Most Organizations Have IT Strategies That Look Like This

Creating and Using Effective IT Strategic Plans
Louis Boyle Vice President Gartner Executive Programs These materials can be reproduced only with written approval from Gartner. Such approvals must be requested via

Most Organizations Have IT Strategies That Look Like This
IT Vision Have a fully open, modern, reliable IT infrastructure We use the most advanced technology to meet our needs Our IT clients say we’re perfectly aligned We have the best IT workforce - it does what needs to be done Or they can look like this…… Lofty Goal 1 Lofty Goal 2 Lofty Goal 3 Testimonial Or they look like this… (Magnifying glasses are at the back of the room) IT Strategic Plan IT Operational Plan Communicating IT strategy effectively remains a critical key to success. Accordingly, of paramount importance is a crisp, succinct discussion of the "what and how" of the IT strategy in terms that political and business-line executives can decipher, support, champion and co-own. Many IT strategic plans we review for our public-sector clients fall at two ends of a "specificity spectrum." At one end are those written with broad goals that emphasize the criticality of IT to the success of the organization. There may or may not be specific linkages to the current political agenda. Details about what exactly will be done, how and when it will occur, and expected performance improvements or public-value results are typically missing. At the other end of the spectrum, we see plans that are tailored for system engineers, network administrators, information architects and application developers. These plans can resemble laundry lists of proposed technology spending plans. While perhaps an accurate plan of action delineating spending needs, it provides little insight for nontechnology stakeholders into how the investments are linked to any business or program improvement goals or priorities. This spending and technology view is necessary, but not essential for those outside of IT. Organizations can always create strategies (and are often mandated to do so), but often fail to turn them into a reality, which has led many agency executives (including the CIO) to label their IT strategy process a failure. The future will no longer offer that option, for the successful IT organization will have to learn how to not only create strategies, but transform them. This is at the heart of IT credibility and will greatly affect how executives will view the role of IT and its appropriate funding levels.

Key Issues 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?

Plan Definitions: Strategic or Tactical
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”

The Perception of IT Value
Strategic Imperative: The breadth and depth of the change agenda has a strong bearing on who should be participating in governance. The more transformational the agenda, the more political leadership must be engaged in day-to-day decision making. Enlightened Management Deploying bleeding edge commercial technology Customer-driven enterprise change Evolutionary Transformational Status quo 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 Organizations that are undergoing aggressive change require tighter governance and clearer lines of decision making authority than organizations that are not changing. Since the introduction of innovation and/or IT is typically introducing change, IT execution is especially dependent on strong governance processes. For IT-dependent innovation, which is most of the innovation occurs in government, it is important to understand two major dimensions of organizational behavior. Most importantly, what is the attitude and ambition (based on actions, not words) of the general management of the organization? In other words, are they content with the status quo, prefer a gradual or evolutionary change process, or are aggressively pursuing a revolutionary or transformational set of changes? The latter demands organizational buy-in and engagement from the top because it requires constant communication and re-affirmation of direction. Also of importance is the acceptance of IT as a contributor to change. Not all IT organizations have the credibility to be depended on to contribute. Some don't have the ability to deliver innovation. For IT to move up the food chain to contribute to change, it must be business- focused, moving beyond being pre-occupied with maintaining infrastructure or even modernization of existing back office systems into a constant focus on what can be different in the business and what IT tools are available to enable transformational change. Advice: IT leaders must be cognizant of how they are perceived and what they manage to. More upward focus on the business and the stakeholders is vital. But, alignment with the intent of the leadership is also critical. IT can't outrun their political cover or the willingness of overall management to change. Cost Center Modernization Innovation Acceptance of IT as an enabler of change

