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IT committee receives new dashboard, guidance after major-project threshold change
Summary
NDIT’s project management office presented a publicly accessible dashboard and explained the new statutory definition of a major IT project, saying projects may qualify as "major" by cost, duration (one year to operation) or because their risk or visibility demands oversight.
The Information Technology Committee received an updated quarterly project summary from NDIT’s Project Management Office and a public dashboard showing the department’s major IT projects and program roadmaps. Justin Data, head of the project office, told the committee the legal standard for what constitutes a "major" project changed and emphasized that the new test is multi‑factor, not just dollars. "The law changed 08/01/2025... The new legislation contains a three‑tier approach," Data said, summarizing that a project may be major if its estimated total cost is $5 million or more, if it will take one year or longer to reach operational status, or if it requires oversight due to benefit, risk, public impact, visibility or other significant reasons. Why it matters: the threshold determines which projects come to the committee for formal quarterly startup and closeout reports, and the project office must report cost or schedule variances over specified tolerances. The dashboard shows 54 projects currently in flight and demonstrates that the portfolio is, on balance, under budget and marginally behind schedule; two projects were reported in red for schedule variance — a bed management system at Health and Human Services and a laboratory information management system at the Department of Environmental Quality — because each has exceeded scheduled baselines and required corrective action. Data told members the dashboard is public, updated daily, and includes links to project start‑up and closeout reports; he also explained the practical difference between program reporting (a collection of related projects managed together) and single‑project reporting. The committee asked the project office to bring any project showing red status for more than 90 days to the panel. Data said 42 start‑up or closeout reports had been posted since September and that members should ask the project teams for deeper briefings if they wish. Next steps: the project office will continue its daily dashboard updates, publish start‑up/closeout reports and bring red‑status projects for committee review if corrective measures are not effective within statutory timelines.
