1. Purpose

1.1 This policy ensures a standard university-wide approach for smart project management and governance, including project approval, assessment and assurance, to inform investment decisions and provide for successful delivery of project outcomes that are aligned to organisational strategic priorities.

1.2 This policy outlines the organisational project management and assessment requirements and with the exception of research grant projects and consultancies, applies to all projects across the University.

1.3 This policy must be read in conjunction with Appendix 004 – UniSC Project Management Manual (login required).

2. Scope and application

2.1 This policy applies to all staff, consultants, and contractors involved in the initiation or delivery of organisational projects.

3. Definitions

3.1 Refer to the University’s Glossary of Terms for definitions as they specifically relate to policy documents.

4. Policy Statement

4.1 The University is committed to the implementation and maintenance of an organisational project management framework, providing a consistent but scalable approach for the assessment, selection, governance, and management of projects and clearly articulating for all stakeholders the acceptable components of project management. All organisational areas (excluding research grant projects and consultancies) must adopt this framework as the minimum requirements for the selection and management of organisational projects.

5. Principles

5.1 In its application of this policy, the University is committed to:

(a) strategic alignment;

(b) benefits realisation;

(c) good project governance;

(d) effective project management; and

(e) project management capability uplift.

5.2 The University ensures that project management methodologies and tools incorporate cybersecurity assessment, privacy by design principles and privacy impact assessments will be included as key project deliverables, where appropriate, to manage and protect data and information.

5.3 The University’s Strategic Investment Portfolio Committee (SIPC) provides advice and recommendations to the University Executive Committee regarding project portfolio investment and the project management framework and reports regularly to the Executive on project assessment and portfolio performance.

5.4 All organisational projects are designated a project category (complex, substantial, standard and basic), as articulated in the project management manual with the required governance, approvals and outputs identified. A tool to determine project category is available from the Project section of MyUniUSC (staff intranet). The Chief Data Officer is the approval authority for project categorisation.

5.5 All projects must be approved in accordance with the University Delegations - Governing Policy and the authorities outlined within this policy.

5.6 The University’s Executive Committee is responsible for providing authorisation and endorsement for substantial and complex projects to progress from an initial concept to business case. Depending on financial delegations and the total cost of the project the following approval authorities apply to progress to the planning and implementation phase:

(a) the University Council is the approval authority for complex projects;

(b) the Vice-Chancellor and President or Chief Operating Officer is the approval authority for substantial projects; and

(c) the relevant member of the Executive Committee is the approval authority for basic and standard projects.

5.7 The University has a project management manual that details UniSC’s project management and assessment requirements associated to this policy. The Project Management Manual:

(a) documents the minimum requirements and processes in accordance with this policy for assessing, selecting and managing projects;

(b) contains details relating to project roles and responsibilities;

(c) outlines requirements for project information, including a suite of project outputs, and the need for all project records to be captured in an approved records management system; and

(d) outlines the frameworks for governance and reporting projects.

5.8 The University’s approach to project assessment is consistent with the Queensland Government’s Project Assessment Framework.

5.9 The University’s approach to project procurement is consistent with the Queensland Government’s Procurement Policy. The University ensures that UniSC’s procurement and purchasing processes are adhered to.

5.11 The University’s approach to project management is based on PMBOK, the Project Management Body of Knowledge (developed by the Project Management Institute) and provides a clear project governance foundation on which project lifecycles and various methodologies can be applied.

5.12 The University supports predictive, incremental, and adaptive project lifecycles, executed across six project phases: ideation, initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. Project phases are aligned to gateway reviews as a tool to determine whether or not to proceed with individual projects. Gateways are scalable and requirements will be dependent on project categorisation.

5.13 The project sponsor is determined by the project category. Depending on the project category the project sponsor must be:

(a) the Vice-Chancellor and President for complex projects;

(b) a member of University Executive for substantial or standard projects; or

(c) a member of University Senior Staff for basic projects.

5.14 Project quality management and independent project assurance are applied as determined by the categorisation level and risk assessment for the project:

(a) project quality management forms part of the project’s internal governance and includes processes and activities to determine and monitor tasks, outputs and responsibilities to ensure that the project outcomes meet the stated project objectives and requirements; and

(b) independent project assurance, if required, provides an external, independent and objective assessment (i.e. to be undertaken by non-project resources) of the effectiveness of the project’s internal governance processes in evaluating, controlling and monitoring the project’s performance and deliverables. Project assurance costs are funded from the project budget.

5.15 All project staff must be trained in the use of the project management framework and ensure all related project work aligns with related requirements.

6. Authorities and responsibilities

6.1 The Vice-Chancellor and President make this policy in accordance with the University of the Sunshine Coast Act 1998 (Qld).

6.2 The Chief Operating Officer is authorised to make procedures and guidelines for the operation of this Policy. The procedures and guidelines must be compatible with the provisions of this policy.

6.3 The Chief Data Officer is authorised to make associated documents to support the application of policy documents. These must be compatible with the provisions of the respective policy document.

6.4 This policy operates from the Last Amended date, will all previous policies related to project management and assessment are replaced and have no further operation from this date.

6.5 All records relating to project management and assessment must be stored and managed in accordance with the Information Management – Governing Policy.

6.6 This policy must be maintained in accordance with the Policy Framework – Procedures and reviewed on the standard 5 year policy review cycle.

6.7 Any exception to this policy to enable a more appropriate result must be approved in accordance with the Policy Framework – Procedures prior to deviation from the policy document.

6.8 Refer to Schedule C of the Delegations Manual in relation to the approved delegations detailed within this policy document.

6.9 The following authorities are delegated under this policy:

*All project approvals must be consistent with other relevant delegations and authorisations as identified under the University’s Delegations Framework – Governing Policy, including but not limited to financial delegations.

7. Appendices and supporting documents

Appendix 004 – UniSC Project Management Manual (login required)

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