Structural IT Business Alignment

CIO CFO Alignment

CIO CFO alignment can be built on a partnership of business value, metrics, and governance. ...

... "So engage the CFO on a shared set of requirements and implementation actions. Then follow up with outcomes that can be tracked to common measures ... " ...

Via Baseline: CIO-CFO Partnership

Executive Engagement in Business Technology Projects

Healthcare CEO supports a mission-aligned IT investment with active engagement that ensures implementation and drives adoption. ...

... "Raymer has taken a much more active role than most CEOs might when it comes to an IT project. She developed a detailed chart with scores of lines of responsibilities for employees throughout the organization, including herself. " ...

Via Triad Area Business Journal: IT investment

The Agile PMBoK

Understand Business and Function Strategy

IT must align with shared service functions, like finance and procurement, as well as line of business strategies in order to fully support the enterprise's goals and objectives. ...

... "IT recognised there had to be more understanding by finance of IT’s objectives as well as an improvement in IT’s understanding of the business’s objectives. " ...

Via Financial Director: Shared goals

Scalable Green Clouds

Some interesting points in the following article re ... analogy of on-premise computing with on-site power generation, a scalability success story with cloud computing, and alignment of IT sustainability goals with future cloud computing models. ...

... "Energy efficiency, as well as reliability and scalability, ought to be factors in your cloud computing migration strategies. " ...

Via InformationWeek: Cloud / Electric Generator

Marketing IT Projects

It is never too late to prepare your IT success story. Showcase your successes, show how you have learned from project challenges, and make strong connections to the business performance where appropriate. While its better to have laid the foundation of your success story during good times, you will need that story now to position your enterprise and the IT organization to survive and thrive. ...

... "but it's no long enough to simply ensure that your department is aligned with the primary interests of the business: now you have to demonstrate that alignment and educate the rest of the organization as to the efficacy of your efforts. " ...

Via The CIO Weblog: Open your kimono

Take Business Risk During Downturn

Cisco leaders discuss their financial performance and the strategy going forward. They will align on key strategies, shift resources, and take on some business risk. The company uses governing councils to prioritize accordingly. ...

... "Aggressive in strategy. Prioritize and Execute. Fourth, we will also be bold in taking good business risk during this downturn to build on market transitions, opportunities, and put our many assets to use in existing and new markets as the recovery occurs. We will prioritize the top five objectives of both the company and each of our councils and boards. We will then align resources to these top objectives. " ...

Via Cisco: CEO John Chambers on 2009 Performance

Communicating IT Value

Nice tips on transforming the IT value discussion, such as leveraging the role of the business sponsor and integrating IT initiatives in the business agenda. ...

... "burden of defending IT initiatives as standalone project is eliminated; instead the business leader adopts the IT project as a core enabler of the business strategy. " ...

Via CIO Asia: Tips for communicating value of IT

Alignment for Small Enterprise

The case is made for business and IT strategy alignment for small and medium enterprises, where service provider arrangements may be the key to improvement. ...

... "So it is important that businesses have long-term strategies supported by short-term goals that are consistently revisited to ensure that the IT environment continues to support them. " ...

Via Computing SA: Business strategy alignment

CIO Role Shifts Reporting Relationships

To keep IT relevant and better connected to the overall business strategy, shouldn't the CIO report to the CEO? The data supports a different trend. As CIOs have aligned more investments with the business, has their influence dimished? Or, is reporting relationship irrelevant in the grand scheme of things? No doubt about it ... the sand keeps shifting ...

... "The increasing prominence of the CFO in IT management signals a change in the way companies view technology strategy and deployment. " ...

Via CIO Insight: Meet Your New Boss

Breakthrough CIO Behaviors

CIO tips for transitioning from the operational to the business strategic. Behaviors include shifting the business conversations and emphasizing new organizational competencies focusing on business processes. The results are business IT projects that deliver on the value proposition. ...

... "Rather than managing the daily operations, the Breakthrough CIO identifies and executes on these projects, and tracks their returns and corresponding risk levels, until IT becomes a predictable investment. " ...

Via CXO Today: The Breakthrough CIO Role

Focus on Customer to Align With Business

Struggling to integrate IT into the business agenda? Consider focusing on the paying customers to improve their experience. This could better position IT as an enabler of business strategy. ...