Administrative Process Map: IT Governance Aligns these Processes
Tactical Guideline: Governments must create a process map for decision making and ensure that the various elements complement each other rather than act as stand-alone processes. Political Agenda Investment Prioritization Business Strategic Plan Corporate Performance Management Business Case Inputs Organizational Capacity Cost Time Risk Procurement Portfolio Performance Desires IT Strategic Plan Cross-Agency Budget Cutting Budget Decisions Human Resources Acquisition Strategic Sourcing Tactical Execution Project Management Government is largely driven by two fundamental elements: the political agenda and the resulting budget process. These are accepted everywhere as the key processes that drive government behavior and activity. However, government is very process-driven. To help put flesh on the skeleton of the political agenda and budget process, government has created a variety of processes to provide input into the decision making and execution processes. Although each process adds value, most are created independently of one another, thus creating a lot of unnecessary effort and resource requirements to satisfy the needs of these processes. If government were to link all of these processes together, then it would discover that they all require the collection of various bits of data and inputs that can be used to build on each other, thus reducing the amount of effort required for each process. To accomplish this, however, policy makers and process owners must explicitly seek to integrate these processes to form a coherent road map for government agencies to follow. Regrettably, this seldom occurs. Action item: Align key management processes of government. Link data collected and information generated to relevant decisions. And, while planning this alignment, be clear who the participants are in the process and that they understand the link they provide in the overall governance process. Service Delivery

Strategic Plan Development: Road Map
Tactical Guideline: To reduce risk and uncertainty associated with strategic planning process outcomes, CIOs should follow a documented, step-wise process requiring engagement, analysis, and action-based agreements. Develop Target Architecture Plan Develop Target Service Delivery Model Technology Trends Solutions Strategy (Business View) Delivery (IT View) Business Strategy Summarize Strategic Business Direction Develop IT Direction Develop Management & Governance Processes Conduct IT Assessment and Gap Analysis Develop Migration Approach & Road Map Good strategic planning should follow a regimented development process; otherwise it falls prey to time and crises that result in ink on paper but little basis for the content (and acceptance throughout the organization). Start with an understanding of the business strategy. The strategy is usually heavily influenced by specific drivers (pressures to reduce operational costs, enhance customer service delivery, etc.). In concert with this, technology trends that are and will continue to have impact on the goals of the business strategy should also be examined (Web-based self-service delivery models, wireless impact on workforce mobility, security/vulnerability management). These come together to provide the basis of understanding of the IT direction — focused on providing reliable, leading practice technology delivery, leading business process transformation, and so forth. At this stage, it is a good idea to conduct an IT assessment and gap analysis that focuses on business-side (program offices) perceptions, OCIO perceptions, existing governance and IT work processes, tools and available technologies. The outcome is a clearer understanding of business strategies and priorities, an analysis of IT potential and current performance trends, and a better understanding of the "as-is" IT environment. This provides input for developing a target architecture plan (or validation/change of the existing EA) and a target service delivery model (to effectively support business side needs). In addition, time will be needed to assess and revise the current governance structure used to select, control and evaluate IT investment decisions. This should also include a project/program level governance assessment using commonly accepted industry practices, such as CoBIT and ITIL. The final output is the strategic planning document that documents a migration approach and road map for achieving tightly linked IT/business goals and objectives that effectively support IT demand (a solutions strategy) and supply (an IT delivery strategy). Action Item: Avoid using meeting discussions as the only basis for constructing your IT strategic plan; follow a systematic road map that moves you objectively from a current state of operations to a desired future state.

