EITS project team receives Project of the Year Award

Members of the project team who attended the December 8 awards ceremony pictured here, from left: Greg Ashley, Kim Woods, Chris Baines, Steve Hilliard, Lynn Latimer, Greg Topp, and Shannon Marable (all team members are listed at end of this release).
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"This is truly a team award," said Lynn Latimer, project spokesperson and associate director for EITS Information Technology Planning and Decision Support (ITPDS). "The project involves the team's efforts over the last 18 months to define EITS projects and services, to establish a project management process, and to bring the Clarity project and portfolio management tool online."

"Today more than ever, Information Technology must be an enabling service to the organizations we support," said Greg Topp, ITPDS director. Toward that end, effective planning and project management is a cornerstone for delivery against stakeholder expectation. Recognition of the EITS Strategic Planning and Project Management initiative by the Project Management Institute indicates the viability, importance, and success of project management at the University."

"Though the project team has been in place for 18 months," said Latimer, "the initiative to improve IT services for UGA's students, faculty, and staff through a comprehensive, enterprise-wide project planning environment began in 2005 with the introduction of the Compact Planning Process by CIO and Associate Provost Dr. Barbara A. White."

Latimer went on the explain that Compact Planning—an annual, user-driven, negotiated approach to strategic planning for information technology—served as a catalyst and building block to support the next steps in improving the organizational planning process.

"With better planning through Compact Planning, along with better project management by continually improving the project planning process, we can more effectively utilize staff resources and more efficiently deliver the services needed to ensure UGA's continued success," said Topp. Our service delivery will continuously improve."

The Project Management Institute (PMI), established in 1969 and headquartered near Philadelphia, USA, is the world's leading not-for-profit project management professional association, with over 200,000 members representing 125 countries. Currently there are over 240 chartered and approximately 20 potential chapters geographically dispersed over 67 countries. The PMI Atlanta Chapter serves the North Georgia and Metro Atlanta area. Ranked in the top three chapters in the world for Membership, PMI Atlanta's 4,400+ members are employed across all industries, with a majority in the IT and Telecommunication fields.

The EITS Strategic Planning and Project Management will next be submitted for consideration in the global 2009 PMI Project of the Year Award. Past global winners include Delta Airlines and the Salt Lake Winter Olympic Games.

Project Team Members
Greg Ashley, Chris Baines, Mike Dennis, Mike Ellerson, Kristen Green, Steve Hilliard, Annie Hollis, Tammy Pounds, Rehan Khan, Paul Keck, Lynn Latimer, Rich Lebo, Shannon Marable, Georgia Moore, Brendan Mullen, Jason Orrill, Mushtaq Pasha, Mike Perkins, Greg Topp, Patrick Wagman, Brian Whigham, Curtis Winger, Kim Woods, Chris Workman, Lili Zhao

About the Office of the CIO and EITS
The Office of the Chief Information Officer and Enterprise Information Technology Services (EITS) are committed to the mission of UGA as a land-and-sea-grant institution where academics come first and the research extensive university community encourages research efforts at the undergraduate and graduate levels. To that end, under the direction of the University´s Chief Information Officer, EITS endeavors to provide a robust, reliable, and secure information technology infrastructure, maintain essential production services, and offer world-class support.