PMO FAQ

Please review our PMO Process page under, “Second, you will need to submit a project request form” for details.

Submit a request to Construction Administration here: 

https://constructionadministration.ua.edu/pir/

OIT project managers are part of construction projects that require the following:

• Network drops for computers/phone and audio-visual upgrades
• Wi-Fi being added to any indoor or outdoor space 
• Blue phones added or removed
• Elevators added 
• Best Area of Rescue Assistance Phones added 
• UA fiber added 

OIT does not charge for their project management services. However, project requests that include a server, equipment, non-enterprise software, licenses, etc. are the financial responsibility of the department. Departments need to properly vet software implementation with the Compliance, Ethics, and Regulatory Affairs department. It is important to note that contracts, as well as any purchases of software and/or equipment, must be finalized in order for OIT to begin work on a project request.  

Here are two quick, fun facts about project management: organizations that invest in PM practices, spend about 28x less money and 73% of organizations that use a PM always, or often, meet the goal. Other benefits include, but is not limited to:

• Improved project planning and risk reduction.
• Timely project completion and adherence to budgets for projects including third-part participation.
• Effective resolution with questions, concerns, and troubleshooting throughout the life cycle of a project.
• Enhanced stakeholder satisfaction and engagement.
• Higher quality deliverables and reduced rework.
• More efficient utilization of resources.
• Facilitates discussions amongst stakeholders & provides consistent communication/follow-ups until project is complete. 
• Brings awareness of UA compliance policies, standards, & guidelines potentially related to the project. 

• Participate in initial design meetings to discuss fiber entrance to a new building, network needs, elevators, Best Area of Rescue phones, blue phones, Wi-Fi needs, data closet size, location and pathways to get network cabling into the data closet to make sure OIT standards are met.
• Provide estimates for network equipment, installation, and initiate purchase once funding is in its place.
• Coordinate installation of data cabling and equipment by monitoring project schedule and attending project meetings.
• Verify all changes are entered correctly for the project and reconcile budget prior to closing the project. 

On a day-to-day basis, OIT supports & maintains enterprise systems and applications, network, as well as the infrastructure to the entire campus. While OIT team members are assigned to a project, they are not solely dedicated to the project. Therefore, OIT prioritizes their daily workload while also incorporating project work into their schedule. The work is prioritized based on critical operations, complexities, resource availability, & date submitted. This means at the time you submitted your project request, OIT is already dedicating time and effort to internal projects that have been scheduled for the year in order to maintain the current infrastructure; while working on external projects, and also onboarding work that is in the queue. Project managers set timeline expectations throughout the lifecycle of your project and communicate if there are dependencies in order for your project to be complete.

Completion times for projects vary depending on critical operations, complexities, resource availability, & date submitted. In order to provide continuity with projects, OIT supervisors assign specific team members to project work based on their availability and expertise needed to fulfill the project scope. Once the OIT resources are assigned, and the project manager receives a stakeholder list from the project sponsor, an initial meeting is scheduled to discuss the scope of the project. On average, the initial scope meeting with all stakeholders is scheduled about 3-4 weeks out from the time you provide a stakeholder list to the project manager. 

Other factors to consider that may affect the completion of your project:

• Contracts/equipment not finalized at the time the request was submitted.   
• Upgrades, maintenance, or decommissioning of a system that will affect the project output.
• Employees join, separate, or retire from a team involved in the project.
• UA events scheduled on campus.  
• Issues with security and compliance that the department needs to address. 
• Third-party roadblocks that need to be discussed before proceeding with the project.
• Lack of timely communication efforts.  
• Action item dependencies that don’t allow for work to proceed. 

Our project managers ensure that the appropriate OIT team members are involved in your project from start to finish. Our team members provide IT services that will make your project efficient and effective.

• Application Support  
• Audio Visual Solutions 
• Customer Development 
• Cybersecurity 
• Database Admin 
• Hosting Services 
• Internet & Networking 
• Reporting Tools 
• Research Computing 
• Telecommunication 

To see a list of all services provided by OIT, visit our services page. 

To see a list of all teams within OIT, visit our organizational chart page. 

Our project managers initially reach out via email to confirm that they have been assigned to your project request. Other communication platforms include: 

• Big Picture – OIT PMs assign OIT resources tasks, maintain, and track their portfolio in Big Picture, which is an add-on feature to the ticketing system, JIRA.  
• Email – OIT PMs will initially reach out to the project sponsor via email to discuss the PMO process and next steps in the project request workflow. 
• JIRA – OIT’s ticketing system to assign tasks to OIT resources according to their expertise.  
• Microsoft Teams – project document and communication repository. This helps to keep all files, important messages, status updates, etc. in one place so you don’t have to comb through your applications to see where that message went. 

A requestor's role includes, but is not limited to: 

• Defining the scope of the project in its entirety as well as any related departmental processes. 
• Identifying non-IT resources required.
• Timely responses to communication efforts.
• Properly vetting the project with you, your department, and supervisor.
• Testing and approving the project work for production.
• Requesting & committing to realistic timelines and project completion dates.

Customers hold the key to the necessary information needed to make the project a success. Discussing with your project manager the immediate goals of your project, as well as the overarching end goal, helps to coordinate project work appropriately.