IT Assessment Drives Organizational Improvements

<Insert Company Name>

IT Organizational Assessment and Improvement Project Report

Assessment Methodology Approach

Conduct Plant Conduct Plant
Business Interviews IT Interviews Document
Assess
Review IT Findings
Application
Policies, Procedures and
& Hardware
, and Strategic Plan Conduct Shared Conduct Create IT
Portfolio
Financial Interviews <Company X> Roadmap
(Business & IT) Corporate Interviews

• Reviewed appropriate IT documentation to gain an understanding of the environment.
• Reviewed Disaster Recovery documentation for applications and hardware.
• Interviewed management and staff in IT, Sales, Logistics, HR, Customer Service and
Finance at <Company X> Corporate, Shared Financial Services ((Insert subsidiary
name)), and Bottling Plants. The objectives of these interviews were to:
– Understand how IT interacts with the business.
– Identify IT strengths and the areas in which IT could operate more effectively.
• Developed an improvement roadmap based on our findings and observations.
– The findings and IT roadmap in this report are categorized based on the IT Governance
Model, which appears in the subsequent slide.

3 Source: www.knowledgeleader.com/

Common Themes
Several common themes, organized by the components of the IT Governance Model, were
identified throughout the course of our review:
• IT Architecture – <Company X> business operations are heavily reliant on the current
technology platform. However, there has been little investment to correct ongoing issues
or to make improvements to processes.
• IT Process Activities – Most IT activities are informal and inconsistently followed resulting
in inefficient operations and incomplete or potentially duplicated efforts.
• IT Demand/Service Management – Prioritization of IT requests are initially guided by
finance personnel, resulting in non-finance requests often receiving lower priority.
• IT Governance – The IT department is not integrated into the development of corporate
strategy, resulting in vague and/or unrealistic IT objectives.
• IT Organization – The current organizational structure does not facilitate the sharing of IT
resources and skills throughout the ABC Group. In addition, this further disconnects (Insert
subsidiary name) IT from the business. As a result, IT knowledge is in silos and business
owners perceive that IT lacks urgency when dealing with their requests.


Business Value Drivers
Through the interviews with <Company X> management and staff, the following
characteristics were identified as necessary attributes to create value throughout the
business:
• Customer Focus – Providing quality products and service to the customer to drive sales
and revenue growth.
• Quality – Deliver a consistent product that is superior to its competitors.
• Decentralization – Dispersed decision making throughout the business.
• Flexibility/Scalability – Adapting to changing business environments and enabling
business growth.
• Reduced Cost – Keeping operating costs low to drive margin.
• Productivity – Creating a higher level of output using existing resources.
• Communication – Facilitating the exchange of thoughts, information, and ideas across
business units.
• Innovation – Creating or introducing new ideas, processes, services and products.
Because these characteristics drive business value at <Company X>, they must be at the
core of the solutions IT provides to the business.

Recommended Improvements
Overview
Based on our findings, we recommend that <Company X>:
• Restructure the IT department to include a reporting relationship between (Insert subsidiary
name) IT and Plant IT personnel.
• Change the role of the Director of IT to report directly to the President of <Company X>.
• Define specific roles and responsibilities for all IT personnel.
• Create an IT strategic plan through which the IT department can prioritize strategic
technological initiatives.
• Revise the (insert subsidiary name) charter to include representatives from outside of the
finance group, and identify tactical business issues that can be addressed through the use
of technology.
• Reprioritize current IT requests to reflect the needs of the entire organization, not just
Finance.
• Document and implement IT processes that manage IT service delivery.
• Consider outsourcing IT infrastructure management, particularly the (insert IT system).


