University of Sydney has been recognized for Project Management in the World Business Awards 2016. The World Business Award for Project Management recognizes organizations that have achieved outstanding results through initiatives that demonstrate excellence in project management.

The University of Sydney is one of Australia’s longest standing and prestigious universities, providing a range of educational and research outcomes for more than 160 years. In January the university opened a new building as a result of their Abercrombie Project, which saw their ICT team collaborate with partners from across the university to implement a state of the art technology facility.

The Abercrombie Project’s primary goal was to introduce technology into a new building that would function as a world-class Business School. The University ICT team were involved in the Abercrombie Project from the outset, designing project user groups to explore innovative ideas and concepts from an early stage. Many of these groups visited other Universities for inspiration, and it was agreed that the ICT project would manage and oversee the design and implementation of all technology components necessary for the project to be a success.

The technology project panned a duration of three years, from design in 2013 to completion in 2016. This included extensive collaboration from groups within the University as well as with external agencies. All parties used the Aconex system to share project correspondence so that relevant parties were across decision making and planning. When faced with delays in site construction due to inclement weather and complexities with change of ownership of the builder, the ICT team responded by taking initiative and drafting its own project schedule using knowledge from prior projects, as well as implementing a new process whereby network and AV equipment was built and tested off-site before being transported into the new building. This strategy helped to mitigate risk and reduce development time, overcoming delays and thus contributing significantly to the success of the project.

This, aided by close collaboration between the ICT team and the Faculty of Business resulted in the project being completed on time and on budget. Following the opening of the facility more than 15,000 devices connect to its dedicated Wi-Fi service daily.