Projects

Overview

Assessing future technology needs

Information Technology projects led by the University of Wisconsin have a wide impact on all UW System institutions, and, in some cases, other State of Wisconsin institutions.

These projects cover a wide array of areas including, but not limited to:

• Network infrastructure
• Academic services
• Security, authentication and authorization
• Learning/education technologies
• Library systems
• Media distribution
• Telephony and Teleconferencing
• Administrative tools

While many initiatives and projects are driven by UW System Administration, UW institutions all work to drive project selection, execution, and maintenance of project results.

Project Lifecycle

Projects of all sizes and scopes follow a standard process of project management where a period of exploration, needs analysis, resource acquisition, development, review, deployment and reflection are followed. How each project fulfills these stages is dependent on the scope and nature of the project.

Exploration of needs is typically done in a process which involves appropriate audiences at some or all UW institutions, as coordinated by investigators. Projects must obtain sponsorship and must account for employee hours, platform, vendors, state contracts, and a great deal of effort goes into ensuring projects produced meet the needs of the target UW institutions from the very beginning.

Depending on scope and nature of the project, Department of Administration procurement processes may apply.

Funding

Funding for projects may come from a number of sources. Smaller projects, or those which fall under the duty of UW employees, may be financed as a matter of the position’s role. For other projects, Common Systems funding may be available. Institutions may agree at a budgetary level to contribute towards the completion of a project, some services may be provided as a utility for other UW institutions to leverage, and some projects are funded as part of the larger UW System budget. A number of projects are also funded by grant money provided through an application process by federal, state and local sources, non-profit organizations, and education-oriented foundations,