News Article

Technology Program Office for enterprise-level IT projects

by Paul Gray, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
William C. Webster, Acting Vice Chancellor for Budget & Finance
Shelton Waggener, Associate Vice Chancellor for IT, Chief Information Officer

February 10, 2006

As you may know, the campus has recently undertaken a review of IT functions. A review committee has prepared recommendations for the Chancellor, the EVC&P, and the CIO. While these recommendations are under consideration for implementation in the coming months, we are acting on one of the recommendations immediately.

A Technology Program Office for enterprise-level projects will be created and will report directly to the new campus CIO, Shel Waggener. This office will provide direct project management services for major technology projects across campus, deliver project management training, and define and publish standards and tools for use by all campus departments and project managers. Helen Norris, currently the Executive Director of Budget & Finance Information Technology, will be joining Shel's management team as the Director of the new Technology Program Office. Helen recently managed the BFS upgrade on campus, and is currently managing the UC Berkeley Foundation's migration to BFS and the campus Enterprise Data Warehouse project. She will continue with these duties in her new role. Helen's other duties in directing departmental IT for Budget & Finance will be transferred to Tessa Michaels, currently the Chief Technology Officer for Business and Administrative Services. Helen and Tessa will work to ensure a smooth transition for BFIT's staff and clients. Further communication regarding Tessa's role will follow.

The e-Berkeley program, in place since 1999, has been integral to many of the technology advances across campus. In the recent past, the program has focused primarily on project management for technology efforts. As a result and at the recommendation of the IT Review Committee, these functions will be merged into the new Technology Program Office, which e-Berkeley staff members Jon Conhaim and Allison Bloodworth will now be joining. Jon has directly managed the e-Berkeley program since joining the University in 2001. During his tenure, e-Berkeley's successes include launching systems such as e-Travel, the Course Management System and Paperless Payment Processing. Jon has also been especially successful in promoting collaboration between campus technical staff and the School of Information Management Systems. He is currently working with IST—Student Information Systems and the Haas School of Business on a pilot Student Portal system. Allison joined the e-Berkeley office in 2004, and is currently working with campus Public Affairs and IST on the campus's event calendar project. Jon and Allison will continue to work on these projects.

These changes will be effective January 23, 2006. Please join us in welcoming Helen, Jon, and Allison to their new roles.