MY ROLE: Project & Program Manager

Team size: Approx 150
Expenditures: Over  $3 million

STRATEGIC INTENT

Western Michigan University will implement a new connected campus experience, powered by SalesForce, to provide a single digital source of internal information, technology access, knowledge base, service, academic support, and engagement. This project will replace the GoWMU portal and seek to focus students, faculty, and staff toward an experience that is personalized, efficient, smart, and predicts their needs.   

OUTCOMES

1. An experience that knows who each user is, what they need, and guides them through their university journey. 

2. Tools enabling students to design and customize their academic experience based on their learning styles and preferences, resulting in higher levels of success and retention. 

3. A single location in which to deliver and consume essential university communications, internal information and provide streamlined academic and administrative support services including chatbots and intelligent case management. 

4. Tools to engage individuals to engage with and recognize each other’s accomplishments. 

5. Predictive analytics empowers students, staff, and administrators with deep insights to ensure their success and the success of those they support. 

6. An expansive technology platform to power future growth 

MY ROLE: Project & Program Manager

Team size: Approx 150
Expenditures: Over  $3 million

STRATEGIC INTENT

The Connected Campus Project, Phase 2 will develop a system that will enable students to engage their dream team which consist of academic advising, student success, career and peer-to-peer mentors, access support resources, and academic data within the new goWMU to increase their success. The dream team will be provided tools and resources to interact with students and help them succeed in their academic and extracurricular pursuits. Additional tools, such as chat, chatbot, and marketing automation will streamline and supplement student, faculty, and staff support and success efforts.  

OUTCOMES

1. Students can schedule and manage appointments with their Dream Team, using the goWMU portal, in the meeting format that suits their needs (i.e. face-to-face, virtual, phone, etc) 

2. Students are assigned a Success Plan based on their academic program, academic performance, supplemental instruction, engagement, extracurricular activities, event attendance, and a variety of indicators. 

3. Students will receive automated notifications and alerts, via email and other channels (text, mobile notification, etc), based on their academic program and other interests.  

4. Students, faculty, and staff can express their interest in receiving different types of communication from the University, college, department, interest groups, and other units and manage their profile and subscriptions. (Marketing Cloud subscriptions) 

5. Students, faculty, and staff will be able to interact with support teams using a chatbot to quickly resolve questions, find information from knowledge articles, submit cases, and be directed to a live agent as needed. 

6. Advisors can view critical student academic, behavior, and other support from Banner, DegreeWorks, Elearning, and other systems required for relevant support within SalesForce 

7. Dream Team members can work with students in need of support based on a request from students, and faculty as well as from proactive automated alerts. 

8. Advisors can manage their calendars daily and plan their day based on requests and schedules  

9. Dream Team members can capture the outcome from a meeting with a student and proactively record the next- steps, providing direction for future interactions and the student in their goWMU profile. 

10. Dream Team members can create or view Cases to track open support needs, requests, and issues for students they are engaged with.  

MY ROLE: Program Manager

Team size: Approx 20

STRATEGIC INTENT

Provide a unified and centralized communications platform, integrated with the University CRM, that will enrich personalized student engagement.   

OBJECTIVES

1. Coordinate work efforts with parallel Salesforce CRM projects  

2. Implement Marketing Cloud for Merze Tate College and Student Success Hub 

3. Transition Auxiliary Enterprises and the Office of Marketing and Strategic Communications from their current Marketing Cloud instance 

4. Establish the baseline and licensing structure for future business units that may use the Enterprise Marketing Cloud. 

5. Develop an architecture and business processes to enable strategically effective use of both transactional and commercial email and SMS/text messaging campaigns that are compliant with university policies and procedures. 

6. Implement processes, procedures and access controls for centralized and unified branding, data management and reporting to be governed by the Office of Marketing and Strategic Communications.    

OUTCOMES

1. Merze Tate College and Student Success Hub programs will use Marketing Cloud to engage with students regarding their academic programming and student success services. 

2. All users of the existing Auxiliary Enterprises/Marcom Marketing Cloud instance and license will be transitioned their use to the new Enterprise Marketing Cloud with equal and enhanced capabilities. 

3. The Enterprise Marketing Cloud architecture will be scalable and functionally sufficient platform to reduce the use of redundant transactional and commercial email and text communications systems. 

MY ROLE: Project Director

Team size: 20+

STRATEGIC INTENT

Lead by my office, the project team comprised of faculty and staff from several colleges developed a proof of concept and requested annual recurring funding for the purchase of a site license for the AppsAnywhere software product to provide a higher degree of flexibility and equitable access to students, faculty, and staff to university software, supporting teaching, learning research and remote work.

AppsAnywhere provides an App store-style experience that provides students, faculty, and staff access to University licensed software that is normally available only in physical campus computer labs, from any device, including their personal Mac, Windows, and Chromebook devices. The apps are streamed to the user’s computer on-demand and perform as if they were fully installed. AppsAnywhere also allows IT staff to deliver any app to any lab across campus eliminating the need for students to go to specific, specialized labs where some software is exclusively installed.  AppsAnywhere supports interdisciplinarity and strategic cross-unit collaboration to change the paradigm of student computing programming on campus.

KEY OUTCOMES

• Single App Store interface to access all available software for students/faculty/staff regardless of device

• Streamline the lab imaging and application delivery process to reduce redundant workload across various colleges as well as reduce the image size, allowing units to become more agile when deploying new software on a tight timeline

• Increase the availability of “specialty” software to reduce the strain on high-traffic computer labs on campus (ex. Students may no longer have to wait in the hallways outside of computer labs in Floyd hall for an engineering-specific computer (CEAS))

• Application version control. Allow users to run multiple versions of the same software if needed, and ensures all users are using the same product

• Run Windows applications from Mac, iOS, Android, and Chrome Book devices using Parallels-RAS of which we are initially requesting 30 concurrent licenses

• Use of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) to extend the capabilities and access of various software that is currently restricted to campus-owned machines.

MY ROLE: IT Project Manager

I lead the development of central IT infrastructure requirements and their implementation to support the WMU University Library's implementation of the ExLibris Alma library services platform, coordinating efforts between the vendor, libraries IT, and central IT teams.

MY ROLE: Project Director

GoReact is a cloud-based remote observations and skills development tool that provides students the ability to record or provide live demonstrations of their skills to instructors.  My team facilitated the technology compliance review and implementation of a university-wide master service agreement (MSA), combining the contracts of several existing college contracts and providing a support and procurement mechanism for future use by additional colleges.

MY ROLE: Project Manager

I lead the implementation of a two-room Camera and Microphone control system and AV feed integrated into the existing CHHS AV Control Room to provide simulation recording capabilities for the Bronson School of Nursing. Nursing students utilize these spaces to record patient simulations to demonstrate real-world, practical applications of their skills. Nursing students will record sessions with theater students, acting out symptoms of real patients, or with simulation robots.

MY ROLE: Project Director

This was the first major project for a new project manager on my team. This was a training experience for this individual and I utilized this project to coach the individual and ensure that they were not only successful in managing the project but learning the critical knowledge, skills, and abilities required to manage the next project.

Team size: Approx 70
Expenditures: $46,000 one time, impacting an annual cost of $33,000

STRATEGIC INTENT

The Office of Information Technology will decommission the Select Survey application, as it reaches its end of life, in October 2019 and replace it, and the multitude of disparate Qualtrics survey software instances, with a single standardized and secure Qualtrics instance for all WMU students, faculty and staff.

OBJECTIVES

1. Consolidate the current Qualtrics Research Core licenses on campus held by the College of Arts & Science, College of Education & Human Development, Evaluation Center, Extended University Programs, Haworth College of Business, Office of the Vice President for Research and University Libraries to a single license managed by OIT with funding managed by the Office of the Provost.

