Contents |
Objective:
The objective of this Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is to document the strategic planning process.
Scope:
Strategic Planning is an on going and iterative process managed through project a management methodology. Major changes in the business environment (internal or external) will lead to a re-assessment of the IT Strategy to ensure that it is fully aligned with the business strategy.
Owner:
Marketing
Development of a strategy is a very broad exercise.Thus, the procedure that supports the development framework must be very comprehensive in perspective.Therefore, as a framework, not every activity is appropriate in every IT Strategic Planning exercise.Likewise, the spectrum of opportunities and the ever-changing landscape of the Internet that will be considered are not fully represented in this document. When these opportunities surface this procedure will provide a framework for analysis, but additional steps should be added to the project plan and ultimately to this procedure.
Role | Responsibility |
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Contracting Organization | The Contracting Organization contracts with the performing organization to develop the product using a project discipline. The Contracting Organization represents two departments: Product and Technical Support.Product is divided into Sales and Advertising, Marketing and Product, and Strategic Development.A brief description of each area follows.
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Customer | A Customer is the individual or organization who will use the project product.Note that there is a distinction for SDLC between the true customer and the Contracting Organization that acts as the customer’s representative within SDLC. |
Office of the Chief Executive | The Office of the Chief Executive is the executive management team at SDLC.They establish
business strategy and commission projects. |
Owner | The Owner oversees the completion of work at a gate They may be from the Product, Content, Technical Support, or Development areas depending on the project activities underway. The Project Sponsor assigns owners at the beginning of a project.
Each gate has an Owner who is accountable for tracking the gate requirements, maintaining the status of the gate and taking corrective action to ensure that the gate is met in a timely manner.The gate owner is also responsible for convening a meeting of the appropriate review board to approve passage of the gate. In the case of gates that have associated management phase reviews (see glossary), the gate owner convenes the review meeting and facilitates the decision making that is required at that gate In the event that an exception arises at a gate that does not have any associated management phase review, the owner is responsible for escalating the issue to the appropriate management phase review board for resolution. |
Performing Organization | The Performing Organization is generally the Engineering Department.The Engineering Department consists of Development (Sustaining, Advanced and Strategic), Validation/Quality Assurance, Operations (OCC, Release Engineering, Database Administration, Network and Operations Engineering), Systems Engineering/Architecture and project management. |
Program Manager | The Program Manager is the individual who oversees multiple projects that are related by a type of service delivery or by feature and functionality.The Program Manager is accountable for the program and is empowered by the Office of the Chief Executive to make decisions affecting the successful outcome of the program.
The Program Manager takes an enterprise view.The Program Manager is responsible for determining the schedule for deployment of company resources and achieving the objectives of a specific program.The role includes the following additional responsibilities:
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Program Management Office (PMO) | The Program Management Office (PMO) monitors, supports and reports on SDLC's programs and projects.Program Managers provide defined periodic updates to the PMO The PMO consolidates the efforts of all programs and technology specific projects and delivers these reports to the OCE.
The PMO is responsible for issuing standards and guidelines for planning, tracking, and reporting, and for providing project support to individual project teams.Accountability for project delivery will remain with the individual Project Manager and Program Manager. |
Project Manager | The Project Manager is accountable for the project and must be empowered to make decisions affecting the successful outcome of the project responsible for managing a project.This should not be confused with the project management function that exists within many organizations.
Project Managers are responsible for determining the deployment schedule for their specific project.This role includes the following additional responsibilities:
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Review Board | The Review Board is composed of representatives from both the Performing and Contracting Organizations, as well as the Project Sponsor, Project Manager and Program Manager.Review Boards assess the deliverables at each gate in the System Development Life Cycle to insure that requirements have been met. Also, the Review Board’s specific knowledge of the project’s goals and status allow it to make informed ecisions to which they are held accountable.
Milestone/Gate reviews provide the mechanism for the management of the Performing Organization and the Contracting Organization to make decisions concerning the scope, cost and schedule of the project At each review, the members of the Review Board are required to make decisions that are in the best interests of SDLC. These decisions may involve making tradeoffs to arrive at an optimal decision.It may be necessary to omit or remove scope in order to satisfy cost and schedule constraints.Additional cost may be approved to maintain scope and schedule commitments.A schedule delay may be agreed upon to enable required scope to be delivered within existing budgets.Each case is unique and must be considered on its specific merits. |
Service Organization | The Service Organization is the unit that that provides deployment support services to the Contracting Organization for all SDLC products.Services include provision and support of deployment tools, software load support, problem resolution, phone support and deployment planning support.At SDLC the Service Organization is generally Technical Support. |
Training Organization | The Training Organization is the organization that provides customer installation and operations training to the Contracting Organization for all SDLC products.This generally refers to Technical Support. |
Program/Project Management metrics are focused on the measurement of cycle times and defects.Measurements provide the foundation to quickly identify, isolate and remediate inefficient results from activities that do not meet expected performance levels.
