Project Brief
It is strongly recommended that this template is developed as a Word document and once approved, transferred to this project page (due to the limitation of the website in regard to editing and for easier sharing, tracking and versioning)
project_planning_-_project_brief_template.docx
Document Sign-off
| Name | Role | Date signed off |
|---|---|---|
| Project Sponsor | ||
| Project Manager | ||
| Programme Manager | ||
| other stakeholders | ||
Background
The university is a challenging environment to plan testing and deployments of new and changed services. Schools, Colleges, university support and administration all have dates where significant activity is occurring and when risk of disruption must be at a minimum.
Projects continuously are continuously negotiating with business partners on when systems and services, hardware and network changes, can be deployed. Often, the same people may be contacted by several projects in the same year, and there is always the risk of a date being chosen which is a risk for some other university unit.
This small innovation project seeks to improve the communication and selection of dates, reducing duplication of effort and risk of disruption to staff and students.
Scope
The project will consult with the business administration of the three colleges and support groups as part of its analysis, aiming to establish where dates are available already for project teams to find, and provide a one-stop reference to these, and also where dates are not currently maintained, and to establish the key contacts in the business area for discussion for these dates.
The project will also seek to set out an escalation procedure, to allow appropriate levels of authorisation in regard to dates.
The project will seek to set out a forward looking calendar where projects can indicate deployment dates so that better cross-project planning can take place.
Changes to Scope will be logged on the Issue Log and also recorded on the Project Scope Change page.
Out of Scope
Establishment of a central calendar of dates.
Objectives and Deliverables and Success Criteria
Guidance (please remove)
Summarise
Description of the Objective |
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| Description of the Deliverables needed to achieve the objective | ||||
Objective 1 |
One-Stop reference to key university dates by 31st July | Success Criteria | ||
| Deliverable D1.1 | a single place where projects can consult to find reference to published key dates for university units | A wiki or web page (or other) accessible to all projects | ||
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Deliverable D1.2 |
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| Deliverable D1.3 | ||||
Objective 2 |
An escalation process for agreeing dates by 31st July | |||
| Deliverable D2.1 |
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A process agreed with key stakeholders | ||
| Deliverable D2.2 | ||||
Objective 3 |
A forward look where projects can indicate there key deployment dates by 31st July | |||
|
Deliverable D3.1 |
a wiki or web page, sharepoint or outlook calendar, that shows all deployments to take place in the year |
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| Deliverable D3.2 | ||||
Objective 4 |
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| Deliverable D4.1 | ||||
Objective 5 |
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| Deliverable D5.1 | ||||
| Deliverable D5.2 |
This table can be used through Business and Technical Analysis, Design, Build, and Testing/UAT as a Traceability Matrix to ensure the project brief project objectives and deliverables are followed through.
Requirements
Guidance (please remove)
State the known requirements that drive the project.
Who has set this requirement (who owns the requirement).
Ideally we set these as MoSCoW:
MUST - we would see the project as failing totally or partially if these are not achieved
SHOULD - we have a high expectation that these will be doable with planned work and budget - but if necessary these can be descoped
COULD - if all goes very well, these might be possible
WON'T - we want to be explicit about certain things that people might expect us to deliver but we want to be clear we won't deliver
Which deliverables will fully or partially satisfy the requirement?
| Requirement | User / Owner | MoSCoW | Associated Objective/Deliverable (Ox/Dx.x) |
| A one-stop reference for key dates | Maurice Franceschi | Must | 01 D1.1 |
| An escalation process for agreeing dates | Heads of College Admin | Should | O2 D2.1 |
| A forward look of deployment dates | Maurice Franceschi | Should | O3 D3,1 |
Benefits
Reduced risk of disruption to staff and students, Better targeted communication between projects and staff. Reduced risk to overlapping deployments.