... "by tackling customer-centric IT projects, CIOs can reshape their role as key corporate players and position themselves for greater enterprise responsibility by aligning with the major concern of their executive peers and bosses. " ...

Via CIO: 2008 State of the CIO

When Opportunity Knocks; And Nobody Listens

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about a new book titled Strategic Intuition, by William Duggan. It's one I'll have to buy. The article alone is interesting.

The premise is that, while we're busy marching to fixed-goal projects, opportunities pass us by at amazing speeds. Many of the greatest achievements in history were a result of leveraging opportunities, as opposed to long-planned goals or carefully thought-out strategies.

I thought it interesting that Duggan references the genius of Napoleon as an example of opportunistic successes. Napoleon was an anomaly in that he knew the value of planning, yet he wasn't subservient to it. If opportunity knocked, he was all over it. Therein lied his military genius. The French call it Coup D'Oeil. Duggan calls it strategic intuition. We might also call it situational awareness.

Whatever we call it, there are lessons in this for PMOs and project management process bigots. In our efforts to strive for clear goals and planned activities, we must also leave room for experimental efforts where rules are relaxed, and we must know when to let opportunity reign over conservatism. Sometimes the benefits are so great, that we must bear the risks.

Often, PMOs and quality groups can get so caught up in seeking perfection and magnifying risks that they minimize or ignore the benefits. If decisions are made jointly with the customer (who might have a better sense of the opportunities), we can get a more balanced view. No doubt, we need to find more ways to recognize and leverage opportunity.

Here's the article....

Surprised by Opportunity - WSJ.com: "ia"

There are no IT projects

A business alignment success story, where there are only business projects enabled by technology. The CIO is ranked in the Computerworld Top 100. ...

... "Furthering the IT-as-strategic-partner culture at GMRC is the company's refusal to use the term IT project. " ...

Via TechWeb: Grinnell Mutual CIO Dennis Mehmen

Strategic Alignment Through Tech Education

What level of tech-savvy is required of business leaders? A partnership is a two-way street. This article explores the appropriate level and approach for making progress in educating the business about technology. ...

... "Rare is the CEO who knows the difference between enterprise architecture and landscape architecture. ... CIOs need to educate their business counterparts about technology, but that is easier said than done. " ...

Via CIO Asia: Business Leaders and IT

Project Goal Alignment

Aligning your project to goals is necessary to properly position the project for success. Sharing that understanding of the alignment across your team provides insights that otherwise may not be clear to IT staffers - helping them to improve their strategic perspective of the business. ...

... "Whenever you're uncertain about the bottom-line why of an IT project, refresh your knowledge of the company's priorities and goals by talking to your manager. A big-picture perspective is a prerequisite to making meaningful contributions to your firm. " ...

Via Computerworld Australia: Differentiate Yourself in IT

Business Plan Sets Agenda With Stakeholders

Insights on using the business plan (or case) to get stakeholders aligned on measureable objectives and keeping dynamic story updated. ...

... "A business plan is a way to coordinate, communicate, and collaborate with accountability and tracking. It should get all the key people on the same page. Nobody can execute a plan they don’t know about. " ...

Via How to Change the World: How to Write a Business Plan

Change Management Situational

Get aligned, find a champion, and leverage the art of change management to your project situation. ...

... "In my experience, successful projects tend to revolve around a certain type of project manager or coordinator. Someone who really knows the organization, is respected, collects chits constantly, listens well, doesn't personalize disagreement, remains flexible, and generally wraps a friendly persona around a persistent pursuit of project objectives. " ...

Via CMS Watch: Change Management Challenges

Don't Align, Synchronize

Forrester defines a new role for IT in the strategy of a business. ...

... "But achieving a state of 100% alignment will no longer be possible - if it ever was - as firms evolve over the next five years toward business technology (BT), the pervasive technology use that drives business results. " ...

Via Forrester Research: Alignment

Align IT and Business on Critical Projects

Leadership alignment sessions, daily status reports during critical phases, and workforce collocation are all valuable techniques for aligning IT and the business on important IT projects and ensuring expectations are met. ...

... "one of the first things that he and other project leaders did was to collocate 20 business managers with 40 IT workers to help them stay in sync on the project's products and timetables. " ...

Via Computerworld: Customer Expectations on IT Projects

Join the Project Management Revolution; The SOPM Model Takes Shape

OK, I've been fleshing out the Service-Oriented Project Management (SOPM)™ model, and have come up with a more memorable and catchy representation of the four steps, although the actual content is pretty much the same.

