An exploration of IT project management and governance practices within the Irish University sector

The purpose of this study is to explore IT project management and governance practices across the Irish University sector. Restrictions around resources in the public sector are putting Irish Universities in general under extreme pressure to do more with less. This alone should be forcing these institutions to review their operations to ensure they are using these limited resources wisely. This study aims to uncover what is being done to ensure IT are doing the right projects to ensure there is an alignment between the business and IT. The literature search identified four themes within which to focus the research; IT governance, project governance, top management support and project portfolio management. No project management or governance literature exists for the Irish context. Three perspectives from each of the seven Irish Universities were gathered through open ended interviews in an attempt to gain a holistic view of the status quo in each University. The findings in this study reveal that the alignment between the business and IT is certainly on the agenda within the Irish University sector with IT governance either recently introduced or to be introduced in the near future. However, the findings also reveal that not enough is being done to ensure that IT departments are doing the right projects given that project portfolio management is only visible at two Universities. In addition, the findings also uncovered a need to adapt project governance practices to become leaner and more agile for shorter term projects with fewer resources. This research supports and contributes to the area of project management and governance and serves to begin to fill the research gap for the Irish context.