The University of Birmingham 2026 strategy is all about making important things happen. For IT Services, that’s about how we ensure we complete the right projects, at the right time, and deliver the right outcomes.
Over the past two years, IT Services has been on a journey. Previously there was limited visibility of bigger projects, and smaller projects that needed IT Services resource came in an ad-hoc at varying points in their lifecycle, which caused all sorts of resourcing chaos. Back then, we had a feeling that IT Services was over capacity, but we had no evidence to prove it one way or another.
Cut to the present day, and we’re at a point where the level of project engagement across IT Services and the University has dramatically transformed. We have built strong foundations by embedding the ability to assess new ideas or projects against our known resource capacity into our standard business practices.
We have clear and (more importantly) reportable understanding of our capacity challenges, and all areas of the University are engaged in the dynamic and agile prioritisation of the projects portfolio, at a senior level. The Business Systems Committee (BSC) recognises this step change.
Our BSC Prioritisation group comprises Senior Officers and the College Directors of Operations, and is facilitated by the Project Office and Business Partnering. This group facilitates a robust challenge of new projects at all levels, a better understanding of what different business areas are doing with a desire to move away from silo solutions, an understanding of key initiatives, looking at how an existing or single solutions can address multiple needs.
The key information that is used and maintained by this group are:
- Our one-page , which helps us prioritise all projects at a University level which need IT resource, guiding how we allocate resources appropriately based on collaboratively agreed priorities.
- A Rolling Eight Quarter Plan, which we maintain by engaging with all key University areas.
- Plus, we’re currently developing an overview of project interdependencies.
Projects are evaluated against set prioritisation criteria, then evaluated by BSC, taking into account the current roadmap, and the interdependencies with other projects. Outputs are shared across different areas of IT Services through Senior Officers, across the Application Programme Boards, the IT Project Advisory Committee (PAC) and now all staff across IT Services. We’ll provide regular updates in the blog.
For example, the group has established a particular interest in the Unified Communications, 365, and the Relationship Engagement Platform projects. Right now, we are actively exploring ways those projects might deliver a number of other initiatives suggested by other University teams, which could help us reduce the overall number of projects, which helps us drive greater efficiency.
(Definition: The Business Systems Committee, chaired by the Registrar and Secretary, develops and oversees the strategy for the development of the University’s IT Business systems, has oversight of the broad IT development programme and associated resourcing approach and profiles.)