CBPT Charter

Submitted by Sarah Moriarty on 08/11/2015

Executive Sponsors

• Mike Howard, Vice President for Finance and Administration
• David DeSwert, co-chair
• Sarah Moriarty, co-chair

Goal

Improve the quality of business operations at Smith through process improvement and enhanced technology utilization.

General Approach

Over a three-year initial term beginning in spring 2015, create and oversee implementation of a rolling 1.5-year road map that will target for improvement areas that currently have poor or inefficient business processes and poor technology implementations. The committee will work to prioritize activities and technologies that will advance strategic directions, with a focus on projects that create the best value.

Guiding Principles

The creation of this committee acknowledges that, college-wide, there is severe deferred maintenance in business processes and the use of technology in business operations, at a level that cannot be supported via normal operating budgets and the existing governance structure. In order to address this deficiency, the following principles will guide committee actions:

1. Prioritization is based on understanding what is best for the college as a whole rather than an individual functional area.
2. Projects must be driven by a stated business need and broken out into two categories:
   • Small enhancements which can be completed in less than 2 person months of work. The committee chair(s) are responsible for the approval or denial of these requests, with as-needed consultation with and periodic reporting to the committee. They will be managed within the yearly budget granted to this subset of projects.
   • Projects that fix strategic business processes and last more than 2 person months of work. The committee as a whole will approve, deny and prioritize these projects.

3. All projects require a plan approved by the executive sponsors that identifies the overall goals, specific project roles, staff time commitments, consulting or other budget required, high-level milestones, impact to users.
4. To achieve project goals, project teams must commit adequate time and resources.
5. Funding is available to temporarily expand staffing resources (through consulting or term employees) as needed.
6. The committee must be nimble in its approach and willing to alter the road map based on new and better information.

Process

Project Intake

1. Each cabinet area will be responsible for developing a process to channel business process improvement requests to the committee that have been prioritized and approved by their senior administrator.
2. Production support issues will continue to be submitted through entering a help ticket. Requests that fall outside of production support, as determined by the director of Administrative Technology, will be redirected to the process improvement request process.

Project Prioritization

Prioritization of projects will be reflected in the road map and will consider the following:

1. The current state of the business processes (broken to optimal).
2. The strategic value to the college (low to high).
3. The scale and scope of the project—to be developed in consultation with AT staff and include personnel resources, time and cost estimates.
4. Other prioritization considerations, including addressing compliance needs, risk management concerns and user availability.

Committee will recommend projects for funding to the executive sponsors.

Monitoring

Individual project leads will be responsible for managing to a timeline established during the planning phase. The leads will regularly update the committee co-chairs on progress against that timeline. Changes to the scope or timing of projects in process will be shared with project stakeholders.

The committee will be apprised of the status of all projects defined in 2b above on a monthly basis. Early completion or delays in these projects may affect the overall roadmap. In addition the committee will be apprised of issues affecting the small enhancements or production issues and may be asked to intervene to keep these initiatives on track.

The committee co-chairs will provide regular updates to the executive sponsors on the progress of projects and the implications for the road map, and the committee will be updated at its regular meeting.

At least twice per year, the committee will provide cabinet with formal reports on the progress of the program as a whole and any changes to the roadmap.

Assessment

Upon completion each project will be assessed based on assessment criteria and measurements for success established during the planning stage.