sponsor and the Service Owner.
|
|
Description of the Objective |
Success Criteria |
|
|
Description of the Deliverables needed to achieve the objective |
|
|
Objective 1 |
A single tenancy on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform by July 31st |
|
|
Deliverable D1.1 |
A new tenancy agreement with Microsoft |
Formal agreement by 31/7 |
|
Objective 2 |
Replacement of the current ISG and CAHHS Enterprise Agreement |
|
|
Deliverable D2.1 |
An agreed process with Mircosoft and Softcat to stop the current agreements to move to the new single Tenancy with no impact on costs and minimal disruption to existing services and research projects |
A plan to migrate from existing platforms |
|
Objective 3 |
Replacement of any other Enterprise Agreements |
|
|
Deliverable D3.1 |
An agreed process with Mircosoft and Softcat to stop the current agreements to move to the new single Tenancy with no impact on costs and minimal disruption to existing services and research projects |
A plan to migrate from existing platforms |
|
Objective 4 |
A Governance Group and Structure supporting and being supported by new processes and standards |
|
|
Deliverable D4.1 |
A new agreed governance structure across business groups and colleges
|
A new group with a clear terms of reference that will govern and direct the administration of The Tenancy and who work with Microsoft and Softcat
See the draft Governance Structure below |
|
Deliverable D4.2 |
An agreed process for the security of Azure Services See the draft Governance Structure below |
A new workflow agreed across colleges and ISG |
|
Deliverable D4.3 |
An agreed process for the charging, invoicing and payments for consumption of Azure services |
A new workflow agreed across colleges and ISG |
|
Deliverable D4.4 |
New institutional standards in relation to access and use, costing and billing to support the process |
New standards agreed across colleges and ISG |
|
|
|
|
This table can be used through Business and Technical Analysis, Design, Build, and Testing/UAT as a Traceability Matrix to ensure the project brief project objectives and deliverables are followed through.
Requirements
Requirements are aligned with objectives and deliverables, and also the opportunity to realise the benefits.
|
|
User/Owner |
MoSCoW |
Set By |
|
A new Tenancy for Azure by July 31 |
Murray Dippie, Ian McNeil |
Must |
Sponsor Senior User |
|
Migration plan from ISG and CAHSS Azure Enterprise Agreement that cuts costs |
Murray Dippie, Ian McNeil |
Must |
Sponsor Senior User |
|
Migration plan from any other Azure Enterprise Agreements, that cuts costs |
TBC |
Should |
Sponsor Senior User |
|
A Tenancy that provides for improved administration of access by users |
Murray Dippie, Ian McNeil |
Must |
Sponsor Senior User |
|
A new Governance Group |
Murray Dippie, Ian McNeil, Sheila Fraser, Victoria Dishon |
Must |
Sponsor Senior User |
|
New policies covering security |
Murray Dippie, Ian McNeil, Sheila Fraser, Victoria Dishon |
Must |
Sponsor Senior User |
|
New policies covering cost control & management and billing |
Murray Dippie, Ian McNeil, Sheila Fraser, Victoria Dishon, (Software Services) |
Must |
Sponsor Senior User |
|
New Institution Standards to support the new policies |
Murray Dippie, Ian McNeil, Sheila Fraser, Victoria Dishon |
Must |
Sponsor Senior User |
Benefits
The benefits that the deliverables will enable or act as a catalyst in making happen. These benefits may be immediate or may be realised after the project has closed.
- Reduction in costs though having one agreement costing less than two or more
- A single governance group to better manage the current service and to work with Microsoft and Softcat on capacity planning, licensing and university strategy
- Improved oversight of Azure users, such as monitoring and guarding against the consequences of unrestricted levels of resource (costs) to consume
- A more secure environment to minimise risk to business critical services, research projects that currently are at risk due to the badly designed levels of access
- New standards across the university ensuring common approaches and best practise
- Improved cost control
- Improved billing and payment
Draft Governance and Billing & Payments
Governance
Project will have these governance roles by default. Delete/Add/Change as appropriate.
