Project Management

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Project Oversight

All information technology-related projects must follow the Project Management Standard for IT projects (STD009). State users can access the standard on the state wiki: STD009.

What do you get with the service? 

"Project management” refers to a contracted service in which NDIT’s Project Management Office (PMO) provides its customers with experienced professionals to plan, organize, secure, and manage resources needed to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. 

How do you request service?

For any type of work request that is related to starting up (or deciding if you need to start up) a new project, a new business/process analysis, or the need for IT strategic planning, please fill out an Initiative Intake Form through the state's service portal.

Initiative Intake

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A comprehensive list of project management acronyms, resources, tips, and other useful tools compiled by the PMO - strongly recommended for all project managers and others involved with ensuring successful projects.

Project Management Lite is intended to help state employees and contractors who need to manage a state-based IT initiative under $100,000, using a sensible, scalable, and standardized State of ND approach.

The following is a one-page document that describes the sponsor role and responsibilities during a project:

 

The NDIT PMO has put together all of its required steps and best practices for scheduling projects in a one page, easy to use guide.

The NDIT PMO uses an enterprise project portfolio management (PPM) tool to manage and report on all of its projects. This tool, ND VIEW, is a Microsoft Project Online system that integrates with other Office 365 tools used throughout the state. State entities can gain access to the management system and related reports. Contact the PMO for more details or to request access.

The Agile Reference Manual provides examples and options for managing an agile project in state government, utilizing concepts presented in the Project Management Institute's Agile Practice Guide.

The Methodology Selection Tool (courtesy of the University of Notre Dame’s Project Management Office) is intended to help teams assess and discuss whether projects should be undertaken using predictive, iterative, agile, or blended approaches. Use it with the Agile Methodology Blends Matrix (also from the University of Notre Dame) to help guide project approach decisions.​

 

The Power of Project Management Slide Deck

What is Project Management?

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. Project management is the discipline of initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing the work of a team to achieve specific goals and meet specific success criteria.

Effective project management guides a project through a controlled and visible set of activities to achieve project goals while significantly reducing or eliminating risks associated with a project. Additionally, a professional project manager allows staff to concentrate on the business needs of the project, and their agency without becoming distracted by the myriad of activities required for a successful project.

Benefits of Properly Managed Projects

Project management is very important in today's business environment when you consider the risks and potential downsides of poorly executed projects. Properly managed projects include the following benefits:

  • Schedules met
  • Cost control
  • Scope control
  • Effective Teams
  • High quality solutions that meet or exceed agency expectations

Project Management as a contracted service provides customers with qualified project managers that will lead agency projects using customized project management tools and templates.

Fees for Project Management can be found under the biennium budget guidelines on the NDIT Billing page of this website.

Project management can be contracted two ways through the PMO:

  1. Indirectly as part of a project where NDIT is hired to undertake the design, development, and implementation of a solution
  2. Directly for a variety of other initiatives

Features

NDIT's Project Managers utilize a consistent approach for project management that is based upon the methods, techniques, and best practices defined by the Project Management Institute (PMI). They have experience managing projects related to application development, commercial software implementations, and infrastructure deployment. NDIT's Project Managers provide:

  • Detailed knowledge of North Dakota Century Code and Enterprise Architecture standards
  • Use of the Project Management Checklist and the customized project management tools and templates as a consistent, repeatable, and successful project management process
  • Specific business and technical expertise for agency projects
  • Project status reporting, including various project performance metrics
  • Effective management of resources to complete a project on-time and within budget to meet its strategic objectives
  • Standardized project repository utilizing Microsoft Teams and NDVIEW (the state's enterprise project online system)

Benefits

  • Competitive rates that are below commercially available alternatives
  • Effective and result-driven project management by skilled, disciplined leaders
  • Services provided to state agency customers on-demand with no procurement, supplemental staffing or other technical services RFP needed
  • Cost avoidance for customers who do not have to maintain and provide their own in-house project management resources and skills for performing this type of work on a full-time basis when a full-time resource is not required
  • Projects managed using methods, techniques and processes that can be launched quickly and efficiently
  • Management practices that are already aligned to state standards
  • Well defined project management disciplines that increase the ability to achieve the expected results by monitoring project performance on a regular basis while measuring progress in terms of technical, financial and scheduled events
  • Centralized project status dashboard for viewing all of the agency's projects managed by the NDIT PMO

Purpose

This Statement of Work outlines the characteristics and responsibilities of North Dakota Information Technology’s (NDIT) Project Management service. It communicates expectations between NDIT and all agencies that use the Project Management service.

Service Description

For the purpose of this agreement, “project management” refers to a contracted service in which NDIT’s Project Management Office (PMO) provides its customers with experienced professionals to plan, organize, secure, and manage resources needed to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. This Statement of Work does not include project management services that may be received by those outside of the PMO acting in the project management role.