Metric | Description |
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Cycle Time | The number of days or hours it takes to complete requirements for a SDLC Business Gate and/or milestone. |
Defects | Instances of failure to pass specific tests or quality measures or to meet specification/acceptance criteria. These are recorded and assessed throughout a project and reported at the end of the project. |
Change Agents | Individuals who analyze a process and recommend ways to improve it, successful or
not in its adoption, will be reported to Engineering Department management.These individuals will receive recognition for their effort to compress cycle times and/or improve quality. |
Role/Activity | Description |
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Project Strategy Lock-Down |
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Governance | Governance determines business strategy through the development and analysis of:
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Governance | Governance develops the following through an iterative process supported by functional areas:
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Technical and Product Support | Technical Support and Product support the development of business strategy through
competitive analysis and campaigns for new customers and markets.(Forms: Strategy Characterization: Market Segment Selection,Strategy Characterization: Market Segment Approach, and Market Share/Market Growth Model)
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Engineering | Engineering Department supports the development of business strategy through competitive analysis and information on emerging technologies. (Forms: Current Information System Support for Business Processes and Event List) |
Governance | Governance defines the initial value proposition by synthesizing data from analysis and forms.
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Governance | Governance prepares first cut vision of opportunities and direction
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Project Manager | The Project Manager establishes project controls and monitors completion of work for management review prior to moving forward.
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Requirements Scope Lock-Down |
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Governance | Governance conducts a market evaluation (evaluates market attractiveness) establishing performance measures and targets for decision making (Form: Enterprise Competitors) |
Governance | Governance identifies relative strengths and weaknesses (SWOT [strengths,weaknesses, opportunities and threats]) |
Technical and Product Support | Technical Support and Product support the market evaluation and SWOT by preparing appropriate analysis (Forms: Enterprise Customers, Customer Requirements, Weighted Requirements Ranking, and Application Development Strategy) |
Engineering | The Engineering Department receives the SWOT analysis and provides to Governance “information” for Systems Diagnostic,” including, but not limited to the areas of Configuration Management, Capacity Management, and Site Monitoring. (Forms: Application Development Strategy, Equipment Facility Requirements, IT Infrastructure to Information Cross Reference, and IT Component Costs) |
Engineering | The Engineering Department conducts an IT Infrastructure Diagnostic (Forms: Process Dependency Diagram and Current Infrastructure Strengths and Weaknesses) |
Governance | Governance consolidates and analyzes the Information Systems Diagnostic (Form: Information Systems Strategic Grid) |
Governance | Governance analyses the IT Infrastructure Diagnostic, the output of which includes:
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Governance | Governance prepares situation assessment, expectations and requirements:
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Project Manager | The Project Manager updates the plan and monitors completion of work for management review prior to moving forward.
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Preliminary Strategic Options |
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Governance | Governance creates a preliminary strategic options document |
Governance | Governance determines customer and product profitability
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Governance | Governance assess competitive intensity:
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Technical and Product Support | Technical Support and Product Support the Profitability Analysis and assessment of competitive intensity (Forms – Updated/Revised: Strategy Characterization: Market Segment, Strategy Characterization: Market Approach, Market Share/Market Growth Model, Enterprise Customers, Weighted Requirements Ranking and Application Development Strategy) |
Engineerin | The Engineering Department supports the Profitability Analysis, assessment of competitive intensity and develops preliminary strategic options (Forms: - Created/Updated: Application Development Strategy, Current Information System Description, IT Component Inventory, IT Component Costs, and Equipment Improvement Matrix) |
Project Manager | The Project Manager updates the plan and monitors completion of work for management review prior to moving forward.
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System Requirements Definition |
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Product and Technical Support | Product and Technical Support subject matter experts support assessments and analysis. |
Engineering Department | Engineering Department management and functional areas support information needs and provide experts to research and recommend options. Also, functional subject matter experts consider
configuration, capacity, monitoring, etc. issues and opportunities throughout the strategic planning process. |
Governance | Governance evaluates strategic options |
Governance | Governance synthesizes market attractiveness by
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Engineering | The Engineering Department assesses existing and potential vendors/partners (Form: Enterprise Suppliers) |
Governance | Governance assesses
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Governance | Governance determines information needs and derives IS opportunities
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Project Manager | The Project Manager updates the plan and monitors completion of work for management review prior to moving forward.