Portfolio Governance
|
Role |
Name |
Division / Group / Team / College / School and Title |
|
Project Sponsor |
Murray Dippie |
ITI Enterprise |
|
Programme Owner |
Graeme Wood |
ITI Enterprise |
|
Programme Manager |
Maurice Franceschi |
ITI Director’s Office |
|
Portfolio Owner |
Tony Weir |
ITI Director’s Office |
|
Portfolio Manager |
Maurice Franceschi |
ITI Director’s Office |
|
Service Owner |
TBC |
|
Project Board
|
Role |
Name |
Division / Group / Team / College / School and Title |
|
Project Sponsor |
Murray Dippie |
ITI Enterprise |
|
Senior User CAHSS representative |
Ian McNeil |
CAHSS |
|
Senior Supplier |
Murray Dippie |
ITI Enterprise |
|
SCE representative |
Sean MCGeever |
SCE |
|
CMVM representative |
Doug Redpath |
Roslin |
Tolerances
There is zero tolerance on budget.
Resources Skills and Cost
Budget TBC
Priority and Funding
This is an in-year project that is a Normal Priority
Project Team
|
Role |
Name |
Division / Group / Team / College / School and Title |
|
Project Manager |
Maurice Franceschi |
|
|
Solution Architect – Technical Leads |
Murray Dippie and Ian McNeil |
|
|
Solution Development – Technical Leads |
Murray Dippie and Ian McNeil |
|
|
CAHSS |
Ian McNeil |
|
|
CMVM |
Doug Redpath |
|
|
CSE |
Sean MCGeever / Chris Hill |
|
|
Software Services – MS licensing oversight |
Joyce Anderson |
|
|
CIS – Networks representative |
Fraser McKenzie |
|
|
Research Services |
TBC |
|
|
Microsoft overall guidance on the architecture, our design and options on implementation, potential part funding source for 3rd party involvement |
Itayi Bimha itayibimha@microsoft.com Mark McManus markmcm@microsoft.com Lisa Kelly lisa.kelly@microsoft.com
|
|
|
Softcat our approved supplier of MS Azure licenses |
TBC |
|
|
KCL have been through same process, so offer advice on issues they encountered and heads up on other pitfalls, potential solutions |
TBC |
|
|
Servent 3rd Party MS partner to implement solution |
TBC |
|
Quality of Project and Deliverables / Key Project Milestones
The milestones are a key tool in ensuring that the project process itself is followed as set out by ITI, and that the product deliverables are to the required Quality.
Edit this template to list the key Milestones and who signs off on these milestones. Add milestones for Security, Accessibility, UX, as required.
For medium and large projects, a project plan - MS Project, Gantt, or other - can be added to the Plan Log and revised as project progresses. The approach can be stated here.
You can also mention the approach the project is taking to set, measure and confirm the quality of the deliverables
|
Milestone |
Sign-Off means |
Date of Milestone |
|
Who signs-off (Accountability) |
Start of Project |
Project can begin, is in line with Programme and Portfolio priority, has resource |
15 Mar |
|
Sponsor, Programme Manager |
End of Planning |
Project can begin, is in line with Programme and Portfolio priority, has resource |
7th June |
|
Sponsor, Programme Manager |
|
Analysis |
Via Assessment Workshop |
25th June |
|
Tech Leads |
|
Design |
Via Design Workshop |
17th July |
|
Tech Leads |
Delivery |
Change to Service can proceed |
24th July |
|
Sponsor, PMservice owner/ service operations manager (helpline) |
|
Handover to Support |
support can take over running of the Service |
28th July |
|
service owner/ service operations manager (helpline) |
Closure |
Project can close |
30th July |
|
Sponsor, PM |
Other Milestones as Appropriate TBC
|
End of UI Design |
quality of UI - to show we have designed an interface that is usable, accessible, promotes equality and diversity |
technical lead / senior supplier/ business lead / senior user |
|
End of Build |
quality and completeness of build |
technical lead / senior supplier/ PM |
|
Acceptance |
overall quality of deliverable, UAT has been passed, Intergation testing successful, all components technically checked - fit for delivery to live service |
technical lead / senior supplier /business lead / senior user /business analyst /PM
|
|
Security QA |
satisfies security |
Section Head |
|
Branding QA |
for new, upgraded services, sign-off that branding guidelines for ISG, University, school/college has been followed by the project team |
PM / and as appropriate ...