2. Migrate data from individual Qualtrics Research Core instances to a central instance licensed for all of WMU.

3. Current Qualtrics Brand Administrators should maintain Brand Administrator access.

4. Provide a process to export and archive Secure Survey data. Investigate the possibility of importing Secure Survey data into Qualtrics.

5. Enable single sign-on to allow users to authenticate with their Bronco NetID and password, directly through the application and through the GoWMU portal.

6. Update or replace WMU Secure Survey Rules and Guidelines to reflect the fact that Qualtrics licensing enables access to all WMU users and the desire to open access to everyone. (https://wmich.edu/it/policies/securesurvey)

7. Enable access to the survey application for all faculty, staff, and students without the need to request access from OIT.

8. Decommission the Secure Survey service and all related technical infrastructure.

MY ROLE: Project Manager, design lead

Initiated project design, identified expectations and constraints, and recommended vendor for four Bernhard Center (student and event center) ballroom AV implementations, and consulted with center Director on vendor proposals.

MY ROLE: Project Lead, non-classroom AV contracts

Completed the implementation of College of Arts and Sciences classroom technology, conference rooms, digital signage, and other special-purpose AV environments. Coordinated work of BlueWater Systems (Design Contractor) & TelSystems (Integration Sub-Contractor) along with OIT staff to complete unfinished work. Provided sign-off at end of the project.

Provide consultation for design and facilitated vendor proposal phases of a classroom technology system for department-operated classrooms. Provided project kick-off and hand-off to implementation manager as I transitioned to the College of Health and Human Services

MY ROLE: Project Manager, implementation

Implemented and integrated two staff workstations with touch panels, wall-mounted classroom status monitors, Crestron RoomView Server, and Crestron E-Control products to create the Classroom Technology Help Desk. This Resulted in remote-control and monitoring capabilities to offer remote classroom technology support for faculty including voice-over-IP intercom, telephone-based support, and remote control to increase help response times.

About Classroom Technology at WMU

MY ROLE: Project Manager

CRITICAL/IMMEDIATE Project. Implemented a new classroom technology system based on administration and faculty needs. Coordinated work of AVI Systems, WMU Facilities Management, Registrar's Office, and OIT Staff to complete the project within one week.

MY ROLE: Project Manager

60-classroom hardware and software retrofit to comply with new standards and integration requirements of the Classroom  Technology Help Desk system. New Projectors, Document Cameras, AV switchers, touch panels, and other gear were installed. Coordinated with the Registrar's Office, AVI Systems, and Classroom Technology Support staff to complete the project.

MY ROLE: Project Manager, Engineer

Identified and upgraded classrooms with updated code to improve microphone feed to control room, integrated RoomView updates to comply with audit requirement to track source usage. Identified bugs in control code from initial implementation of systems and wrote new, corrected code. Re-designed touch panel interfaces to include WMU colors and DVD video preview on-screen.

MY ROLE: Project Manager

Managed the implementation of Barix VOIP intercom support hardware and programming for an additional 24 new classrooms throughout WMU, adding them to the support of the Classroom Technology Help Desk. Coordinated with AVI Systems on established standard design through T&M and Master Services Agreement

MY ROLE: Project Manager, Engineer

Developed projector replacement plan, prioritizing high-use projectors. Presented plan to administration and procured replacements for two consecutive years. Modified Crestron classroom control code and installed new projectors.

MY ROLE: Project Manager

Initiated, designed, and acquired the vendor proposal for digital signage expansion for the Center for Disability Services to enhance the support of scheduling and programming for the center's patients. Coordinated purchase and implementation work with the vendor to complete the project based on deadlines and constraints. I Verified that the product met the college dean and administration's expectations.

MY ROLE: Project Manager

I lead the implementation of a two-room Camera and Microphone control system and AV feed integrated into the existing CHHS AV Control Room to provide simulation recording capabilities for the Bronson School of Nursing. Nursing students utilize these spaces to record patient simulations to demonstrate real-world, practical applications of their skills. Nursing students will record sessions with theater students, acting out symptoms of real patients, or with simulation robots.

MY ROLE: Project Manager

Team size: 5
Expenditures: $11,000

STRATEGIC INTENT

The Office of Information Technology will implement a Mission Wall as a first visual point of contact to reflect OIT's identity, mission, and vision. It will be a visually appealing point of pride for OIT staff accomplishments, projects, and services that will be visually appealing. It will contain WMU news and internal current events information and be engaging and interactive with the audience. 

SCOPE

The Office of Information Technology will implement an interactive multimedia mission wall on the 3rd Floor Lobby of the University Computing Center located to the right of the front desk by February 2016. Implementation will include digital signage, physical signage, a display case, and wall decoration/painting to communicate OIT' Mission and Vision, Strategic Goals, and Accomplishments. Facilities Management will install and remodel the space and OIT will implement the Digital Signage software and general design. 

MY ROLE: Project Director

Team size: 30+

STRATEGIC INTENT AND END STATE

Implement AppsAnywhere as a university-wide software delivery service to provide students, faculty and staff with on-demand access to virtually stream or install the software they need on their work, computer lab, or personal devices. In parallel with new university computer deployment and software management strategies, the availability of software will be streamlined, reducing time-to-access for all users whether the software is already installed by the University, or launched through AppsAnywhere.

MY ROLE: Project Manager, service manager for ongoing marketing and communications

I engaged with the Western Student Association (WSA) and Graduate Student Association (GSA) to identify the requirements of their resolution and co-author a project charter that included a strategic intent and objectives that were agreeable by all stakeholders, including the distributed IT personnel who manage computer labs funded by the student technology fee.

Team size: 30+
Expenditures: $0

STRATEGIC INTENT AND END STATE

The default search engine of browsers within student-funded computer labs will be changed to Ecosia within the Spring 2020 semester, in response to the WSA resolution #5156, in order to continue to provide a learning environment for students that is environmentally conscious and globally engaged.

OBJECTIVES

1. All student-funded computer lab workstation browsers use Ecosia as the default search engine 

2. 2. A marketing campaign to advertise the impact that the project is making. Reach out and partner with wsa-publicrelatoins@wmich.edu

3. Provide online resources for students, faculty, and staff, encouraging them to switch to Ecosia for their default search engine.

4. Track, measure, and communicate the utilization of Ecosia and the number of trees planted by WMU

See WMU's Ecosia use statistics

MY ROLE: Project Manager

Team size: 20+
Expenditures: $21,000

STRATEGIC INTENT

A directive from WMU Provost Timothy Greene and Chief Technology Officer Thomas Wolf Jr. was given to the Office of Information Technology (OIT) Customer Service unit to produce statistics for all student-accessible computer labs. This charter outlines the project within the scope of DCP funded labs and an addendum to this charter will be written to outline the scope of any additional labs as determined by the Provost and after an additional inventory of potential labs is completed. The addendum will include the remaining high-level costs associated with the expanded scope. The entire project will consist of three phases; 1) OIT lab implementation, 2) Remaining DCP lab implementation, 3) Additional non-DCP funded labs. 

Example requirements of the directive included the ability to log and document the amount of time each computer lab machine is used and how frequently specially-licensed software is being used. To produce statistics with the required level of detail a new computer lab monitoring system would need to be implemented. After researching various systems used by other similar universities the LabStats system from Computer Lab Solutions was determined to suit the statistics and reporting requirements and be compatible with the various computer lab environments on campus. 

MY ROLE: Project Manager, Engineer

Implemented the College of Health and Human Service's first Mac computer lab environment, including 40 iMACs and MAC OSX Server running DeploySudio Server. iMACs ran both Windows and MAC OS to support co-curricular software requirements. 

MY ROLE: Project adviser

PaperCut Mobility Print introduced functionality enabling students to print to any student lab printer from their personal laptop, desktop, or mobile device from anywhere, and release the print job from any number of print release stations.

