Methodological Guideline on IT/ICT Project Management for Digital Commissioners by Central Administrative Authorities

The material is primarily intended for "Digital Commissioners" of central administrative authorities and IT managers:

• Director of IT
• Head of IT Department

However, the material is recommended to be shared with other staff, broken down by position/role below:

• Digital Commissioner
• Enterprise Architect, Consultant, Analyst
• Quality Manager (QA)
• Cybersecurity Manager
• Operations Manager
• Lawyer
• Project Manager
• Computer Specialist
• Office Management (Chairman, State Secretary, Deputy Economic Section)
• Agenda/process owner
• Contracting Officer

This document has several main purposes:

• To unify the view of the IT plan by naming the main process or work steps from the detection of the need for change through preparation, implementation, operation and closure (these steps can also be called "work packages").
• Clearly set the rules for keeping binding central records in the individual steps of the thread, necessary for the management of the Information Concept of the Czech Republic (ICCR) and the Information Concept of the Central Administrative Office. At the same time, provide information on the status of the individual systems that provide/will provide coordination and management of the ICCR/eGovernment.
• Create an information signpost of the links of the project's threads to the main legislative documents and important methodologies.
• Describe the thread of the intention in the context of the methods of management of the Information Concepts of the CR/government and in the context of the overall management of IT/ICT, in which a bundle of such threads in different states is running simultaneously, including links to other methodological documents (e.g. "Methods of ICT management", ITIL and IT4IT standards, etc.).

• The key concept for this material is the so-called "thread of intent". The thread of intent is the basic process of a specific change in IT, which is self-driven, self-budgeted and defined by its output - typically a new information system, a significant change to an existing information system, its sub-part, the way IS is operated (transition to the cloud), a change in processes supported by the information system, etc. Everything that is subject to Government Resolution No. 86/2020 is the subject of the plan, which is documented in the Digital Czechia catalogue.
• Thread of intent - a logical sequence of process or work steps (activities, activities and their outputs) is typically triggered by a management request for a change in IT support for the office's clients (digital service), or a change in support for the office's internal agenda/process. In practice, the thread is often triggered by a change in legislation.
• For a thread, some steps may not be relevant for some purposes (e.g. change of legislation) and some steps can be carried out in parallel but the order of the steps cannot be changed.
• At the same time, the following step "inherits" the properties and outputs of the previous step. E.g. if a piece of legislation is relevant to step 3, its relevance to the outputs of steps 4, 5, 6 etc. is naturally assumed.
• The overall management of digital transformation/IT is then a cyclical process (loop), including strategic management (management of the information concept), management of the whole bundle of all threads in different states (different steps), supporting processes (resource management, quality, overall cyber security) and closing the feedback loop (from measurement and evaluation back to change concept and planning). This cycle and the management of the overall fibre bundle is in line with the "ICT Management Methods" issued by the MoI see diagram in the annex.

Map of the overall context of the thread

This section describes the obligations and recommendations that bind to the various records associated with thread management. Most, but not all, are listed in the preceding diagram.

The descriptions are made in a numbered list that is identical to each step/stage of the cycle:

