UPPS 04.02.01 - Obtaining Technology Resources' Systems and Services

POLICY STATEMENT

Texas State is committed to the effective development, procurement, utilization, and allocation of information technology systems, resources, and services.

1. FUNCTION OF TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES STAFF

   1. Technology Resources (TR) is a department within the Information Technology division that provides services to implement and maintain effective and efficient information systems to meet the information processing needs of the university. Among its many services, TR provides analysis, design, and programming services for the development of customized information systems; support services for implementation, integration, and maintenance of third-party software packages; and data administration and distribution services for the centrally-administered databases utilized by these software systems.

   2. TR staff resources are allocated as needed to support the priorities of the university and the Information Technology division. TR supports numerous systems, projects, and activities, depending on the university’s priorities (see Section 03.).

2. PROCEDURES FOR REQUESTING TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES’ SYSTEMS AND SERVICES

   1. Texas State users may submit a request for systems or services by submitting an electronic request through the Business Application Request System, completing a Project Charter, and emailing TRprojects@txstate.edu or contacting a member of the TR staff for assistance. The processes are outlined and the associated documents are located on the Project Management website.

      Except for emergencies, persons requesting enhancement or development services (as defined in Section 01.01) must document the request using either the Business Application Request System or a Project Charter. Users requesting services should name the divisional project sponsor in the request. TR staff are available to assist users in writing the requests, if needed.

   2. Evaluating the Size, Scope, and Complexity of the Project

      Requests vary greatly in size, scope, and complexity, as do the resources necessary to address them. As part of Information Technology’s project management practices, TR has adopted formal project classification criteria, as required by the Texas Department of Information Resources’ project management practices (Texas Administrative Code, Title 1, Part 10, Chapter 216). To achieve early recognition of the variances in projects, to appropriately manage project risk, and to enhance prospects for successful project outcomes, TR staff will work with the requesting department and other stakeholders to appropriately classify projects according to the project classification criteria (located under the practices and processes section of the TR’s Project Management website).

   3. Documenting External Mandates via Project Charter

      Responses to federal, state, or other external mandates often require a commitment of both user and IT resources. The user should document these mandates in the Project Charter, cite the applicable law or regulation, and specify the consequences of not meeting the mandate.

      The existence of a mandate, in and of itself, does not preclude the need for a written request. Prioritization of the request at the appropriate level is still required (see Section 03.01). However, because of the limited implementation time often associated with mandates, it is sometimes necessary to suspend normal prioritization procedures (see Section 03.). Whenever this appears necessary, TR will consult the chair of the appropriate priority-setting body at the earliest possible time. For this reason, the appropriate request must be submitted as soon as possible.

   4. Requestor’s Commitment of Resources

      Once project requests are prioritized and become active projects, end-user departments should commit all resources needed for the successful completion of the project.

3. PROCEDURES FOR PRIORITIZING REQUESTS AND COMMITTING RESOURCES

   1. Tri-Level Priority Mechanism

      To meet its goals as a service provider, TR works to ensure that its resources are engaged in satisfying the requests that the user community deems most beneficial. These project requests normally correlate with departmental, divisional, and university strategic plans, and are often critical in achieving the objectives in these plans. A tri-level prioritization mechanism has been developed to assist users in prioritizing end-user requests of TR staff. Each department or office sets the initial priority of each request that it originates. Requests that require divisional prioritization are prioritized as specified by the divisional vice president (see Section 03.03). University-level or Enterprise Systems Coordinating Council (ESCC) priorities are established and monitored by the ESCC.

      At each level, a priority-setting body reviews and ranks new project requests relative to requests already submitted. The priority-setting body should consider the availability of staff resources (user and TR) and prior commitments to projects in progress.

      Priority-setting bodies must ensure that the project team has been properly identified to prioritize projects.

      The project classification will determine if the project is addressed through departmental prioritization and monitoring at the divisional or ESCC level, or at both the divisional and ESCC levels.

   2. Departmental Priority and Monitoring

      Each department should maintain a prioritized list of the projects submitted to and actively being addressed by TR. It is the responsibility of both the requesting department and TR to communicate any changes relative to the priority of the project. Departments should distribute the prioritized list to the appropriate teams, project leads, priority committees, and TR to communicate the established or revised priorities.

   3. Divisional Priority and Monitoring

      Divisional prioritization and monitoring are required based on the departmental and divisional priorities. Before a project is submitted for divisional prioritization, the key stakeholders and appropriate TR staff should meet to discuss the request and define the high-level scope and requirements. The project documentation should reflect the feedback from all affected parties.

      Division vice presidents prioritize (or establish a method for prioritizing) the project requests emanating from their divisions. Division vice presidents also assign (or establish a method for assigning) an individual to lead the division’s efforts in satisfying each prioritized request.

      Each division should maintain a prioritized list of its project requests. This list should indicate the priorities of the vice president and the division’s leader for each project request submitted to TR and each project actively being addressed by TR. It is the responsibility of both the user division and TR to communicate any changes relative to the priority of projects.

      The division should distribute this list to the appropriate teams, project leads, priority committees, and TR to communicate the established or revised priorities.

   4. ESCC Priority and Monitoring

      Effectively satisfying a request often requires a commitment of resources normally allocated to offices outside of the requesting division, resources that are currently unavailable, or resources that have been previously committed to other prioritized projects in other divisions. In these and similar situations, it is the responsibility of the sponsoring department or division to obtain the necessary resource commitments from the body that prioritizes the work of those resources. This requirement is essential for adequate inter-division communication and to prevent the over-commitment of resources. The need for cross-divisional resource commitments should become apparent as a result of stakeholder feedback to the request.

      For example, a department in Finance and Support Services (FSS) division is sponsoring a project that requires resources from the Student Success (SS) division. In this situation, it is the responsibility of FSS (or the requesting department) to obtain a priority for its project from the SS priority-setting body. If the priority given by SS is unacceptable to the requesting department, the department can appeal to the ESCC for resolution. Until ESCC resolves such an appeal, work will likely not proceed on said project.

      Requests requiring cross-divisional resources will be subject to such ESCC oversight whenever the ESCC, the requesting division, TR, or the majority of stakeholders deem such treatment is necessary. ESCC shall determine the relative priority of the requests brought before it for approval, and ensure that all interested parties are aware of these priorities. ESCC should maintain a prioritized list of the projects monitored by the ESCC and make it available upon request.

4. REVIEWERS OF THIS UPPS

   1. Reviewers of this UPPS include the following:

      Position	Date
      Associate Vice President for Technology Resourcesand Chair, ESCC	April 1 E4Y
      Project Management Director, Technology Resources	April 1 E4Y

5. CERTIFICATION STATEMENT

   This UPPS has been approved by the following individuals in their official capacities and represents Texas State policy and procedure from the date of this document until superseded.

   Associate Vice President for Technology Resources and Chair, ESCC; senior reviewer of this UPPS

   Vice President for Information Technology

   President