Assessment Planning
Plan and prepare the approach for conducting capability assessments – examine the organization’s needs and business goals, establish assessment objectives, and agree assessment scope, team members, participants, and logistics.
Improvement Planning
Practices-Outcomes-Metrics (POM)
Representative POMs are described for Assessment Planning at each level of maturity.
- 1Initial
- Practice
- Practices are ad hoc, occurring on a best endeavour basis.
- Outcome
- _
- Metric
- _
- 2Basic
- Practice
- Set up a basic assessment process to evaluate current practices and to identify areas for improvement in parts of the IT function.
- Outcome
- A basic process is emerging to leverage scale effects.
- Metric
- % of assessment adherence to a process/blueprint for conducting IT capability assessments.
- Practice
- Plan and prepare for the assessments (e.g. conduct a high-level examination of some business needs and goals).
- Outcome
- The degree of rigour depends on the individuals responsible for assessment preparation and planning. The organization's needs and business goals are partly examined.
- Metric
- Yes/No indicators re the existence of a planning and preparation process/blueprint.
- Practice
- Start discussions with stakeholders within IT on the scope of the assessment and which sub-topics are to be selected for a deep dive assessment.
- Outcome
- There is a basic selection of sub-topics by the individual assessment owner/line manager.
- Metric
- % of IT capability assessments with defined scope. % of identified IT capability stakeholders with input into assessment scope decisions.
- 3Intermediate
- Practice
- Establish a systematic and reliable process for conducting capability assessments and use this process across IT and some other business units.
- Outcome
- The insights generated from the assessments can be transformed into improvement actions.
- Metric
- % of assessment adherence to a process/blueprint for conducting IT capability assessments.
- Practice
- Establish a standardized planning and preparation process/blueprint for conducting capability assessments, and use it in IT and some other business units.
- Outcome
- The organization's needs and business goals can be aligned to the assessment objectives.
- Metric
- Yes/No indicators re the existence of a planning and preparation process/blueprint.
- Practice
- Identify the assessment scope and the capability framework to be used during the planning and preparation activities.
- Outcome
- Fundamental requirements for assessment execution are in place.
- Metric
- % of IT capability assessments with defined scope.
- Practice
- Agree and secure staffing of the assessment team and participants.
- Outcome
- Fundamental requirements for assessment execution are in place.
- Metric
- % of identified IT capability stakeholders with defined roles and responsibilities in capability assessments.
- Practice
- Plan and agree assessment logistics (e.g. set up all required meetings).
- Outcome
- Fundamental requirements for assessment execution are in place.
- Metric
- % of IT capability assessments that have agreed logistics.
- Practice
- Schedule assessment sessions with stakeholders.
- Outcome
- Fundamental requirements for assessment execution are in place.
- Metric
- % of IT capability assessments that have agreed logistics.
- Practice
- Implement a standardized decision process, with relevant criteria, within IT to decide on/prioritize the sub-topics for assessment.
- Outcome
- The scope of capability assessments is agreed.
- Metric
- % of IT capability assessments with defined scope. % of identified IT capability stakeholders with input into assessment scope decisions.
- 4Advanced
- Practice
- Deploy a transparent and reliable assessment process organization-wide.
- Outcome
- Capability assessments are consistently conducted across the organization.
- Metric
- % of assessment adherence to a process/blueprint for conducting IT capability assessments.
- Practice
- Adopt the standardized planning and preparation process/blueprint organization-wide and ensure compliance with the process. Confirm the organization's readiness for the assessment.
- Outcome
- A holistic and reliable assessment across the organization is possible. Re-planning is performed if necessary.
- Metric
- % of IT capability assessments with defined scope. % of identified IT capability stakeholders with defined roles and responsibilities in capability assessments. % of IT capability assessments that have agreed logistics. % of IT capability assessments with a 'readiness check' prior to the assessment.
- Practice
- Involve other business stakeholders in the selection/prioritization of sub-topics for the assessment. Examine sub-topic selection/prioritzation in line with the business strategy to ensure alignment.
- Outcome
- There is formal alignment of the assessment scope with the business strategy.
- Metric
- % of IT capability assessments with defined scope. % of identified IT capability stakeholders with input into assessment scope decisions.
- 5Optimized
- Practice
- Reflect timely business input and review in the assessment process, and generate viable and business ecosystem supported development road maps.
- Outcome
- Assessments are continually improved. The resulting development road maps help maximize and demonstrate the business value derived.
- Metric
- % of assessment adherence to a process/blueprint for conducting IT capability assessments.
- Practice
- Continually improve assessment planning and preparation activities (e.g. through stakeholder feedback, learning from previous iterations, etc) to ensure the assessment objectives are met and aligned to the business ecosystem's needs, and to maximize the benefit obtained from performing the assessment.
- Outcome
- There is an increase in the return from assessments.
- Metric
- % of IT capability assessments with defined scope. % of identified IT capability stakeholders with defined roles and responsibilities in capability assessments. % of IT capability assessments that have agreed logistics. % of IT capability assessments with a 'readiness check' prior to the assessment.
- Practice
- Implement a feedback process to optimize the decisions on sub-topics for assessments.
- Outcome
- The scope of capability assessments are continually improved.
- Metric
- % of IT capability assessments with defined scope. % of identified IT capability stakeholders with input into assessment scope decisions.