TACTICAL/OPERATIONAL PLANNING Title: Tactical/Operational Planning Tactical Planning Operational Planning Case Study

How Many Processes are there in IT? Ernst & Young – 70 PricewaterhouseCoopers – 62 Society of Information Management – 40 David Feeney – 9 major categories Categories deemed to overlap CobiT and IT Governance Institute – 34 For the IM Course – 38 IT processes are included in an attempt to consolidate the various vews

Breakdown of IT Processes Long term – strategic – 3 IT processes Short term - tactical – 14 IT processes Day-to-day - operational - 21 IT processes

Strategic IT Planning Strategic IT processes have a long-term impact on the enterprise Decisions over a long time horizon Long time to attain benefits Can create competitive advantage deliver cost efficiencies introduce major improvements

Strategic IT Processes Business Strategic Planning Architecture Scanning and definition IT strategic planning and control

TACTICAL PLANNING

Tactical Planning What is it? Addresses issues that have a time horizon generally bounded or strongly influenced by the budget cycle of the organisation (12-24 months)

Tactical Planning - STEPS Step 1: Assess orgs’ information requirements Current & project info needs Step 2: Assemble master development plan IT projects definition, project ranking, multi-year development plan Step 3: Develop Resource Allocation Plan H/ware, S/ware, personnel, facilities and financial plans Step 4: Operations Planning service levels, problem, change, recovery, capacity and network planning

Tactical Level Processes Management Planning Mgmt System monitoring & planning Development Planning Application Data System Network Project ServicePlanning Service level Recovery Security Audit Resource Planning Capacity Skills Budget Vendor

Example 1: Application Planning Objectives Schedule of applications to be modified within a set period of time Must address each key fundtion of enterprise Business and IS strategy – inputs May expand architecture Emerging technologies Integrated processes Improved standards

Example 2: Data Planning Objectives Facilitate the cost-effective and timely transformation of raw data into productive information Facilitates the reuse of data and information across the organisation Protect the organisation’s data and information assets

Example 3: Systems Planning Objectives Document which systems are planned for development the justification for developing those systems the impact on the organisation’s IT architecture of developing those systems Any implications on the organisation’s disaster recovery plan

Example 4: Network Planning Considerations Impacts of recent mergers or consolidations on network capacity and future demand The impact on current network capacity and infrastructure Opportunities to consolidate existing services and infrastructure to enhance network Security of the network against external and internal threats Recovery of the network from natural or man-made catastrophes Identification and repair of network performance issues Customer service (e.g .help desk) Vendor management and service agreements Cross-border issues Hardware upgrade plan Software upgrade plan Capital investment plan

OPERATIONAL PLANNING

Operational Planning The day to day administration and execution of processes and plans Plans are transient in nature Concern in execution of immediate tasks and activities Meets needs of tactical plans/strategic plans Focus on Annual operating budget Individual project plans

Operational Level Processes Project Management Development and Maintenance Resource Control Service Control Administration Services Information Services

Operational Process contin 1… Project Management Assignment, scheduling, controlling, requirements control, evaluating Development and Maintenance Sware Development and Upgrade Sware Procurement and Upgrade Hardware Procurement and upgrade Systems maintenance Tuning and system balancing

Operational Process contin 2 Resource Control Change control Asset management Service Control Production and Distribution Scheduling Problem Control Service Evaluating Administration Services Financial Performance Staff Performance Education/Training Recruiting, hiring and retention Information Services Production Service Marketing

Example 1: Production and Distribution Scheduling Components of this process: Planning production and distribution service workload Developing A maintenance and measurement schedule A current work schedule Negotiation of any deviations from the service agreements with users

What Processes are Most Important All are important Each contributes to effective management and performance of IT Some processes, however, are considered to have a more important contribution to the companies’s success e.g. Project management related processes Application development considered to be most visible to developing competitive and strategic advantage Security and recovery planning New threats to stability of the system

Who Owns the Process? IT processes are the domain of IT Each process varies in complexity, active management required Some processes may be considered for outsourcing Must ensure ownership not forgotten

How Effective are these Processes today? Over past 3 decades, IT has continously improved many of the 38 processes Most IT processes can be improved by introducing new tools & methodologies There are known troubling issues – ie. unevent execution E.g. hware and sware procurement and upgrade processes vary widely across many corporate implementations Asset management, change control, problem control, service evaluating and service marketing all operated very differently Reason being that they do not have uniform standards and methodologies Support services for many of these are fragmented, as a great variety of vendors supply different products

What Priority should be placed on improving these processes? IT process improvement need to demonstrate quantifiable results that will justify the expense for the job Use of Frameworks

Why IT Frameworks? Frameworks bring consistency and an ability to measure performance in a scientific manner Popular frameworks include Capability Maturity Model Six Sigma Cobit ITIL Each has a particular area of emphasis