UoE C&M, college C&M and (pending) ISG Branding Team |
|
Design UI QA |
to show we have built an interface that is usable, accessible, promotes equality and diversity |
Sponsor and Service Owner |
|
EqIA |
For new services or services undergoing substantial change, there must be an Equality Impact Assessment completed, validated by equality office and deposited on eqia website |
PM/ Service Owner / Equality Officer |
|
GDPR / PIA |
Check if your project needs to undergo a Privacy Impact Assessment |
PM / Service Owner / CISO |
|
GoCAB |
Set the appropriate date for informing GoCAB of the release/change to service |
PM |
Assumptions
What are the key underlying assumptions for the project that underpin the planning? For example, that the requirements we have outlined are complete, that all our stakeholders have been identified, that the software we are using is ready and configured, that we have a ready to use TEST environment.
Constraints
Are there constraints on this project? For example, specialist skills are needed, having to deliver in certain windows through the academic year, we need to share a TEST environment with other developers?
Risks
The project manager will ensure that the project team will review the risk log at every team meeting, and project owners update their risks at least once a month or more as appropriate to the project.
1 Not delivering new Tenancy by 31/7 main risk for CAHSS would be we will need to re-finance our existing tenancy for another year (or move to PAYG monthly which is more expensive)
Also, those waiting elsewhere in UoE will spin their own one up
Issues
The project manager will ensure all changes to cost/timeline/scope must be recorded in the issue log, and reflected in miletones log, budget and estimations, and the project Scope Change log.
Previous Lessons Learned
Does the ITI Lessons Learned (see ITI Projects Sharepoint) indicate any issues or risks from previous projects? Is any other previous experience pertinent?
Dependencies
Are there other projects or work that this project is dependent on to start or possibly interact with at a later stage - or vice-versa that depend on this project.
Are we depending on certain events to take place?
Are we dependent on suppliers, or product releases?
Communication
For projects with an array of external stakeholders, a Communication Plan can be created and made available on the ITI Sharepoint space if preferred.
Also confirm that :
Project Sponsor and Project Manager meeting schedule has been agreed with Sponsor.
Project Team meetings schedule has been arranged (these may be combined with Sponsor meetings).
Check the ITI Annual Planning Engagement with Stakeholders on ITI Sharepoint to see the level of engagement our partners expect for your project.
Check the ITI Forward Look to see if your project will be using the Major Governance Toolkit.
Run / Grow / Transform
Grow
Alignment with 2030 Strategic Vision
This project will deliver benefits, change and innovations in alignment with the IS Strategic Vision and the University's Strategic Vision for 2030. ** Check the Annual Plan on ITI Sharepoint to see how the project's deliverables and benefits have been aligned to Run/Grow/Transform and the Strategic Themes **
|
People |
Commentary |
|
Student |
X |
|
Staff |
X |
|
Alumni |
|
|
Other |
|
|
Research |
|
|
Researchers |
X |
|
Industry |
X |
|
Teaching and Learning |
|
|
Students |
|
|
Staff |
|
|
Social and Civic Responsibility |
|
|
Local Community |
|
|
Volunteering |
|
|
City Region Deal / DDI |
|
IS Change Programme - How will this project's Deliverables and Benefits promote the Themes
Indicate if the project deliverables and benefits contribute to the themes with the IS Change Programme.
|
IS Change Programme Theme |
How the project deliverables and benefits contribute to change |
|
Project Management |
X |
|
Working Together |
X |
|
Standards and Technical Leadership |
X |
|
Staff Learning and Development |
|
|
Service Based Culture |
X |
|
Equality and Diversity |
|
|
Partnerships and Philanthropy |
|
|
Flexible Resourcing |
|
|
Communication and Branding |
|
Service Excellence - Information and Security
Are we using standard builds for the project (that is, pre-validated security controls will be in place for infrastructure and data)? Or Do we anticipate having to develop non-standard infrastructure?
