Resources
Reading Materials
| Name | Description |
| Bibliography | List of references used in researching methodologies |
| Business Case Sample | A business case is completed by the PMO to describe, justify, and prioritize a new project. The business case captures the anticipated costs (including staff time and effort), benefits, risks, and strategic alignment in the summary page. The supplemental pages are used to guide information discovery for large-scale projects. Project managers may or may not be involved in generating or updating the business case. The sample illustrates the information the PMO may need to collect to initiate a project on behalf of a requestor. The requestor is not expected to complete this document. The actual template is an excel document completed by the PMO, and as such is not provided as a constituent resource. |
| Business Case Guide | Business cases are an important part of IT governance and portfolio management and serve multiple purposes. A guide to their use is provided in this resource as well as on a tab in the business case sample. |
| Business Case Rubric | All business cases are evaluated based on alignment, value (cost-effectiveness) and risk (probability of success) to inform the decision making process. This resource provides the evaluation rubric used for IT project business cases. |
| Portfolio Guiding Principles | List of principles used in balancing the institutional portfolio on an ad hoc basis and in framing portfolio guidelines for governing bodies. |
| MSU Integration Story (handout) | The MSU Integration Initiative was the first initiative managed by the PMO and was the platform through which the PMO structure was researched, developed and tested. The initiative has highly successful in its accomplishments. This handout summarizes the MSU Integration Story. |
| Project Intake Process Overview | Simple, high-level version of the project intake process flowchart, with explanations. |
Templates
| Name | Description |
| Project Charter | A foundational document essential to every project. The charter captures basic project information such as executive sponsor, purpose and scope, team members, funding source, authorization to begin, and initial high-level plans. Initial plans are often expanded into standalone documents for larger-scale projects. |
| Communication Plan (not yet available) |
A foundational document essential to every project. The communication plan identifies stakeholders and audiences, defines messaging, and outlines communication techniques, tools, platforms, and events to fit the communication and information needs of the audiences. |
| Closure Report (not yet available) |
A foundational document essential to every project. Every project should conclude with a debrief to capture successes to replicate and lessons learned for future projects. Many projects end by transitioning activity into ongoing operations, which should also be documented in the closure report. |
| Business Case Concept Template | The business case concept template is the first step in initiating a project request into the queue. Requestors who prefer to do so may use this template to collect their project thoughts before contacting the PMO. |
| Meeting Notes | Capturing meeting attendance, discussions, and action items in a consistent format helps to manage project activity and document progress efficiently for team members. Concise meeting notes easily readable and accessible to everyone prevent misunderstandings and miscommunications. |
| RACI Chart | A RACI chart identifies roles on a large project and the degree of involvement for each: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed. It informs communication planning and provides a visual map to ensure essential tasks have an accountable individual. |
| Stakeholder Register | Large projects often have myriad stakeholders—anyone with an interest, positive or negative, in the outcome of a project. Compiling a list of stakeholders, their contact information, degree of involvement, and nature of their interest prevents overlooking key individuals, facilitates and informs communication planning. |