Expectations of the Project Manager

All Project Phases

Responsibilities of the project manager during all phases of the project include:

  1. Ensure requirements of the project management standard and major project laws are met
  2. Review and provides guidance and direction on project documentation and processes related to cost, schedule, scope, and quality
  3. Participate in Oversight Committee (OC) meetings for major projects as a non-voting member, or participate in Project Advisory Team (PAT) meetings for non-major projects
  4. Participate in procurement activities, including any Procurement Collaboration group
  5. Act as primary contact between project team and project sponsor or OC
  6. Act as primary contact between vendors and project sponsor or OC
  7. Work with organizational change manager to ensure coordination between organizational change management activities and project activities
  8. Provide status to project leadership and project team
  9. Create and maintains the project in ND VIEW (PMO project management tool)
  10. Create and maintains the project’s Microsoft Teams site (project document repository)
  11. Work with project team to identify and monitor project risks, issues, and action items
  12. Work with the oversight analyst to ensure accurate reporting to the Legislative Information Technology Committee (LITC), if required

Project Initiating Phase

Responsibilities of the project manager during the project’s Initiation Phase include:

  1. Review sponsor’s role and project tools with the sponsor, if necessary
  2. Provide information on Microsoft Teams and ND VIEW to project team, if necessary
  3. Author Project Charter document in partnership with project sponsor and project team, and obtain formal approval

Project Planning Phase

Responsibilities of the project manager during the project’s Planning Phase include:

  1. Coordinate planning activities
  2. Facilitate appropriate planning meetings
  3. Identify necessary resource roles and requests resources
  4. Create project schedule in partnership with project sponsor, project team, and vendor(s), and obtain formal approval
  5. Author Project Plan document in partnership with project sponsor, project team, and vendor(s), and obtain formal approval
  6. Create Startup Report document for major projects

Project Executing Phase

Responsibilities of the project manager during the project’s Execution Phase include:

  1. Facilitate project status meetings
  2. Monitor and controls project activities and resources
  3. Execute the project plan, including:
    • Manage and control project scope, budget, and schedule
    • Manage integrated change control
    • Manage deliverable acceptance process
    • Execute Project Communications Plan
  4. Manage Project Implementation and Transition plans
  5. Monitor and ensure vendor(s) comply with terms of the contract(s) in cooperation with procurement officer
  6. Oversee objective measurements happening during the project timeframe

Project Closing Phase

Responsibilities of the project manager during the project’s Closing Phase include:

  1. Verify all project tasks have been completed to the satisfaction of the sponsor and project team, contract obligations fulfilled, and risks, issues, and action items have been closed out
  2. Oversee any remaining objective measurements and verify agency plan to perform any measurements scheduled for post-project
  3. Solicit feedback from project sponsor, project team members, and appropriate stakeholders regarding success of the product and project
  4. Solicit lessons learned and success stories from project sponsor, project team, and appropriate vendors and stakeholders
  5. Create Post Implementation Report document and obtain formal approval
  6. Schedule and facilitate closeout meeting
  7. Create Closeout Report document for major projects
  8. Verify all project documents are in the Microsoft Teams site and archive as necessary
  9. Verify ND VIEW has correct closeout information and archive as necessary

Expectations of the Agency

Responsibilities of the agency during the project include:

  1. Provide an active and visible sponsor
    • Chair OC for major projects (approve agendas, run the meeting, call for motions and vote where appropriate, introduce agenda items and presenters, etc.)
    • Provide project information and status to agency leadership as requested
    • Make requested decisions on the project (these decisions may have recommendations from the PAT or OC)
    • Responsible for vision and general direction of the project
    • Communicate and support business need(s) for the project, identify project objectives, and verify the project is providing the desired value
    • Lead change team and champion project change adoption
    • Stay educated on the project
    • Attend and actively participate in appropriate project meetings and events
    • Approve invoices and deliverable payments in partnership with project manager and project team
    • Support project management processes
  2. Ensure business area(s) that will benefit from the project are represented and empowered
  3. Ensure agency resources are available
  4. Secure project funding
  5. Create any federal funding or grant reporting documentation
  6. Facilitate communication, including any reporting and testing, with federal government entities
  7. Review and approve deliverables in the designated timeframe
  8. Actively support and participate in project activities
  9. Post public meetings with the Secretary of State’s Office

Often there are multiple project managers working on a project. In these cases, a qualified project manager serves in the primary project manager role. The following responsibilities for this role were developed by a team from seven different state agencies.

The primary project manager provides overall project management to the project that includes at a minimum the following:

  1. Ensure requirements of applicable Century Code are met
  2. Ensure requirements of the project management for information technology standard
  3. Review and provide guidance and direction on project documentation and processes related to cost, schedule, scope, quality (e.g., project management, procurement documents)
  4. Participate in Oversight Committee as non-voting member
  5. Work with the procurement officer to facilitate the procurement process
  6. Act as primary contact between project team and project sponsor or oversight committee
  7. Act as primary contact between vendors and project sponsor or oversight committee
  8. Monitor and control vendor contracts
  9. Validate project status updates before those updates are communicated
  10. Validate all project budget/schedule baselines and changes
  11. Validate vendor invoices prior to payment
  12. Secure acceptance and approval of deliverables

Project managers leading state projects must be deemed “qualified” per the project management standard. The PMO and the CIO determine an individual project manager’s qualification level for various sizes of projects. 

To obtain the level of qualification, potential project managers need to contact the PMO and complete state form SFN 60137 Qualified Project Manager Approval. If this form opened in a web browser, download it, and possibly select a "Fill and Sign" tool (or something similar), in order to complete the form.