Proposed Improvement Roadmap and Timeline
Q1 Q2 Q3
IT Organization

Define and
Rollout new IT
Legend:
Organizational Internal Resources
Structure and
Roles Consider External Services
Demand and Service
Governance,

Identify All
Redefine IT Current Define New IT
Create Detailed
Governance Technology Performance
IT Strategic Plan
Structure Needs of Metrics
Business
IT Process Activities

Define and Implement New
Implement Implement New Implement New
Implement the IT Change/
Centralized IT Incident/Problem Project
Demand Configuration
Service Desk Management Management
Management Management
Process Process Process
Process Process
IT Architecture

Make Decision
Related to
Co-locating
(insert IT system)


Implement Organizational Restructuring
The following slides discuss the recommended improvements that impact the business. The
recommendations related to IT process and architecture are discussed in the detailed
findings section of this document, as they are for the most part transparent to the business.
The proposed organizational structure provides several key benefits:
• Having the (Insert subsidiary name) Director of IT report to the President of <Company X>
ABC Group, the department and its objectives become better aligned to all aspects of the
business not just finance.
• Having the IT Managers at each plant report to (Insert subsidiary name) IT helps to define
and implement consistent IT processes across the organization. Additionally, (Insert
subsidiary name) IT can potentially leverage these individuals skill sets outside of end-user
and desktop support.
• IT’s workload can be better balanced across the department by assigning individuals to
specific roles.
• The proposed organization structure can be used to better understand and identify the skill
gaps within the current department that need to be filled through training or hiring additional
personnel.
• The reorganization will align the IT cost structure with the business by eliminating
unnecessary expenditures and support costs, while allowing IT to focus on strategic
investments.

Implement Organizational Restructuring (Concluded)
The chart below shows a proposed organizational structure based on our findings:

President of <Client X> Beverage Plant General
Beverage Group Leadership Team Managers

Beverage User
IT Leader
Group

Project End User
Applications Infrastructure
Management Support

Corporate
Operational
Security
Applications End User Support
Network /
Financial Telecomm Desktop Support
Applications
Database (insert location) IT
Administration
End User Support
Server
Administration Desktop Support

(insert location) IT
The levels of the organizational chart correspond to typical End User Support
capabilities that should exist within the IT department. A Desktop Support
single individual can fill multiple roles in the chart.
(insert location) IT

In the new organizational structure, the IT leader becomes a End User Support
member of the ABC Leadership Team. Desktop Support


Redefine IT Governance Structure
• The ABC Leadership Team should work with President of ABC business to define strategic
business objectives.
– Because the Director of IT reports to the President of the ABC business, these objectives
can be filtered and prioritized based on the organization’s overall objectives.
• (insert subsidiary name) charter is revised to include members throughout the business
(Sales, Logistics, HR, Finance, IT, etc.).
– (insert subsidiary name) identifies tactical business and technology issues.
– Creates proposed prioritization of tactical issues to provide to Director of IT and
President, ABC business.


Roadmap Benefits and Rationalization
The focused investment in IT will increase:
• Awareness of IT capabilities and involvement in defining IT objectives.
• The responsiveness of the IT department to addressing business needs and expectations.
• IT’s flexibility and agility to address changing business priorities.
• Information available to decision makers.
• IT solutions that solve business issues and drive value.
• Incorporation of <Company X> business value drivers.


Detailed Findings and Improvement Roadmap

IT Architecture
IT Architecture
Corporate Governance
Corporate Strategy, Enterprise Risks,
• The applications and infrastructure
Board of Directors, Business Goals components that support business
operations and processes.
IT Governance • The most customer-facing level of the IT
Strategy, Risks, Costs, Requirements, Governance Model as it impacts every
Maturity, Efficiency, Metrics
user of technology.

Business Model
• Managed through the IT processes
IT Demand IT Service
IT Organization

implemented within the organization.

Asset, Change, Project,
Security, Operations, etc.

IT Architecture
Applications, Databases, Networks,
Operating Systems, Hardware


IT Architecture
Findings – Areas for Improvement
• <Company X> has been addressing Disaster Recovery requirements, but has not
addressed ongoing service interruptions.
– Example: Power outages at (Insert subsidiary name) shut down business operations at the plant
locations causing users to rely on manual workarounds.

• The latency of the corporate network slows down business operations.
– Example: Drivers often sit unproductive for 20 minutes after their trucks have been loaded while their
handheld devices sync to the corporate server.

• Information is not readily available to facilitate business operations.
– Example: Customer orders are sometimes “lost” in the system when dispatching and loading orders.

