IT Governance Process

The IT Governance Process for Fiscal Year ’25 is completed and the departments have been notified of the approved initiatives. Please review the Off Budget Cycle Request Policy for New Project Requests submitted from February to September.

IT Governance Process Timeline Overview for Fiscal Year '26

• November 1, 2024: The project request must be received by the ITS Project Management Office (PMO)
  • Please complete the ITS Project Request Form available in the Suffolk University service portal
  • The ITS Project Request Form must be approved by the Requestor, the requestor’s Supervisor and the Sponsor. The Sponsor is at the Vice President, Provost and/or Dean Level
  • When the ITS Project Request Form is submitted, it automatically sends it to Marian Sales in the ITS Project Management Office (PMO)
• November/December 2024: Discovery Process
  
  • A Discovery Team will determine if there is an option already being used at the University that can meet the requirements. If not, then several vendors will be evaluated; demos are scheduled, and each product will be rated for value and functional fit. Post demos, the Discovery Team will vote on the Vendor Recommendation
• December 2024/January 2025: Accessibility Assessment, Security Assessment and Technical Review are completed for the Vendor Recommendation
  
  • If there are no issues, the PMO will work with the requestor to prepare the Value Proposition Presentation
• February 2025: Value Propositions are presented to the IT Executive Governance Committee (ITEGC)
  
  • ITGEC will rank the Value Propositions for Budget Committee review
• April 2025: The requester and sponsor will be informed if the project is approved by the Budget Committee
• May/June 2025: For approved requests, the procurement process begins and the PMO will provide an estimated start date. 

For more details, refer to the Fiscal Year ’26 Communication that was sent early October 2024 or contact Marian Sales in the ITS Project Management Office 

Off Budget Cycle Policy for New Project Requests

There are two types of projects that may be approved outside of the normal IT Governance Process (February to September):

1. Any new project request which cannot wait for approval during the normal governance cycle. The Software is above $5000.00. A project request form needs to be submitted and approved by both the supervisor and sponsor. The recommendation must pass both the Accessibility Assessment and Security Assessment
   
   The request must meet at least one of the listed criteria to be approved by the ITGEC:
   
   • It is necessary for legal or compliance reasons
   • It is necessary to fulfill an audit finding
   • It is necessary for accreditation
   • The department agrees to permanently fund the cost of the solution via a permanent budget transfer to the Tech Renewal Budget
     
     
2. Any new project request which cannot wait for approval during the normal governance cycle, is below $5000.00, a project request form was approved by both the supervisor and sponsor; and has passed both accessibility and security assessments
   
   The request must meet at least one of the listed criteria to be approved by the ITGEC:
   
   • Demonstrate that there is not another similar software/product already being used at the University
   • The Department agrees to permanently fund the cost of the solution via a permanent budget transfer to the Tech Renewals budget

Task vs. Project

When evaluated, some initiatives may be determined to be a task rather than a project.

• Project: A software and/or hardware initiative that requires more than one person or more than 7 hours to complete
• Task: A software and/or hardware initiative that takes a level of effort of one person and less than 7 hours of work to complete.