Prioritization Process - First Prioritization Stage
The first prioritization process occurs at the subcommittee level
during the review of a proposal. Subcommittees consider the project
justification and cost of a proposal on its own merits but also in the
context of all other submitted and approved projects in their functional
area. Subcommittees consider the resource capacity of stakeholders for
staffing projects when evaluating proposals, working with the affected
organizations to understand staffing plans.
If a functional or technical area is included in a proposal, that area needs to answer the following questions:
- Is a resource available to perform the task in the requested timeframe?
- If not, can one be made available at a later date, based on the current list of approved projects?
- If not, can outside resources be provided at a higher cost?
Prioritization Process - Second Prioritization Stage
The second prioritization process occurs as all approved projects in
each functional area are reviewed quarterly by the respective
subcommittees to assess the prioritization of all projects in their
area. This prioritization process produces a numeric ranking of all
approved projects which will be provided to ITPC. Once this
prioritization is complete, subcommittees can determine if other
projects should be put on hold or rescheduled so resources can be made
available for what will presumably be a higher priority project within
the subcommittee's respective functional area.
On a quarterly basis, prior to the scheduled ITPC meeting, the ITPC
cross-functional group provides to ITPC a prioritization across all
projects scheduled for ITPC review at its next meeting. This is to
provide guidance to ITPC regarding funding and resource allocation
across functional areas. The ITPC is responsible for the prioritization
of all approved ITPC projects across all areas. The committee will
review the subcommittee's and cross-functional group's prioritizations
and determine prioritization across functional areas as needed.
Portfolio Scheduling
Upon approval by ITPC and AAPC (if required), projects are moved into
the ITPC project scheduling queue to await scheduling. These projects
are classified as Approved - To be Scheduled in the monthly reports. Depending on the nature of a project, a managing organization
will be designated for each project. This managing organization will be
responsible for the scheduling and execution of the project. On the
majority of projects, the managing organization will be AITS, but there
are also several projects being managed by other organizations.
Subsequent to the ITPC project review and project prioritization
sessions, AITS, utilizing the information provided by the ITPC,
cross-functional group, and subcommittees and the resource capacity
information for specific skill types will generate a detailed quarterly
project schedule and a high-level annual plan. Resource capacity needs
to be considered for all participating organizations (AITS, functional
office, other technical, consultants, DS, end users, etc.) and will be
an important factor in scheduling projects. This scheduling process is
specific to projects that have a significant AITS component. The overall
ITPC process may approve projects that have no AITS components. While AITS will not schedule the projects being
led by other managing organizations, these projects will be slotted in
the plan with the advice of the other organizations so the plan is
inclusive of all ITPC projects.
The short-range quarterly plan will be updated monthly to accommodate
emergency requests and adapt to changes in project timelines. Again, at
the end of each quarterly ITPC prioritization, the high-level annual
plan will be recast incorporating the most current data provided. The
high-level annual plan will be maintained for long range planning
purposes and as a tool to inform clients of expectations regarding the
scheduling of all approved projects.