Glossary
Approved Project Status: After review of OneIT’s initial assessment, the Division may approve or deny a request. If approved, the request is prioritized, and the Planning phase will begin when resources are available.
Canceled Status: Requests or projects that have been terminated before it was completed, often due to various reasons such as changes in priorities, lack of funding, lack of support or resources, technical difficulties, or unforeseen challenges.
Call for Projects: The Call for Projects happens each year in the spring, with a refresh in the fall. Requests are submitted to the Division, where they are reviewed and prioritized. OneIT completes analyses to determine project size, impact, and required resources. Based on these findings, OneIT collaborates with the Executive Steering Committee to plan key project dates across all approved projects.
Business Analyst (BA): A business analyst (BA) analyzes an organization and documents its business, processes, or systems, assessing the business model or its integration with technology.
Business Need: Why this change is needed or what problem the idea will solve.
Data Protection Compliance Analysis (DPCA): the process that involves gathering information about a service or product to determine if there are security compliance concerns. Contracts and agreements are reviewed to ensure that language is included for appropriate security practices for protecting University data.
Denied Status: These are requests that the Division decides that they are not in alignment with strategic priorities or that there are no resources available to be successful.
Division Final Review Status: the Division makes an approval decision after reviewing the OneIT Review document.
Division Review Status: This status indicates that the project request is under review by the requestor’s Division to ensure it aligns with strategic priorities
Executive Director (ED): The Executive Directors are members of the OneIT Staff who serve as advisory IT partners & non-voting members of Executive Steering. They partner with the Executive Steering Committee members to review project requests and determine feasibility.
Executive Steering Committee (ESC): Committee composed of divisional representatives appointed by UNC Charlotte vice-chancellors that ensures ALL IT projects align with University priorities and resource capabilities.
Execution Status: During the execution phase, resources are allocated to identify, schedule, and implement the tasks necessary to accomplish each milestone. An agile approach and regular reporting are maintained during the implementation phase. Once all milestones are implemented, the project moves to the Monitoring Phase.
Faculty & Staff Advisory Committee (FSAC): A campus committee that speaks on behalf of the customer, asks questions, gets input from faculty and staff, and provides feedback on selected IT projects.
Hold Status: This status indicates that an active project has an unexpected lack of resources (e.g. financial support or people) to be successfully completed. This is a temporary status; the project will be reverted to a Division Review status if resources cannot be secured.
Initiative (University or Division Strategic) Projects: Projects that involve new services, tools, or solutions or will have a big impact across campus.
IT Governance: A process that ensures information technology projects support campus strategic directions while ensuring transparency and alignment with security, risk, and compliance requirements.
IT Projects Portal: The software tool that OneIT utilizes to collect project requests, facilitate review processes, enable decision-making, track projects, provide reporting, and monitor the overall health of the Charlotte IT portfolio. Smartsheet powers this portal.
Monitoring Status: During this project phase, iterative progression is measured against project goals. Final testing is completed, and any remaining technical issues are resolved. This is the final status before a project moves to Completion.
OneIT Leadership Committee: OneIT leadership members who review requests and assessments.
OneIT Review Status: This status indicates that a Division requested that OneIT do an initial assessment to gauge technical feasibility, resources needed, and high-level requirements. Once the Division reviews the assessment, they decide whether to approve or deny requests. For those approved, they transition to Approved status.
Off-Cycle Project Requests: Any project requests outside the Call for Projects are considered off-cycle requests. These exception requests are usually related to compliance or other “must-do” projects that could not have been anticipated in advance. Submitters should contact their Division’s OneIT Executive Director to discuss any needs outside of the Call for Projects.
Planning Status: During this phase, the project team is assembled, and objectives, scope, and requirements are defined in the key project documentation. The Sponsor must sign off on a project charter that includes more comprehensive information on resources required, risks, and expected deliverables to enable the project to move to an Execution status.
Project: A temporary endeavor (with a start and end date) undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result within defined constraints. A project concludes when its specific tangible or intangible objectives have been met, and its resources have been released to do other work.
Project Assessment: Project assessments are preliminary evaluations of a proposed project to determine its feasibility, resources needed to support both the project and the resulting solution, potential risks, and benefits. The Division uses this information to decide whether to approve a request to move forward. Additional information will be collected from key project stakeholders. A Project Charter containing a more detailed analysis will be completed during the project Planning Phase.
Project Charter: A project charter outlines a project’s key objectives, scope, stakeholders, risks, resources required to complete the project, and resources needed to support the end solution. It is used to ensure that everyone involved in the project is on the same page regarding the project’s goals and objectives. The project charter must be signed by the sponsor prior to a project moving forward to execution.
Project Manager: The person responsible for the planning and execution of a project to its completion.
Planning & Project Management Office (PPMO): The OneIT office that tracks and manages the IT portfolio and its projects.
Project Phases: Once a project is approved and work can start, the project still has several phases: planning, execution, and monitoring. The planning phase involves identifying the scope, design, tasks, and timeline. The sponsor will sign off on the charter that includes further analysis. The execution phase includes the initial set-up, testing and production rollout. During the monitoring phase, progression is monitored against project goals and iterated upon. Finally, the closeout phase includes reviewing the project plan and budget, determining if the goals were met and identifying any opportunities for improvement.
Project Request: Submitted during the annual Call for Project, this is the initial project request that will alert the appropriate Executive Director of the need and begin the review process.
Project Request Form: Submitted during the annual Call for Project, this is the initial project request that will alert the appropriate Executive Director of the need and to begin the review process.
Project Sponsor: The person who supports and advocates for the request and project. The sponsor ensures that resources are available to support the work and helps to remove any obstacles.
Required Projects: Projects that are required to meet compliance needs or keep an existing system up and running.
Service Owner: The organization that will be the primary unit outside of OneIT responsible for the system, capability, or service.
Submitted Status: This status indicates that a project request has been entered into the IT Projects Portal. Submitted requests will transition to the Division Review status.