These Processes Must Be Integrated!
Mission-Specific Policy by Itself Vision and goals but needs capacity and capabilities to make it happen IT Strategy by Itself Nice plans, but no direct link to business case for projects or understanding of future-state requirements Enterprise Architecture by Itself Standards without the ability to change behaviors Project/Portfolio Planning Only Short-term view, no view on long-term needs/direction Otherwise, status quo remains: Stovepipes Increased costs Duplicate systems Inflexible to change Don't be tempted by one-legged stools…they are neither sturdy nor reliable, and it is quite easy to fall off! The crossroads of enterprise architecture IT strategy and portfolio planning are the points of integration of these disciplines. Knowledgeable practitioners of IT strategic planning recognize that these endeavors cannot be successfully implemented in solitude from each other. Success comes from integrating these processes and their deliverables to provide guidance to the future-state direction through enterprise architecture, guided by and integrated with the IT strategy, and applied to the portfolio of current assets and future projects under consideration. To do otherwise will only suboptimize the effectiveness of each individual process. For example, if enterprise architecture (EA) is done as an individual exercise, at best one may have identified standards, but will lack the ability to change behaviors to support the new standards because of a mismatch between portfolio planning and IT strategy. IT strategy efforts by themselves can create excellent plans. However, if not used to determine the future state via EA or applied within portfolio planning efforts, the strategies are ineffectual. Portfolio planning as an individual exercise may help allocate current budgets and resources (for example, people, time), but without a comparative future-state direction (for example, as defined by EA and IT strategy), there's no understanding of the impact of current fiscal year decisions upon the future directions. To do nothing results in the litany of all-too-familiar problems that IT organizations have struggled with for years (stovepipe solutions, increased costs to maintain many different flavors of technologies, duplicate systems and an inability to respond to business-driven change requirements once the "spaghetti" of systems spreads). Action Item: Don't start building IT plans with a one-legged stool approach; mission plans, IT strategy, EA, and portfolio management must be integrated and synchronized.

Integrating Three Enterprise-Level Planning Disciplines
Strategic Imperative: For an agency's IT strategy to be of value, it must be the outcome of an integrated planning process involving mission or business strategy, enterprise architecture planning, and enterprisewide IT investment and portfolio management. Three Enterprise-Level Disciplines Should Come Together Integration Must be Enabled by… Effective Governance Collaboration and shared principles Eliminate false distinctions between the business and IT Clear decision roles and rules Visible Process Integration To support strategy and planning Establish "touch points“ and hierarchy Value-Based Change Management Stepping out of comfort zones Executive-level engagement and ownership that cascades throughout the organization through champions Mission Planning and Strategy Enterprise IT Portfolio Management Enterprise Architecture Information Technology Strategy All too often, organizations produce distinct and separate strategies and plans for their mission lines of business and IT. Their strategic business plans set out broad goals and objectives and include performance indicators, measures and targets, while their IT strategic plan may resemble an asset spending plan without much of a direct link to specific mission or program areas. The IT strategy may or may not be the byproduct of EA planning (which should incorporate a business reference model and a core requirements vision elucidating the business strategy and its implications) and may or may not be linked to business case and portfolio management decisions conducted under an enterprise portfolio management process. The focus is on the means (siloed processes) rather than the ends (better business alignment and results from IT). These disparate planning processes must be brought into harmony and focused on producing a more-informed IT strategy. This can occur only through collaboration between business leaders and the CIO organization that is "de-jargonized" and focused on outcomes and results, a well-defined governance process based on shared principles and a clear delineation of decision inputs and rights, and a healthy dose of change management that is set by example from the top. EA and portfolio management process synergies should be used in supportive fashions. Action Item: Identify ways to consolidate strategic planning steps done by the lines of business and IT management processes done within EA and portfolio management that ensure interaction, mutual understanding, shared accountability and performance-based results. Should See Integration Across Processes, Governance and Value Assessments

Use a Self-Assessment: How Do You Rate?
This is an informal assessment. For each area, rate these factors, where 1 means you have not started or have a largely ad hoc approach and 5 means you have reached leading practice. 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 _____ A self-assessment is a good way to start moving from perceptions to strengths and weaknesses associated with current IT/business environment. This particular self-assessment relates to six core building blocks found in most well-constructed IT strategies: --Business/IT strategy --Application strategy --Infrastructure management --Enterprise architecture --People --Financial resources The objective is engagement, discussion, and candid assessment. For each area, get the senior leadership teams of business and IT to provide a score where 1.0 means not started the journey and 5.0 means at or near leading practice. There are likely to be disagreements, as perceptions will vary. It may be best to get these inputs confidentially using a facilitator to aggregate and present the results. As a second exercise, get each person to rank the five most important of these factors from 1 (not important) to 5 (most important). The scores can then be averaged to give a weighted result highlighting the five most important areas that people believe warrant strategic effort be devoted to in the next 12 to 24 months. Thus even though a particular strategic area may be assessed as already at 3 or 4, the priority may still be that further effort be committed in that area in preference to other less-critical but lower-scoring areas. In a workshop setting, discuss each area to identify opportunities to significantly improve the assessments. For example, if information management is rated as a 2, what would need to change in the organization for that to be ranked as a 4? Can these ideas be turned into specific strategic projects? Action Item: Conduct an IT Strategy Assessment and then revisit it every six months to see if significant progress is being achieved; precede or augment it with interviews or informal surveys (anonymous). Source: "How to Run an IT Strategy Self-Assessment Workshop" (G )