Learn more about wireless printing at WMU

MY ROLE: Project Manager

Team size: 20+
Expenditures: $30,000

STRATEGIC INTENT

The implementation of PaperCut in University computer labs is intended to satisfy three critical needs in order to maintain a high level of service and satisfaction for students who utilize computer labs and printing services on campus. 

The first is to provide a greater level of billing management and reporting over the current system, which may result in cost savings due to more efficient utilization of resources including paper, toner/ink, and printer hardware. The second need is to provide administrative access to a wider range of IT support personnel on campus who directly support student computer labs in the various colleges and other units to increase student support and satisfaction. This will improve issue resolution time in regards to misprints and associated billing refunds for students. 

The current system allows for support staff within the Office of Information Technology to resolve such issues. The third need is to deliver wireless and remote printing capabilities to students so that they may print from their personal laptops or mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. 

MY ROLE: Project Director

Team size: Approx 20
Expenditures: $0. Utilized beta release features from a vendor included in the current contract.

STRATEGIC INTENT AND END STATE

An emergency project, as a response to the University's transition to distance education resulting from COVID-19, this effort expanded on the existing LabStats service to provide remote desktop access for all WMU students to select campus computer labs.

MY ROLE: Project Manager

Implement a single, university wide standard endpoint management, deployment processes, and technology toolset for university-owned Windows and macOS devices, operating systems, and software to increase consistency of user experience, computer configurations, and security controls, and reduce duplicative, redundant, and inefficient use of technical, financial and human resources.

Outcomes

1. All Windows and macOS-based computers will be managed through the standardized process and toolset for each type

2. End-users will have a consistent software delivery experience.

3. WMU information security standards will be implemented to satisfy industry compliance requirements for tracking the configuration of university-owned Windows and macOS devices.

4. IT staff will have the knowledge and expertise to support other unit’s computer configurations and users.

Deliverables

1. A Standard OS and device deployment and end-point management process, methodology and toolset

2. Standard base computer images and OS image management process

3. Standard common shared installers for university wide software. 

4. A centralized, and automated security patching, updating, anti-malware, and remediation process and toolset

5. Centralized security policy deployment

6. Unified software deployment testing process 

7. Central documentation store with best practices for IT team using shared processes and toolset

MY ROLE: Project Manager, Engineer

Implemented over 100 Windows-based computers across 6 lab environments, including mobile labs. Implemented CompuGuard Control Server and client software to lock computers and prevent undesired system changes and identified system requirements for LDAP authentication and default user profile management. 

MY ROLE: Assistant Project Manager and Functional Team Lead

I specifically led the functional team, comprised of approx 60 members of the faculty, staff, and student community. This group identified the prioritized requirements of an email and collaboration system. This effort required a high degree of group dialogue and facilitation skill to balance opinions and objective feedback to the process.

STRATEGIC INTENT

Western Michigan University is looking to evaluate three collaboration systems in order to determine if we should remain with our current collaboration system provider enter into a new partnership to host WMU’s collaboration system (email, calendar, scheduling, etc.). This is due, in part, to certain stability issues with the current collaboration system provider. This project has been designed to streamline the exploratory process in order to make an educated decision on whether to migrate to another collaborative system or stay with the current collaboration provider.

This project has two tracks. The first track is to design a streamlined process in order to make recommendations to the stakeholders by the middle of April. The second track is to develop two contingency plans (this will be in a separate document) that, if necessary, will allow WMU to sever its collaboration partnership with their current provider as quickly as possible

MY ROLE: Project Manager

STRATEGIC INTENT

Reduce the usage of WMU’s on-premises outgoing email server (smtp.wmich.edu) and transition end-user email software and University servers to Microsoft’ cloud-based outbound server to improve quality of service and reduce dependency on University systems

OBJECTIVES

• Transition all email software client usage of smtp.wmich.edu to SMTP outtlook.office365.com (i.e. Thunderbird

• Reduce the usage of smtp.wmich.edu by servers, devices, and other applications to those that are incompatible with Microsoft's smtp server

• Implement a whitelisting system to control access to those incompatible servers, devices, and applications and provide a means via ITDirect to request access

• Daily report of smtp.wmich.edu usage to the PMO

• Bi-weekly communication to 1.) those using personal accounts and 2.)  those using departmental accounts with transition and support information

• Track all transition issues and whitelisting needs as work orders in ITDirect, associated with the project in ITDirect.

MY ROLE: Project Manager

This project marked the very first implementation of enterprise-wide cloud service at Western Michigan University. My role as project manager was to facilitate a dialogue between faculty and student stakeholders who wanted the University to provide modern collaboration tools with Google Apps, and the technical, security, and administrative personnel who were concerned about the risks of utilizing cloud storage that may reside anywhere on the globe and be out of the university's control. Through careful political navigation, facilitated dialogue, requirements gathering, legal council, and investigation into other university implementations I successfully entered into a pilot program with faculty which led to the full implementation of Google Apps for Education (minus Gmail) for WMU.

STRATEGIC INTENT

The intent of this project is for the Office of Information Technology (OIT) to implement a GAE instance at Western Michigan University (WMU), in order to ensure WMU’s academic community is up to date with the same enhanced electronic collaboration tools. This will enable students and faculty tremendous enhancements for their teaching and learning experience. 

MY ROLE: Assistant project manager, project manager (second half)

Throughout the first half of the project, I served as the assistant project manager to the Director of the Project Management Office. In that role, I managed user data migration scheduling, communication, marketing, and support planning functions of the project. During the second half of the project, I managed the relationship with the contracted vendor directly to oversee daily migration operations and the resolution of a major migration issue that nearly caused the project to fail. Upon resolution of the issue, I assisted the vendor in implementing post-migration quality control measures that ensured zero data loss and enabled the project to finish before the existing email system contract expired, satisfying university leadership and ending prior to students leaving for break.

Team size: 100+
Expenditures: $284,000 vendor contract plus marketing and communication costs.

STRATEGIC INTENT

The Office of Information Technology will replace the existing email system at WMU by June 1, 2016 (Merit Mail contract expiration date) due to the discontinuation of the Merit/Zimbra service in 2017.  Priority is given to Google’s email (aka Gmail) and Microsoft's Office 365's email  (aka Microsoft Exchange) as potential replacements when taking into consideration its cost and support organization.  Off-site hosting is part of the screening criteria.

BUSINESS OBJECTIVES:

WMU email users and their data will be migrated from the Merit/Zimbra Email, calendars, address books, and briefcases with equal or greater functionality.  

MY ROLE: Project Manager

Immediately upon ending the Email migration project I initiated the governance and oversight team and began a program road map of projects which began with the implementation of Microsoft Teams, Groups, and Site (SharePoint in the cloud) including migration of SharePoint on-premises to the cloud. This oversight team and the project evolved into what is today called the Microsoft Architecture Program (MAP), which oversaw many additional projects on the road map including the transition of Office 365 from ADFS to CAS/Shibboleth for authentication, Office 365 A5+Security, the new Microsoft Site license transition, and many others.

STRATEGIC INTENT

The NextGen Program Management Team will develop courses of action and projects to manage the transition of remaining on-premises Email and Microsoft collaboration technologies to the cloud, the enhancement of existing Office 365 services, the implementation of new Office 365 services and the implementation of any Office 365 and IDM technologies required to support the WMU Unified Communication Strategy. 

The NextGen Program Management Team will act as the interim governance and change control board for all Office 365 services, working in conjunction with the Technology Advisory Governance Group (TAGG). All projects discovered to be within the intent of the program will be managed by the oversight team until such time that remaining Office 365 related work is maintenance. At that time a long-term W-Exchange governance team will be formed and all future work will be prioritized and requested to OIT by that group. 

MY ROLE: Project Director

Implement a university-wide Adobe Sign e-signature service to provide a single, centralized tool and migrate all existing e-signature contracts and business processes from other systems to Adobe Sign.