Will we have third party integrations on installations?
Are we dealing with data outwith our standard set of controls?
If so, What level of risk is associated with the data? What are the appropriate controls?
The project must outline how it is dealing with risk, how the need to design/build/test impacts on project scope, budget and timeline.
Confirm which University or divisional polices are providing guidance here.
Set Security design, execution and acceptance as a Deliverable Quality Assurance
Create a Security Milestone for Delivery - and Design, Build and Acceptance depending on project complexity - that must be signed-off by Project Manager and Section Head.
Create any specific risks around security
Service Excellence - Process Improvement, efficiency, quality and best practice (Social Responsibility and Sustainability)
If the project could or will lead to recycling of hardware then Create a milestone called 'Recycle - Engagement' so that the project can engage with the Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability at the appropriate time
Add a Benefit to the ITI Benefits Management and Realisation log (ITI Projects Sharepoint)
Is there an opportunity to take advantage of the Green IT Initiative for further funding?
Otherwise set as Not Applicable.
Digital Transformation
Indicate if and how the project itself is contributing to Digital Transformation.
WiIl it use available resources or funding specific to the initiative? e.g. using the services of the ISG Usability Team, applying for Digital Transformation funding.
Are we using new techniques or tools or processes in this project that can be used to transform how we work in general?
IS Change Programme - How will the execution of this project promote the Themes
Indicate if the project itself (during plan, execution, implementation) contributes to the themes with the IS Change Programme.
|
IS Change Programme Theme |
How the project deliverables and benefits contribute to change |
|
Project Management |
|
|
Working Together |
X |
|
Standards and Technical Leadership |
X |
|
Staff Learning and Development |
|
|
Service Based Culture |
X |
|
Equality and Diversity |
|
|
Partnerships and Philanthropy |
|
|
Flexible Resourcing |
|
|
Communication and Branding |
|
Some expectations and suggestions from ISG Directors
|
IS Change Programme Theme |
How the project process will contribute to change
|
|
Project Management |
Is the PM developing skills and experience? Are we using new techniques, tools or using them for the first time? Is this project offering PM opportunity to colleagues in rest of ISG? |
|
Working Together |
Will the project team talk to other colleagues across IS? Can they bring previous experience and fresh thinking to the project? Add working together to your Communication Plan - go beyond the stakeholders. How will you raise awareness of the project with your colleagues across the divisions? Might you work closer - co-locate, for example? Could the processes involved in the project itself be improved - what is difficult to do? Is the Admin cumbersome, time-consuming? Add to the Closure Report. Look to guidance from the IS Change Management team on how to approach this.
|
|
Standards and Technical Leadership |
Will we develop new or improved standards or processes as part of the delivery? Are we leading on adoption of new technology? |
|
Staff Learning and Development |
Is there an opportunity for the project to offer development opportunities for colleagues? Could someone from another team in our division or another ISG division be seconded to the project to provide skills we may be struggling to find in this period? Can we offer a development opportunity for someone in our division at a lower grade - to come into our project and be skilled up, fulfill a higher grade role for a while? For planning, make sure you allow the necessary time to engage / recruit in your project, and feed back to the annual plan/forward look? Set out why this project does not or cannot take advantage of this change theme.
|
|
Service Based Culture |
Are we helping the service to shift-left? For services impacted by the change we are delivering : check the Service Catalogue (due for 2016/17) for Service Owner and Service Operations Manager. Confirm with them who should be stakeholders on the project. Also check with head of IS Helpline. Confirm at what stages if the project SO/SOM want representation and sign-off - especially around Design and UAT and Delivery. Do we need a Handover? Add Stakeholders to these Milestones. Is there a CMDB entry to update to reflect changes?
