David Moss
Last Edited March 13, 2012
Project Charter
UT Web Infrastructure Project
Executive Summary
The goal of this project is to select and implement a solution that will replace the aging/out-of-warranty hardware platform currently being used by the centralized Web hosting service. The project will
examine the best practices and options available in the marketplace and select and deploy a solution that is state-of-the-art, secure, user friendly, manageable and scalable to replace the home grown service that currently supports more than 500 Web sites campus wide. Replacing this infrastructure should encourage continued use and attract further adoption.
Business Need and Background
The existing centralized Web hosting service is a home grown solution that has been in place since the 1990s. It is currently running on aging servers that are or will be end of life by the vendor. The service is developed using a UNIX framework, requiring tedious access and management knowledge that is not well known by the user community. It is a critical service that houses some 500+ Web sites for all campus units, including the main www.utexas.edu Web site. Customer feedback regarding the current service cited it was “lacking features,” “difficult to use,” “not scalable/supportable” and “not
reliable/redundant.” It was noted as the most desired service to be improved based on the latest ITS Applications campus wide survey.
Project Description
This project will gather existing Web hosting requirements, perform analysis and establish a set of recommended policies, procedures and guidelines for UT’s next generation Web hosting needs. The project team will also work with campus stakeholders to conduct an evaluation to identify alternatives, including possible cloud-based, outsourced or managed service offerings. Once a recommendation is made and approved, deployment of the new service offering and migration of existing Web sites will be completed.
Project Goals
There are five main areas to address:
Conduct evaluation to determine the best option for the UT environment. Deployment of the new service as well as associated policies and procedures. Migration of existing Web sites to the new service.
Address immediate emergency Web hosting needs for www.utexas.edu and emergency.utexas.edu.
Schedule and Milestones
The following is a list of the major project milestones and dates.
Milestone/Deliverable Target Date
Emergency Web hosting solution implemented End of February 2012
Approved project charter End of February 2102
Develop project plan and timeline End of February 2012
(initial phases)
Define requirements End of March 2012
Request for Qualifications (RFQ) / Request for Proposal (RFP) processes April-June 2012
Procurement process July 2012
Setup of the new service August-September 2012
Test migration (e.g., ITS Web sites) October-November 2012
Training and documentation October-November 2012
Production deployment December 2012-January
2013
Migration of existing Websites End of April 2013
Scope
In Scope
The following deliverables or tasks are in scope for this project:
Phase Zero – Emergency Web hosting for www.utexas.edu and emergency.utexas.edu. o Select vendor and execute contract.
o Acquire off-campus hardware and storage. o Migrate content and setup access permissions. o Remove existing hardware from Arlington site. o Update documentation for emergency Web service.
Phase One – Project Initiation, Requirements Gathering & Evaluation: o Seek IT governance support and obtain funding approval.
o Conduct requirements definition and gap analysis (this process will include major university customers such as University Communications, Development Office, large schools and colleges).
o Conduct evaluation including internally hosted solutions, externally hosted solutions or a combination of both.
o Determine provisioning and service-rate structure. Phase Two – Deployment:
o Deployment of proper infrastructure (servers, storage, security, networking, etc.) or provisioning of hosting environment with an external vendor.
o Establish and publish proper procedures, standards and guidelines.
o Internal testing of infrastructure, including usability, accessibility, and security requirements.
Phase Three – Migration:
o Develop migration strategy.
o Create new user/Web site provisioning process.
o Training and documentation for users (e.g., ITS Web site, Wiki and FYI sessions). o Establish proper hosting operating procedures.
o Develop maintenance and stewardship/ITS User Services support documentation. o Partner with campus units to confirm migration process.
o Finalize migration strategy and communicate with existing Web site owners. o Migrate sites to the new service (in conjunction with Web site owners).
o A limited number (5-10) of web sites will need to be migrated from outside the current central web hosting environments to validate the service will function for future additional sites.
Out of Scope
The following deliverables or tasks are out-of-scope for this project: Custom Web site content development and management. Disaster recovery service for all hosted Web sites.
Migration of campus units running their own Web servers.
Project Management and Governance
Role Name(s)/Title(s) Responsibilities Time Commit
Executive Sponsor
Brad Englert, CIO Responsible for the success of the project. As Required Project Steering Committee Cam Beasley, Information Security Office (invited as needed) Michael Caldwell, Office of Admissions Pei Chen, ITS
Systems Nyleva Corley,
University Communications, Digital Content
Strategic project guidance and validation, management support, and resource allocation. Make final recommendation to the senior staff.
