Business Planning
The Business Planning (BP) capability is the ability to produce an approved document that provides implementable detail for the IT strategy, setting out the IT function's tactical objectives, the operational services to be provided, and the financial and other resources and constraints that apply in the coming planning period. The Business Planning (BP) capability covers:
- Allocating responsibility to specific employees for IT business planning.
- Managing appropriate financial and non-financial resources and their capacities for ongoing IT business planning activities.
- Specifying the requirements for each activity in the IT business plan.
- Seeking the support of relevant stakeholders for the IT business plan.
- Reviewing the IT business plan against actual performance.
Structure
BP is made up of the following Categories and CBBs. Maturity and Planning are described at both the CC and the CBB level.
- APeople
Concerned with allocating roles and responsibilities for IT business planning.
- A1Roles and Responsibilities
Select employees with the experience, knowledge, and authority needed to represent the interests of stakeholders.
- BProcess
Deals with the development and implementation of an IT business planning process.
- B1Ongoing Operational Commitments
Determine the financial and other resources in the organization, and the extent to which they are already committed to ongoing contracts and obligations or are available to be deployed on new activities.
- B2Alignment Planning
Manage updates to the IT business plan to reflect changes in the IT strategy.
- B3Business Plan Development
Formulate, review, revise, canvass support for, finalize, and sign-off the IT business plan.
- B4Business Plan Communication
Communicate the IT business plan and its implications to stakeholders.
- B5Business Plan Review and Control
Monitor planned against actual performance, so that the plan can be adapted appropriately as business priorities change.
- CContent
Deals with the content and characteristics of the IT business plan.
- C1Business Plan Objectives
Define IT objectives, including those relating to ongoing operational needs, new initiatives, and opportunities that the business wishes to pursue.
- C2Planned Resource Utilization
Forecast resources required to achieve the objectives set out in the IT business plan, including finance, equipment, facilities, energy, people, telecommunications, services, and so on.
- C3Success Criteria
Specify success criteria and associated metrics for determining the effectiveness of IT business planning.
- C4Planning Assumptions
Document the scope and provenance of the assumptions and estimates that underlie the IT business plan — for example, an internally generated sales forecast that is informed by market and customer feedback.
Overview
Goal
The IT function's Business Planning (BP) capability aims to link the IT strategy with IT operational planning. It represents the next level in planning detail following on from defining the IT strategy, ensuring that the necessary financial and other resources are allocated for implementation.
Objectives
- Break down the IT strategic plan into identifiable deliverables and required resources to achieve the medium- and long-term strategic objectives for the IT function.
- Build a robust process for allocating or reserving resources for IT programmes and operations in pursuit of strategic goals and objectives.
- Generate ownership and understanding among stakeholders of the critical success factors and the ways to monitor progress, so that the success of the IT business plan can be measured.
- Improve confidence that the IT function, through robust planning, can effectively deliver its goals and objectives within the specified planning period.
- Forecast the resources required to achieve the IT function's goals and objectives.
- Outline the financial and non-financial constraints within which the IT function operates.
- Focus and direct the IT effort by analysing actual against planned performance.
Value
The Business Planning (BP) capability links the IT strategy with operational delivery. It enables the development of multi-year investment roadmaps and plans to ensure that the IT strategy is successfully implemented.
Relevance
Significant efforts will typically be devoted to defining an IT strategy for the organization, only for it to ‘sit on a shelf’ unimplemented because of a lack of adequate resources. Evidence suggests there is a positive relationship between comprehensive forward planning by the IT function and that function's success1. Effective business planning delivers resource- feasible multi-year planning in support of the IT strategy, enabling the organization to extract maximum value from its strategic planning activities2.
With an effective Business Planning (BP) capability, an organization is able to allocate the resources, roles, and responsibilities needed to ensure delivery of the goals and objectives set out in the IT strategic plan. The business plan clarifies the relationship between the organization's strategy and the IT function's shorter-term goals and objectives, and stakeholders as a result are better able to understand the resource requirements. They also have a tool for monitoring progress against the plan and can more easily modify the plan as business priorities change.
Scope
Definition
The Business Planning (BP) capability is the ability to produce an approved document that provides implementable detail for the IT strategy, setting out the IT function's tactical objectives, the operational services to be provided, and the financial and other resources and constraints that apply in the coming planning period. The Business Planning (BP) capability covers:
- Allocating responsibility to specific employees for IT business planning.
