Creating and Using Effective IT Strategic Plans

1. Creating and Using Effective IT Strategic Plans Louis Boyle Vice President Gartner Executive Programs

2. Or they look like this… Lofty Goal 1 Or they can look like this…… Lofty Goal 2 Our IT clients say we’re perfectly aligned IT Strategic Plan IT Operational Plan We use the most advanced technology to meet our needs Testimonial Lofty Goal 3 We have the bestIT workforce- it does what needsto be done IT Vision Have a fully open,modern, reliableIT infrastructure (Magnifying glasses are at the backof the room) Most Organizations Have IT StrategiesThat Look Like This

3. Key Issues 1.What are the primary steps in establishing a good IT strategic plan? 2.What are critical questions that an IT strategic plan should answer? 3.How should organizations use IT strategic plans in their governance processes?

4. Key Issues 1.What are the primary steps in establishing a good IT strategic plan? 2. What are critical questions that an IT strategic plan should answer? 3. How should organizations use IT strategic plans in their governance processes?

5. Plan Definitions: Strategic or Tactical • Strategic • A plan or technique for achieving some end; distinguished from tactical, short term • Longer-term (> 1 year) objectives and goals • Significant impact on the business • Tactical / Operational • Adroit maneuvering to gain an objective • Short-term (<1 year) activities and operations • Plan • Method for the attainment of objectives • Planning • Ongoing process to develop the method for attainment of objectives “I don’t believe in plans, but planning is invaluable”

6. Transformational Evolutionary Status quo The Perception of IT Value Enlightened Management Customer-driven enterprise change Deploying bleeding edge commercial technology Consolidation Deploying mature commercial applications Department-based change and IT focus Aggressiveness of change agenda Finance-driven enterprise Use IT to speed up existing processes Improve Efficiency marginally Focus on reducing IT costs Cost Center Modernization Innovation Acceptance of IT as an enabler of change

7. Business Strategic Plan • Business Case Inputs • Organizational Capacity • Cost • Time • Risk • Procurement • Portfolio Performance Investment Prioritization Strategic Sourcing Acquisition Human Resources Project Management Corporate Performance Management Service Delivery Administrative Process Map: IT Governance Aligns these Processes Political Agenda Desires IT Strategic Plan Cross-Agency Budget Cutting Budget Decisions Tactical Execution

8. Develop Target Architecture Plan BusinessStrategy Solutions Strategy (Business View) Summarize Strategic Business Direction Develop IT Direction Conduct IT Assessment and Gap Analysis Develop Management & Governance Processes Develop Migration Approach & Road Map Delivery Strategy (IT View) Develop Target Service Delivery Model TechnologyTrends Strategic Plan Development: Road Map

9. SCORE A1. Business strategy- Clearly defined business strategy _____ A2. IT strategy- Strategy clear to all and contribution recognized _____ B1. Business applications - Major systems support the business strategy explicitly _____ B2. Personal productivity- Right tools are in place to get the job done _____ B3. Information management- Timely information is available and of the right quality _____ C1. Service management- Internal IT processes conform to quality framework; e.g., ITIL _____ C2. Technology environment - Reliable and cost-effective IT service delivery _____ C3. Asset management- Resources are well managed _____ D1. Architecture framework- Well-defined and stable architectural plan _____ D2. Progress achieved - Getting progressively closer to desired architecture each year _____ E1. Human resources- Right skills and teams in place _____ E2. Organization- Structure best to deliver IT services _____ E3. Client relationships- Strong relationships exist with our clients _____ F1. IT governance- Clarity about who makes decisions _____ F2. Performance metrics- Scorecards highlight critical success factors _____ F3. Budgets- Quality of budget processes and charges for services _____ Use a Self-Assessment: How Do You Rate? This is an informal assessment. For each area, rate these factors, where 1 means you havenot started or have a largely ad hoc approach and 5 means you have reached leading practice. Source: "How to Run an IT Strategy Self-Assessment Workshop" (G00129417)

10. Consider a Workshop Approach – Deliverables-driven Teach, Coach & Critique • Create a game plan: • Gain a common understanding of what needs to be done to create your information technology plan • Plan outline • Level of detail • Prioritize and scope plan activities based on deliverables • Develop plan via workshops-based, facilitated approach • Teach, coach & critique • Assign ownership and establish timetables

11. Creating the Future State:Use a Common Requirements Vision • Audience: Senior management • Scope: Environmental trends, enterprise business strategies, business change requirements, business information requirements, information technology requirements, solution requirements • Matrix: Relationship between environmental trends, enterprise business strategies,business change requirements, business information requirements, information technology requirements, solution requirements • Goals • Obtain senior executive sign-off on requirements via governance process • Gain support of architecture process 20 Pages

