In the last installment of our deeper dive into the IT Governance Process, we talked about what, exactly, is the course of events required in order for applications and integrations to get done and how departments work together to make that happen.

But where does all that start?

There are several avenues you can use as jumping-off points for requesting an IT project. Let’s take a look at the options, and then you can make an informed decision on which is best for your department:

1. Request an IT project through your divisional representative

Your divisional representative is where your project will end up at the culmination of this process, as we talked about in our previous post. So it follows that you can skip all the middle steps that follow here and go straight to the source: by emailing or calling your divisional representative:

• Academic Affairs - Lindsay Carpenter, oswaldlr@miamioh.edu
• EMSS - Interim-Duane Drake, draked@miamioh.edu
• Finance and Business Services - Brad Grimm, grimmbr@miamioh.edu
• IT Services - David Seidl, seidlda@miamioh.edu
• Office of the President - Ted Pickerill, pickerto@miamioh.edu
• Student Life - Tim Kresse, tim.kresse@miamioh.edu
• University Advancement - Tim Jones, joneste@miamioh.edu

These folks are responsible for gathering ideas and information from their respective areas and bringing these things to the Change and Continuous Improvement Committee (CCIC), which meets monthly. From there, CCIC determines what resources the project needs and whether the work is something that needs to be done.

2. Submit an MU-Lean idea

The MU-Lean initiative began in 2009 as a way to eliminate waste in business processes at Miami. According to the website: 

In other words, it’s putting you in charge of your own project work and allowing you to actively create change at the University. Your idea should fulfill one of Miami’s core objectives: to increase revenue, improve productivity, reduce costs, avoid costs, or improve University sustainability in some meaningful way.

After the idea goes through the MU-Lean process, it will eventually be reviewed by your divisional MU-Lean representative.

See the MU-Lean website for more information about submitting your idea for IT work!

3. Submit a Tech Fee proposal

Funds are allocated every year toward fostering innovation and bringing new ideas to life through technological means. The Student Technology fee funds programs, projects, and services that focus on improving and enriching the student educational experience at Miami.

In previous years, classroom technology enhancements have been undertaken, campus laboratories have been updated, and unique technologies have been purchased to achieve this goal. Students, faculty, and staff members are all encouraged to submit proposals. So if you have a great idea for student-facing technology, this is the place to start!

4. Get in touch with IT Help

In order to get ideas in front of IT Services, you can also simply go to MiamiOH.edu/ITHelp and submit a ticket. Even if you don’t have a support issue to report, submitting a ticket with your idea for an IT project guarantees that one of our solver groups will have eyes on it.

5. Consider requesting a “pebble”

Our development teams follow Agile principles, complete with planning “sprints” (two weeks’ worth of work) weeks in advance. Projects are scheduled based on several factors, one of which is based on whether or not the development teams have time to take on the work.

If your idea doesn’t have a time constraint or is a smaller task, you can work with your divisional representative to squeeze a small piece of IT work into the developers’ schedules. Our teams can work on these smaller pieces of work between larger projects if time allows.

What’s next?

Now that you know several different ways for getting the ball rolling on IT work, you can make the best decision possible about how to begin the process. Ask yourself: Which method will work the best for the project I have in mind?

We can’t wait to hear your ideas!