MY ROLE: Assistant Project Manager

Coordinated with stakeholders and contracted temporary staff (SharePoint Engineer) to design and implement a document workflow system within an extremely short time period to facilitate academic program reviews for the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.

MY ROLE: Project Director

BACKGROUND 

Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, many units on campus have been searching for ways to provide faculty, staff, and students a way to safely and effectively sign documents electronically to respond to distance education and remote work requirements.  As a result, units are using various products and processes to meet their needs such as Adobe Reader and other limited-feature solutions. Unfortunately, there is no centrally supported university solution available that provides the full features of a robust product that is designed for business processes and protects the University, its affiliates and data from issues related to policy and compliance. 

STRATEGIC INTENT AND END STATE 

The Office of Information Technology, Student Affairs, University Advancement, WMUx, and several other units are reviewing the DocuSign eSignature platform. These units are negotiating costs with the vendor to deploy the solution as a single university platform that will facilitate both internal and external eSignature and business workflows. This will be a single, central solution, that any university unit may invest in, which will save money, time, resources, increase accuracy and flexibility, and improve service to students. Not only will this decrease administrative overhead, but it will also standardize signature procedures across Western Michigan University. 

OBJECTIVES 

• Standardize eSignature procedures across Western Michigan University 

• Provide a single, centrally managed eSignature solution for the university  

• The eSignature solution provides legally binding signatures for both internal and external parties as well as helping to ensure compliance with university policies and other regulations. 

• The eSignature solution provides workflows capabilities that meet the needs and complex conditions of the academic and business processes of university units. 

• Any university unit may electively invest in DocuSign user licenses according to their needs  

MY ROLE: Project Director

Team size: Approx 20+
Expenditures: $37,000, impacting annual cost of $7,000

STRATEGIC INTENT

Expand the reach of the current emergency notification system to ensure the campus community is saturated with notifications each time a WMU Alert is sent through additional technologies including computer desktop notifications (office, personal, and computer labs), office phone alerts, campus digital signage alerts and campus building PA. This would increase the number of notification methods to saturate nearly 100% of the university community, allowing individuals on-campus to have the opportunity to make the best decisions they see fit to ensure their safety and well-being.

OBJECTIVES

1. Desktop notification software installed on a majority of university-owned computers including but not limited to

2. Faculty, staff, and other university employee computers

3. Student computer lab workstations funded by the student technology fee (includes Office of Information Technology and the majority of college computer labs)

4. Shared and public-use workstations and kiosks

5. Desktop notification software is provided for personal computer installation with appropriate self-help documentation and support

6. Alert system input accepted on most digital signage on campus (via one common method)

7. University digital telephone system (VOIP) configured to display emergency alerts on all compatible phone screens. Note: Not all university buildings have been upgraded to CISCO VOIP digital telephone systems and some regional centers may not have the capability to display alerts on their screens.

8. Integration with Simplex fire alarm system and external speakers (Pre-defined Messages)

MY ROLE: Provided project management advice to the project manager and provided project management of OIT's scope of work

I provided consultation and guidance to the key stakeholder and product selection committee on the identification of prioritized project and product requirements, which resulted in the development of an RFP and vendor selection process. Upon selection of the product that satisfied identified needs, I provided oversight and management of IT's scope of work and continual guidance to the project oversight team.

STRATEGIC INTENT

Since October of 2016, a committee formed by the Provost's Office has been working diligently on identifying a centralized data collection, management, and reporting system to streamline the personnel review process commonly known as the faculty Professional Activity Report (PAR). Currently, the information is collected mainly through a Microsoft WORD template, which makes it very hard to summarize at the department, college, or university level for purposes such as accreditation and program reviews. Through a centralized digital PAR system, we hope to effectively capture faculty activities that are complex and diverse in nature, showcase faculty accomplishments, and reduce the time faculty and administrators spent on accreditation at various levels. 

MY ROLE: Project Director

MY IMPACT: Provided oversight and guidance to two project managers, one who oversaw the initiation stage and one who managed the implementation of the project. Throughout the project, I provided direction to the project managers to ensure a business analysis approach was taken to gather requirements, document current business processes and that the project manager's role was that of a collaborative leader. The project completed successfully, on time, and within budget.

Team size: 50+
Expenditures: $67,000 impacting an annual cost of $117,000

STRATEGIC INTENT

The objective of this project is to procure, implement and operate on an ongoing basis, a Contract Review/Management System to improve and streamline the processes by which the University currently reviews, approves, manages, and catalogs contracts; thereby increasing efficiency, accuracy, tracking, and visibility.

The Contract Review/Management System will streamline the current contract review process, thereby increasing efficiency and accuracy. Users will be able to create contracts that can use common templates and wording to help with the standardization of contracts. Users will also be able to upload third-party contracts. Both types of contracts can be electronically routed for appropriate review and approval. Workflows will be established to expedite and automate the approval processes. Signed contracts will be stored in a central location to allow for easy retrieval and reference.

OBJECTIVES & SUCCESS CRITERIA

1. Use new software and tools to replace current processes with ones that improve transparency, efficiency, and accuracy. This may be measured by reducing the time it takes to process a contract, the amount of printed material produced, and a reduction in manual efforts needed to complete the process. Efficiencies will also be gained by identifying multiple contracts the University may have with the same vendor; once identified, the University may be able to use its combined market power to negotiate better contract terms.

2. Develop and create a common storage location within the system to house signed contracts and contract templates for easy retrieval.

3. Initial training will be provided by the vendor to the primary system users to allow them to use and be proficient with the system. Training materials developed to be used in continuous training of campus users

4. Any integration with current WMU systems is coordinated with the vendor and verified by the appropriate WMU units.

MY ROLE: Provided program management advice to the Program Manager and provided project management of OIT's scope of work

PROJECT INTENT

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) will identify integration points between the Development and Alumni Relations Constituent Relationship Management System (CRM) and OIT-supported systems and work with the project manager from that unit to plan, schedule, and implement deliverables to support the project’s requirements and strategic goals.

MY ROLE: Project Manager

Team size: approx 15
Expenditures: $1,000 (primarily marketing/communication)

STRATEGIC INTENT

Re-engineer the business process for communicating, receiving, and remediating abusive activities, identifiable by technology use, including email phishing, email spam, network abuse, and harassment/misconduct directed to and/or by University affiliates. Develop a communication and marketing campaign to inform and educate University affiliates on the handling of abusive technology activities, with particular attention to phishing. 

The result of this project will be greater workflow efficiency, customer service and communications, and education of University affiliates with the goal of reducing compromised personal information.

MY ROLE: Project Manager

I entered this project at a point in time when the two-factor authentication implementation at WMU did not have a solid strategic plan and students were becoming a high priority due to email-based scams, phishing, and compromised accounts. I developed a clear strategic intent, objectives, project scope, and complete plan resulting in the implementation of required two-factor authentication for students within 6 months.

Team size: 16
Expenditures: Increase to annual vendor contract of $75,000. Project costs of approx $4,000

STRATEGIC INTENT AND END STATE

Implement two-factor authentication for all student authenticated services to protect students and their personal information against unauthorized access and use.

OBJECTIVES

1. Enable two-factor authentication for GoWMU, CAS-enabled services, and Email (W-Exchange) for all students to ensure the security of critical student information.

2. Consolidate Microsoft ADFS authentication to Shibboleth/Central Authentication Services (CAS) authentication to provide DUO two-factor authentication for W-Exchange (Email) and other Microsoft services.

3. Provide clear, consistent, and easily understood communications, training, and support for two-factor authentication and related services.

4. Ensure barrier-free access to authenticated services for users with disabilities by offering alternative two-factor options.