• System/application functionality is not fully utilized.
– Example: Salesman are able to process orders for unauthorized products in the handhelds because
the application has not been configured to restrict those sales, resulting in product being written off.


IT Architecture
Findings – Areas for Improvement (Concluded)
• <Company X> business operations are dependent on the (insert IT system).
– It is a commonly held perception within (Insert subsidiary name) that the plan is to
replace the applications running on the (insert IT system) at some point in the future,
although a timeline for the retirement or replacement has not been established. As a
result, there is little emphasis in (Insert subsidiary name) IT to implement program
changes on the (insert IT system) including break and fix changes, resulting in manual
workarounds performed by the business to correct common errors.
– Support for the Garman application is dependent on the knowledge of one individual.
This single threaded support model creates a risk that the application may become
unsupportable if the individual leaves the organization without an appropriate knowledge
transfer or the creation of additional documentation.
– <Company X> should evaluate their reasoning for moving towards SAP, as the current
(insert IT system) platform may be sufficient to meet the needs of the business.
• Technology does not facilitate the inventory management processes, from sales to product
delivery and billing, due to limitations in the current IT architecture.


IT Architecture
Considerations
Based on these findings, <Company X> should consider:
• Co-locating the (insert IT system) hardware to an outsourcing provider:
– Allows IT to focus on meeting the needs of the business, while relieving them of
administrative work, such as tape backups and hardware administration.
– Addresses (insert IT system) continuity issues related to power outages in data center.
• Re-evaluating their strategic direction of moving towards SAP, as investment in the current
platform may be sufficient to meet the needs of the business.


• The processes performed by the IT
Board of Directors, Business Goals department to manage the underlying IT
architecture.
IT Governance • Execution of the IT processes is
Strategy, Risks, Costs, Requirements, governed by IT demand management
and managed by IT service

Business Model
management.
IT Demand IT Service • Strong IT processes allow an
IT Organization

organization to manage their
architecture with:
IT Process Activities – Fewer late projects
– Better change success rates
– Less unplanned work
IT Architecture – Shorter repair times for system
Applications, Databases, Networks, outages
– Better overall customer satisfaction


Findings – Strengths
• (Insert subsidiary name) IT presents a well thought out financial case for IT capital
expenditures, as well as creating detailed plans for project implementations.
– The cost of the proposed technology solutions are detailed out to the Plant General
Managers.
– Shared Financial Services provides a breakdown of IT cost when requested.
– Requirement analysis includes the appropriate individuals to define the needs of a
proposed technology solution.


IT processes appear to be informal and followed inconsistently. Specifically, we found the
following related to key process:
• Service Desk – The first line of support that handles end user requests including user
access.
– Plant IT personnel are consistently the single point of contact for technology issues at
their plant. Conversely, there is no single point of contact for requests coming into
(Insert subsidiary name).
○ Users often bypass IT support personnel in favor of direct communication with IT
administrators.
○ Because users call IT resources directly, many issues are never recorded, resulting in
support personnel having to research and troubleshoot issues that have already been
resolved by others in the department.
– There is no central repository to track support requests. Without such a repository,
support personnel cannot effectively balance their workload or leverage prior knowledge
to resolve current issues.


• Service Desk (Continued)
– There is no follow through on requests indicating status, expected completion date, or
the actual completion of a request.
– Plant IT personnel have been restricted or prohibited from performing some tasks without
the involvement of (Insert subsidiary name) IT, such as creating user accounts and some
administrative duties on the (insert IT system).
○ While the Plant IT have access within the system to grant user’s access, according to
policy (Insert subsidiary name) IT does not allow them to grant user’s access.
○ The Plant IT often has to go against policy to create a user account when (Insert
subsidiary name) IT is not available.


• Change and Release Management – The processes to introduce changes to the IT
applications and infrastructure.
– Requirements for changes are informally communicated, resulting in additional
development effort and a lower success rate for changes.
– Applications do not have test environments requiring IT to implement changes directly
into the production environment, and changes are not consistently or thoroughly
tested, resulting in unidentified impacts to other functionality and a potentially unreliable
production environment.
○ Major changes are often tested by end users, while minor changes are usually entered
directly into production without the involvement or testing by end users.
○ Changes are not formally approved for release into the production environment.
– The perception in the business is that changes to business applications are often
unsuccessful on the first attempt, which results in additional system downtime and
unplanned outages.


