Project portfolio management at Northwestern University Libraries: Developing an innovative solution to managing project life cycles

Abstract

The Northwestern University Libraries Repository and Digital Curation (RDC) department is tasked with digitising and creating digital collections from the materials managed by the Libraries’ curators. The previous process for the intake and management of these projects created a situation of feast or famine regarding project work that was ready and vetted for staff to begin. With the development of a new process, the RDC points process, the department is now better positioned to manage its portfolio of projects. This paper provides details concerning the problem and the methods used to develop a new process to address it. The paper outlines the new process of project and proposal intake, determination of capacity (available staff work hours), time-tracking and scheduling. The paper also cites the sources that inspired the RDC points process and aims to serve the same purpose for others faced with similar project portfolio management challenges.