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Estimate Lock-Down |
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Product and Technical Support | Product and Technical Support subject matter experts support assessments and analysis. |
Engineering | Engineering Department management and functional areas support information needs and provide experts to research and recommend options. Also, functional subject matter experts consider
configuration, capacity, monitoring, etc. issues and opportunities throughout the strategic planning process. |
Governance | Governance envisions the changed organization
Business
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Governance | Governance develops the business system architecture
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Technical Support | Technical Support supports the development of the proposed Business System Architecture (Forms: Target Application Support for Business Processes, Cost Summary Matrix, Target Application Estimated Costs, Application Development Strategy, Process Design List, and Facility Improvement Matrix) |
Governance | Governance builds the business case
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Project Manager | The Project Manager updates the plan and monitors completion of work for management review prior to moving forward.
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Strategy Selected |
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Product and Technical Support | Product and Technical Support subject matter experts support assessments and analysis. |
Engineering | Engineering Department management and functional areas support information needs and provide experts to research and recommend options.Also, functional subject matter experts consider
configuration, capacity, monitoring, etc. issues and opportunities throughout the strategic planning process |
Governance | Governance determines usage and business support
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Governance |
Governance finalizes functional requirements
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Governance |
Governance determines IT Infrastructure Requirements using data and analysis collected throughout the project and related to the following:
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Governance |
Governance achieves consensus on the vision
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Governance |
Governance selects optimal strategy
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Project Manager |
The Project Manager updates the plan and monitors completion of work for management review prior to moving forward. . project plan management . document control . risk and issues management process
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Vendor Evaluation |
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Product and Technical Support
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Product and Technical Support subject matter experts support assessments and analysis.
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Engineering |
The Engineering Department management and functional areas support information needs and provide experts to esearch and recommend options. Also, functional subject matter experts consider configuration, capacity, monitoring, etc. issues and opportunities throughout the strategic planning process.
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Governance |
Governance determine and prioritize requirements and evaluation criteria |
Governance |
Governance develops weights and scoring system
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Governance |
Governance identifies potential vendors
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Governance |
Governance produces a Request for Proposal (RFP)
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Governance |
Governance evaluates responses
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project Manager |
The Project Manager updates the plan and monitors completion of work for management review prior to moving forward.
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Portfolio Implementation Analysis (Development) |
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Product and Technical Support |
Product and Technical Support subject matter experts support assessments and analysis.
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Engineering |
Engineering Department management and functional areas support information needs and provide experts to research and recommend options. Also, functional subject matter experts consider configuration, capacity, monitoring, etc. issues and opportunities throughout the strategic planning process
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Governance |
Governance Commits to a Strategic Solution through analysis of data collected to data.
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Governance |
Governance Conducts Portfolio Implementation Analysis
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IT Infrastructure Architecture Selected (Validation) |
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Product and Technical Support |
Product and Technical Support subject matter experts support assessments and analysis.
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Engineering |
Engineering Department prepares a transition plan addressing:
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Engineering |
Engineering Department conducts risk and contingency analysis and planning |
Governance |
Governance constructs the Implementation Architecture
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Governance |
Governance constructs IT Infrastructure Architecture Alternative (Target Environment Definition Summary, Gap Analysis, Mission Characteristics, Enterprise Performance Framework, Strategy Implementation Plan, Weighted Requirements Ranking and Information System Component Cost, Cost Summary Matrix and Customer Requirements)
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Governance |
Governance selects optimal IT Infrastructure Architecture Alternative for organization
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Project Manager |
Project Manager updates plan and monitors completion of work for management review prior to moving forward.
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Funding and Change Management |
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Product and Technical Support |
Product and Technical Support subject matter experts support assessments and analysis.
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Engineering |
Engineering Department refines transition plan addressing:
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Governance |
Governance publishes IT Strategy (for Funding)
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Governance |
Governance obtains funding approval (Capital Allocation Request (CAR))
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Governance |
Governance establishes a change management program (Form: Strategic Implementation Plan, Target Application Support for CSFs, Gap Analysis, Change Action Summary, and Continuous Improvement Framework)
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Procurement Procedure (SOP 1004) |
Evaluate the Procurement Procedure to Acquire Approved Materials
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Project Manager |
The Project Manager updates the plan and monitors completion of work for management review prior to moving forward.
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Strategy Execution |
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Asset Management (SOP 1007) |
Evaluate the Asset Management Procedure to record receipt, acceptance and installation
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Project Manager |
Project Manager updates plan and monitors completion of work for management review prior to moving forward.
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Tool | Description |
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MS Word | |
MS Excel |