Group Cesar De La Garza, Development Office Neal Gibson, University Operations Paul Grotevant, Undergraduate Studies Ladd Hanson University Libraries Keene Haywood,
Center for Teaching and Learning Joe Howe, Cockrell
School of Engineering Khaled Jaber, College of Communication Adam Norwood, College of Law Steve Preiss, Student Affairs, Office of the Dean of Students
Julienne VanDerZiel, ITS Applications Kamran Ziai, College
of Pharmacy Project
Management
John Lovelace, ITS Special Projects David Moss, ITS
Systems
Provide project planning,
coordination, and communications. Provide overall status reporting of deliverables to ITS senior staff. Track progress toward completion of the identified project goals.
See Table Below
Technical Managers
Jenn Coast, ITS Applications Rich Zoch, ITS
Systems
Provide managerial resources and guidance to be utilized for project initiation, planning, design and execution.
As Required
Technical Leads Matt Wedgwood, ITS Systems Larry Archer, ITS
Applications
Provide technical resources to be utilized for project initiation, planning, design and execution.
Star Salzman, Information Security Office
Technical Team Mic Kaczmarczik, ITS Systems
Confirm solution conforms to the standard operation guidelines of campus services.
See Table Below
Communications Betsy Busby Generate documentation and communication process and deliverables. Assist with other project management responsibilities such as planning and coordination.
See Table Below
Stakeholder(s) IT Governance, University Communications
Customers utilizing the chosen solution.
As Required
Project Facilities and Resources
The following facilities and resources will be required for this project.
ITS staff resource for maintaining infrastructure, services, and development/integration.
Role Name ITS Unit Average Time
Commitment (%) Project Management John Lovelace Special Projects
50% combined Project Management David Moss Systems
Technical Lead Matt Wedgwood Systems 50%
Technical Team Mic Kaczmarczik Systems 50%
Technical Team Larry Archer Applications TBD
UDC Facilities Support Lisa Wright UDC As required
Networking TBD Networking &
Telecommunications
As required
Communications Betsy Busby User Services As required
Impact Analysis
This project is expected to have the following impacts:
An easy-to-use, low-maintenance, feature rich Web site deployment and management framework for all campus units, which will drive up adoption and lower maintenance costs. A well-understood standard operating procedure for Web hosting that will provide sustainability
Scalable and secure backend infrastructure with minimal management overhead.
Migration of existing Web sites will be relatively disruptive. Some house cleaning will occur. Disaster recovery capability for critical sites www.utexas.edu and emergency.utexas.edu.
Assumptions
The following assumptions have been made for this project:
Infrastructure redesign is planned to replace Web Central and Windows Web Publishing services. It will not replace hosting on UT Direct.
Will require adequate campus-wide participation such as training, requirements and migration planning.
Will require creation of new procedures and standards.
Will need to test with several types of customers before rolling out campus-wide. There may be a need for interim redirects of site address during the migration phase. Some sites will be found to be ‘dead’ and will be determined to be retired vs. migrated. Customers with Web sites that are highly customized or using nonstandard tools might be
unable to migrate to the new service without additional internal conversion support or other hosting options.
Project resources will be available as required.
Analysis of web hosting service options will not only consider the web hosting environment but the underlying technologies, such as database services, supporting it.
Any web site belonging to a student organization that is still hosted on Web Central or Windows Web Publishing at the time of the migration will be considered in scope for migration to the new hosting service.
Constraints
This project has the following constraints:
Existing infrastructure reaching end-of-life may impact the target completion date. Customers may have business-related constraints regarding timing of their migration. Legal review or contract-negotiations processes may impact the schedule.
Risks
This project has the following risks:
This project will impact many Web sites, including the main utexas.edu site. The project poses risk not only to the public-facing front door to the university, but also to internal operations that are dependent on these site(s).
This project requires participation across campus and agreement to migrate sites to the new infrastructure; this will require strong executive support through IT governance.
Staff changes or turnover could impact ability to meet scheduled timeline.
Revision History
Version Date Description
V .01 8/23/2011 Initial draft completed.
V. 02 9/14/2011 Additional information added from 9/7 meeting with Pei Chen and Julienne VanDerZiel.
V. 03 9/16/2011 Updated with feedback from project team at 9/15/11 kick-off meeting.
V.04 9/22/2011 Minor changes made based on project team feedback provided via e-mail.
V.05 9/23/2011 Additions/modifications made to Business Need and
Background, Project Description, Project Goals, Scope (In
Scope and Out of Scope) and Assumptions.
V.06 9/27/2011 Updated with feedback from project team at 9/26/11 meeting.
v.07 10/4/2011 Formatted for style.
v.08 2/6/2012 Updated Schedule and Milestones, added Project Steering Committee to Project Management and Governance, added resource name to Communications roles in Project
Facilities and Resources.
v.09 2/23/2012 Updates to Scope, Project Facilities and Resource, and Assumptions from Steering Committee incorporated.