• Project Management – The process of organizing time, cost, and personnel in support of
implementations, and infrastructure upgrades.
– In general, projects are initiated well, but break down in their execution.
– Time is not effectively managed for IT projects.
○ IT projects commonly run over budget and schedule.
○ The handheld implementation has been in process for the last three years.
– (Insert subsidiary name) IT has difficulty managing multiple projects at one time, primarily
because of ineffective time management, which results in a degradation to project
execution and end user support.
○ Handheld implementation was the primary objective for the previous few years.
○ The Disaster Recovery project has recently taken precedence over day-to-day support
requests.


• Incident and Problem Management – The processes to resolve issues and to build a
correlation between issues to understand the root cause.
– There is no known issue database or knowledgebase for the Plant IT staff to reference
for troubleshooting purposes.
○ Inconsistently documenting incidents results in an incomplete record and management
of incidents/problems.
○ Troubleshooting of incidents/problems is often dependent on individual knowledge or
starting from square one.
– Incidents are often resolved by addressing the symptom rather than fixing the underlying
problem.
– The Plant has difficulty receiving timely support from (Insert subsidiary name) to resolve
issues.


Considerations
• Based on our findings, <Company X> should consider:
– Revising the current IT processes and activities to resolve day-to-day service issues by
improving key operational activities.
– Formally documenting the IT process that they have in place.
– Introducing new processes to address the gaps identified in this section.
– Introducing manual or system based tracking mechanisms to log and monitor the status
of IT requests.
– Consider introducing metrics to monitor IT’s performance in these processes.


IT Demand and Service Management
IT Demand Management
• The mechanism through which IT
Board of Directors, Business Goals
manages and prioritizes the business’
request for improvements/projects to the
IT architecture and services.
IT Governance
Strategy, Risks, Costs, Requirements,
• Effective demand management enables
Maturity, Efficiency, Metrics IT to balance the departmental workload
and provide the business with realistic

Business Model
expectations for their requests.
IT Organization

IT Service Management
• Provides the business with knowledge of
IT’s capabilities and services and
IT Process Activities monitors IT’s success at providing those
Asset, Change, Project, services.
• Effective service management enables
IT to deliver a variety of high-quality
IT Architecture
services to the business.
Operating Systems, Hardware Together these areas allow IT to better understand and
manage the business’ expectations.


• Demand Management – The process to identify and prioritize the technology needs of the
business.
– IT is struggling to respond to the current demands of the business.
○ IT does not effectively categorize requests according to priority.
○ Break/Fix requests are prioritized along with projects and IT initiatives.
– The IT department is faced with a significant backlog of requests from the business.
○ The lack of demand management has created an environment that prevents IT from
proactively addressing business needs.
– The IT department does not have a central request-tracking mechanism to prioritize,
schedule, assign, and monitor the status of IT requests or deployment of IT resources.
○ Lack of central tracking mechanism gives business the perception that there isn’t a
prioritization scheme in place.
○ IT workloads are unbalanced because there is no visibility into what tasks an IT
resource is currently working on or scheduled to work on.


• Demand Management (Continued)
– The prioritization of IT initiatives is not currently defined in an objective and standardized
manner. The current prioritization process of IT initiatives is dependent upon:
○ How vocal the individual making the request is.
○ Whether or not the Finance and IT members of the (insert subsidiary name) are aware
of the request and perceived relevance to business objectives.
– Prioritization of requests is defined by the ABC Users Group with minimal involvement or
influence from non-Finance personnel.
○ Business users do not have a direct forum to voice their needs to IT.
○ IT initiatives are prioritized by Finance and IT, causing a misalignment with the priorities
of the business.
– There are no dashboards for the (insert subsidiary name) to view the current incidents
and/or IT priorities.