Prioritize and scope plan activities based on deliverables
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

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 Enterprise architecture's connection to IT strategy is not only via the processes that guide the future-state direction but by the deliverables that will capture the strategic direction and be used to close the gap between the current and future state within the IT portfolio management process. A critical deliverable that helps integrate strategy and architecture is the common requirements vision, or CRV. These requirements reflect the business context set by environmental trends and business strategies as illustrated in the EA Process Model. This critical deliverable ensures that both business and IT are "working from the same page." The matrices allow business and IT to demonstrate the degree of support from each element of the CRV to the next (for example, via traffic lights, high-medium-low, or 1-2-3). Some government examples include: State of Connecticut: U.S. Department of the Interior: Government of Canada: It is imperative that business/mission side executives and business process owners participate in this process (perhaps even lead it) via a structured governance process that has well delineated roles and accountabilties. Action Item: Make sure you develop a CRV as part of your EA planning process and use it to help kick-start the business drivers influencing your IT strategy.

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 Definition of a Common Requirements Vision (CRV): A CRV is a set of common and cohesive enterprise-level requirements to achieve an enterprise's business strategies. To be an effective linkage and justification vehicle, a CRV must be completed with the participation of business representation, not just IT professionals. Business strategy documents, especially in government, are often non-existent or poorly articulated. In this case, chief architects must engage the leadership to clarify an actionable understanding of the business strategy. In government, it is common for this to be a summary of political objectives. This is critical. Otherwise, we are “shooting in the dark” at a poorly defined target. It undermines the entire EA value proposition. A CRV consists of various requirement types, including: Business change requirements describe what is necessary to change about the business operations (processes, relationships, organization, structure, business model, etc.) to achieve business strategies Example: "Develop an e-channel for product sales and distribution" Business information requirements describe what the enterprise must do to leverage information to achieve business strategies Example: "Provide an integrated view of all of a customer's accounts information" Information technology requirements describe what capabilities technology must provide to achieve business strategies Example: "Securely extend our network and application access to preferred suppliers and customers" Business solution requirements describe the solutions required to satisfy the business, information, and technology requirements as integrated solutions to achieve business strategies Example: "Allow customer service representatives to view actual product inventory levels during order entry and maintenance"

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

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 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 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 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

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

Create the Migratory Road Map
IT Investments IT Program / / / /10 LOB Service Improv. Projects Most Strategic IT Plans Have 3-to-5 Year Planning Horizons Customer Service Facing Projects Rather than have a 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 Saving Projects Although it may sound simple, it is essential for the IT strategic plan to define and outline not only a listing of major investment initiatives but an implementation sequencing and timeline. Without this, the plan can read like a laundry list of spending initiatives. Executives may be left asking which initiatives will be done first, how long are they expected to take, and when can we expect implementations to occur. A migratory road map lends credibility to the plan and ensures that business expectations are calibrated with expected deliverables. Moreover, critical dependencies among initiatives can be better depicted and explained and can be used to more effectively handle unexpected demands that can jeopardize (or subjugate) existing planning priorities. This migratory road map should influence major initiative inclusion in the overall IT portfolio and obviously help determine how resources (primary funding and personnel) are needed to achieve the plan. As noted previously, the major initiatives contained in the strategic plan should have parallel connections to the enterprise architecture and its associated mapping of movement to a desired business and technology state. EA should provide inputs to and accepts outputs from all the IT planning activities. It can help bring order when IT is responding proactively to the expected rate of change and associated complexities of moving to new technology environments. The portfolio management process provides the vehicle for making specific risk-adjusted project activity selections. Action Item: Avoid loading up your strategic plan with a laundry list of "to-dos"; order and sequence investment proposals according to core business needs and priorities.

