University Administration’s project management

The dedicated use of project management within the University Administration is designed to develop on-time user-friendly solutions. IT and digitalisation projects are becoming an ever-increasing part of the daily routine within the University Administration. The University Administration’s project management creates the necessary structures and assists all parties involved in the project to efficiently manage the multitude of existing projects.

In a first step, we start with a classical project phase model. This is a jointly agreed-upon framework that gives all parties involved in the project confidence to act. At the same time, it is and should be possible to work in all phases with an agile mindset, such as Kanban. The University Administration’s project management will be improved gradually by adding creative and agile methods for instance that will make it possible to reach the objectives listed below.

Templates and strategies for employees and staff

A project progresses from start to finish as a complete service or product through various phases. The project phase usually starts right after the requirements process. To move from one project phase to the next, various documents are required.

The graphic shows the process flow of a project starting from the requirements process to project completion and which forms are needed for the transition between the phases. The iterative definition of the requirements culminates in the implementation of the project after approval.

At this point, special reference should be made to the “lessons learned” aspect. At the end of the project, the project is examined in terms of social, communication and team competencies and can be supplemented by a workshop to learn from the project.

For project management within the University Administration conventional standards are used most often. In future, these traditional approaches are to be expanded to also include agile procedures and hybrid models. This will result in a well-sorted methodology toolbox for the University Administration of TU Darmstadt which will enable all parties involved in a project to choose the methods most suitable for their specific projects. The Stacey matrix based on Ralph Douglas Stacey shows in a simplified way how this classification may look like. Depending on the specific requirements of a project, various methods can be used.

Traditional standards:

  • PMP, PMI: Project Management Professional certification offered by the Project Management Institute
  • BMI: “Praxisleitfaden Projektmanagement für die Öffentliche Verwaltung” (best practice project management guide for public administration) published (in German only) by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community (BMI)
  • IPMA, GPM: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Projektmanagement and International Project Management Association
  • Prince II: Projects in Controlled Environments

Agile project methods:

The “University Administration’s project management” webpage is currently under construction and will be expanded in the future. Hence, we will be happy to receive your feedback and suggestions for improvement. Please use the following email address: