Project Governance

This article describes the governance lifecycle of an ITC project request.

Project Governance and Project Lifecycle are key aspects of Project Portfolio Management (PPM).

All project requests submitted to ITC are subject to review and approval.  Project requests will move as follows.

1. Request
   • Through the discovery phase of the project request and in consultation with ITC, a project request is created via the Dartmouth Services Portal.
   • The new project request is finalized and submitted for review and approval.
2. Review and Approval
   • The request is reviewed to determine the appropriate approval process.
     • Department Lead Approval
       • There are no capital dollars needed.
       • They are non-discretionary, i.e. time critical and have one or more of the following risks:
         • Loss of vendor support
         • Regulatory or compliance violation
         • Technology obsolescence
         • Technology failure
         • Reputational impact
         • Security and/or safety breach
     • ITC Executive Committee Approval
       • Projects with one or more of the following:
         • Discretionary
         • Capital dollars
     • Budget Committee
       • Projects as above with capital dollar requests less than 2 million dollars
     • Board of Trustees
       • Projects as above with capital dollar requests greater than or equal to 2 million dollars
     • Resource Lead Approval
       • Projects that are for operational work management and do not hit one of the above criteria
       • Approved projects ready to be scheduled
     • Sponsor Readiness Approval
       • All projects before being initiated must have an approval from sponsor that sponsor resources are ready and available to commence the project.
   • The request is reviewed by one or more of the approval tiers.
   • Additional information is gathered as needed.
   • Project is prioritized.
3. Determination
   • Approved project requests are converted to projects in Dartmouth Services Portal and scheduled based on prioritization and deadlines.
   • Rejected project requests are communicated to Sponsor.
     • Reason for rejection is included in communication.
     • Sponsor can re-request but should do so in consultation with ITC and make necessary adjustments per rejection reason.
     • Project request rejected.
4. Scheduling
   • Project is reviewed with resource lead and sponsor for resource readiness.
   • Project is scheduled based on deadlines and priorities.
5. Initiation
   • Project kick-off should formalize the project team, processes, and communication channels for the project.
6. Project Status Update
   • During the Development, Deployment and Delivery phases of the project lifecycle, all project stakeholders and approvers need to be advised of project health with respect to schedule, scope and budget.
7. Project Closure
   • All approval bodies, controller's office and stakeholders are informed of project completion.