Core Ingredients of IT Strategy
Essential Ingredients to Address the Building Blocks of IT Strategies Business Strategy Application Strategy Infrastructure Strategy Architecture People/Sourcing Financial Core Building Blocks Direct Link Between Business and IT Strategy Sound IT Governance Definition of the IT Environment Major Initiatives People/Resources Risks Measures of Success These essential ingredients come from our reviews of hundreds of client plans. AT the outset, if business drivers and directions of an agency are unclear, then it is most likely that the IT strategy is to provide basic IT services at minimal cost. If no business plan exists, you might consider by merely getting acceptance of a plan for the next 12 months to at least start getting some alignment in the budget process. Governance is needed to bring clarity to accountability, authority, roles and relationships between IT and the business side. Without supporting governance, IT strategies can simply become static documents rather than the source for engaging dialogue and decision-making. It is also important for the strategy to acknowledge the starting point from which the desired set of applications and infrastructure will take shape. Understanding the performance of the current IT portfolio helps crystallize business and public value derived from IT investments. Maturity assessments (using ITIL and CoBIT, for example) can help give the organization a sense capabilities in areas like software development, service delivery, project management and sourcing management. The strategic plan becomes more realistic when put within these assessments. The remaining ingredients focus on essentials such as defining the major initiatives (not hundreds) that are expected to achieve IT efficiencies and provide effective business-side operational and process support, providing clarity about the type of skilled workforce necessary to achieve the plan's expected results and how this will be addressed, articulating the significant risks and potential disruptive changes that can jeopardize delivery of expected outcomes (not at project levels, but issues like poor data quality, ineffective vendor management, following non-standard approaches and practices), and lastly, measures that will be used in the governance process to measure strategy progress and outcomes. Source: "A Primer for Strategic IT Plans" (G )

Strategic Plans: Seven Key Questions
Strategic Imperative: CIOs should ensure that IT strategies provide clear answers to elected officials and agency leaders to six key questions. Otherwise, IT strategic plans are at high risk of ending up as "shelfware" used primarily for satisfying legal mandates and passing funding compliance hurdles. 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 execute the strategic planning process and approved IT investment decisions? Does it market the business value of IT effectively? Communicating IT strategy effectively remains a critical key to success. In government, strategic plans must recognize political leadership turnover, and often, the absence of complete participation by important internal and external stakeholders. A succinct "what and how" is essential to the plan's acceptance and ultimate success. In particular, the plan should be able to provide effective answers to the following (re-phrased from the slide above): -- Does the IT plan effectively communicate and corroborate with pertinent stakeholders the essence of what information management and technology investments are expected to accomplish? You may need a cogent, stand-alone executive summary targeted for elected officials, nontechnology leaders and the public. --Does the plan establish the primary environmental (political, economic, performance improvement) drivers influencing the directions being pursued by the plan? It should not read like a buying spree that is considering the latest market directions or technology capabilities. -- Does the plan amply demonstrate how the proposed technology direction and associated projects are connected with expected government business needs and priorities? This would include contribution to performance improvements, cost reductions, productivity gains, citizen satisfaction, and desired policy outcomes. --Is it clear how the plan is responding to external client (citizens, businesses, government partners) and internal client (government workforce, program managers.) needs, expectations, and demands? These connections serve to sharpen the critical role that IT plays in delivering desirable outcomes and result and is a "means" rather than and "end" itself. --How will you know if the plan is being successful or not? If the IT organization does not report on performance, it reports on internal IT functions which are generally not actionable by business management. -- How will you manage the implementation of the strategic plan and the decisions it requires? The IT plan must guide actual resource allocation decisions in the agency budget process and monitor overall IT performance and initiative results (via a balanced scorecard). Source: "Key Questions That Government IT Strategic Plans Should Address" (G )

