Infrastructure Portfolio Roadmap

CASE STUDY - INNOVATIVE UK UNIVERSITY

University setting representing infrastructure transformation planning

The Requirement

An innovative UK university needed to identify and prioritise infrastructure technical debt that had accumulated over many years. The objective was to fix the foundations for its wider Digital Transformation Programme by bringing IT systems to a supportable level and establishing a practical route for keeping them there.

The university required a clear view of the work involved, the dependencies between initiatives, and the resources and budget needed to turn a large technical-debt backlog into a deliverable infrastructure portfolio.

Rowing team illustrating coordinated delivery across competing priorities

The Challenge

Years of accumulated technical debt had created a broad set of infrastructure issues, while internal capacity was insufficient to plan and deliver all of the required changes. The university needed to balance remediation work with ongoing operational demands and minimise disruption to existing services.

The challenge was not simply to catalogue the backlog. It was to turn technical knowledge held across the IT function into a realistic, prioritised programme that aligned with available resources and budget, secured stakeholder support and provided a dependable foundation for digital transformation.

Workshop notes representing collaborative infrastructure portfolio planning

Our Approach

Stakeholder engagement: Maxica deployed an experienced Project Manager and Infrastructure expert and ran interviews and workshops with IT Directors and Team Leaders to capture existing technical knowledge.

Inclusive discovery: Input was encouraged across the IT team so that technical-debt issues could be captured from the people closest to the services and platforms involved.

Structured analysis: Findings were grouped into related components and translated into project charters covering infrastructure areas including networks, server automation, backup and data-centre improvements.

Delivery alignment: The charters were reviewed with leadership and aligned to resource and budget requirements before being sequenced into a dependency-driven roadmap.

University graduate representing a stronger foundation for future digital services

Our Solution

Maxica converted the university's technical-debt backlog into a structured infrastructure portfolio. The work captured 198 technical-debt items and consolidated them into 21 project charters, giving leadership a clearer basis for prioritisation, funding and delivery planning.

Because internal delivery capacity was constrained, the plan incorporated a service-wrapper approach alongside internal resources. The resulting roadmap sequenced work by dependency, resource and budget over a 2 to 3 year horizon, while an ongoing review cycle was established to capture and manage future technical debt.

University library representing a stable foundation for long-term digital transformation

Benefits

198 technical-debt items captured: The university gained a consolidated view of infrastructure issues requiring attention.

21 project charters created: Technical issues were converted into defined initiatives that could be assessed, prioritised and planned.

11.29 FTE savings identified: The assessment identified potential capacity savings associated with resolving technical debt.

2 to 3 year delivery roadmap: Leadership received a sequenced plan aligned to dependencies, resources and budget.

Ongoing review cycle established: A repeatable process was put in place to help manage new technical debt rather than allowing another unmanaged backlog to build.

Coordinated team effort representing collaborative infrastructure planning

Why it Worked

The engagement combined infrastructure expertise with structured portfolio planning. Rather than treating technical debt as a list of isolated fixes, Maxica involved stakeholders across IT, grouped related issues into coherent initiatives and connected each initiative to practical resource and budget requirements.

This created a roadmap that leadership could use to make delivery decisions while maintaining operational services. The review cycle also extended the value of the work by giving the university a mechanism for identifying and managing technical debt as the environment evolves.

Maxica consultant discussing infrastructure transformation priorities

Learn More

If technical debt is constraining transformation, Maxica can help turn a complex infrastructure backlog into a prioritised, resource-aware roadmap that supports investment and delivery decisions.

Call us on +44 333 700 2014

Email us on hello@maxica.com