The acronym for the four phases is UP-IT (which can symbolize "upping" the level of customer service, saying "up yours" to old ways of doing things, or "upping" the success rates of IT projects---in which case the "it" stands for "IT").

Ready??? Drum roll please......

The four phases are:

• Understand
• Prepare
• Iterate
• Transform

Here's a revision of my previous post on the topic...

1) UNDERSTAND ... Develop an understanding of the problem being addressed, the goals, constraints, the internal environment, the external market, benchmarks, the people and subject matter involved, potential solutions, risks, benefits/justification, and any other knowledge necessary for success. Most of all, understand the customer and what they need to be successful.

2) PREPARE ... After helping the customer obtain approvals if needed, prepare the project organization (resources, roles & responsibilities), operating principles, the infrastructure and tools needed to run the project, organizational alignment, preliminary training needed, communication, and anything else needed for a smooth road ahead.

3) ITERATE... Using the axiom, "Think bold, implement safely," plan, design, build, test and pilot the solution before attempting a full scale implementation. Encourage innovation. Implement in phases to achieve quick wins, earlier benefits, and greater customer satisfaction. Consider iterative prototypes during the design phase. Don't forget additional training needed.

4) TRANSFORM... After each project phase and at the end of the project, evaluate and document lessons learned, customer satisfaction, and benefits achieved (vs expected) for the purpose of transforming yourself and the customer for the better. This includes guiding the customer to help them achieve maximum results with the product or service delivered, and laying the groundwork for their continued success.

Now that I have the framework locked in, I'll complete the model around these four phases. I am absolutely convinced that this model can help increase customer satisfaction and the general success rates of projects.

SOPM; A New Project Management Methodology

Service Oriented Project Management (SOPM) is taking shape as a methodology that fills the gaps in traditional project management, namely a RELENTLESS customer focus and the all-important analysis and benefits evaluation after the project has "completed."

As I fine tune the model, I'll post the iterations here, as a methodology in progress.

The four high-level steps in SOPM are as follows:

1) UNDERSTAND ... Develop an understanding of the problem being addressed, the goals, constraints, the internal environment, the external market, benchmarks, the people and subject matter involved, potential solutions, risks, benefits/justification, and any other knowledge necessary for success. Most of all, understand the customer.

2) ENABLE ... After helping the customer obtain approvals, prepare the project organization (resources, roles & responsibilities), operating principles, the infrastructure and tools needed to run the project, organizational alignment, preliminary training needed, communication, and anything else needed for a smooth road ahead.

3) ITERATE... Plan, design, build, test and pilot the solution before attempting a full scale implementation. Implement in phases to achieve quick wins, earlier benefits, and greater customer satisfaction. Consider iterative prototypes during the design phase. Don't forget additional training needed.

4) EVALUATE... After each project phase and at the end of the project, evaluate and document lessons learned, customer satisfaction, and benefits achieved (vs expected). This includes evaluating how the customer can achieve maximum results with the product of the project, and laying the groundwork for their continued success.

By using an UNDERSTAND, ENABLE, ITERATE, and EVALUATE process, with COMMUNICATE as an overarching activity that extends across all four steps, we adopt a much more holistic and customer-centered approach to project management.

A few key points... Customer satisfaction should be measured at milestones throughout the project, not just at the end. It's as important as monitoring cost and schedule (i.e. Earned Value performance).

Imagine seeing an S-Curve showing Planned Value, Earned Value, Actual Cost, and Customer Satisfaction. Maybe your project is on schedule and on budget, but the customer isn't satisfied with the results (or with the project communication, or a whole host of other issues).

A narrow focus on cost and schedule takes too much of an inward view. Besides, measuring customer satisfaction throughout a project allows for corrective action instead of managing in the rear view mirror.

More to come.

NOTE: I have since revised this model. See my updated entry.

Business Process Mapping: Good Reference ...

Here is sage advice and good references on the topic of business process improvement, which includes mapping the current and future states of the process. Ben Graham and team highlight, in this article: The Key to Good Process Mapping (PDF), the importance of organizational alignment and involvement of the key stakeholders of the process: namely the folks operating it. ...