MY ROLE: Project Manager

STRATEGIC INTENT

Per the recommendation of the Campus Information Security Committee, require the use of DUO two-factor authentication (2FA) for all university employees and affiliates to increase security and prevent unauthorized access to, sensitive university data. This will protect financial information, student and employee records, and other data stored on enterprise systems such as Banner and PeopleSoft due to employees falling victim to phishing and scams. Furthermore, require the use of a virtual private network (VPN) for enterprise data systems, such as PeopleSoft Self-Service that do not currently require it, based on industry standards and recommendations from the Campus Security Committee, to protect from hacking and egregious cyber activity.  

Team Size: 10

 OBJECTIVES 

1. Require mandatory use of DUO 2FA for all university employees and affiliates when logging in to WMU online services. 

   1. Contingent upon dialogue with leadership concerning approaches to union groups and retirees.  

2. Require the use of a VPN (Pulse Secure or GoVPN) to connect to PeopleSoft Self-Service from an off-campus network. 

3. Implement a FOB distribution plan for employees who do not have access to a cell phone. NOTE: FOBs are a small piece of hardware, like a keychain, that generates a one-time code for logging in to DUO each time as an alternative to using the DUO smartphone app or text messaging. 

4. Enhance the support of university data and information security policies including FERPA, HIPAA, PCI, GLBA, etc. 

5. Develop an extensive communication and support campaign leading up to the mandatory go-live date(s) depending on the final schedule/phases.  

6. Emphasize the extension of password reset requirements from 6 months to one year for employees upon activating 2FA. 

MY ROLE: Project Director

The GoVPN service was implemented as a fast-track project to respond to the need to provide greater capacity for students, faculty and staff to connect to internal network resources during the COVID-19 online learning and remote work period. The transition of the service from LDAP to CA/SAML authentication, which enabled two-factor authentication, was critical to ensure the protection of user data. I helped ensure that resources were made available to the project manager and coordinated marketing and communications efforts with our marketing team and IT Community.

Team size: 12
Expenditures: $0

STRATEGIC INTENT AND END STATE

Transition the Juniper Pulse (GoVPN) system from LDAP basic authentication to CAS/SAML to provide enhanced two-factor authentication.

MY ROLE: Project Manager

Team size: 5
Expenditures: $0

STRATEGIC INTENT AND END STATE

Evaluate current processes and develop new technology product and service evaluation tools, documentation and processes to focus the collection of information and data on critical needs, reducing complexity and time to completion for IT Planning & Compliance Reviews

MY ROLE: Project Director

Team size: 3
Expenditures: $0

STRATEGIC INTENT AND END STATE

Transition the IT Service Management System, ITDirect, from LDAP basic authentication to CAS/SAML to provide enhanced two-factor authentication.

MY ROLE: Project Director

STRATEGIC INTENT

While the W-Exchange (Office 365) web-based login will be protected with two-factor authentication there are many protocols and applications that connect to W-Exchange use basic authentication that will not be protected by 2FA. In order to prevent unauthorized access to W-Exchange accounts via basic authentication, the Office of Information Technology will implement access control on the protocols that use basic authentication with the option for students, faculty, and staff to request access if their applications or workflows require them to use basic authentication.  

Team Size: 5

 OBJECTIVES 

1. Disable basic authentication by default for all Office365 accounts. 

2. Provide a method to request that basic authentication be enabled for individual accounts 

3. Identity and create initial exceptions for accounts that are legitimately using IMAP and SMTP. 

MY ROLE: Project Director

I helped ensure that the project manager was provided the human resources required, from other director and VP units, to ensure that the project was completed on time and all quality control measures and testing were performed to ensure no technical issues were experienced by end-users upon transition to the new login experience.

Team size: 10
Expenditures: $0

STRATEGIC INTENT

Integrate the University's single-sign-on technology for W-Exchange/Office 365 enabling users to log in to the GoWMU portal through the WMU Login service (CAS) and utilize two-factor authentication (2FA) for all Microsoft services including email.

MY ROLE: Project Director

I provided financial and contractual oversight as well as thestrategic direction of the transition to Microsoft's new licensing model. The project saved the University a substantial amount of money through strategic analysis of university personnel records and software needs analysis to reduce the number of higher-level software licenses required for the upcoming fiscal year. The project was under a tight deadline imposed by Microsoft to transition to the new license model by July 1 2020 and the facilitation and management of this project by the PMO helped meet this deadline.

Team size: approx. 10 plus additional coordination with 150+ IT support personnel and other stakeholders.
Expenditures: Approx $276,000 one time, impacting the annual contract at a similar cost. 

STRATEGIC INTENT

Evaluate and establish a new Microsoft Campus License reseller with expanded criteria to secure value-added support services, if possible, in addition to license resale to provide OIT access to advanced subject matter experts to guide decision making and provide technical assistance. Through this process evaluate the current Microsoft licensing and support agreement(s) and determine the most appropriate course of action regarding changes to the license model and support provided by Microsoft that will complement and supplement the new license reseller contract 

My role: Facilitator

This is a major revision of the existing IT Acquisitions Policy, providing a new framework governing the compliance of the existing and newly acquired technology assets and resources. 

Purpose of the Policy

University information technology resources enable the university to conduct its critical operations. These resources may also store and transmit confidential, restricted, and other sensitive information and data about the university and its affiliates. If compromised, such data would introduce significant security, privacy, and financial risk. Technology also introduces challenges to cost-effectiveness, efficiency, accessibility, and human resources that should be taken into consideration and planned for through necessary governance and working groups.  

This policy provides a framework to ensure information technology resources that store and/or transmit university data are compliant with university policies, rules, legal obligations, and procedures before acquisition and throughout implementation. This framework aims to maintain data security compliance, reduce technology costs, validate accessibility and ensure proper planning for implementation. 

MY ROLE: Project Manager

Designed and implemented a MediaWiki-based website designed to house IT Self-Help Resources created and maintained by the Help Desk. Implemented Phase 1 which included the creation of the Wiki, corresponding database, design elements, and load of initial self-help resources. Transferred management responsibilities of Phase 2 (Implementation of Departmental Self-help resources) and Phase 3 (Open Technical Knowledge Base) to another Project Lead as I transitioned to a new position at CHHS.

MY ROLE: Project Manager

Customer check-in system utilizing Bronco Cards and LDAP information managed by a web-based interface that provides a digital waitlist on 2 LCD TVs, a check-in station, and a technician web interface.

MY ROLE: Project Manager, Design Lead

Relocated The OIT Help Desk to a larger facility within the University Computing Center. Created a new 6-desk phone staff area, 2 desks for student leads, 6 desks for walk-in support, password changing station, and larger customer waiting area

MY ROLE: Project Manager, Training Lead

E-Learning-based student training system for OIT Help Desk and Mobile Help Desk employees including progress tracking & reporting

MY ROLE: Project Manager

This project was accelerated as a direct response to the increasing need to provide a single source of help information and concierge for university affiliates and the need to provide resources to help users transition to fully online experiences. I lead a cross-functional team of IT support, marketing, instructional design, graphic design, and other individuals from the Office of Information Technology and WMUx, WMU's transformational learning unit, to rapidly identify and implement the Help Hub.

Team Size: 12
Expenditures: $20,300 

STRATEGIC INTENT AND END STATE

The Office of Information Technology and WMUx will develop an online Help Center, providing WMU affiliates a single source of end-user instructional and information technology self-help instructions, documentation, and service offerings. The Help Center will provide automated chat-bot assistance to find help articles, chat-based support with the IT Help Desk and WMUx support personnel, and analytics to enhance the user experience and reduce time-to-completion for issue resolution and service delivery.

OBJECTIVES

1. All instructional and information technology self-help resources and service offerings, managed by OIT and WMU, are published in the Help Center

2. All content, except for highly sensitive content, is publicly available and searchable on the web

3. Users are provided a single-support experience that is WMU unit-agnostic.

Visit Help Hub

MY ROLE: Project Manager

MediaWiki-based product with a database. Password-protected via LDAP authenticated IDs. Technician and Administrator access levels. All previous paper and electronic knowledge materials loaded

MY ROLE: Project Manager

The implementation of change management within the IT service management (ITSM) system enabled IT to provide streamlined tracking and oversight of changes to IT systems and services, resulting in higher-quality communications to both IT and broad university community stakeholder groups, and greater management of constraints, conflicts, and resource management.