• Service Management – The process of communicating IT’s value, status, and capabilities
to the business.
– IT’s communication with the business is typically reactive.
– The business does not have confidence in IT or is aware of IT’s capabilities, so they are
rarely included in strategic discussions.


Considerations
– Implementing an objective process for demand prioritization and a process for monitoring
IT progress.
– Installing tools to support demand management, such as a centralized helpdesk ticketing
system and/or project management tools.
– Installing tools to enable monitoring activities, such as executive dashboards and key
indicator reports.
– Identify the current needs of business and incorporate demand into the IT strategic plan.


IT Governance
• Defines the corporate strategy and
Board of Directors, Business Goals
goals as they relate to the organization
as a whole.
• Driven by the Board of Directors and
IT Governance
business executives.
IT Governance

Business Model
• The mechanism through which IT
translates business objectives to define
IT Organization

Management Management how information technology can support
the corporate strategy.
• Guides IT to improve efficiency, lower
cost, and better align themselves with
Security, Operations, etc. the business while managing risks and
service delivery.

IT Architecture
• Effective IT Governance drives business
productivity through IT solutions while
Operating Systems, Hardware increasing ROI for IT capital investment.


Governance
• The (insert subsidiary name) and X groups provide the structure for IT governance.
– <Company X> has a commitment to decentralized decision making as seen in yearly
Summit's and (insert subsidiary name) groups.
• <Company X> Summits drive innovation and collaboration throughout the business.


Governance
• Users avoid (Insert subsidiary name) IT’s assistance for technology initiatives.
– Users avoid going to (Insert subsidiary name) IT because they know they will not be able
to respond to their needs in the near future.
– Business and IT strategies are not aligned, resulting in IT’s inability to meet business
expectations and effectively support the organization.
• (Insert subsidiary name) IT not involved in the Bottling Plants strategic planning, resulting
in:
– Plants losing potential efficiencies from implementation of technology.
– IT losing because they are expected to support potentially unrealistic initiatives.
– This contributes to a reactive approach in meeting the needs of the business, as opposed
to IT being enabled to proactively make preparations to meet future demand.


Governance
• IT is not involved in business Summits.
– The business discusses ideas for innovation and collaboration at the Summits, but IT is
not involved in the Summits to suggest technology solutions to business challenges.
– IT does not have the full picture of the challenges and initiatives that the business is
encountering.
• IT lacks an overall technology strategy, which defines how technology will assist <Company
X> in the future.
• There is an overall lack of monitoring related to the consistent execution of IT processes
and the achievement of IT objectives.


Governance
Considerations
– Assessing IT leadership, IT strategic plans, and aligning the IT strategy to address
<Company X> business needs and expectations.
– Redefining (insert subsidiary name) membership, charter, and responsibilities to align
with new organizational structure.


IT Organization
IT Organization
• The personnel and associated skill sets
Board of Directors, Business Goals that are necessary to administer and
support the levels of the IT Governance
Model.
IT Governance
• Influences all IT activities.

Business Model
• An effective IT organization is aligned
with the business, is responsive to end-
IT Organization

user needs, and proactively works to
solve business challenges through IT
solutions.

IT Architecture


IT Organization
Organizational Structure
• <Company X> IT department consists of two groups of personnel:
– Shared Financial Services IT
○ Director of IT reports to (Insert subsidiary name) Director of Finance.
○ IT Staff reports to (Insert subsidiary name) Director of IT.
– Plant IT
○ IT Managers report to Plant Director’s of Finance.
○ The IT Staff reports to the IT Manager.


IT Organization
• The IT Staff has tenure with <Company X> and many years experience supporting the ABC
group and its personnel.
• The IT Staff at (Insert subsidiary name) and each plant has a genuine desire to support the
end-users.


IT Organization
• IT/Business Alignment
– The perception exists within the business that (Insert subsidiary name) IT personnel lack
the urgency of the business in their response to support requests from bottling plants.
– Due to the reporting relationship to (Insert subsidiary name), IT’s priorities are focused on
finance initiatives, rather than the customer facing and revenue generating aspects of the
business.
– The Plant IT staff understands the business challenges and needs, yet they have no
reporting relationship to (Insert subsidiary name) IT.
– Additionally, the Plant IT Staff are not involved in the IT Strategic planning and
prioritization process.
• Plant IT resources are not fully leveraged in providing IT services
– The Plant IT staff spends a great deal of time performing finance activities, which detracts
from providing IT support to the business.
– They report to the Plant Finance Managers and are restricted to servicing the needs of
the plant that they are employed by.
– The Plant IT staff have skills outside of the requirements for their positions, but they are
not leveraged across the organization.