Governance
Portfolio Governance
| Role | Name | Division / Group / Team / College / School and Title |
|---|---|---|
| Project Sponsor | Tony Weir | ITI |
| Programme Owner | Tony Weir | ITI |
| Programme Manager | Tim Gray | Applications |
Project Board
N/a
| Role | Name | Division / Group / Team / College / School and Title |
|---|---|---|
| Executive | ||
| Senior User (may be the Executive) | ||
| Senior Supplier | ||
| Other board members | ||
| c |
Tolerances
The budget is fixed at £6,000, with no tolerance above this.
Resources Skills and Cost
Budget
Budget is £6,500
Business Analysts - 18 days (£6,300)
Priority and Funding
Funding is from Innovation Fund : £6,500 Priority is Normal
Project Team
| Role | Name | Division / Group / Team / College / School and Title |
|---|---|---|
| Project Manager | Maurice Franceschi | Applications |
| Business Analyst | Nicola Henderson | Applications |
Quality of Project and Deliverables / Key Project Milestones
Guidance (please remove)
The milestones are a key tool in ensuring that the project process itself is followed as set out by ITI, and that the product deliverables are to the required Quality.
Edit this template to list the key Milestones and who signs off on these milestones. Add milestones for Security, Accessibility, UX, as required.
For medium and large projects, a project plan - MS Project, Gantt, or other - can be added to the Plan Log and revised as project progresses. The approach can be stated here.
You can also mention the approach the project is taking to set, measure and confirm the quality of the deliverables
| Milestone | Sign-Off means | Date of Milestone | Who signs-off (Accountability) |
Start of Project |
Project can begin, is in line with Programme and Portfolio priority, has resource |
1/11/2019 |
Sponsor, Programme Manager |
End of Planning |
Project Brief, Plan, Estimated Budget, Risks, Communication Plan - all approved. Project has resource approved by section head for the estimated effort. Project has funding for effort for other costs. |
31/1/2019 |
Sponsor, PM, Programme Manager, Section Head(s) |
Delivery |
Change to Service can proceed |
21/6/2019 |
Sponsor, PMservice owner/ service operations manager (helpline) |
Closure |
Project can close |
12/7/2019 |
Sponsor, PM |
Assumptions
That there are a significant number of references for dates already available, and that business areas have the time to engage with the business analysis.
Constraints
Budget fixed, effort from analyst as 18 days.
Project will be low priority in regard to others, so may be conflicted.
Risks
none identified
Issues
none identified
Previous Lessons Learned
n/a
Dependencies
n/a
Communication
TBC
Run / Grow / Transform
Transform
Alignment with Strategic Vision
IS Strategic Vision the main elements of the vision that this projects contibutes to are highlighted in bold.
|
Student Experience |
Commentary |
| Student experience and the unique Edinburgh offer | X |
| Online and distance learning leaders | |
| Library national and international leadership | |
|
Research and Innovation |
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| Research IT and Data Sciences | |
| Innovation | |
| Collaborative leadership and social responsibility | |
|
Service Excellence |
|
| Process improvement, efficiency, quality and best practice | X |
| Long‐term IS strategic planning and linked professional services | |
| Information Security |
University's Strategic Vision for 2025 the main elements of the vision that this projects contributes to are highlighted in bold.
