News and Announcements

e-Berkeley project registration system

Monica Hastings-Smith, Chancellor's Office — e-Berkeley Program Office

The e-Berkeley Program Office recently launched a project registration system, a project designed to "make sharing and collaboration at UC Berkeley easier" as noted by campus CIO Jack McCredie in his article about campus collaboration. (See Collaborating to build better IT solutions at UC Berkeley in the Fall 2002 issue of BC&C.)

Project managers are encouraged to register all projects that require participation from other units. Effective communication and access to information can prevent major issues and problems when planning, designing, or implementing campus systems. The benefits of registering your project are:

• Establishing communication with campus data and systems custodians early in the project process. Discussions can be initiated to effect the timely resolution of issues such as access to central data resources, conventions, definitions, authorization and authentication, and business rules and procedures.

• Assisting in better project planning. Sharing information provides for improved project execution, informed decision making, optimizing use of resources, benchmarking technical skills and training, and improved contingency planning.

• Promoting open communication in a distributed development environment. Find peers and projects with which you can collaborate, consult, share vendor solutions, find implementation partners, synchronize data, minimize redundant development projects, and improve understanding of people and business practices.

• Early consultation with campus staff that have strategic technical and policy oversight. Get a better sense of the full spectrum of issues, including strategy, people, processes and technology, and integration of current initiatives. View the impact of campus planning and development on local processes.

This web-based registration tool creates a way to initiate first contact, timely information sharing, and coordination across units at the early stage of a technical project on campus. CalNet authenticated users interact with the tool to register new projects, update existing projects, search project information, and get help using the tool. When registering a project, the registration form prompts users to identify which, if any, bodies of campus data or financial systems are required for the project. Based on the choices made, the registration form automatically forwards an email to notify the appropriate data custodian or business manager. The project information that is collected will be maintained as a viewable, searchable database of campuswide e-Berkeley-related projects. As the information accumulates it will serve as a historical archive of projects.

Knowing which campus IT projects are being developed is particularly important now given the current budget predicament that we find ourselves in. Everyone needs to enhance development efficiencies including sharing solutions, avoiding duplication, leveraging successes, and building on what already works.

What would motivate you to register a project? Do you have any questions or comments about the tool or its use? The development team needs your input. The successful implementation of this tool and strategies behind it depend on a clear understanding of our need, as Jack McCredie stated in his article, "to learn how to collaborate on common goals and share information and solutions more openly and effectively." Please contact e-Berkeley Program Director, Jon Conhaim, conhaim@uclink.berkeley.edu, 643-2255.

Additional resources

• e-Berkeley Project Registration tool (http://project.berkeley.edu/).
• e-Berkeley website (http://eberkeley.berkeley.edu/).
• E-Berkeley IT project registration system. BC&C, Winter 2002.
• Collaborating to build better IT solutions at UC Berkeley. BC&C, Fall 2002.

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Berkeley Computing & Communications, Volume 12, Number 5 (November-December 2002)
Copyright 2002, The Regents of the University of California