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Project Review Board
The Project Review Board (PRB) oversees King County's Information Technology (KCIT) projects. Project oversight focuses on promoting project success and protecting the county's investments in IT projects. The PRB was established by Ordinance #14155 in July 2001. It is chaired by the County Chief Information Officer and includes the Budget Director, and the Director of the Department of Executive Services. The PRB reviews project status, plans, and progress and approves the release of funding so that projects can continue to completion. It advises on risks to project scope, schedule, and budget and provides assistance and support for successful project completions.
All new and in-progress IT projects are required to participate in Project Review Board oversight and are responsible for providing regular monthly status reports.
County employees can find more PRB information on the King County Intranet.
PRB Services:
There are three major focus areas of Project Review Board project oversight that promote project success.
- Risks Evaluation. The project reviews are targeted specifically on identification of project risks and recommendations to project teams for moving forward in a way to mitigate the risks and promote project success.
- Quality Assurance. If there are indications that a project may be experiencing significant risks to its scope, schedule and budget, the PRB/CIO can recommend conducting a quality review of the project. The objective of quality review is to provide recommendations for corrective actions and to bring the project back on track. These reviews may be conducted internally, or with hired consulting resources.
- Outreach to Project Teams. Another important oversight focus is to identify project teams that may need help and offer them assistance by involving PRB/CIO. The CIO has been instrumental in promoting this approach in multiple ways including adding additional technical resources to projects that lack specific expertise; joining project Steering Committees; involving CIO subject matter experts to advise project teams on specific project management or technical areas; discussions with vendors; and encouraging and inviting project teams to bring issues and problems forward and ask for help in resolving them.
Streamlining of PRB processes has been enabled by a parallel effort to establish a coordinated Project Management Center of Excellence (PMO). The role of the PMO includes: providing functional support for the county's IT project managers; project management tools, disciplines, and training; practical support for project management; standards for communications methods; and ensuring quality through best practices. It further creates a community of professional practitioners who exchange knowledge.
The PMO focuses on several major values: enhancing project performance and results; improving resource coordination; and Increasing delivery of business benefits. The efforts to increase IT project management skills, adopt countywide project management methodology and standard IT project delivery methods contribute to shifting the oversight from compliance with PRB processes to promoting project success.