| Vision Themes | Commentary |
| A unique Edinburgh offer for all of our students | |
| • all of our undergraduates developed as student/ researchers with clear, supported pathways through to Masters and PhD | |
| • all our students offered the opportunity to draw from deep expertise outside their core discipline | |
| • a highly satisfied student body with a strong sense of community. | |
| Strong and vibrant communities within and beyond the University – making the most of our unique offer of world-leading thinking and learning within one of the world’s most attractive cities | |
| A larger, more international,staff who feel valued and supported in a University that is a great and collegial place to work, develop and progress | |
| More postgraduate students – underpinned by the best support in the sector to ensure we attract the brightest and best regardless of ability to pay | |
| A strong culture of philanthropic support focussed especially on our students and on outstanding research capabilities. | |
| Many more students benefiting from the Edinburgh experience (largely or entirely) in their own country – supported by deep international partnerships and world- leading online distance learning | |
| Sustained world leading reputation for the breadth, depth and interdisciplinarity of our research supported by strong growth in research funding and strong international partnerships – drawing from well-established and less well developed sources |
|
| An estate that matches expectations, responds flexibly to changing student and staff needs, and showcases the University |
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A deeper and earlier collaboration with industry, the public sector and the third sector – in terms of research; knowledge exchange; and in giving our students the best possible set of skills for their future |
|
| Digital Transformation | Commentary |
|---|---|
| Describe how the changes this project delivers will contribute to the digitial transformation of the Service |
IS Change Programme - How will this project's Deliverables and Benefits promote the Themes
| IS Change Programme Theme | How the project deliverables and benefits contribute to change |
| Project Management | X |
| Working Together | X |
| Standards and Technical Leadership | |
| Staff Learning and Development | |
| Service Based Culture | X |
| Equality and Diversity | |
| Partnerships and Philanthropy | |
| Flexible Resourcing | |
| Communication and Branding |
Service Excellence - Information and Security
n/a
Service Excellence - Process Improvement, efficiency, quality and best practice (Social Responsibility and and Sustainability)
n/a
Digital Transformation
n/a
IS Change Programme - How will the execution of this project promote the Themes
Some expectations and suggestions from ISG Directors - what to think about for each them when planning the project 
some_expectations_and_suggestions_from_isg_directors.pdf
| IS Change Programme Theme | How the project process will contribute to change |
| Project Management | Improvement through communication with business |
| Working Together |
Consulting with colleges, schools and business units to find agreed approach
|
| Standards and Technical Leadership | |
| Staff Learning and Development |
|
| Service Based Culture |
|
| Equality and Diversity |
|
| Partnerships and Philanthropy |
|
| Flexible Resourcing |
|
| Communication and Branding |
|
Project Sponsor – Project Responsibilities
The sign-off milestones are associated with specific responsibilities of the Sponsor role .
Start of project – Explicitly Included in the Initiation Milestones Sign-Off
- Negotiates and confirms funding for the project
- Ensures the project is in line with organisational strategy and priorities
- Chairs the project board, appoints its members and ensures they are effective
- Advises the project manager of protocols, political risks, issues and sensitivities
- Makes the project visible within the organisation
End of Planning – Explicitly Included in the Planning Milestone Sign-Off
- Works with the project manager to develop the Project Brief
- Ensures a realistic project plan is produced
- Sets tolerance levels for escalation to themselves and to the project board
- Ensures that project team have representation and engagement from users and suppliers
- Helps identify Stakeholders
- Approves Communication Plan
- Agrees on frequency of meetings with Project Manager
- Agrees of frequency of meetings with Project Team
- Agrees on milestones and who signs-off
Execution – ongoing
- Provides strategic direction and guidance to the project manager as directed by the Board
- Approves changes to plans, priorities, deliverables, schedule
- Encourages stakeholder involvement and maintains their ongoing commitment
- Chief risk taker
- Makes go/no-go decisions
- Communicates change in organisational structure, priorities, business benefits or funding
- Helps the project manager in conflict resolution
- Helps resolve inter project boundary issues
- Gains agreement among stakeholders when differences of opinion occur
- Assists the project by exerting organisational authority and the ability to influence
Delivery – Explicitly Included in the Delivery Sign-Off
- Ensures that Service is ready for change
Closure - Explicitly Included in the Closure Milestone Sign-Off
- Helps with publicity for the change delivered
- Ensure that benefits will be managed, measured and realised post-project
- Evaluates the project’s success upon completion
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| some_expectations_and_suggestions_from_isg_directors.pdf | 341.89 KB |
| project_planning_-_project_brief_template.docx | 35.44 KB |