Table of Contents
The Center of Excellence (CoE) provides a structured process for planning, coordinating, and documenting technology changes that require collaboration across multiple OIT teams. It is intended for moderately complex initiatives that involve new or significantly changed infrastructure or applications but do not require full project management through a formal OIT project.
Examples of requests that may be reviewed through the CoE process include:
- Deployment of new managed infrastructure
- Implementation of new managed applications
- Operating system upgrades
- Hardware refreshes or platform replacements
- Application upgrades
- Database upgrades supporting existing applications
The CoE helps ensure that technical requirements, dependencies, security considerations, documentation, and cross-team coordination are addressed before implementation, reducing risk and improving delivery outcomes.
The process begins when you submit a Request Form - CoE Intake Request | Atlas Portal.
During this phase, OIT gathers information about your business need, goals, timeline, and any known technical requirements. This allows the CoE team to determine the scope of the request and identify which OIT teams will need to be involved.
What you can expect:
- Submission of a CoE request
- Initial review of your requirements
- Identification of key stakeholders and supporting teams
Once your request is received, a CoE Discovery Form will be created with your submitted details and a member of the CoE Discovery Team will work with you to ensure all initial details are captured. Once initial detail of the request has been captured the CoE team will schedule a discovery discussion with you and other stakeholders.
The purpose of discovery is to understand what you are trying to achieve and gather any additional information needed to design an appropriate solution. This may include discussions around application requirements, infrastructure needs, security considerations, vendor involvement, support expectations, and project dependencies.
What you can expect:
- Creation of a CoE Discovery Form*
- Meetings with technical and business stakeholders
- Questions about your application or service requirements
- Review of technical, security, and operational needs
*The CoE Discovery form and other CoE documentation are stored in Confluence. If you do not currently have access to the Confluence Application, it may be necessary to request access through PEARL.
Visit
Article - Computer Access Requests | Atlas Portal to learn more on submitting a request via PEARL.
After requirements have been collected, participating OIT teams work together to develop a recommended solution.
During this phase, OIT evaluates how the requested service will be hosted, secured, supported, and integrated with existing systems. The goal is to establish a clear implementation plan before any technical work begins.
What you can expect:
- Creation of a solution design
- Review of architecture and support requirements
- Identification of implementation tasks and dependencies
Once the solution design has been approved, OIT teams begin implementation.
Depending on the request, this may include provisioning servers, deploying cloud resources, configuring networks, installing software, creating databases, or integrating supporting services. The CoE coordinates activities across all participating teams to keep the effort moving forward.
What you can expect:
- Regular progress updates
- Coordination between supporting OIT teams
- Testing and validation activities as work is completed
Before the engagement is completed, the implemented solution is reviewed and validated to ensure it meets the agreed-upon requirements.
Once testing and validation are complete, OIT finalizes documentation, confirms support ownership, and formally closes the engagement. The service then transitions into normal operational support.
What you can expect:
- Final validation of the delivered solution
- Completion of required documentation
- Transition to ongoing support and closure of the CoE engagement
The CoE process provides a clear and consistent path for delivering technology solutions that require coordination across multiple OIT teams, helping ensure successful implementation and long-term support.
Submit Request → Discovery → Design → Implementation → Quality Assurance & Closure