Business and IT Planning

Our planning process is designed to enable the leaders of an organization to identify how, where and when to use IT, to make informed decisions, and communicate key information to business and technical staff.

Benefits

• Delivers results quickly
• Links IT investments to business needs
• Clarifies and prioritizes choices
• Builds consensus and enhances communications
• Highlights value and cost of current and proposed applications
• Identifies organizational changes required
• Generates small "action-oriented" planning documents
• Applied selectively and iteratively throughout the organization

Steps in our process

• Meet with organizational leaders and stakeholders to clarify goals, set expectations, get commitments, and assign roles and responsibilities.

• Assist in gathering material needed for the planning session.

• Conduct the planning session. The agenda typically proceeds as follows:

  1. Identify critical success factors, business problems and challenges.
  2. Assign value and cost to current IT applications.
  3. Identify opportunities for enhancement and needs for new development. Assign value and estimated cost.
  4. Assign priorities.
  5. Examine risks involved and organizational changes required.
  6. Identify IT infrastructure requirements.
  7. Specify tasks. Assign roles and responsibilities.

• At the conclusion of the planning session we produce the IT Plan Summary document. We provide direction and support for staff to complete the other three documents.

• Conduct a follow-up meeting in which the four action documents are presented and reviewed.

Results

The planning process produces four "action" documents, which enumerate tasks with roles and responsibilities. These are:

• IT Plan Summary
• IT Applications and Resources Portfolio
• Applications To Be Enhanced or Developed
• Preliminary IT Infrastructure Requirements