Meet the IRP Student Team – Program Management Office

The Integrated Renewal Program – Student (IRP Student) refers to the renewal of the UBC Student Information System (SIS) that the University is undertaking. The renewed system will support UBC students in achieving their academic goals and create a better experience for all users through a new set of tools and new ways of working.   

IRP Student has eight core teams – Student Solution, Ecosystem Delivery, Transformation & Change Management, Security, Access, Data and Reporting, Technical Delivery, Solution Architecture, Quality Assurance, and Program Management Office. This series aims to explain each team, their objectives, and their role within the IRP Student program in terms you, our UBC community, will understand. 

The Program Management Office's (PMO) objective is to provide full visibility and transparency on IRP Student progress against the plan, and to provide the framework needed to capture and manage any relevant risks, issues and changes. 

The PMO provides services to support the successful delivery of the renewed student information ecosystem. These include: Program level integrated planning, creation of status reports, the development of tools and templates, RAID (risks, assumptions, issues, and decisions) log, and supporting the change request process. 

“The IRP Student PMO team is not only in the unique position of being the “eyes and ears” of all integrated planning activities at the program level, we help to enable success of all teams through the implementation of program level reporting as well as risk, issue, decision and change management.  Program success through effective and fit-for-purpose services at all program levels is our top priority!” 

-Susan Bush, Senior Manager - Program Management Office 

The IRP Student Consolidated Plan is created and managed by the PMO. This foundational document guides the various work streams and the program as a whole. The plan tracks thousands of key milestones and is constantly updated as work advances. Finally, the Consolidated Plan keeps all stakeholders informed and aware of the program’s progress.  

The PMO is also responsible for the weekly Status Reports, where progress, risks, issues and changes are identified and visible to all teams as well as the Governance committees where decisions are made. This enables the IRP Student team to perform in an effective and organized manner. 

For more information about IRP Student teams, read the other entries in this content series on the IRP Student website.   

*Reflecting on our experience so far in working with Workday and seeing how our design is shaping up, we realize that we have to embrace change and be confident in our ability to adapt. Workday Student, along with IRP Student’s functional requirements, are evolving quickly and this could mean that we may have to adapt our approach throughout the project timeline.