... "There are three essentials that must be handled well to assure good process mapping. ...
1. The operating people whose work is being mapped must supply information for the map and must understand and support the reasons for the mapping. 2. The map itself must be organized in a way that enables everyone involved to clearly understand the process. 3. The information that is assembled in the map must be valid. " ...

Business Process Mapping: Good Reference: Via The Ben Graham Corporation: The Key to Good Process Mapping ...

Process maps are as important as organization charts, according to this article. ...

BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING: A CONSOLIDATED METHODOLOGY (Subramanian Muthu, Larry Whitman, and S. Hossein Cheraghi, Dept. of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Wichita State University): "Talking about the importance of processes just as companies have organization charts, they should also have what are called process maps to give a picture of how work flows through the company. Process mapping provides tools and a proven methodology for identifying your current As-Is business processes and can be used to provide a To-Be roadmap for reengineering your product and service business enterprise functions. "

PMOs; Where's the Value?

A contributor to eProject's eLounge mentioned this excellent article from Chief Project Officer. It's written by Tom Westcott, founder of Project Solutions Group. Several years ago, I saw him speak on scheduling techniques at the PMI Delaware Valley Chapter's Annual Workshop, and was very impressed with his dynamic style and pragmatic approach.

In the article, Westcott talks about how PMOs must demonstrate value if they are to survive, and offers some good tips on how to do just that. Specifically, he says they must create strategic alignment, deliver real value, and communicate frequently.

Here's an excerpt on what he has to say about delivering value:

PMOs must deliver value to survive. Value is not templates, tools, methodology, processes, training; these are means to driving value. Value is gaining efficiencies, achieving cost savings, increasing customer satisfaction, reducing time-to-market, increasing revenue and profit, reducing deficits, or increasing competitive advantage. Too many PMOs wrap their whole mission and existence around the services they provide instead of their impact on the business. Executives buy value.

Too many PMO directors are former project managers who see their role as project management evangelists. This
leads to a myopic view, and often they are ill-prepared or unable to work strategically with executive management. PMO directors need to speak and think in business terms, financial and organizational. Nix the "project-management speak." How does this project benefit the organization and support our strategy? And how can we get it done as quickly and inexpensively as possible? That's what they care about.

For the full article, read on...

Chief Project Officer: PMO or Bust?

Business Value of the IT Application Portfolio ...

Under constant pressure to cut costs? Managing a portfolio of existing applications? Enhancing, upgrading, or sustaining these applications? Struggling to describe the value of applications that run-the-business? The Application Investment Management (AIM) framework looks interesting. Sheldon Monteiro, Sapient, discusses the AIM Framework which is used to understand, leverage and rationalize the existing information technology assets through understanding value of the application portfolio. The methodology looks for opportunities for reuse, imbalance in IT investments, and areas for strategic focus. It is compatible and complementary with other management frameworks, such as ITIL. ...

... " While ITIL places emphasis on understanding service costs, AIM builds on this foundation by exposing business benefits associated with applications, for an overall understanding of application portfolio value. " ...

Business Value of the IT Application Portfolio: Via IT Business Edge: Taking AIM at IT/Business Alignment ...

Maps for Apps: Via IT Business Edge: "Consulting firm Sapient Corp.'s Application Investment Management (AIM) framework differs from portfolio management in one key respect; AIM focuses on existing applications, rather than trying to evaluate future investments as portfolio management does. "

Maps for Apps: Via CFO: "AIM is best suited for large, complex, global organizations that spend tens of millions of dollars (or more) on IT; have gone through a fair amount of mergers and acquisitions; or rely on dozens of enterprise resource planning, human-resource, or E-mail systems. Such organizations usually have several dozen, hundreds, or even thousands of applications and complex business processes that span many product lines and geographies. "

I would have added references from Sapient's website, but, for an internet consultancy, it has the slowest website in this hemisphere ... ;-)

Why Projects are Late; The Top Six Reasons

Here are the top six reasons why projects are late and what we can do about it...

1) Unrealistic Deadlines - As we've reported here before, this is one of the most frequently overlooked reasons for late projects---and unfortunately, often the last thing people look at.

Solution: It's imperative for a project manager to defend the right plan and not give in to pressure to sacrifice good principles. If necessary, negotiate to time-box the project into multiple phases.

2) Customer/Partner Availability - I've seen numerous project managers over the years talk about the challenges they face keeping a project on schedule when they're waiting on a customer or business partner to do testing or sign off on some deliverable.

