ITCRB Funding Process
ITCRB Funding Process
Overview
The ITCRB Funding Process provides multi-year funding for University-wide, administrative and academic information technology projects. The Harvard University Office of Technology Strategy and Planning (OTSP) administers the process and provides information to sponsors and project managers regarding the proposal process, required documentation, dates, and deadlines. The OTSP provides support and resources to proposal teams and project teams.
Annually, during the spring, the IT Capital Review Board (ITCRB) reviews project funding proposals and makes funding recommendations to Harvard's Executive Vice President (EVP) for the upcoming fiscal year.
Contact the OTSP for additional information.
Annual Award Process
The Harvard University Office of Technology Strategy and Planning (OTSP) initiates the ITCRB process in the fall, aligning its call for proposals with multi-year technology planning and functional area roadmap planning for the next fiscal year. A rigorous proposal development and refinement process is followed, culminating in the review of proposals by first the Project Review Committee (PRC) and then the Information Technology Capital Review Board (ITCRB). The ITCRB prepares funding recommendations for the Executive Vice President (EVP) based on the available funds for the upcoming year. After EVP approval, funding is made available at the beginning of the next fiscal year.
The entire process is coordinated by the OTSP, which tracks and oversees all aspects of proposal development, facilitates technical and security reviews, produces materials for the ITCRB and PRC, and serves as a resource for proposal process participants and the community.
Projects reviewed by the ITCRB represent many of the highest IT priorities at the University. In order to be considered for funding, a project must meet the following four criteria:
- Support an enterprise-wide administrative or academic process
- Create a new capability or extend functionality, including major upgrades of purchased software
- Be valued at $250K or more
- Be endorsed by a Vice President, Vice Provost, Administrative Dean, School Dean, or School CIO
In short, ITCRB-funded projects are mission-critical. Mission-critical projects that do not meet the $250K threshold go through the Small Ask funding proposal process.
Proposal teams participate in a robust process through which proposals are developed, refined, and evaluated. OTSP administers this process and serves as a guide and resource to proposal teams and sponsors, including convening monthly meetings of the proposal and project management community. Proposals ultimately are reviewed by the Project Review Committee (PRC) and IT Capital Review Board (ITCRB) to help evaluate strategic alignment, business priority, and project readiness. Funding decisions are available in June.
Proposal teams follow the following steps in the process; dates relate to the FY27 proposal cycle:
- Submit a preliminary proposal, utilizing a provided template
- Complete an online project survey
- Make a presentation to and engage in Q&A with the IT Capital Review Board (ITCRB)
- Projects cleared to move forward in the proposal process continue with additional proposal cycle deliverables; deferred or denied proposals do not continue
- Participate in the ITCRB Town Hall to share information about proposals in development and potential impacts to stakeholders
- Participate in the Quality Review consultation process to receive input from various technical functional groups
- Submit a full proposal and budget
- Present to the Project Review Committee (PRC)
- Revise the proposal and budget based on PRC feedback and resubmit
- If funding is approved, comply with funding stipulations and follow change request and status reporting processes
FY27 ITCRB Funding Cycle Templates
- Download a copy of the FY27 preliminary proposal template
- Download a copy of the FY27 full proposal template
- Index (PDF) to the template
- Download a copy of the FY27 budget template
Guides and Meeting Materials
- ITCRB Proposal Cycle - Guide to Deliverables (PDF)
- FY27 ITCRB cycle kick-off meeting deck
- FY27 ITCRB proposal cycle overview
- FY27 ITCRB proposal and budget refinement workshop deck - will be posted after the 12/9/25 meeting
Active Project Forms and Templates
- ITCRB Change and Funds Rollover Request Policy and Form
- ITCRB and Small Ask Completion Report template
Contact
Email the Office of Technology Strategy and Planning (OTSP)
Join and ask questions in the #itcrb-participants Slack channel and the ITCRB-PMs Microsoft Teams channel. Please contact OTSP if you would like to be added to these channels.
OTSP will be happy to connect for questions, support, and planning conversations.
IT Capital Review Board
The IT Capital Review Board (ITCRB) serves at the pleasure of the University's Executive Vice President (EVP). Chaired by the Vice President and University Chief Information Officer, the ITCRB is composed of a representative group of senior leaders from across the University, including vice presidents, vice provosts, and administrative deans in the schools. The ITCRB has the purview over the multi-year outlook and priorities for the ITCRB fund which includes contributions from Harvard’s Central Administration and the Schools and units.
The ITCRB meets throughout the year to review multi-year technology plans and project funding requests. As part of project review, the Board uses a Harvard-wide lens to balance risks, priorities, benefits, and tradeoffs and prepares funding recommendations for the EVP. At its discretion, the ITCRB also reviews project updates and status reports as well as project close-out reports for completed projects. The ITCRB provides annual summary reports to the Deans, the Administrative Deans, the Finance Deans, and the CIO Council. The Small Ask Subcommittee reviews projects in the Small Ask pool. While the ITCRB is mainly involved with the annual IT capital process, the Board may also be called upon to review and approve funding release for any projects with implementation budgets greater than $2M.
The Harvard University Office of Technology Strategy and Planning (OTSP) staffs the ITCRB.
Project Review Committee
The Project Review Committee (PRC) is integral to the IT Capital Funding process. The PRC draws its membership from across the University and includes both technical experts and academic and administrative leaders from within the Central Administration and the schools.
During the annual IT project proposal process, the PRC reviews project proposals prior to the ITCRB portfolio review. Through its guidance it helps to maximize each project's success by ensuring each project has developed a well-defined business value statement (business case); completed an appropriate level of planning and estimating; included cost estimates that are in line with the project scope; and engaged with the right stakeholders. The PRC provides feedback to proposal teams and recommendations to the ITCRB. The PRC also reviews Small Ask proposals and provides recommendations to the Small Ask Subcommittee of the ITCRB.
The Harvard University Office of Technology Strategy and Planning (OTSP) staffs the PRC.