IT Organization
• IT Skill Sets
– The IT department needs additional skills in the following areas to sufficiently align with
and support customer needs: Windows Applications Administration, Network
Administration, (insert IT system) Administration, Project Management.
– IT is limited by their current technical skill sets in the breadth of services and solutions
they can offer to the business.
○ In-house development resources are primarily trained in (insert IT system) platform.
○ (Insert subsidiary name) IT lacks strong Windows applications administration skills, and
as a result, has to rely on external consultants to provide application support.
• IT does not appear to be making productivity gains, and in some cases, appears to be
regressing, such as:
– (Insert subsidiary name) IT personnel are not held accountable to their deadlines nor
rewarded for their accomplishments.


IT Organization
Considerations
– Restructuring the current organizational structure, roles, responsibilities and reporting
relationships.
– Creating a training plan to develop current resources.


Recommendations and Improvement Roadmap

Recommendations & Improvement Roadmap
Roadmap Assumptions
• The estimated duration, level of effort, and internal resource requirements of the projects
outlined in this improvement roadmap are based on a number of assumptions:
– Processes will be implemented throughout the ABC business.
– Estimated level of effort assumes that personnel involved have some expertise in
process design.
– Estimated percentage of internal resource time required assumes that <Company X> will
opt to utilize external resources in the form of either a system implementer or other third-
party expert.
• Our process improvement recommendations are described using terminology from the ITIL
Framework.
• Any deviations from these assumptions could alter the timeframe and/or the ultimate
outcome of the project.
• The suggested activities included in the roadmap are directly related to the business value
drivers detailed in the subsequent slides.


Q1 Q2 Q3
IT Organization

Define and Roll-
out new IT
Legend:
Organizational Internal Resources
Structure and
Roles Consider External Services
Demand and Service
Governance,

Identify All
Redefine IT Current Define New IT
Create Detailed
Governance Technology Performance
IT strategic plan
Structure Needs of Metrics
Business

Define and Implement New
Implement Implement New Implement New
Implement the IT Change/
Centralized IT Incident/Problem Project
Demand Configuration
Service Desk Management Management
Process Process Process
Process Process
IT Architecture

Make Decision
Related to Co-
locating (insert IT
system)


Details – IT Organization
Define and Rollout New IT Organizational Structure and Roles
• Define the necessary roles, responsibilities and reporting relationships.
• Assign staff to the newly defined roles and responsibilities.
• Fill any vacant positions. Value Driver(s): All
• Assess skill gaps and create a training plan to address them.
Project
Activities:

Duration: 1.5 Months

• The new structure and roles aligns organizational capabilities to
<Company X’s> business value drivers: Customer Focus, Quality,
Decentralization, Flexibility/Scalability, Reduced Cost, Productivity,
Communication, Innovation
• Facilitates coordination and communication with the IT lead and
Benefits/ President of (insert subsidiary) through new reporting relationships. (insert resource
Resources:
Rationalization: • Increases employee productivity by leveraging all IT resources for titles/names)
(insert subsidiary) needs.
• Allows for creation of an IT career path and enables IT professionals to
focus on the technology needs of the business.
• Creates an IT team that leverages strengths of team members and
delivers innovative solutions to meet plant and (insert subsidiary) needs.


Details – Governance, Demand and Service
Redefine IT Governance Structure
• Create a new vision statement for the IT department.
• (insert subsidiary name) charter is revised to include members throughout Value Driver(s): All
Project the business (e.g. Sales, Logistics, HR, Finance, IT) and to reflect new
Activities: responsibilities.
Duration: 1 Month

• Aligns IT initiatives to (insert subsidiary) and plant-level strategic business
goals and value drivers.
• Creates an awareness of customer needs and requirements in IT.
Benefits/ • Provides innovative solutions through increased involvement and cross- Resources:
(insert resource
Rationalization: functional teaming. titles/names)
• Creates a common framework for IT decision making that enables a
centralized function, with dispersed resources, to meet the needs of a
decentralized business.


