IT Strategic Planning: Evaluating alternatives for critical decision-making

1. IT Strategic Planning:Evaluating alternatives for critical decision-making IT Leadership Council Pam Fuller (pqs4) August 11, 2011

2. Discussion Topics: • Process Defined • ITS Budget Scenario Planning – 2010/2011 • Consensus-Building Process: Weighted Ranking • Application • Benefits • 7 Step Process • ITS Feedback • Questions

3. To Process or not Process… “Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be counted counts.” ~Albert Einstein • Not valuable unless understood in the context of your business • Lends credibility, fosters transparency and facilitates acceptance of outcomes for stakeholders. • Evolves along with your business.

4. Value Adding Process: Set of quality control activities which transform an input to an output that is valuable to internal and/or external customers of an organization. ~BusinessDictionary.com

5. ITS Budget Scenario Planning Process: • ITS Data collection efforts • Created Services Information Database • Determined Costs of Services • Contracted with External Facilitator • Bill Olsen, Leadership Strategies (6 months) • Learned Weighted Ranking Process • Applied process outcomes to Scenario Planning • Re-evaluated and Improved Services Information Database

6. Consensus-Building Process: Weighted RankingApplications • Used to evaluate a large number of alternatives or to evaluate alternatives for a critical decision • Selecting contract award from multiple offers • Management and budget allocation of multiple program areas • Hiring or promotion of multiple candidates Bill Olsen, Leadership Strategies

7. Consensus-Building Process: Weighted RankingBenefits • Handles large number of alternatives • Ranking based on chosen, weighted criteria – based in logic, not emotion • Decisions easily defended using documented criteria basis • No starting over when modifying alternatives or criteria – accommodates late changes • Works both electronically (software packages, spreadsheets) or stubby pencil (flip charts, white boards) Bill Olsen, Leadership Strategies

8. Consensus-Building Process: Weighted Ranking7 Step Process • Identify/review/clarify the purpose of ranking • Ensure common understanding of purpose • Identify/clarify the alternatives • Don’t assume all participants are aware of nuances of each alternative • Clarify and educate to sufficient detail to level understanding • Identify the criteria (typically 7-12 criteria) • List them out to ensure quality, avoid dependencies and overlap • Avoid voting reversals by stating all criteria positively Bill Olsen, Leadership Strategies

9. Consensus-Building Process: Weighted Ranking7 Step Process (continued) • Weight criteria with dot voting • Give each participant # of dots = 20-40% of # of criteria – no more than 1 dot/criteria/voter • Consider blind voting if subject is sensitive • Add dots/criteria – if zero, assign as 1 and add 1 to all others • Hide result for use later • Vote High, Medium or Low (H-M-L) for each criteria and alternative • Review ranking purpose • Vote using H-M-L and assign values (H=5, M=3, L=1) Bill Olsen, Leadership Strategies

10. Consensus-Building Process: Weighted Ranking7 Step Process (continued) • Calculate Results • Enter criteria weights and multiply by HML value • Add products (weight x HML value) for each alternative • Evaluate, Summarize and Document Results • Graph results (ie/histogram chart) • Note relative ranks, groupings and breaks • Brainstorm relevant management decisions Bill Olsen, Leadership Strategies

11. ITS Feedback • “Wash, Rinse and Repeat” • Currently planning to use this process to prioritize our services annually, taking into consideration that the criteria and weights might change year to year

12. ITS Senior Leadership Team Feedback: • The project taught me that I need to slow down and analyze and improve the manner by which we make decisions.  We get caught in a race to rapidly solve, solve, solve problems in the day to day - but this project needed a different mode of thinking and working together.  The techniques used teased this out, and then we applied them. • ~K Morooney

13. ITS Senior Leadership Team Feedback: I believe that the lasting impact of the Bill Olsen sessions is the ability to view service provision and project management both subjectively and objectively.  His process strips away the emotional influences that normally taint the process and allow for an informed team-based strategy. ~Carrie Moore (ITS Financial Officer)

14. Questions?