Presentations and Documents
Portal Project Charge

Background
The University of Colorado at Boulder undertook an Information Technology Strategic Planning (ITSP) process during spring 2002. The process, which includes participation from faculty, staff, students, and administrators from across campus, served as the strategic planning for information technology (IT) on campus. It also helps set the agenda for CU-Boulder's central IT unit, Information Technology Services (ITS).

Several significant recommendations emerged from the ITSP process. One key recommendation was that the campus needed to:

• Provide excellent, unified web-based student services that are tailored to individuals based upon their affiliation with CU-Boulder; in summary, a campus student portal
• To achieve this recommendation, four components are required: cross department collaboration, student involvement, selection of appropriate technology, and allocation of sufficient funding.

This recommendation has generated a great deal of interest on campus and has significant support from students, faculty and administrators. The wide scope of this project will cover student services, which includes informational and business type transactions, as well as student programs, which includes advising/counseling, student development activities and instructional support. Thus, an exploratory project is being commissioned to develop tactical and operational plans to provide student portal services.

Action Steps

1. Identify Steering Team - A project of this magnitude requires significant campus commitment and a formalized structure to ensure success. The first step is to identify the project steering team members who will provide project guidance and policy decision making to enable the project team to focus on system delivery.
   
   The proposed steering team membership is:
   Dennis Maloney, Executive Director, ITS, Steering Team Chair
   Barb Schneider, Executive Director, Enrollment Management
   Bill Herbstreit, Executive Director, Financial Services
   Dave Makowski, Assistant Vice President for Information Technology
   Elease Robbins, Associate Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs
   Michael Grant, Associate Vice Chancellor
   Kevin Boyer, UCSU Tri Exec
   
   The steering team will refine the charge for the project team and oversee its progress as needed. It will have particular responsibility for working from the outset on the funding and possible service redirection issues identified at the end of item 3 below. In addition, the Steering Team is charged with a goal of funding at least one-third of the project and operating costs from reallocations of existing expenditures.
   
   
2. Identify Project Team – The project team is charged with the operational responsibility to define the system requirements, select the best solution, and develop plans for implementation. The proposed project team membership is:
   
   Team Leader – ITS Project Manager
   Principal IT Analyst, ITS
   Campus IT Architect, ITS
   Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Representative
   Enrollment Management
   Financial Services
   Student Representative
   University Communications
   UMS IT Analyst
   Library Representative
   Advising: A&S or Eng
   
   
3. Project Team Charge:
   1. Starting Point: The work completed during the ITSP process should be the starting point for this project. The chapter, 2.1 Web-based Student Services will serve a guide to launch the project work.
   2. Parameters and Expectations: The intention of this project is to provide a comprehensive student portal, encompassing all student services and programs. Any proposed solution must meet campus technology, security, and service delivery requirements. It is expected that use of the development of any new student service will be delivered through the student portal.
   3. Products/Deliverables: It is expected that the project team will commence during the fall 2002 semester and deliver a proposal for a comprehensive solution to the Steering Team for review by December 15, 2002.
   4. Key Areas of Inclusion: A shortlist list of potential services provided on a student portal include admissions, orientation, registration, financial aid, student health, computing and networking, housing, libraries, advising, course materials, learning/instructional access, career services, leadership development, calendaring, campus news, etc.
   5. Student Focus Groups: Student input during the course of portal analysis and design for format, style and content is imperative to ensure that the resulting portal services meet student requirements and interests.
   6. Resources: Four-year project and operating costs were including, personnel, hardware, software development, and operations were estimated to $1.7M during the strategic planning process. Actual implementation and support costs will be determined after the systems requirement phase of the project is completed.
      
      The project and steering teams are charged with critically examining the funding model for this project. This includes incorporating, from the outset of the project, consideration of whether this project is primarily an enhancement of services and programs, or whether it can be accomplished through redirection of current services and programs. In conjunction with making this determination, the project and steering teams will consider whether any current funding for related initiatives, programs or services can be reallocated to support the cost of this project and operation. In addition, the teams should consider whether the use of new and or existing student technology fees should be proposed to help fund this initiative.
      
      The project and steering teams also are charged with examining potential software solutions for the portal, including software developed or used at other universities, and recommending an approach that would be functionally and cost effective.
      
      
4. Identify Advisory Group – A project with this breadth of scope and impact should have an inclusive, campus-wide advisory group to help set direction and stay inform of the progress of the project. The membership would include departments that have service and support responsibility related to student portals services. In addition, representatives from UCSU, UGGS and RHA would be included to represent student perspective. This group would periodically meet with the project team leads, review project teamwork, and provide feedback to help guide the project towards success.