Identify All Current Technology Needs of Business
• The BLT will meet regularly with the (insert subsidiary) President to
communicate short and long term strategic objectives. Value Driver(s): All
• The (insert subsidiary name) identifies opportunities for technology
Project
improvement and defines technology requirements for innovative
Activities:
business solutions.
• Conduct quarterly (insert subsidiary name) meeting to discuss tactical Duration: 1 Month
technology issues.
• Enables IT to be flexible to meet the needs of the business.
• Increases the quality of services provided to the business.
Benefits/ • Reduces cost by identifying local redundancies that can be managed at Resources:
(insert resource
Rationalization: an (insert subsidiary) IT level. titles/names)
• Identifies innovative solutions to common problems throughout the
business.


Create Detailed IT strategic plan
• Create guiding principles for IT based upon their vision statement and
incorporate them into the strategic plan. Customer Focus,
Value Driver(s): Productivity,
• Define a plan for utilizing information technology to achieve (insert
Communication
subsidiary) strategic objectives.
Project
Activities: • Create a financial plan to budget for IT capital expenditures.
• Update and maintain the IT strategic plan.
Duration: 1 Month

• Aligns IT with the customer focus of the plant and (insert subsidiary)
level businesses.
• Enables IT to increase productivity by managing to stated objectives.
Benefits/ (insert resource
• Increases transparency and communication with the business related to Resources:
Rationalization: titles/names)
capital expenditures.
• Provides a higher quality of service at the (insert subsidiary) level
through a strategic and prioritized approach to achieving IT initiatives.


Define New IT Performance Metrics
• Develop quantifiable metrics to measure whether the organization is
effectively using information technology and strategic objectives are Productivity,
Project appropriately leveraging IT. Value Driver(s): Quality,
Activities: • Distribute and discuss this scorecard at each IT Steering Committee Reduced Cost
Meeting.
Duration: 2 Months
• Enables IT to proactively address performance issues.
Benefits/ • Increases IT productivity through monitoring and corrective action. (insert resource
• Delivers a higher quality of service to the business. Resources:
titles/names)
Rationalization:
• Reduces cost related to business downtime related to system issues.


Details – IT Process Activities
Define and Implement the IT Demand Management Process
• Establish a prioritization-tracking mechanism (scheduled and actual).
• Identify types of incoming requests (e.g. change or service requests).
• Define prioritization classifications, as well as standard, objective, Flexibility/
quantitative criteria for each. Value Driver(s): Scalability,
• Identify types of requests that need to be assessed by the advisory board. Communication
• Identify a mechanism to share prioritization scheme and criteria to
Project business and IT personnel.
Activities: • Develop a location for posting up-to-date prioritization schedule.
• Refocus steering committee to address Business Priorities to be enabled
by information technology.
• Once the IT Demand Prioritization Strategy has been defined, the IT
Duration: 2 Months
Steering Committee and IT leadership should review the existing IT
demands and prioritize them according to the defined strategy.
• IT Priorities should then be reviewed Quarterly and priorities should be
revised and adjusted based on business needs.
• Enables IT to proactively address customer demand.
• Creates a more flexible and scalable IT organization that can effectively
Benefits/ manage the needs of the three bottling plants and (insert subsidiary) wide (insert resource
needs in a timely manner. Resources:
• Aligns IT objectives to business objectives.
• Facilitates communication between business and IT related to priorities.


Implement Centralized IT Service Desk Process
• Define the Service Desk strategy, model and staffing. Customer Focus,
Value Driver(s):
• Define and establish Service Desk policies. Communication
• Process Engineering – Service Desk
– Design Process Flows (e.g. Inputs/Outputs and Integration)
Project
– Integrate defined control activities into the relevant processes.
Activities:
– Define Organizational RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Duration: 1 Month
Informed)
– Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and their reporting criteria.
• Define new process training requirements.
• Increases customer focus by servicing the needs of IT’s customers.
Benefits/ • Facilitates communication between members of IT and the business. (insert resource
Resources:
Rationalization: • Reduces resource requirements for local IT support (e.g. break/fix) by titles/names)
centralizing aspects of end-user support.