12. What Is A “Common Requirements Vision” • A process for discussing, capturing and documenting: • Set of enterprise business strategies • Set of common strategic requirements derived from ENTERPRISE business strategies • Position on the impact of environmental trends to the enterprise • The resulting document CRV Hierarchy EBA EIA ETA ESA The CRV document is an articulation of what will drive the enterprise's future state

13. Why Does the CRV Help With the Problem? Intended Outcomes • Identify, discuss and document strategies • Question the meaning and implications of each • Analyze the compatibility • Highlight the inconsistencies • Clarify the confusion • Go deeper than the strategies • Articulate what is NEEDED! Business and IT leadership collaborate on business and IT planning IT is planned and executed holistically, end-to-end, to support business needs and application changes Infrastructure and application life cycles are tightly linked with business process life cycles We save time and money and reduce risk through repeatable, reusable solutions that are developed and applied to similar problems Business value takes precedence over product centricity Create a common forum of discussion on matters of strategic alignment

14. Business Solution Requirements EBS 1: Due to longer sales cycles and smaller contract amounts, increase market penetration by increasing product proposals to qualified prospects by 35%, growing from 1,000 to 1,350 per month by mid-2004 BIR 1: Sales/sales administration requires details of product/offering information in real time BIR 3: Marketing, channel partners, and sales require knowledge of customers, prospects, proposals, leads, marketing programs and campaigns, value generated for customers (customer satisfaction), support delivery metrics on demand BIR 10: Sales/marketing/product planning must have detailed knowledge of all successful consulting engagements to evaluate as standard products upon completion from consulting team BCR 1: Reduce “opportunity to proposal” conversion time by 60%, from 10 to 4 business days BCR 3: Implement lead and opportunity management process BCR 8: Automate sales proposal generation capability, including appropriate approvals and workflow to reduce opportunity-to-proposal conversion time ITR 2: Provide access and support for operational systems 24x7 ITR 4: Provide real-time access to operational information sources from offices, customer locations, and while traveling ITR 5: Provide a real-time accessible integrated view of customer and product information and consulting engagements ITR 7: Provide a mechanism for sharing documents in a collaborative environment across the enterprise ITR 8: Provide cross-enterprise workflow management capabilities BSR 1: Implement an integrated prospect lead management, forecasting/customer repository solution BSR 6: Implement a coordinated, enterprisewide proposal factory to be utilized by product planning, customer fulfillment, sales, development, and consulting

15. Going From CRV to Future State Transformation steps: • CRV-level requirements suggest potential initiatives to be considered for project portfolio • CRV-level requirements are NOT current project-level requirements, but they should be compared to current and planned projects to incorporate/accommodate future needs in current implementations • CRV should be revisited periodically (as new strategic plans are developed) and when major environmental trends or business factors indicate significant change (such as a merger/acquisition) • Maintain linkages among trends, strategies and requirements • Use CRV to help give future context to all planning activities

16. Create the Migratory Road Map IT Investments IT Program 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 LOBService Improv.Projects Most Strategic IT Plans Have 3-to-5 Year Planning Horizons Customer Service Facing Projects Rather than havea laundry list of initiatives, make sure you demonstrate how the plan will be implemented over time. This will indicate priorities, synergies and set proper expectations (especially support for priority business-side needs) IT Cost SavingProjects

17. Key Issues 1. What are the primary steps in establishing a good IT strategic plan? 2.What are critical questions that an IT strategic plan should answer? 3. How should organizations use IT strategic plans in their governance processes?

18. Direct Link Between Business and IT Strategy Sound IT Governance Definition of the IT Environment Major Initiatives People/Resources Risks Measures of Success Core Building Blocks • Business Strategy • Application Strategy • Infrastructure Strategy • Architecture • People/Sourcing • Financial Core Ingredients of IT Strategy Essential Ingredientsto Address the Building Blocks of IT Strategies Source: "A Primer for Strategic IT Plans" (G00144281)

19. Strategic Plans: Seven Key Questions • Does the IT strategy substantiate mutually owned expectations developed by all stakeholders? • Are critical drivers influencing the direction of the IT strategy accounted for? • Is the IT investment direction and alignment with business/mission needs and priorities made explicitly clear? • Is the IT strategic plan client-centric? • Does the IT plan contain performance measures that can gauge progress and success? • Does the plan outline the governance process to executethe strategic planning process and approved IT investment decisions? • Does it market the business value of IT effectively? Source: "Key Questions That Government IT Strategic Plans Should Address" (G00144046)

20. Vision Scenarios Strategies Challenges Opportunities Best practices Plan Build Execute External: Political Budget Clients Partners Technologies Analyze/synthesize Processes Resources BU/IT Learn Build Scan and sense Offerings Channels Communication Policies Technologies Internal: Resources ProcessesStaffing Management Execute Innovate and adapt Faster cycle times Better results Processes Metrics Strategy as a Continuous Process

21. Key Issues 1. What are the primary steps in establishing a good IT strategic plan? 2. What are critical questions that an IT strategic plan should answer? 3.How should organizations use IT strategic plans in their governance processes?

