Leading Digital Projects

• Project managers are the driving force in digital transformation processes and should be knowledgeable about the processes involved, motivated to collaborate and network with project stakeholders, and keen to develop an awareness of the possibilities and constraints arising from the project's context.
• Begin with the process: understand the current process and consider how it can be improved using modern digital possibilities. Wherever possible, seek to simplify processes for the stakeholders involved. Define the target process - aiming to simplify and standardise where possible to increase efficiency.
• Stakeholder-orientation: ensure that you involve and understand the needs of the process customers and stakeholders from the beginning.
• Inform yourself about the options available to you when defining the aims of the project. The possibilities are specific to your given context and existing data and system "landscape". In well-established functions with existing software platforms (e.g. SAP, Teaching Applications, eResearch), you will need to work together with the platform owners. In new or evolving topics or organisations, you may need new to introduce new digital solution(s) and might face a "make or buy" decision.

Effective project management is crucial to success.

• Designate a project manager knowledgeable about the context and processes involved. Previous experience leading projects is useful.
• Choose an appropriate project management method that fits well with the project participants, available resources and stakeholder expectations: waterfall or agile. 
  • in the ETH Administration, large and complex IT projects tend to be run in waterfall fashion. IT Services has developed a project management framework based on the HERMES method.
  • more recently Agile projects are receiving more focus. Academic Services and IT Services have incorporated Agile into their software development process.

Support and information:

• The IT project manager community runs networking and information events. Contact the Community Lead, Lionel Rosenfeld, for information.
• The IT Services Project Management team may be able to provide project management resources.
• External training provider, Digicomp, offers courses on project management methods (including external page Agile and external page HERMES), external page business analysis and requirements engineering, and external page process improvement. The courses are German-language and cost between 1,000 CHF per trainee and training day.

Ensure that you have a sound understanding of the End-to-End (E2E) process that you aim to improve. i.e. ensure that you consider the full process from the perspective of your customers and stakeholders; think beyond your immediate organisational unit boundaries.

"Local" process optimisation-thinking risks missing opportunities to pool resources or can lead to redundancies. In the worst case, optimising processes without considering the broader context can actively hinder process improvement efforts in other areas or cause problems in the process “downstream”. In addition, lack of adequate knowledge around the overall process increases risks to data protection, information security, and quality.

Some useful steps to take:

• document the current processes with process diagrams.
  • The Business Process Modelling Notation 2.0 (BPMN2) method is an industry standard for describing and modelling processes. "Swimlane" diagrams similar to the method are commonly used in ETH Administrative units.
  • ETH does not currently have a central (enterprise) process hub but the most commonly used tools are Lucidchart (available as a plug-in within the ETH Confluence), Visio (license available through the IT Shop), and Microsoft Word or PowerPoint.

Support and information:

• Many areas have designated staff responsible for process documentation. Talk with the responsible staff in your area or contact the IT Services project manager community.
  
• Digcomp offers a 2-day external page BPMN2 course which covers the principles of the method.

"Manage all relevant stakeholders for the proposed project. The complexity of the required stakeholder management process depends on the size and complexity of the proposed project. It can range from a very lightweight process for small projects to an elaborate project organization for large projects. Long-running projects require continual stakeholder involvement." ETH Zurich Digital Transformation strategy for the Administration.

The options available for your digital transformation will depend on your context. It is important to understand the data and system landscape in which your processes exist. For example:

• ETHIS/SAP is a hub for many processes in Finance and HR. Changes to SAP processes are managed through the ETHIS Program. Contact CC SAP for more information.
• many teaching-related processes run on Applications developed or operated by IT Services, some of which will be modernised through the Rector's Digital Campus (DC) project. Contact the DC program team for more information.
• in other areas of the administration, specialist software platforms play a key strategic role. Examples include:
  • VPF's eResearch platform (Contact details are available on the platform homepage), 
  • the Records Management System from the General Secretary's Office (Contact details here),
  • the contract management system in VPWW (Contact the Office of Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations). 

If there are no existing platforms, there may be an opportunity to collaborate with other units/stakeholders to establish a common platform. An aim of the Digital Transformation Committee is to support establishment of common platforms to benefit from efficiencies. Funding may be available: contact the Digital Transformation Office for more information.

When considering introduction of a new system, there are advantages and disadvantages in deciding whether to "make or buy".

"Buy":

Buying software generally results in a fast implementation project, although license and operations/support costs can be high in the long-term.

• Contact IT Services Procurement team for support. This is particularly important if World-Trade Organisation (WTO) procurement rules will apply to your project.
  
• Document your requirements and conduct an initial market analysis of available software. The IT Services Young 'n' Rising trainees team can carry out analyses for a modest cost. If "WTO" rules apply, it is important to avoid close interaction with any particular supplier(s).
• If the preferred solutions are cloud-based, a Cloud Assessment will need to be completed as part of the procurement process. More information on Cloud Assessments can be found here.

"Make":

Making/Developing a solution in-house can result in a very tailored solution but with increased development costs and timescales. Factors to consider:

• who will develop, maintain and operate the software? How will those resources be safeguarded for the lifecycle of the system?
• The Microsoft Power Platform is an increasingly core administrative platform but concepts such as "No Code", "Low Code", and "Pro Code" development (which are very much marketing terms) have not yet been adopted in the Administration although IT Services are investigating the approach. Licensing for the different components of the platform is complicated and ETH needs to be wary of committing too significantly, becoming locked-in and facing unavoidable license increases.