Strategy as a Continuous Process
Vision Scenarios Strategies Challenges Opportunities Best practices Analyze/synthesize Plan Build Execute External: Political Budget Clients Partners Technologies Internal: Resources Processes Staffing Management Scan and sense Offerings Channels Communication Policies Technologies Build Processes Resources BU/IT Learn Execute Processes Metrics Innovate and adapt Faster cycle times Better results While we have described the strategy process as a linear, executable process, it is in fact a continuous, ongoing engine that drives the business. All phases may be taking place at any time, and often are. This continuous process provides real-time monitoring feedback to modify execution and also to modify strategy when necessary. The best enterprises create an environment and develop processes that support continual strategic dialogues. Good strategic plans do not sit on a shelf gathering dust, but rather are frameworks that guide management decisions every day. As a result of going through the process, even if some participants disagreed on certain items or scores, the group as a whole reached conclusions based on an explicit set of criteria and on the information and opinions presented. Any single participant would be able to explain where funds will be spent and why they were chosen. This consistent story is important for management, developers and end customers. Using results chains types approaches may also be of benefit; they also lend themselves to illustrating the concept that incremental benefits have to be targeted and delivered at each step of the journey, in order to build commitment and momentum, and to institutionalize the process of benefits realization (as a continuous process woven into all phases). Focusing on incremental benefits crystallizes discussion about business ownership and accountability for results. Action Item: Treat your strategic planning process as an ongoing activity rather than a linear, once-a-year decisional process.

Sample Measurement Areas by Profile
Focus of IT Doer Service Provider Counselor Value Seeker Cost Responsiveness Relationship Alignment/Vision Efficiency Profile Process Profile Transformation 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 Using IT strategic plans in governance processes without accepted performance measures (or key goal indicators and key progress indicators) is terribly inefficient and frustrating. However, keep in mind that there is not a "one size fits all" set of IT performance measures. Establishing business side expectations of IT is paramount; understanding and accepting them is even more important. You should begin to align IT goals and objectives, measures, and reporting with the business side expectations or you risk undermining your credibility further: -- Failing to do this is the chief cause of alignment and credibility problems. -- Developing measures and reporting capabilities that are too advanced for your business-side attitudes (or conversely, too far behind these attitudes) is a fundamental mistake made by CIO organizations. -- Resist the temptation to aggressively drag the business side into areas before they are ready or external pressures dictate it. Action Item: Start with measures in the profile area that best fits your IT organization; they get priority. You don't have to stand still in the other strategic direction areas. Develop goals and measures there. too, but push and expand with enhanced credibility and governance maturity.

Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Measures*
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 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 In your IT strategic plan, it is important that there is a clear line of sight among its stated goals, objective, strategies and performance measures. Using Michigan as an example, the state's IT strategic plan includes a wide range of specific measures associated with each of its IT goals and objectives — such as "broadband services available to more than 70% of Michigan citizens and business by the end of 2007" and "90% of all intrusions and viruses will be repairable within two hours" and "reduction from six weeks for a Michigan small business to register and pay unemployment taxes to 24 hours or less." These measures are specifically reported on in a separate appendix to the state plan (see Other examples include: -- The 2005 State of Texas Strategic Plan for Information Resources Management, where specific benefits are listed for each of the nine IT strategy areas addressing statewide infrastructure consolidation and enhanced collaboration. -- In Australia, the New South Wales Government's Information Strategic Plan specifies how activities contribute toward frontline service improvements, customer service improvements, and information communication technology (ICT) cost savings. *A CRV derivative

Goals, Programs and Target Measures
Activities Desired Results and Measures Goal The Department of Education and Children Services in the Government of South Australia has a vision that states that all children and students are highly competent and creative in the application of technology to enrich their immediate and future lives. As such, the DECS community is expected to have access to information, applications, infrastructure and support that increase the capacity to learn, teach, coach, and manage. The department put together six specific objectives to make this vision a reality. The one above reflects the role that IT is expected to play in increasing teaching and learning capacity. Specific programs and targets are established in the plan. While not as specific as some other plans (Michigan's, for example), the targets serves as a means of examining and measuring progress and outcomes. Objective