STRATEGIC INTENT

One of the objectives of the ITDirect Project Management Integration project's scope is to investigate the change management capabilities of ITDirect with an option to replace OIT's current Footprints change management system and processes. The investigation has lead to the conclusion that OIT should pursue using the ITDirect Change Management module as it's preferred change management system. Change management business processes will be designed and implemented to replicate and replace those in use by Footprint's, and the required ITDirect system configurations, workflows and technical requirements developed to satisfy the required processes. 

MY ROLE: Project Manager

This critical project transformed IT's operations by replacing an archaic, simple trouble ticket system with a robust IT service management (ITSM) system that provided tracking of all operational work including issues, service offerings (with service catalog), operational work, and inquiries. The system introduced improved customer communications, internal workflow capabilities, and business process functions.

STRATEGIC INTENT

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) will implement a new system (ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus) that will track all OIT work efforts related to incidents (trouble tickets), service requests, planned maintenance, and other work to replace the current Help Desk trouble ticket system, to interface with other work tracking systems (e.g. Pinnacle), and provide a service catalog as a single source for end-users with enhancements that will automate and optimize business processes and workflows. 

MY ROLE: Project manager, operational service manager

After successfully demonstrating the value of an enterprise service management system within the Office of Information Technology I successfully migrated ten additional distributed IT teams into ITDirect. Several of these units were previously resistant to joining the centrally-managed system for fear of losing control and losing functionality that they had in their previous systems. Through group dialogue facilitation and requirements gathering techniques I was able to facilitate all stakeholder needs and increase customer service and communications to the entire university community.

Team size: 30+
Expenditures: $0 project costs. The Existing annual cost for vendor licenses is $15,000

STRATEGIC INTENT & END STATE

Integrate unit-level IT support (i.e. LAN Managers) work requests and tracking within the Office of Information Technology's ITDirect service management system to provide a unified system to benefit both end-users and IT support personnel and increase collaboration and efficiencies while reducing the dependency on disparate, unit-supported systems

MY ROLE: Project Manager

MediaWiki-based product with a database. Password-protected via LDAP authenticated IDs including technician and administrator access levels. All previous paper and electronic knowledge materials loaded in this phase

MY ROLE: Project Manager

Web-based troubleshooting matrix and ticket-processing workflow integrated into the existing Wiki. Developed required supplemental documentation and materials and training modules for students via E-Learning

MY ROLE: Project Manager. 3 consecutive years

Webkit CD created for students living in residence halls to validate requirements of Clean Access prior to connecting to ResNet. Included automated Adobe Director Interface, VB.NET programming for OS detection, and scripts for validation of Clean Access requirements. Managed programmer and graphic designer. Worked with disk manufacturer to produce and acquire the finished product. 

MY ROLE: Project Manager

CHARGE 

Provide collaborative oversight and strategic direction for the University’s communications technologies, evaluating requests for enhancements, new implementation projects, and setting priorities for IT. 

OBJECTIVES

1. Establish clear and concise procedures to evaluate, test, and approve new hardware and software for implementation and integration. 

2. Make recommendations and set priorities for implementation and changes to technology within the group’s charge. 

3. Ensure that requests from the university community are expedited and responded to. 

4. Inform the OIT marketing team as to appropriate means to enhance user experience and communicate new and/or enhanced services. 

SCOPE OF TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

• Microsoft Office 365/W-Exchange services (Email, Teams, SharePoint, Office, etc.) 

• University-managed email infrastructure and applications (IMAP, SMTP, MailGW, MailList Manager, etc.) 

• GSuite (Google Apps) 

• Telecommunications (Analog & VOIP phones, Voicemail, Fax/eFax, Jabber) 

• Web Conferencing (Webex and others) 

• Related and interconnected/integrated technologies as needed. 

MY ROLE: Co-Lead

In collaboration with two other colleagues, I lead the development of a new strategic goal for the Office of Information Technology for Culture and Engagement (Goal 6 of 6). The following is the recommendation that we co-authored and was approved by the leadership team.

New Strategic Goal Recommendation:  

The new IT Culture and Engagement Committee has identified an opportunity to address additional University strategic goals and objectives which are not currently being satisfied by current IT strategic goals. These University goals include human resource and social aspects such as branding, engagement, discovery, diversity, health, inclusion, learning, and social sustainability. This committee is recommending two actions: 1. Add a new strategic goal (6) with objectives to the IT strategic plan and 2. Charge the new OIT Culture and Engagement Committee with advising, suggesting, and steering culture and engagement endeavors within OIT.  Please note that it is not our recommendation that the outcomes of the new strategic goal be the sole responsibility of the new committee. Contributions to the goal may come from any source within OIT 

New Culture & Engagement OIT Strategic Goal & Objectives 

6. Encourage and support an organizational climate of inclusion, engagement, and cohesion to cultivate a culture of learning, achievement, collaboration, service, respect, and health. 

6.1 Support staff learning and education – including both individual and broad organizational learning needs. 

6.2 Highlight personal and organizational innovations and achievements 

6.3 Promote OIT staff engagement, organizational awareness, collaboration, and pride 

6.4 Support and promote health and wellness of OIT staff 

6.5 Establish an OIT brand identity and communicate the alignment of staff to OIT Mission, Vision, and Strategic Goals 

MY ROLE: Project Manager

TEAM SIZE: 10

STRATEGIC INTENT AND END STATE

The OIT Employee Engagement Feedback to Action Project will seek to build a collaborative working group, expanded on from the existing Culture and Engagement Committee (CEC), to analyze the University Employee Engagement Survey, the resulting OIT staff feedback and produce a renewed OIT Culture and Engagement Strategic Action Plan that will provide specific, measurable goals and objectives that may begin to take shape immediately through shared, collective participation and executive support.

The work being performed by the project manager is contributing to the completion of his WMU graduate degree in Educational and Global Leadership. The final deliverable for the course is due on 4/19, therefore the final project deliverable has been scheduled to be completed at that time. No personally identifiable information will be collected or shared and the final OIT Culture and Engagement Strategic Action Plan document will be submitted only to the course instructor.

OBJECTIVES

1. Ensure all employees are provided the opportunity to provide input and feedback anonymously

2. Develop the OIT CEC with additional membership, ensuring diverse representation of the OIT population

3. Raw feedback is compiled, deduplicated, summarized, prioritized, and developed into courses of action that may be easily reviewed for selection goals and strategies that are feasible and actionable.

4. Develop a single OIT Culture and Engagement Strategic Action Plan that may be used immediately to address employee feedback and attain goals directly associated with the WMU Employee Engagement Survey

MY ROLE: Project Manager, Director

TEAM SIZE: 20+

STRATEGIC INTENT AND END STATE

OIT STRATEGY STATEMENT 

Manage and implement the projects necessary to transition to Microsoft’s new campus license model and execute a strategy to leverage new services from Microsoft to improve the stability, efficiency, and security of Microsoft technologies at WMU.  

 PROGRAM INTENT 

The Microsoft Architecture Program (MAP) Management Team will develop and manage a roadmap of projects to implement changes to existing technology to prepare for and transition to the new Microsoft license model. This will include changes to identity management, provisioning, licensing models, and processes that must be re-engineered to accommodate and enable the use of new Microsoft services once the license changes. Upon transitioning to the new license model the MAP team will select, manage and oversee the execution of strategic projects to leverage new Microsoft technologies that satisfy the need for enhanced security, efficiencies, and end-user functionalities. 

