The Project Management Office (PMO) has the unique opportunity to be an integral part of the efforts of every other unit in OIT as well as units across campus. Our PMO completed 8 large projects in 2021 and currently have 17 large projects in process. Some of the completed projects were:
- Virtual Classroom – Phase 1
OIT sought to enhance the virtual classroom learning capabilities and reached out to faculty for proposals in 2021 with the Student Learning Through Immersive Virtual Experiences grant. After evaluating several proposals, six were funded by OIT. All six faculty project kickoffs have taken place and they are on their way towards implementing their innovative solutions. The project team will continue to meet with faculty on a monthly basis for the duration of each of their projects.
- Endpoint Security
Due to Auburn University’s current cybersecurity landscape, increasing insurance demands, and increasing flexibilities for alternate duty work locations, there was an immediate need for an improved security posture across campus. Phase 1 of the project was successfully completed, which focused on verifying specific software applications were deployed to all endpoints, these applications remained up-to-date, and specific software was required for secure connections to the Auburn network. Future phases plan to focus on tighter management of administrative rights as well as a greater visibility of endpoint across campus.
- WAF Implementation
OIT implemented a Web Application Firewall (WAF) that helps protect our mission critical systems. One of Auburn University’s Strategic Plan goals is Operational Excellence and adding value to Technology Applications. Adding another layer of security in front of our mission critical systems is imperative to protecting Auburn University’s data.
- Harris Early Learning Center in Birmingham, AL (HELC)
The center serves 250 pre-school children, several hundred parents/guardians, and 60 staff members. The team onboarded the existing employees at HELC as new Auburn employees and brought the remote location onto the Auburn network. The team deployed new networking gear, improved Internet access, and streamlined customer service. OIT also migrated server data to the main campus to improve synchronized access to files, migrated email accounts, provided telecommunications enhancements, and implemented standard AU 24/7 public safety access. The office and its employees are now part of the Auburn family.
- Software Licensing Management System
The team revamped all the processes and methods to improve the software request system employed by faculty and staff. Now the requestors have a standard request process incorporating Service Now that has improved communication between the requester and billing coordinators, reduced the standard wait time, provides historical documentation, and offers real time tracking of requests.
- Salesforce
Implemented versions 2.0 and 3.0, which included enhancements between the warehouse and Salesforce for more accurate data in the Academic Org of Salesforce. Developed standard release and test management processes. Implemented Marketing Cloud, consisting of 4 products – Content Builder, Email Studio, Social Studio, and Journey Builder. This tool will be used by our Office of Communications and Marketing and colleges and departments across the campus to help Auburn communicate more effectively with our constituents.
- Data Warehouse
This team created scalable automation with our source systems, creating several new API connections into our warehouse, and supported the new releases of SalesForce. They also built multiple Qlik dashboards to groups across campus and were instrumental in providing covid related data to meet the requirements of the university.
- Data Governance and Management
Facilitated the creation of the Data Council, made up of key individuals across the campus who have a vested interest in securing the access and traceability of university data to our constituents. Implemented the first module of a Master Data Management suite from Ataccama that will monitor data quality and provide ways to identify and correct inaccurate data.
- PMO Reboot
The PMO was asked by executive management to provide a review of the Project Management Office processes and standards to all OIT management. Over three different sessions the PMO reviewed with management how the PMO works, how it benefits the organization, and how everyone can utilize PMO tools and best practices to potentially assist them in running their own projects.
- Refinement of centralized PMO Website
As part of the PMO maturation processes and transparency the PMO has revitalized its website to provide a centralized location of information related to the PMO. This new information includes a dynamic portfolio view all of the current projects, processes and templates, a revamped project intake form, and the new PM Lite toolkit.
- PM Lite Roll Out
The PMO has developed a slimmed down version of standard project management practices and tools dubbed “PM Lite”. This new project management approach has been developed to provide everyone with helpful processes and templates to hopefully allow them to successfully run their own projects. The PMO was asked by executive management to provide an overview of the PM Lite processes and tools for all OIT management. Over three sessions, the PMO shared the tenants of PM Lite with all of OIT management and placed the PM Lite toolkit on the new revamped PMO website.
- Project Management Community of Practice
The PMO has established a Project Management Community of Practice where the PMO invites project managers from outside of the PMO to meet on a quarterly schedule. This allows project managers from various departments to share strategies, lessons learned, standards, etc. and to build important relationships with one another.
- Rane Center
The PMO assisted with the evaluation of services responsibilities, SLA development, and hardware setup for the new Rane center.
- OIT Project Portfolio
The PMO worked with the DCIO to create an overall OIT project portfolio that contains significant projects and efforts from all areas of OIT. The collection of smart sheets from the different departments also rolls up into a single view of all the current projects and critical work in OIT for reporting and metrics.
- Project Intake and Prioritization Strategy and Processes
The PMO has worked with QA and DCIO to create a new project intake and prioritization process. The new process includes the review and evaluation of new project requests for all areas of OIT to be assessed, prioritized, and assigned by the DCIO direct reports and the PMO.
- Integrated Project Lifecycle with new Architecture Review Board
As the Architecture Review Board has been successfully implemented, the PMO has made it a priority to include the ARB reviews as part of the project life cycle. This helps to ensure that the ARB can review all new projects to make sure that we are adhering to Auburn standards and processes and to avoid potential downstream issues.
- Blanket Drive
Facilitated a successful Blanket Drive to support the efforts of the BraveHeart Center, which resulted in 135 blankets donated from OIT.
- PMO Potluck lunch for OIT employees
The PMO conducts a quarterly potluck lunch for various OIT employees to show its appreciation to these employees for their work on various projects and endeavors. The team has continued this lunch throughout 2021 and it plans to maintain this tradition in 2022.
Last Updated: April 29, 2022