IT Scorecards Linked to Strategic Plans Can Assist in Governance
Strategic Planning Assumption: By 2007, 75 percent of government agencies that adopt business-balanced scorecards will be using integrated IT-balanced scorecards as well (0.8 probability). IT Performance Overview Business Value Customer Satisfaction IT Operations IT Organization Performance Major program/project performance Performance against budget Benchmarks System/application reliability IT contribution to performance goals/outcomes Value contributions in time/quality/cost impact Help desk performance Problem resolution cycle times Choice of vendor satisfaction SLA performance Business risk reduction Security/EA assessments Quarterly/annual assessment surveys Benchmarks and trends Cost/ schedule and benefit realization performance (variances) Contribution to PMA, PART, High Risk List reduction, etc. assessments Internal External IT Strategic Contribution Effective Alignment Management of IT Investments Business & Public Value of IT Customer Satisfaction Service-Level Performance Business/IT Partnership Application Delivery Business Contribution Customer Orientation Vision and Strategy Innovation Improvement Operational Excellence Service Capability Improvement Staff Capability & Effectiveness Business Architecture Evolution Emerging Technologies Research Knowledge Management Process Excellence Responsiveness Internal Cost of Quality Measures Information Assurance Asset Retirement and Disposition CIOs currently use dashboards as part of application and portfolio management to provide insights into how and where IT resources are being planned for and consumed. These are useful in identifying projects with high payoff, and identifying cost efficiencies through common, business or cross-unit applications. Although helpful, they often lack a more consolidated, objective-based view across all of IT that can contribute to deeper executive-level management understanding and commitment to CIO relevance and support. Scorecards can be quite useful in communicating an overall value proposition for CIOs and IT organizations by enabling broader performance views that support cross-enterprise IT resource allocation decisions. As such, IT may be viewed as a "business within a business," whose value dimensions build beyond measurement of benefits or value realized on a project-by-project basis. Without this kind of view into IT, CIOs lack credibility and accountability which can be paramount to their participation in executive-level decisional processes. Many consolidated scorecard frameworks have evolved and are typically arrayed along the Kaplan and Norton balanced-scorecard dimensions, which focus on customer support, strategic or business contribution, operational excellence, and innovation and improvement. Action Item: In using your IT strategic plan, CIOs should adopt a more-consolidated performance management framework that communicates and motivates broader IT performance and value.

IT Governance ≠ IT Management They Are Not the Same
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 Governance processes involve decisions about major IT domains, that is, areas such as IT investment and principles. They balance decision rights between multiple constituencies, such as "C-level" executives (including the CIO), business unit leaders and IT executives. Their purpose is to encourage desirable behavior so the enterprise achieves its goals. IT governance is formed and enacted by multiple mechanisms: formal mechanisms such as the executive committee and the IT council, and informal mechanisms such as talking with colleagues. IT governance involves decisions about five major domains: 1) IT principles are high-level statements about how IT will be used to create business value. 2) IT infrastructure strategies describe the approach to building shared and standard services across the enterprise. 3) IT architecture is about the set of technical choices that guide the enterprise in satisfying business needs. 4) Business application needs refer to applications that need to be acquired or built. 5) IT investment and prioritization covers the process of IT investment, including where it should be focused and the procedures for progressing initiatives, their justification, approval and accountability. (Adapted from Weill and Woodham, 2002.) Action Item: Create a charter for IT governance that specifies how major decisions are made.