The MAP Management Team will be working in conjunction with the Technology Advisory Governance Group (TAGG), which is the governance team for Microsoft and Email technologies. All projects discovered to be within the intent of the program will be chartered, planned, and managed by the oversight team until such time that the remaining Microsoft Architecture-related work is maintenance. At that time a long-term Microsoft Architecture governance team will be formed or identified and all future work will be prioritized and requested to OIT by that group. 

PURPOSE & JUSTIFICATION 

Program management with a single oversight team will provide consistent project management processes, streamlined communications, and the ability to more effectively prioritize and balance IT staff efforts for several related, complementary projects. It will ensure that a member of TAGG is included as part of the oversight team and that the necessary OIT leadership has a regular platform in which to synchronize and manage related projects. 

OBJECTIVES & SUCCESS CRITERIA 

• All projects will be chartered and signed off on by the CIO and necessary stakeholder(s) 

• All projects will have complete project charters and management plans and schedules 

• Changes to scope will be reviewed and approved/denied by the oversight team. 

• Priorities, recommendations, and requests from the CIO, stakeholders, and WMU governance/change control groups will be reviewed and responded to by the program oversight team. 

MY ROLE: Portfolio Manager, Facilitator

CHARGE

The Project Management Governance Team (PMGT) will provide strategic and operational oversight of proposed and current projects in the OIT Project Portfolio. The PMGT will prioritize projects, resolve inaccurate project statuses as well as allocate and de-conflict project resources.

OBJECTIVES

1. Collaboration with IT governance and change control teams to incorporate their requests and priorities in the management of OIT projects.

2. Review requests for projects that are submitted to OIT

3. Prioritize all projects in the project portfolio

4. Approve project managers to projects.  

5. Synchronize OIT staff workload and scheduling for projects and resolve conflicts.

6. Make strategic decisions regarding projects as they relate to the IT strategic plan, OIT operations, value propositions and executive stakeholder input.

MY ROLE: Project Manager

Through this project, I successfully implemented a project portfolio management system that enabled IT the tracking and reporting mechanism to provide oversight and governance of strategic key performance indicators and resource management.

STRATEGIC INTENT AND END STATE:

Currently, OIT has a project portfolio tracking system on a SharePoint web site that tracks projects at a rudimentary level and OIT is mid-way through a project to transition all service management processes to ITDirect (ServiceDesk Plus).  The SharePoint project tracking system will be replaced by the add-on Project Module of ITDirect and will be used to manage all OIT projects containing their current status, project manager, dates, tasks, and other critical data needs. The end state will be an ITDirect system that will become the single point of reference for tracking and reporting on all project and service management work that is currently in OIT, that has been completed, that is scheduled, that is waiting to be scheduled, and that is still under analysis (e.g. recurring, upgrades, projects, incidents, deferred, and maintenance). Portfolio management business processes will be designed and implemented including the formation of the OIT Project Management Governance Team (PMGT) and the required ITDirect system configurations, workflows, and technical requirements to satisfy the required processes. All existing and future projects will be tracked and processed through these business processes and ITDirect.  

MY ROLE: Project Manager

Implement standard organizational strategic planning and project management principles, practices, and systems that will enable the traceability and relationship of all projects and strategies, and for the consistent and transparent management of projects and human resources

Outcomes

1. All OIT directors will utilize the same foundational project management principles and practices, defining the initiation, planning, execution, and closing stages.

2. The OIT portfolio of projects and programs will be tracked within the same system of management, at an agreed-upon minimum level of information and data tracking

3. All OIT staff contributions to projects will be tracked as tasks within individual projects

4. The OIT strategic plan, including goals, objectives, and strategies will be tracked within the system of management.

5. OIT projects will be traceable and aligned to OIT strategies.

6. The appropriate reporting, dashboards, and system functionality will be available to provide OIT leadership the means to prioritize projects against each other, develop interdependent project roadmaps, and resolve resource conflicts.

Deliverables

1. A strategic planning system of management within the University CRM with related goals, objectives and strategies

2. A project management system of management within the University CRM with portfolio, program, project and components including phases/milestones, tasks, risks, issues, resources (human) and budgeting.

3. Project management training for OIT directors (at a minimum) to establish shared, foundational project management principles and practices.

4. Contextualized strategic planning and project management planning and training sessions to refine, test and establish final practices, tools, and system functionality.

MY ROLE: Governance Sub-Committee Chair and Project Manager

STRATEGIC INTENT

Through a human-centered, design-thinking approach, analyze the user experience of the GoWMU portal, the university web (CMS), and other service-oriented pathways to define a strategy for a new university portal that provides a one-stop-shop for information, service, and support that results in higher levels of student success and improve the connectivity of faculty and staff. Develop and evaluate courses of action for the new portal and provide a recommendation for implementation to the SalesForce Governance Working Group.  

Team Size: 20+

MY ROLE: Project Manager

This project was accelerated as a direct response to the increasing need to provide a single source of help information and concierge for university affiliates and the need to provide resources to help users transition to fully online experiences. I lead a cross-functional team of IT support, marketing, instructional design, graphic design, and other individuals from the Office of Information Technology and WMUx, WMU's transformational learning unit, to rapidly identify and implement the Help Hub.

Team Size: 12
Expenditures: $20,300 

STRATEGIC INTENT AND END STATE

The Office of Information Technology and WMUx will develop an online Help Center, providing WMU affiliates a single source of end-user instructional and information technology self-help instructions, documentation, and service offerings. The Help Center will provide automated chat-bot assistance to find help articles, chat-based support with IT Help Desk and WMUx support personnel, and analytics to enhance the user experience and reduce time-to-completion for issue resolution and service delivery.

OBJECTIVES

1. All instructional and information technology self-help resources and service offerings, managed by OIT and WMU, are published in the Help Center

2. All content, except for highly sensitive content, is publicly available and searchable on the web

3. Users are provided a single-support experience that is WMU unit-agnostic.

MY ROLE: Project Director

STRATEGIC INTENT

Update the user experience and visual branding of all IT systems and applications for consistency and accessibility per the direction of the Office of Strategic Marketing and Communications.

MY ROLE: Project Manager, operations manager for marketing/communications content management

Team size: 6
Expenditures: $35,000

STRATEGIC INTENT AND END STATE

Enhance existing and install new digital and physical signage inside the University Computing Center (UCC), to provide wayfinding and marketing content to customers, resulting in greater awareness of the valuable services and projects that all occupants of the building provide.

OBJECTIVES

1. Install new digital signage at key customer entry points to the UCC that provides wayfinding and marketing content.

2. Mark major destination points with new signage. (e.g. Help Desk, Faculty Technology Center, etc)

3. Remove signage that is outdated with replaceable signs (e.g. user-printable)

4. Unify all digital signage in the building on a single Mvix Xhibit Content Management System

5. Utilize the UCC as a proof of concept to demonstrate to the University Community how the Xhibix distributed Content Management System may be used by marketing professionals in a distributed, role-based manner.

6. Supplement the digital wayfinding content with new physical signage throughout the UCC building where digital signage is not practical or feasible.

7. Install Crestron scheduling panels outside of conference rooms

MY ROLE: Project Manager, operations manager for web design and UX

This project served to not only simplify the login experience for end-users but establish my team, and my marketing manager in particular, as IT's subject-matter experts for user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design that will impact not only this but future projects and services. This project eased tensions with programmers about the need to give up control of design in order to be able to focus on programming and technical issues related to the systems they maintain.

Team size: 10
Expenditures: $0

STRATEGIC INTENT

Develop a simplistic, brand-centric design for the Central Authenticating System (CAS) (e.g. GoWMU) login pages to create easier access and more clearly communicate important information to campus users.

OBJECTIVES

1. A single login screen containing both the Bronco NetID and password

2. The new design should be brand-centric, simplistic, and attractive, reflecting the feel that a visitor has when they visit any front-facing WMU web page.

3. Reduce the bulk of text on the current login page

4. Re-orient or move help-related content as necessary to a supplemental web page that provides flexibility and value-added benefits to customers.

