Project Management Methodology

ITS Project Management Methodology provides Information Technology Services (ITS) project teams with a set of standards to initiate and manage individual projects. The Methodology provides tools to make the project manager’s job a little easier. It contains definitions, guidelines, and templates for the various project management activities needed to deliver successful projects. The Methodology establishes common ground for all projects within UCSC ITS.

The ITS project management methodology development process was guided by the following objectives:

• The design should seek to be reasonable, comprehensive, flexible, and accessible.

• The content will enforce discipline but not disallow application of a project manager’s critical judgment and insight.

The standards in this Methodology serve as assets to each ITS project manager and team, and provide a common format for evaluating progress toward project goals, objectives, and deliverables.

The Methodology encourages a top-down approach to project management. It ties directly to the project life cycle phases to  provide a more precise definition of projects, a common lexicon used in project management, and a framework of activities mapped to each project class size.

This methodology:

• Provides a common language for communicating and planning prior to the start of the project work.

• Encourages appropriate communication and planning prior to the start of project work

• Establishes a means for managing projects more efficiently

• Enables the tracking of progress against pre-determined metrics and facilitates standardized reporting.

• Leads to effective project outcomes which achieve institutional objectives

• Builds on a set of best practices learned over time.

The long-term intent is to build a project management repository to document best practices, lessons learned, and examples of various documents that may be developed during a project.

Project Definition

The ITS Project Management Methodology defines a project as:

• A unique endeavor (not repeated)
• Temporary, with a distinct beginning and end
• A minimum of 80 hours combined labor
• Defined by specific deliverables
• Conducted by a temporary team that exists for its execution
• Having a single project manager who is responsible for its success
• Defined by identifying its starting point, the goal / objectives sought, and the route between them

Project Life Cycle

Project methodology life cycle defines the five project management phases or processes: define, plan, launch, manage, and close. Each phase addresses a specific aspect of managing a project or program from define through close. Although these phases are described sequentially, in practice some of these phases may overlap or be applied concurrently during the lifetime of your project.