Implement New Incident/Problem Management Process
• Refine Problem policies and controls created for the Service Desk.
• Process Engineering – Incident/Problem Management Productivity,
– Design Process Flows (Inputs/Outputs and Integration) Value Driver(s):
Customer Focus
Project – Integrate defined control activities into the relevant processes.
Activities: – Define Organizational RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted,
Informed)
– Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and their reporting criteria. Duration: 2 Months
• Define new processes training requirements.
• Increases productivity through lessened system downtime and a
structured approach to resolving system issues/problems.
Benefits/ • Provides IT customers with workarounds to common issues allowing (insert resource
Resources:
Rationalization: them to focus on the customer. titles/names)
• Enables IT to create innovative solutions to common IT and business
problems.


Implement New Change/Release Management Process
• Define and charter the Change Advisory Board.
• Define Change and Release policies. Quality,
• Process Engineering - Change/Release Processes Flexibility/
– Design Process Flows (Inputs/Outputs and Integration) Value Driver(s): Scalability,
– Integrate defined control activities into the relevant processes. Productivity,
– Define consequences for unauthorized changes. Reduced Cost
Project – Establish Maintenance Windows
Activities: – Define Organizational RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted,
Informed)
– Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and their reporting criteria.
• Integrate detected changes into the Standardized Change and Release Duration: 3 Months
process.
• Define new processes training requirements.
• Institute monitoring processes to identify unauthorized changes.
• Allows IT to be flexible and scalable to changing business needs.
• Increases productivity through lessened system downtime and greater
first fix rate for changes.
Benefits/ • Reduces cost normally associated to a low first fix rate and effects to (insert resource
Resources:
Rationalization: other systems. titles/names)
• Enables innovative solutions to be implemented within the (insert
subsidiary) environment through a structured and controlled change
process.


Implement New Project Management Process
• Improve Project Management Process (PMP) and Systems Development
Life Cycle (SDLC) Processes
Customer Focus,
– Identify all stakeholders and assign the appropriate owner(s). Productivity,
– Conduct project kickoff meetings to layout project expectations. Value Driver(s): Reduced Cost,
○ Seek buy-in from business and IT, but ensure availability of key Innovation
parties on both sides beforehand.
Project ○ Define project roles and responsibilities of both IT and business
Activities: personnel.
– Involve business users at all stages of the process, especially
requirements documentation and testing.
– Let the business drive the discussions based on their understanding Duration: 2 Months
and needs.
– Assess whether the appropriate level of end-user testing has been
performed prior to going live.
• Increases productivity of IT resources.
• Creates a structured process to manage technology implementations to
reduce the cost associated with late or failed projects. Resources:
• Enables innovation through the execution of business projects involving
technical implementations.


Details – IT Architecture
Make Decision Related to Co-locating (insert IT system)
• Perform a Cost/Benefit analysis of co-locating (insert IT system) at an
offsite location.
• Make a final decision whether to co-locate (insert IT system) or not. Customer Focus,
Value Driver(s):
• Co-locate (insert IT system) equipment, if applicable. Quality
– Assess the required changes to infrastructure, IT processes, and user
Project
support related to co-location of (insert IT system).
Activities:
– Identify a vendor to co-locate (insert IT system).
– Implement the required changes to infrastructure, IT processes, and
user support. Duration: 2 Months
– Cutover to the co-located (insert IT system).
– Perform a post-implementation review to verify success of the cutover.
• Provides a higher quality of service to the end users of technology by
reducing power outages.
• Allows <Company X> to focus on customer needs and process
improvement by removing the burden of (insert IT system) administration. Resources:
• Creates a more flexible and scalable infrastructure by relieving (insert
subsidiary) IT of the (insert IT system) administration and environmental
requirements.


IT Assessment Drives Organizational Improvements

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