5. Develop a means to provide outage alerts (current and planned outages) as event-based occurrences rather than a continuously scrolling marquee to reduce fatigue. Guide users to the Help Desk blog for details

6. Launch new login page and supplemental web page by Fall 2019

MY ROLE: Project Lead, College of Health and Human Services

Managed the implementation of the Bradford Network Validation Control system within the College of Health and Human Services building. Multi-phase project beginning with the change-over from dedicated CHHS DHCP server to the main campus DHCP server to a floor-by-floor activation of Bradford network validation by floor within the building. Developed project timetable and coordinated work with the Office of Information Technology to complete implementation within one semester's time and communicate information and pre-requisites with affected users.

MY ROLE: Project Lead, User Experience, and Support

Deployed Clean Access network validation software to residence hall students and implemented minimum security requirements including AntiVirus software, service packs, and critical OS patches. Implemented remediation workflow, web pages, and downloads. Developed Help Desk troubleshooting procedures and documentation. Tested remediation workflow and requirements on multiple operating systems in testbed environment.

MY ROLE: Project Manager

Multi-Computer, Multi-Operating System testbed for testing various resources provided and managed by the Office of Information Technology including Clean Access, Webkit, and related browser compatibility requirements

MY ROLE: Project expediter, project manager

This was my first project after joining the WMU Project Management Office. The project manager at the time was the technical manager of the Novell systems and was no receiving the responses from fellow IT personnel through the University that were required to plan for the migration to Microsoft Active Directory. I entered this project with a servant leadership style by asking the project manager what he was struggling with and how I could help him. I started by mapping out a complete scope of work and a detailed work breakdown diagram that illustrated the entire structure of the Novell system and who was responsible for what. After helping him illustrate and articulate his own needs, and demonstrating that I was there to help him rather than be an authoritative figure, he allowed me to fully manage the project and communicate with the project team to establish a schedule.

Financial Impact: The end result was that WMU did not have to extend the Novell contract that was quickly approaching and the migration completed one month ahead of time.

SCOPE STATEMENT

Novell servers are used at WMU for storing personal and departmental files, manage printing and user applications and provide GroupWise Messenger access (Instant Messaging). The Office of Information Technology (OIT) manages the University license for Novell and supports Novell servers and users for some university departments including the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, and others. Some university departments maintain their own servers that utilize the University’s Novell license and have their own dedicated information technology staff to manage them and to support their users.  

OIT is discontinuing the University’s Novell license on June 30th 2014 and is managing the Novell transition project. The name of WMU’s implementation of Microsoft Windows Active Directory is WADE (Western Active Directory Environment).  

The OIT Operations, Workgroup, and Distributive Computing technical team will replace and migrate the Novell servers in which they support to Microsoft. This team will also as assist and provide resources to other departments, who maintain their Novell servers, in their transition from Novell to Microsoft. 

The OIT Project Management Office will assist in the development of project documentation including scope, requirements, work breakdown, risk analysis, and scheduling of OIT’s operations, and will act as a liaison between OIT and other university departments to coordinate project status and support. The Project Management Office will produce bi-weekly status reports for the entire project, delivered to the project team and primary stakeholders. 

University departments who maintain their own Novell servers are responsible for determining the appropriate course of action to ensure that they are no longer dependent on the University’s Novell license upon its expiration date. This will be the responsibility of the IT staff and administration within the appropriate department. Courses of action may include transitioning to WADE, entering in to a separate license agreement with Novell Inc., or transitioning to an alternative type of server. Utilizing the University’s new WADE system is OIT’s recommendation, so departments who choose an alternative are cautioned that OIT may not be able to assist and support the adoption of that alternative. An example of an alternative may be a Linux-based server that is used to satisfy a specific need of an academic department such as Computer Science. Depending on the course of action chosen by the department there may be procurements required such as new server hardware, backup software, training or others dependent their environment. 

OIT is responsible for executing and coordinating the above activities and supporting dependent departments to ensure that this project is executed and completed by the target date and that all stakeholders receive this information and understand the impact to their area and to the university. 

MY ROLE: Project Director

GoReact is a cloud-based remote observations and skills development tool that provides students the ability to record or provide live demonstrations of their skills to instructors.  My team facilitated the technology compliance review and implementation of a university-wide master service agreement (MSA), combining the contracts of several existing college contracts and providing a support and procurement mechanism for future use by additional colleges.

MY ROLE: Project Manager

MY IMPACT: Through thorough analysis of historical utilization of Microsoft Premier support, strategic assessment of the diverse needs of the technical community, and negotiations with Microsoft I successfully reduced the annual contract cost by over 50%.

MY ROLE: Facilitator

This is a major revision of the existing IT Acquisitions Policy, providing a new framework governing the compliance of the existing and newly acquired technology assets and resources. 

Purpose of the Policy

University information technology resources enable the university to conduct its critical operations. These resources may also store and transmit confidential, restricted, and other sensitive information and data about the university and its affiliates. If compromised, such data would introduce significant security, privacy, and financial risk. Technology also introduces challenges to cost-effectiveness, efficiency, accessibility, and human resources that should be taken into consideration and planned for through necessary governance and working groups.  

This policy provides a framework to ensure information technology resources that store and/or transmit university data are compliant with university policies, rules, legal obligations, and procedures before acquisition and throughout implementation. This framework aims to maintain data security compliance, reduce technology costs, validate accessibility and ensure proper planning for implementation. 

MY ROLE: Project manager, service manager

I coordinated the development of business processes and system implementation of university-wide technology purchasing in coordination with the Technology Procurement Standardization Committee, which is comprised of representatives from every university VP unit. This project required collaborative shared decision-making as well as project management to deliver a product and service that met the needs of all stakeholders while maintaining fiscal and other compliance requirements.

Team size: approx 15 and coordination with 150+ IT support personnel and business managers
Expenditures: $0 - project utilized existing technology solutions to replace prior systems
Financial impact: Over $2 million in annual technology purchases will be managed through the new business process and system.

STRATEGIC INTENT AND END STATE

Perform full business analysis to define the requirements of a new technology procurement system and develop a recommended course of action to be implemented. The recommended course of action will include a plan for transitioning the management of procurement operations to a unit within the University that is feasible, sustainable, and will satisfy the needs of stakeholders.

The project manager will facilitate the collaborative business analysis, requirements gathering and course of action assessment, providing the workgroup committee objective information. Once a course of action is recommended and approved by the committee, the project manager will lead its implementation.

OBJECTIVES

1. Analyze and document the current technology procurement business process managed by Auxiliary Enterprises

2. Document the current state of the technology procurement system managed by the Office of Business and Finance IT, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and feasibility for continuing its use in the short and long term

3. Transition all system and business operations from Auxiliary Enterprises and the Office of Business and Finance IT units to another within the University no later than July 1, 2020

MY ROLE: Project Director

STRATEGIC INTENT

The Technology Procurement and Standardizations Committee, consisting of representation from each vice-presidential area and athletics, will standardize purchases of printers, scanners, and multi-function (MFD) devices and related consumables. This will be accomplished by standardizing vendor choices and hardware manufacturers that provide devices and services.  Further, this group will recommend an entity to manage the process and any tools that support standardization. We will leverage the existing technology procurement process to support this initiative. 

Team Size: 30+

 OBJECTIVES 

1. Standardize purchasing of copiers, printers, MFP’s print management software, toner and other related consumables. 

2. Streamline breadth of supported printing and scanning devices/models throughout campus  

3. Standardize on a single device manufacturer 

4. Simplify printer management, billing, and support 

5. Consolidate purchase options to a small group of suppliers to leverage enterprise-wide purchasing power. 

6. Establish rules and processes to support and enforce the printer purchasing process  

7. Develop a review process to request and approve exceptions. 

8. Develop a review cycle for vendor services and in-scope devices. 

9. Utilize the existing business process and applications which service the technology procurement process.