Project manager supreme, Prof Andy Duncan.

Professor Duncan will retire at the end of this year after a long and distinguished research and teaching career in the geological sciences. For the past 13 years he has had a second life as an executive-level project manager for university-wide initiatives.

In August 1995, Professor Duncan was appointed to lead the PRISM project, which oversaw UCT's move from its own homegrown IT administrative system to SAP/R3, the university's first comprehensive "enterprise system" for managing key HR, financial and other management functions.

Under Professor Duncan's leadership, the project was completed on time and within budget.

Second, Professor Duncan took the lead role in co-ordinating the AIMS project. This was an ambitious and comprehensive review of our management systems, ranging from HR through planning and budgeting to governance.

Inaugurated in July 1999, AIMS was completed within budget and on time, with final sign-off three years later in October 2002.

Third, Professor Duncan was the obvious choice to lead the three-year project to renew UCT's information technology infrastructure (supaTsela). This project has seen a complete re-wiring of our campuses, a new server structure, a new back-up system and numerous other assets that have positioned UCT for the IT infrastructure it will require in the future.