Time to assess progress and celebrate accomplishments! I started working with the UTC Communications and Marketing team in mid-September to provide project management for the Drupal migration. As projects often layout, a few other tasks have crept into the initial plan, but I’d like everyone to recognize what has been accomplished in summary form:
- The project charter, communication plan, risk response register, and initial schedule were completed, delivered, and approved in September.
- The project blog at https://blog.utc.edu/web/ went live in early October and weekly blog posts have been scheduled each Monday during October and November.
- Websites have been refreshed for UG Admissions, Financial Aid, Housing, Newsroom, Bursar, Records Office and Mocs One Center. The webpages for the Center for Global Education will be live by the end of November.
- Refresh activities are in progress for the Center for Advisement, Advisors Council, Veterans and Military Student Services, Honors College and Student Health Services.
- Proposals have been requested, reviewed, and preparations for purchasing have started with Acquia Professional Services and Code Journeymen for staff training.
- Hiring of student workers in the UTC Comm/Mar office and search committee work is underway for hiring a Web Developer to join the Web Team.
New to this blog page is the addition of the project schedule in the tabs at the top. The schedule changes weekly, and sometimes daily, as updates come in. The schedule can provide a general overview of the projects and give a sense of completion as the project progresses.
And in the spirit of the season, Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on blessings. With that in mind, here is my ‘thankful for’ list…
- The UTC Web (Chris, Weston, Michael, Josh and Hailey) and Editorial (Sarah and Gina) teams for maintaining their sense of humor, providing thoughtful feedback and oodles of hard work while complying with an aggressive website refresh schedule despite regular requests for other work and attending to personal lives.
- The UTC staff from Enrollment Management and Student Services under the leadership of Dr. Yancy Freeman, to the Bursar, to the Center for Advisement because they have all jumped to action to review, meet, edit and approve content for their webpages during the refresh.
- George Heddleston, Megan Shadrick, and the rest of the UTC Communications and Marketing team for inclusion and momentum for the cause.
- My colleagues in IT Leadership who are picking up items typically in my bucket allowing me time to focus on the Website Refresh and Drupal Migration projects.
- My manager and UTC CIO, Dennis Gendron, for ‘atta girls’ and aspirational karma.
- Coffee, dark chocolate and Microsoft Project.