22. Efficiency Profile Transformation Profile Process Profile • Total cost of ownership • Standards/economies of scale • IT core processes (ITIL, COBIT, CMM-I, etc.) • Benchmarking, TCO • Process automation • Performance-based human capital practices • Program/project impact • Relationship management • Optimized sourcing • Resource management • Business process expertise • Service-based chargeback/pricing • Performance contracts (SLAs) • Competitive assessments • IT architecture • Governance • IT portfolio management • Innovation delivery • Business/financial management (ROI) • High-performance workplace Sample Measurement Areas by Profile Focus of IT Doer Service Provider Counselor Value Seeker Cost Responsiveness Relationship Alignment/Vision

23. Goals, Objectives, Strategiesand Measures* • Objective 1.1 • Provide the infrastructure needed to support • service delivery • Strategies: • Build and maintain Michigan's infrastructure • Implement an asset management process statewide. • Bridge the digital divide • Improve ease of use • Objective 1.2 • Provide reliable, responsible stewardship of data, • information, and increase the number of online • services • Strategies: • Continue to expand Michigan.gov by adding services • Protect data and citizen privacy through a comprehensive security strategy • Deliver business continuity and disaster recovery plans *A CRV derivative

24. Goals, Programs and Target Measures Activities Desired Results and Measures Goal Objective

25. Strategic Contribution Service-Level Performance Customer Satisfaction • IT Performance Overview • IT Operations • Performance against budget • Benchmarks • System/application reliability • SLA performance • Business risk reduction • Security/EA assessments Effective Alignment Business/IT Partnership Business Contribution Customer Orientation Business & PublicValue of IT Application Delivery Performance • IT Organization Performance • Business Value Management of IT Investments • Quarterly/annual assessment surveys • Benchmarks and trends Internal External • IT contribution to performance goals/outcomes • Value contributions in time/quality/cost impact IT Staff Capability & Effectiveness Process Excellence • Major program/project performance Business Architecture Evolution Responsiveness • Customer Satisfaction Innovation Improvement Operational Excellence Internal Cost of Quality Measures • Help desk performance • Problem resolution cycle times • Choice of vendor satisfaction • Cost/ schedule and benefit realization performance (variances) • Contribution to PMA, PART, High Risk List reduction, etc. assessments Knowledge Management Information Assurance Emerging Technologies Research Service Capability Improvement Asset Retirement and Disposition IT Scorecards Linked to Strategic Plans Can Assist in Governance Vision and Strategy

26. What IT Governance Is: • Collective decisions and guidance about: • How IT should be used in the business (policies, principles) • Who makes What decisions How (clear accountabilities) • Business cases and investments (priorities, ownership and benefits realization) • What IT Governance Is Not: • Internal IT operations • IT people management • IT contract management • Internal IT organization • Project management • System testing • Audits • Procurement of hardware • Facilities management • Documentation and training • Client satisfaction • Benchmarking • Capacity planning • Resource management IT Governance ≠ IT Management They Are Not the Same

27. Strategic Contribution Service-Level Performance Customer Satisfaction Effective Alignment Business/IT Partnership Business Contribution Customer Orientation Business & PublicValue of IT Application Delivery Performance Management of IT Investments Internal External IT Staff Capability & Effectiveness Process Excellence Business Architecture Evolution Responsiveness Innovation Improvement Operational Excellence Internal Cost of Quality Measures Knowledge Management Information Assurance Emerging Technologies Research Service Capability Improvement Asset Retirement and Disposition IT Performance Scorecards Can Report on Progress Vision and Strategy

28. IT Strategy for Your Organization • Apply this to your context • Quick self-assessment • Develop your game plan • Approach • Scope (especially what’s NOT in it), TOC • Major milestones • Deliverables based, outcomes oriented • Make it an active, working tool

29. Recommendations • Follow a process in creating your strategicIT plan; it is not about producing a document. • Strategic IT planning is not self-directedor self-implementing – use EA for planningand portfolio management to implement. • Make sure your completed process can answer the six basic questions. • Use your strategic plan by populating it with performance measures to demonstrate progress, success, and areas for change. • Having planned the work, work the plan (NO SHELF DOCUMENT!)

30. Creating and Using Effective IT Strategic Plans Louis Boyle Vice President Gartner Executive Programs