1. In the first step, authorities are advised to establish a single (structured) record of digitisation change requests. The register should detect upcoming changes in legislation, including the expected effective date of the change. It should also include external requests for changes, both from feedback from clients of the Authority's services (including other authorities), and from requests resulting from good housekeeping obligations (evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of the Authority's agencies and processes), or from changes to strategies and conceptual documents (e.g. the Information Concept of the Czech Republic, the Authority's Information Concept and other similar documents). The Digital Commissioner of the Authority should be the custodian of such a register, all organisational units of the Authority should contribute to the register and the content should be discussed by the Authority's management at least once a quarter. It is also recommended that these requirements - if they already imply an intention to change (even if partly unclear for the time being) - be reformulated into an intention and registered as an intention registration sheet in the 'Digital Czechia' catalogue, in the D - 'Outline' status. This will allow to consult and refine the plan with the staff of the "Competence Centre of the Digital Czechia programme". In terms of the structure of the description of the project, the name of the project is sufficient, followed by an optional description and a contact person.
2. The second step is the qualification of the project, mostly, but not exclusively, within the office. At this stage, the intention needs to be described in a more structured way, including the identification of the cooperating authorities. The intention is given the status C - "Concept" in the Digital Czech Republic catalogue. The qualification is usually approved by the management of the office on the proposal of the digital commissioner. Qualified plans (concepts) are already included in the implementation plans of Digital Czechia, therefore documentation of the plan in the concept (C) status in the "Digital Czechia" catalogue is mandatory. The structured description of the project in the concept state must contain at least the following information:
   • Title of the project
   • Brief description of the project
   • Time resolution of the implementation of the change (from-to date with accuracy of the estimate to the quarter)
   • Objective of the "Digital Czech Republic" (multiple objectives) that the plan fulfils. Note: In the context of the Authority's follow-up internal records, it is important to link the intention to the objectives of the Authority's information concept, or to the objectives of other strategic and conceptual documents.
   • Forestry Office (list of cooperating authorities, if relevant)
   • Responsible and contact person
   • Estimate of the total external costs of implementing the change
   • Estimate of external costs for sustainability for the duration of operation (for 4 years from the end of implementation)
3. Adjustment of legislation - step may not be part of the life cycle of all projects. The Government's Legislative Rules and the related Impact Assessment (RIA) Guidelines need to be followed and the Principles for Making Legislation Digitally Friendly need to be followed.
   • Evidence under the responsibility of the Legislative Council of the Government
     • If a new legal norm is planned to be drafted, the intention must be included in the Government's Legislative Work Plan or in the Government's Legislative Work Outlook
     • If the intention is related to the implementation of a Directive of the European Parliament and Council (EU), then it should be included in the Government's Implementation Work Plan
     • If there is a need to create or amend a decree, it should be included in the Decree Preparation Plan
   • Evidence of the impact of changes to legislation in the Digital Czech Republic programme catalogue
     • Update and refine the data recorded in the Catalogue of Plans as the work progresses, especially any changes in the implementation dates.
     • Add the RIA task (ticket) to the project and attach the processed RIA form see https://www.vlada.cz/cz/ppov/lrv/ria/aktualne/vzorove-zpravy-ria-zpracovane-dle-pozadavku-obecnych-zasad-ria-138671/
   • Significant milestones in terms of the life cycle of the project:
     • Approval of the new draft legislation as a government proposal - can proceed to further work related to the preparation of capital expenditures
     • Approval of the legislation by the Parliament of the Czech Republic and signing by the President of the Czech Republic - it is necessary to check the changes between the draft approved by the Government and the final version of the legislation and to take these changes into account during further implementation
4. Qualification of the project in the context of IKCR and OHA - preparation of documents for the OHA decision. This step is also dependent on the nature of the project. Preparation of the OHA form and obtaining the OHA opinion of the MoI is governed by the provisions of Act 365/2000 Coll. (see table in the next chapter). In case of ambiguity, consult the project with the Department of the Chief Architect of the Ministry of the Interior. The processed forms are currently not linked to the project registration in the Digital Czech Republic catalogue, however, in the future it is planned to electronicise the OHA forms and integrate both registers.
5. Allocation of financial resources for the project (budget vs. ESF funds, operational vs. investment expenditure), notification to the government. In this step, it is necessary to know how the project will be financed (budget chapter, ESF+non-budgeted expenditure, over-requirements…). From the point of view of registration in the catalogue of the CR, it is important to know not only the implementation expenditure but also the expenditure for the sustainability of the project, the implementation effort (internal) and the sustainability effort (internal). From these data, the total cost of ownership (TCO) can then be calculated. A necessary part of the registration is the form of declaration of intention to make an expenditure according to Government Resolution 86/2020. The form can be generated as a task in the TCO catalogue.
6. Preparation of implementation (other necessary opinions, public tender). This step is mostly dominated by the preparation of the tender documentation according to the Public Procurement Act. An important part of this may be analyses and opinions concerning the cybersecurity of the project as a whole and the basis for the decision to implement the project in the Cloud or On Premise.
7. Implementation of the project (project management of the implementation). It is necessary to appoint a person responsible for implementation for all projects registered in the register of the DC and it is recommended to apply standard project management methodology in accordance with international standards (PMI, PRINCE2).
8. The main implementation part of the project is concluded with the completion of the implementation, in which mainly the predefined acceptance tests must be carried out. Acceptance tests must not be a mere formality, but must test the actual functionality of the project's output, which will be taken over by the subject matter manager. The completion of the implementation is also related to the completion of the documentation, the handover of the project results to the operational team, the handover of the implemented project from the project team to the operational team. Refer to ITIL process block recommendation 3. should always include:
   • Acceptance test name
   • Description of the acceptance test
   • A set of acceptance test steps and milestones with expected input and output
   • The person responsible for the acceptance test
9. In this step, it is necessary to complete the operational documentation, according to the requirements of Act 365/2000 Coll. and Decree 529/2006 Coll. https://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/2006-529#f3147008 and set the responsibilities for operational activities (processes). At this stage, the established SLAs, KPIs and other indicators that assess whether the project output is working as designed and agreed by the acceptance tests also start to be monitored. See. ITIL Process Block 4.
10. Operations, operational oversight, implementation of minor changes and operational support. For operations, the recommendation is to follow ITIL standards (continuity, configuration, incident, problem management, etc.).
11. Operational evaluation. The operations evaluation should include an evaluation report.
12. End of life cycle and decommissioning. Of particular importance is the decommissioning of the ISMS in the RPP.

The relevance of a document to a step of the thread is marked with a cross, subsequent steps inherit this relevance:

This check-list summarises the different work packages defined in the "ICT project life cycle". Although the individual work packages are numbered and ordered to show their sequence, not every ICT Intent needs to fulfil every work package. It is only important to go through them and provide all the necessary outputs and inputs if they are relevant to the ICT plan.