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Information Technology Project Management Office to assist with project delivery

A new structure for coordinating ITD’s technology-related projects has emerged as the Information Technology Project Management Office under the leadership of Don Bernaiche.

The evolution began when Bernaiche joined ITD as a manager for a new technology project office last spring to coordinate the department’s broad range of technology projects. The office opens with a full complement of projects already on the table, Bernaiche said. His office is involved in about two dozen projects and another 10 are pending.

The IT Project Management Office manages information technology projects sponsored by Corporate IT and provides support for business units that have technology components. ITD’s model is based on one commonly used in the private sector, Bernaiche said.

According to its mission, the IT Project Management Office is charged with successful delivery “of IT projects through the consistent and flexible application of the Project Management Institute (PMI) methodology. We will effectively plan for required IT resources across the project portfolio and provide IT project management expertise for IT and the department.”

The mission statement, along with a directory and tools designed to help employees involved in technology projects is available on the office’s new Web site that is expected to go live Monday (Oct. 30).

The success of technology projects requires on-time and on-budget delivery and within the predetermined project scope, Bernaiche said. ITD’s new technology structure will help ensure that projects meet those criteria by applying proven, professional management techniques and expertise.

Most of the projects come from ITD’s business units and are not driven by Corporate IT, he explains. They flow through the Technology Investment Program and require IT resources. The IT Project Management Office assists with delivery of those initiatives but is not involved in planning them, Bernaiche explains.

Office staffing will be a mix of ITD personnel and consultants, depending on the nature and the complexity of the projects. Bernaiche now manages three consultants who are assigned to several projects:

• Dave Merriweather, mainframe migration to the State Controller’s Office
• Mark Russell, co-location feasibility study and a Storage Area Network project), and
• Scott Barnard, a consultant with Tek Systems, which has an office in Boise and is working on an ITD VM Ware project, server upgrades in the districts and the computer assisted design and drafting project (CADD)

Martin Chaney, an ITD employee, is a special projects manager who is working with the Meridian project, part of ITD Advantage that will include an automated tool for consolidating training for Human Resources.

The office will contract with other consultants or utilize internal resources to manage projects according to their specific needs, Bernaiche said.

Before joining ITD, Bernaiche was a senior IT manager for Capital One in Boise for five years and worked for a local credit card company the year prior. He has more than 26 years of experience in technology management with the Air Force, dating to 1984. He retired from the military in 1998.