IT Performance Scorecards Can Report on Progress
Strategic Planning Assumption: By 2007, 75 percent of organizations that adopt business-balanced scorecards will be using integrated IT-balanced scorecards as well (0.8 probability). Internal External IT Strategic Contribution Effective Alignment Management of IT Investments Business & Public Value of IT Customer Satisfaction Service-Level Performance Business/IT Partnership Application Delivery Business Contribution Customer Orientation Vision and Strategy Innovation Improvement Operational Excellence Service Capability Improvement Staff Capability & Effectiveness Business Architecture Evolution Emerging Technologies Research Knowledge Management Process Excellence Responsiveness Internal Cost of Quality Measures Information Assurance Asset Retirement and Disposition CIOs currently use dashboards as part of application and portfolio management to provide insights into how and where IT resources are being planned for and consumed. These are useful in identifying projects with high payoff, and identifying cost efficiencies through common, business or cross-unit applications. Although helpful, they often lack a more consolidated, objective-based view across all of IT that can contribute to deeper executive-level management understanding and commitment to CIO relevance and support. Scorecards can be quite useful in communicating an overall value proposition for CIOs and IT organizations by enabling broader performance views that support cross-enterprise IT resource allocation decisions. As such, IT may be viewed as a "business within a business," whose value dimensions build beyond measurement of benefits or value realized on a project-by-project basis. Without this kind of view into IT, CIOs lack credibility and accountability which can be paramount to their participation in executive-level decisional processes. Many consolidated scorecard frameworks have evolved and are typically arrayed along the Kaplan and Norton balanced-scorecard dimensions, which focus on customer support, strategic or business contribution, operational excellence, and innovation and improvement. Action Item: In using your IT strategic plan, CIOs should adopt a more-consolidated performance management framework that communicates and motivates broader IT performance and value.

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

Recommendations Recommendations Follow a process in creating your strategic IT plan; it is not about producing a document. Strategic IT planning is not self-directed or self-implementing – use EA for planning and 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!)

Creating and Using Effective IT Strategic Plans
Louis Boyle Vice President Gartner Executive Programs These materials can be reproduced only with written approval from Gartner. Such approvals must be requested via

What Role Are You Playing?
Tactical Guideline: In order to produce an effective IT strategy, it is necessary for CIOs to assess their existing role and performance image in the organization. Role of IT Gas Station Power Plant Image IT possesses detailed business process and relationship skills High High IT Counselor Good listener Big picture understanding Good at proposing solutions Slow at implementing IT Value Seeker Internal consultant Understands programs Good rapport with senior managers Recognized contributor Understanding of Business Requirements IT Doer Just gets by Does no more than what is requested IT Service Provider Internal vendor Responsive Fulfills needs but not an innovator Does not anticipate needs IT has limited feeling with processes Low Low Low Responsiveness High It is extremely important for CIOs and their staffs to gain an unfiltered understanding of the business-side expectations and perceptions of IT. Typically, these role perceptions can be profiled using a matrix similar to the one above. One domain characterizes how well the business side believes IT understands their requirements — from very limited on the low end to very detailed knowledge and working relationships on the high end. The other domain examines IT responsiveness to business needs, either slow and reactive or swift and proactive. Using these anchors, it is possible to "profile" specific IT performance management capabilities and accountabilities: IT is viewed as a "Doer" if it is basically servicing business demands as best as it can and getting by with minimal or acceptable results. A "Counselor" role is one where IT is perceived as a good listener and source of good solutions/fixes but is slow to deliver results. IT can also be viewed as a "Service Provider" that provides efficient services and support, but is not looked to for innovation or transformation support. Finally, the "Value Seeker" has both an intimate understanding of business needs, excellent working relationships with business executives, and regularly finds ways to support existing and new business demands/needs. Most IT organizations attempt to move to the upper-right quadrant (from a gas station or fueling station image to more of a critical power plant image essential for overall operations and success). Your strategy should recognize roles, activities and performance necessary to maintain or move from one image to another. IT strategic plans that discuss transformational and leading practice initiatives may have little credibility if the IT organization is not viewed as a strategic partner or lacks credibility because of basic service delivery reliability. Action Item: To help ensure successful strategic planning results, CIOs should gain a thorough understanding of their organization's perceived role and importance to the enterprise business side and construct a plan that acknowledges activities that address existing strengths and weaknesses. Extremely reactive Extremely proactive

Most Organizations Have IT Strategies That Look Like This

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