- Managing appropriate financial and non-financial resources and their capacities for ongoing IT business planning activities.
- Specifying the requirements for each activity in the IT business plan.
- Seeking the support of relevant stakeholders for the IT business plan.
- Reviewing the IT business plan against actual performance.
Improvement Planning
Practices-Outcomes-Metrics (POM)
Representative POMs are described for BP at each level of maturity.
- 2Basic
- Practice
- Assign resources from within the IT function to undertake IT business planning activities.
- Outcome
- A basic IT business plan can be made available.
- Metric
- Assignment of IT employees to IT business planning.
- Practice
- Identify and prioritize the key initiatives in the IT business plan, particularly those relating to ongoing operations and major technology programmes.
- Outcome
- Key initiatives can be validated as supporting the IT strategy.
- Metric
- Percentage of IT budget expenditure allocated to key initiatives in the IT business plan.
- Practice
- Disseminate the IT business plan across the IT function.
- Outcome
- Employees understand the IT business plan and can discuss its potential impacts.
- Metric
- Percentage of employees from the IT function who are familiar with the IT business plan.
- Practice
- Hold meetings to review progress against the IT business plan.
- Outcome
- Implementation challenges can be discussed and remedied.
- Metric
- Frequency of review meetings.
- Practice
- Establish success criteria, focusing initially on technology implementation aspects of the IT business plan.
- Outcome
- There is increased clarity regarding what success means.
- Metric
- Number of success criteria identified.
- 3Intermediate
- Practice
- Include employees from other business units in IT business planning activities.
- Outcome
- The plan is developed with greater organizational coverage and input, resulting in the plan being more effective.
- Metric
- Percentage of other business units engaged in IT business planning activities.
- Practice
- Increase communication of the IT business plan across the wider organization.
- Outcome
- Improvements can be made to the IT business plan based on feedback from the wider organization.
- Metric
- Number of items that are refined in the IT business plan arising from feedback from the wider organization.
- Practice
- Establish a standardized quality checklist for the IT business plan.
- Outcome
- Inputs to the IT business plan can be objectively assessed for quality and managed transparently.
- Metric
- Number of reworks/resubmissions required for the IT business plan.
- Practice
- Balance peaks and troughs in requirements for IT resources across initiatives in the IT business plan.
- Outcome
- Resource conflicts can be resolved during the planning stage, and resource utilization can be optimized across initiatives.
- Metric
- Number and percentage of objectives for which resource levelling is performed.
- 4Advanced
- Practice
- Develop priorities and assumptions for the IT business plan on an organization-wide basis.
- Outcome
- The wider organization has greater confidence that the IT business plan addresses real needs and is based on valid fundamentals.
- Metric
- Percentage of business units satisfied with the IT business plan.
- Practice
- Use multiple and diverse communication channels to communicate the proposed IT business plan to stakeholders.
- Outcome
- The proposed IT business plan can be further refined based on diverse feedback from stakeholders across the organization.
- Metric
- Percentage of business units familiar with the proposed IT business plan.
- Practice
- Involve key stakeholders from across the entire organization in reviews of progress against the IT business plan.
- Outcome
- Impediments to implementing the IT business plan can be more easily remedied if relevant stakeholders are involved.
- Metric
- Percentage of relevant stakeholders present at review meetings.
- Practice
- Mandate the use of preferred scenario modelling tools to validate estimates and assumptions in the IT business plan.
- Outcome
- Sensitivity of the key variables underlying the IT business plan can be more consistently analysed, understood, and managed.
- Metric
- Percentage of estimates in the IT business plan that are vigorously stress- tested.
- 5Optimized
- Practice
- Continually engage relevant parts of the wider business ecosystem in IT business planning activities.
- Outcome
- The IT business plan is informed by knowledgeable and authoritative employees from the business ecosystem.
- Metric
- Number of business goals that are recently validated.
- Practice
- Continually incorporate leading practices from relevant business ecosystem partners into IT business planning activities.
- Outcome
- The IT business plan is comprehensively and continually improved to amplify organization-wide benefits.
- Metric
- Number of improvements to IT business planning adopted from external sources.
Reference
History
This capability was introduced in Revision 16 as a new critical capability.
It was deprecated in Revision 19.01, being updated by Business Planning (19.01).