Resourcing
Allocate and coordinate roles, responsibilities, accountabilities, and resources for the IT strategic planning function.
Improvement Planning
Practices-Outcomes-Metrics (POM)
Representative POMs are described for Resourcing at each level of maturity.
- 1Initial
- Practice
- Assign staff to IT strategy development from general project resources on an “as required and when available” basis.
- Outcome
- The quality of the Strategic Planning outputs may become more predictable.
- Practice
- Start to make funding available on an ad hoc basis.
- Outcome
- IT Strategic Planning may start to generate some activity.
- Practices
- Perform IT Strategic Planning independently at central and local levels.
- At most there may exist ad hoc co-ordination and alignment between centralized and de-centralized Strategic Planning.
- Outcome
- Whilst no organization-level strategic plan will exist, some co-ordination and alignment may start to emerge.
- 2Basic
- Practice
- Assign staff to planning for key domains, drawing on whatever resources may be available.
- Outcomes
- Resources are allocated for the most important strategic projects.
- Results may vary due to different skill levels amongst resources.
- Metrics
- IT staff formally involved in SP (# & % total).
- IT Days allocated to Strategic Planning.
- Practice
- Allocate funding for Strategic Planning as the need arises from the general IT function's administration budget.
- Outcome
- Budget is allocated for most important strategic projects.
- Metric
- Funds allocated from general IT administration budget.
- Practice
- Perform centralized and de-centralized IT Strategic Planning independently.
- Outcome
- Degree of alignment will depend on the effectiveness of the relationships between the parties involved.
- Metric
- % of IT Strategic Planning meetings that are centrally managed.
- 3Intermediate
- Practice
- Formally assign the role/responsibility for IT-business liaison on IT Strategic Planning.
- Outcome
- Consistent and effective Strategic Planning becomes the norm.
- Metrics
- IT function staff formally involved in SP (# & % total).
- Other business unit (non-IT) staff formally involved in SP (# & % total).
- IT Days allocated to Strategic Planning.
- Business Days allocated to Strategic Planning.
- Formal SP meetings actually held (# and %planned).
- Practice
- Ensure the IT budget includes allocation for IT Strategic Planning.
- Outcome
- Funding for IT Strategic Planning is ensured.
- Metric
- IT Cost allocated to Strategic Planning ($ & % Total IT Budget).
- Practice
- Co-ordinate IT Strategic Planning at both the local and centralized levels by the central IT function.
- Outcome
- Increased cohesion between central and local IT strategic plans occurs.
- Metric
- # of organizational levels below CIO for which accountabilities and responsibilities have been defined (may not suit all organization types).
- 4Advanced
- Practice
- Allocate time to IT Strategic Planning by dedicated IT function and other business unit personnel.
- Outcome
- Roles, responsibilities and deadlines for IT Strategic Planning tasks are clear.
- Metrics
- IT staff formally involved in SP (# & %total).
- Business (non-IT) staff formally involved in SP (# & %total).
- # of IT Days allocated to Strategic Planning.
- # of business Days allocated to Strategic Planning.
- Formal SP meetings actually held (# and %planned).
- Business units formally represented in Strategic Planning (# and % organizations business units).
- Practice
- Allocate dedicated and regular funding for IT Strategic Planning activity in the IT function and other business units.
- Outcome
- Less time is spent marshalling resources to conduct IT Strategic Planning.
- Metrics
- IT Cost allocated to Strategic Planning ($ & % Total IT Budget).
- Business Cost allocated to Strategic Planning vs. Total Organization Budget ($ & % Total Org. Budget).
- Practice
- Set up a designated planning body with responsibility/authority for resolving local/central misalignments which manages and co-ordinates IT Strategic Planning at a central level.
- Outcome
- Less time is wasted re-working incompatibilities and overlaps between central and local planning groups.
- Metric
- # of organizational levels below CIO for which accountabilities and responsibilities have been defined (may not suit all organization types).
- 5Optimized
- Practice
- Ensure IT Strategic Planning resources are an integral part of the business Strategic Planning activity.
- Outcomes
- Minimal risk of misalignment between IT and business planning occurs.
- The risk of opportunities for strategic use of IT being overlooked is reduced.
- Metrics
- IT function staff formally involved in SP (# & %total).
- Other business units (non-IT) staff formally involved in SP (# & %total).
- IT Days allocated to Strategic Planning.
- Business Days allocated to Strategic Planning.
- Formal SP meetings actually held (# and %planned).
- Business units formally represented in Strategic Planning (# and % organizations business units).
- Practice
- Organize funding of IT Strategic Planning organization wide.
- Outcome
- A sense of shared responsibility for IT performance will develop over time, rather than the potentially adversarial relationship that can attend less mature levels.
- Metrics
- IT Cost allocated to Strategic Planning ($ & % Total IT Budget).
- Business Cost allocated to Strategic Planning vs. Total Organization Budget ($ & %Total Org. Budget).
- Practice
- Implement a formal alignment process for optimizing central and local Strategic Planning needs.
- Outcome
- Common, aligned strategy throughout the organization.
- Metric
- # of organizational levels below CIO for which accountabilities and responsibilities have been defined (may not suit all organization types).