Part 3: Preparing for Governance
Previously we discussed creating a process, establishing a change process and now we are to our final step – Preparing for Governance.
Project Server 2013 is a great investment and you want to ensure that it is taken care of and used properly.
Here are suggestions for establishing Governance on Project Server 2013:
1) System Governance Team
a) Who enforces governance?
b) Who is the governance team?
2) System Use and Adherence (This should be performed for both Project Server and SharePoint)
a) Types of users - What should each role do on the system?
b) System Updates – How often will Service Packs be evaluated and applied to the servers?
3) Operations/Maintenance Schedule
a) Checklist by role of what should be performed to maintain the system, the servers, etc. – should be daily, weekly, monthly
b) Communication Plan for Maintenance windows
c) Don’t forget the databases – these must be maintained on a regular basis!
4) Microsoft Project
a) How the Enterprise Global should be set up for your organization
b) How Project Options will be set up for the organization
c) How often should the client/desktop software be updated?
d) Will it be pushed by the IT teams or downloaded by the user?
5) Project Web App
a) Who approves configuration and cosmetic changes?
b) How should resources get added?
c) Who creates new reports?
d) How are permissions managed?
6) Project Sites
a) How much storage is permitted on each site in the environment?
b) What is permitted to be stored on the project Site? (Videos, executables?)
7) Backup and Restoration
a) How often is data backed up?
b) Who should users talk to if the information needs to be restored?
c) What can be restored?
8) Content Storage/Layout
a) Will your organization use folders or Metadata to organize files?
b) Follow Microsoft’s Guidelines for limits/performance on Project Sites
9) System Security
a) Who grants permissions to the system (Project/SharePoint)?
b) Who grants permissions to individual projects?
c) Who grants permissions to to Project Sites?
10) Data/Document Governance
a) Should projects/documents follow a certain Nomenclature? (Ex: 100200-IT_New York Data Center Move)
b) What are the acceptable filetypes that can be stored on the server and what sizes are acceptable?
c) Does your data have to comply with HIPAA or PCI Compliance laws? (ex: Credit Card projects may require a spreadsheet of data containing card numbers, has that information been scrubbed prior to storing on the site?)
d) Is there version control that should be limited or controlled?
e) Special Characters in file names, project names, resource names etc. (Follow Microsoft guidelines for special characters to avoid database degradation or corruption)
11) Archiving
a) What is the process for archiving?
b) How often are Projects/Project Sites Archived?
c) How are they archived?
d) Where are they archived? (may be confidential – depends on the organization)
e) For how long?
12) Disaster Recovery (may be in separate document)
a) Who governs the DR plan going into action?
b) What is the DR plan?
c) What is the timeframe?
d) Failover action plan and SLA’s between departments
13) Licensing
a) System License tracking strategy