|
|
Equality and Diversity |
Planning: Discuss the Project Board, project team and key stakeholders with your Sponsor - do the groupings reflect/promote diversity? Be aware of particular periods or dates that may conflict with religious or social or domestic obligations. Design: Are we designing a User Interface? Are we designing with best practice in Usability and Accessibility for all devices? Please explicitly ensure that the Design of the UI has been checked for promotion of Equality and Diversity. e.g. Use 'Mx' in the Honorifics section- - but do we even need honorifics - how much information do we actually need to collect from a user? Does our interface make assumptions about the kinds of people our users are? Do we accommodate people who are at a distance, working flexibly, may not wish to be identified by gender, race, age or show a photo? Do we give options as to what services users might want or do we assume they will want what we want, or what users have wanted in the past? Are we being creative in thinking about use cases beyond the metrics and other ‘evidence' we have for users in the past - not simply recreating/perpetuating old ways of working? How are we naming a Service (or even Hardware) ? Consider a naming convention to highlight or promote Equality and Diversity. Do we have the opportunity in this to promote role models or show our understanding of diversity? Would this give us an additional route for comms or stakeholder engagement? e.g UCL named their HPC ‘Grace’ https://www.ucl.ac.uk/isd/news/isd-news/research-it/introducing-grace which gave them an added ‘good news story’ and a chance to dispel myths that there are no women in computing.
|
|
Partnerships and Philanthropy |
|
|
Flexible Resourcing |
Have we considered contract staff, students and interims (and in future, apprentices)? Can a difficult resourcing situation be resolved by use of fixed term staff or limited secondments? |
|
Communication and Branding |
Communication: Ensure that you have a session as part of planning for Stakeholder identification and analysis. Set out the communication plan by the end of the project brief - or set a milestone date for when you will have this in place if end of planning not possible. Project Manager is the accountable person and will sign-off the milestone. Branding: Are you delivering a new Service or significantly upgrading a new service? If so, then the project team must engage with the new Branding guidelines and Change Management Theme team for ISG, the branding for the school or college via the college marketing team, the University's Comms and Marketing team - potentially all of these. Use gel.ed.ac.uk to access assets and guidelines for branding of communications, websites, mobiles.Use the Student Digital Guidelines.
|
Project Sponsor – Project Responsibilities
The sign-off milestones are associated with specific responsibilities of the Sponsor role.
This sets out the Sponsor responsibilities on this project - please review and amend as appropriate for this project and agree with Sponsor
Start of project – Explicitly Included in the Initiation Milestones Sign-Off
- Negotiates and confirms funding for the project
- Ensures the project is in line with organisational strategy and priorities
- Chairs the project board, appoints its members and ensures they are effective
- Advises the project manager of protocols, political risks, issues and sensitivities
- Makes the project visible within the organisation
End of Planning – Explicitly Included in the Planning Milestone Sign-Off
- Works with the project manager to develop the Project Brief
- Ensures a realistic project plan is produced
- Sets tolerance levels for escalation to themselves and to the project board
- Ensures that project team have representation and engagement from users and suppliers
- Helps identify Stakeholders
- Approves Communication Plan
- Agrees on frequency of meetings with Project Manager
- Agrees of frequency of meetings with Project Team
- Agrees on milestones and who signs-off
Development / Execution – ongoing
- Provides strategic direction and guidance to the project manager as directed by the Board
- Approves changes to plans, priorities, deliverables, schedule
- Encourages stakeholder involvement and maintains their ongoing commitment
- Chief risk taker
- Makes go/no-go decisions
- Communicates change in organisational structure, priorities, business benefits or funding
- Helps the project manager in conflict resolution
- Helps resolve inter project boundary issues
- Gains agreement among stakeholders when differences of opinion occur
- Assists the project by exerting organisational authority and the ability to influence
Delivery – Explicitly Included in the Delivery Sign-Off
- Ensures that Service is ready for change
Closure - Explicitly Included in the Closure Milestone Sign-Off
- Helps with publicity for the change delivered
- Ensure that benefits will be managed, measured and realised post-project
- Evaluates the project’s success upon completion
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 some_expectations_and_suggestions_from_isg_directors.pdf | 341.89 KB |
 project_planning_-_project_brief_2020.docx | 40.2 KB |