1. Information Technology
Virginia Tech
Information Technology
Project Management
Departmental Computer Support Symposium
Monday, October 31, 2016
Greg Kroll

2. Restructured Higher Education Financial and Administrative Operations Act of 2005 (Restructuring Act)
Higher Education Restructuring
Management Agreements – Policy Governing Information Technology
Standard for information technology project management

3. What is an “information technology” project?
According to the “Code of Virginia” "Information technology" means communications, telecommunications, automated data processing, applications, databases, data networks, the Internet, management information systems, and related information, equipment, goods, and services. The provisions of this chapter shall not be construed to hamper the pursuit of the missions of the institutions in instruction and research.

4. What projects are included?
ALL information technology projects at Virginia Tech

5. What projects are exempt?
Research projects e.g., High Performance Computing Clusters
Research Initiatives e.g., Bring Your Own Everything (BYOE)
Instruction e.g., Virginia Cyber Range
Maintenance and operational activities e.g., upgrade OS on server farm

6. Who makes the decisions?
“Department head” “Department head refers to any position that functions as the administrative head of a department or program and includes titles such as department chairs, institute or center directors, and other administrators.”

7. Special consideration for major IT projects
"Major information technology project" means any Commonwealth information technology project that has a total estimated cost of more than $1 million or that has been designated a major information technology project by the CIO pursuant to the Commonwealth Project Management Standard developed under § ”

8. What costs are included?
Procurements e.g., hardware, software, maintenance contracts, etc. (unless procurement is handled separate from implementation)
Network related e.g., network connection fee, load balance, storage, etc.
Personnel costs e.g., project team
Advertising and Marketing e.g., other than VT News, posters, commercial advertising, etc.
Leasing & Rentals e.g., Office space, equipment, etc.

9. Why would I want to do all this?
Reduces risk project reviews allow, continuous risk assessment, monitoring of milestone targets
Controls Costs monitoring budget controls project cost overruns, allows for better resource allocations
Supports Organizational Goals allows measuring quantitative and qualitative project outcomes more frequently, improves strategic alignment with business needs & goals
Improved Success Rate projects completed on-time and on-budget

10. Upcoming Review and Update
Recent Internal Audit provided recommendations for improvement
Review and possible update to Policy 7210 (IT Project Management)
Review and planned update to the standard for information technology project management (

11. Adding Value

12. http://www.pm.it.vt.edu/ Questions?
Contact info:
Greg Kroll