UITS is rolling out a more structured IT project intake and governance process—grounded in a detailed scoring model and firmly aligned with both Taking Flight (the KSU strategic plan) and SOAR 2028 (the UITS strategic plan). Ultimately, we believe this new framework enables us to align UITS’s efforts more effectively with the University’s strategic priorities while providing reliable, consistent service to campus.  
 
The new scoring model evaluates how closely each project request aligns with the University’s Taking Flight plan and UITS’s SOAR 2028 goals. It also factors in resource requirements, organizational change impacts, and KSU’s overall risk profile. By incorporating this model into the official intake process, we can focus on the projects that drive the most value for the University. 
 
Any projects yet to start or any new requests will be placed in a separate backlog until we have the capacity to take them on. Once resources become available, these requests will be scored and scheduled. This helps us avoid overcommitting our teams and compromising quality.  
 
Under the new governance process, Cabinet members will not have to rank every new request manually. Instead, each request must identify an Executive Sponsor (Cabinet member or AVP) and a dedicated business process owner from the outset. This ensures accountability at the right leadership level and boosts project success.  

Frequently Asked Questions

 

  • Under the new governance process, Cabinet members will not have to rank every new request manually. Instead, each request must identify an Executive Sponsor (Cabinet member or AVP) and a dedicated business process owner from the outset. This ensures accountability at the right leadership level and boosts project success. Projects will be prioritized based on the scoring model. 
  • Any projects yet to start or any new requests will be placed in a separate backlog until we have the capacity to take them on. Once resources become available, these requests will be scored and scheduled. This helps us avoid overcommitting our teams and compromising quality.  
  • All project data remains in our management system for future reference.  

  • A business process is simply a step-by-step way of getting something done in your department or office. It’s the set of activities people follow to complete a task—from start to finish. For example, approving a student’s travel request, onboarding a new hire, or ordering lab supplies are all business processes. 

    Before we can help you with your request, we need to understand your current process clearly: 

    • Who does what?
    • When do they do it?
    • What decisions are made?
    • What information is passed along?

    Having a well-documented business process helps ensure: 

    • We're solving the right problem
    • We're not automating an inefficient or outdated method
    • Everyone involved understands and agrees on how things work (or should work)
    • We can design an automation that truly improves the experience 

  • You may submit a Word document or a PDF with the process documented. The documentation can be written in narrative form or presented as a diagram.

    When creating your business process, it may be helpful to think about what each step in your process accomplishes instead of what you do physically. What would you need to do to accomplish your business objective if there was no technology available to complete your process. For example, if you submit a request to a manager for approval, we want to know that the request needs to be approved by a manager—not necessarily that you draft and send an email.

    Consider the following questions as you work on the process document:

    • What information is needed for the approval?
    • Who has the authority to approve?
    • What regulation or policy states the requirement for the approval and who can approve? 

  • Executive Sponsors must meet the following criteria and are responsible for the following activities: 

    1. Must be a Cabinet member or AVP
    2. Possesses budget authority and commits to financial support of the project
    3. Final Business Process decision-making authority
    4. Champion of project within University Leadership for governance and strategy discussions and negotiations
    5. Participates in IT Steering Committee meetings though may not be involved in each project meeting 

  • Business Process Owners must meet the following criteria and are responsible for the following activities: 

      1. Full-time employee
      2. Knowledgeable of the business process related to the request and intersecting business processes
      3. Has appropriate authority to make decisions about business process changes 
        • If no authority to make business process changes, has the authority and access to facilitate discussions with department leadership
      4. Process Design: Responsible for describing and explaining the current business process or processes related to the request including challenges, issues, time spent completing the process, common errors, number of people needed to complete the process, metrics used to evaluate the process, tools currently in use to complete the process, and identifying intersections with other processes
      5. Responsible for redesign of business process, as needed, to accommodate efficiency opportunities or adjustments needed for process optimization or compliance requirements, and documenting expected impacts of proposed process or technology changes
      6. Process Documentation: Create and maintain updated process documentation including process maps, standard operating procedures, work instructions, support materials for the process(es), and roles and responsibilities related to the process(es)
      7. Process Implementation: Responsible for coordinating with cross-functional teams with overlapping or tangential processes, providing support to process participants, obtaining support from Executive Sponsor and other leadership in related departments for process changes and adoption; serves as point of contact for other business units for questions or discussion about the current or new process, working with leadership and management to identify process participants and assign roles and responsibilities to process participants
      8. Process Monitoring and Evaluation: Identify meaningful metrics to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the process; Identify data needed for effective measures; Collect and evaluate baseline data for the current business process; collect and evaluate data after process changes (This data will be used to evaluate future requests for technology enhancements); Identify process deviations and bottlenecks
      9. Process Compliance: Responsible for researching and ensuring processes comply with all policies, guidelines, regulations etc. from the University, USG, or other governing body.
      10. Training and Development: Ensure all stakeholders involved in the process have the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to complete the process 

  • You can expect additional process updates over the coming months as we put formal IT governance in place. We will keep you informed through the Weekly Feed and will directly contact requesters whose projects move to the backlog. 

    Our goal is to undertake as many projects as possible but also be realistic about the timelines and our ability to complete work as promised and without impacting other demands. We will also update this page with guidance on submitting new requests.