IT Planning Strand

IT Projects

UCD’s integrated business planning process now includes IT projects delivered by IT Services.

This page relates to the initiation and approval of these IT Projects. It includes the Project Proposal steps, outlining how IT Services can assist Units in preparing a request for an IT project and assist with the budget submissions for IT projects as part of the Integrated Business Planning process.

It also outlines the steps involved in the prioritisation and approval of IT projects delivered by IT Services, resulting in the creation of the annual IT Work Programme.

Process

Project Proposal

The Project Proposal has two main steps:

• Step 1: Preparation of Business Request, to include:
  • Problem/Opportunity Statement: What should be done? Why should it be done? What problem does it address or what opportunity will it create? What is the business need?
  • Benefits: What value will it deliver to the University? What are the potential benefits and who is the intended audience? How will it benefit students and/or staff? How will success be quantified?
  • Risk of Doing Nothing: What is the impact of not doing the project? What is the impact of deferring or delaying the project? Are there alternative ways of addressing this problem/opportunity?
• Business owners (Head of Unit or their nominee) should engage with IT Services through their existing IT liaison channels for assistance in completing a Business Request. Where the IT liaison is not known, the Head of Unit should contact the IT Partnership Group on (opens in a new window)ITPartners@ucd.ie for assistance.
• Step 2: IT Services will then liaise with the business owner and prepare a Solution Proposal for the project. This will include an estimation of the resources needed and the costs involved to deliver the project and for ongoing support. These cost estimates should assist the Units in preparing their budget submissions as part of the Integrated Business Planning process.

IT Work Programme

IT Services, working with the business areas, will address IT Demand Management focusing on:

Prioritisation of the project proposals from all business areas, taking into account the business need, the value to the UCD community, the size of the project, the proposed timelines/deadline and the cost

Capacity Planning exercise to weigh up the demand on IT resources with capacity available

Note 1: The Integrated Business Planning process works to a date of mid May for financial plan submissions. In order that IT Services can assist business owners with cost estimates for their IT projects, it is recommended that business requests be submitted to IT Services by the end of March.

Note 2: Where project requests are received outside of the standard planning process, potentially impacting the delivery of the committed IT Work Programme, IT Services may bring these to the UMT IT Strategy Group for consideration.

FAQs - IT Planning