How does an IT Project Assessment work?

Ever test the water before jumping in? You want to know what you’re getting into before smashing that cannon ball, right? That’s what a project assessment is about. Once an IT project idea is submitted and approved, an IT Business Analyst works with the submitter to gather more information, aka: an IT Project Assessment. This information includes: project stakeholders, business needs, integration requirements, level of effort, timeline, resource needs and costs.

Depending on the project’s scope, other different people who represent a cross-section of colleges and departments review the assessment. Basically, the larger the scope, the larger amount of people are asked to review it and the more thoroughly it’s assessed. Thse people include: the ETC (Executive Technology Council) group and/or an ETC divisional representative, TPCs (Technology Portfolio Committees), and the ITS Run Group.

Several decision-making criteria are used when reviewing assessments, such as alignment with institutional goals, resource availability and integration needs. If the various people (again, depending on the project’s scope) approve the idea, it becomes an actual project and gets scheduled for the implementation phase.