Solution: Set milestones, monitor progress, and raise an issue if the lack of availability will cause a delay. If necessary, negotiate a new project baseline---which may be quite appropriate if the customer and/or steering team agrees that a delay is acceptable.

3) Resource Availability - There's nothing worse than putting together a reasonable schedule only to have your key resources pulled off into different directions, but it happens more often than we care to admit.

Solution: Try to obtain full commitment up front for your resources' time. Even so, unexpected conflicts will happen. Same as #2 above, set milestones, monitor progress, and raise an issue if needed. Again, negotiation may be necessary, which can result in getting your resources back or in setting a new project baseline to accommodate the new priorities.

4) Uncertainty - Especially in the IT field, uncertainty is a given. At any time, unexpected circumstances may cause project delays.

Solution: Use rolling wave scheduling, planning the whole project from a high level, but only the nearest 90-day horizon in detail. Try agile approaches as well, aiming for prototypes and frequent iterations. Ideally, pilot the project, and aim for vertical rollouts (one group at a time). Build contingency into your schedule for known risks. Most of all, manage stakeholder expectations.

5) Management Decision - Sometimes, management makes a conscious decision to delay a project, either for strategic needs, changes in priorities, or any number of reasons.

Solution: If the delay is a management or customer decision, a new project baseline should be saved, with current metrics based on that. Note that it's also important to keep the original baseline, as that offers a different set of measures (mostly around organizational alignment).

6) Poor Estimates - Sometimes a project is late simply because tasks were underestimated or omitted from the schedule. Although this is not always the cause of project delays (and rarely the only cause), it tends to be the first one people look at.

Solution: Build experience and capture historical data by project category and activity. If the data isn't categorized it won't be useful. Create and maintain checklists of items to consider. Build project schedule templates. The most frequently overlooked areas in IT are: training, data-loading, cutover preparation, system network testing, adequate QA testing, and documentation.

Enterprise Architecture: Operating Principles ...

Tony Young, CIO Informatica, shares his thoughts on developing an enterprise architecture in a mid-size firm, by building on a foundation of business alignment and operating principles. ...

... "Establish your guiding IT principles. I hosted a half-day meeting with the five brightest minds in IT to identify the linkage between the business drivers and goals and our own IT principles. Limit these principles to roughly a dozen; any more gets overwhelming. One of ours, for example, was - all applications must support single sign-on via Microsoft's Active Directory Services. " ...

Enterprise Architecture: Operating Principles: Via Search CIO: MIDMARKET CIO BUILDS BIGTIME EA ...

Project Portfolio Management: IT Business Management Solution ...

Touchpaper introduces new project portfolio management (PPM) system that drives IT business alignment. ...

... "Touchpaper has launched a new product portfolio underlining the company’s IT Business Management (ITBM) strategy and its vision for an ITBM enabled organisation where the IT and customer service departments measure themselves against the strategic and operational goals of the business. Aimed at commercial and government organisations, the Touchpaper ITBM suite is available through the company’s direct sales channels and via its international network of Value Added Reseller (VAR) partners. Many customers have already committed to the new Touchpaper ITBM solution including Hachette Livre UK Books Group, London Borough of Hillingdon, London School of Economics and Political Science, Newport City Council and Sanimed.

Specifically, Touchpaper’s ITBM suite can help deliver projects that drive business growth and value; meet customer needs and pre-defined levels of service; achieve governance and regulatory compliance; link business and IT strategies, plans and relationships; demonstrate the business value of IT; apply metrics to IT; budget and manage IT spending; foster change in business processes and manage risk. " ...

Project Portfolio Management: IT Business Management Solution: Via Touchpaper: Touchpaper Launches New Solution for IT Business Management ...

Business-Technology-Alignment: Governance Committment ...

IT Governance Institute survey shows that formalized governance of IT is lacking in 50% of organizations. Paul Williams explores the drivers and leadership committment necessary to fully align IT with the business strategy through governance. ...

... "Aligning IT with overall business strategy calls for a continuous effort requiring full support from all levels of the organization, beginning with the CEO and board of directors. " ...

Business-Technology-Alignment: Governance Committment: Via ZDNet India: Align IT and business for success

Project Portfolio Management: Monitor Investment Value ...

Patrick Durbin, Planview CEO, explores the integration of IT strategic planning and project portfolio management to drive the value from information technology investments. Alignment of IT with business strategy creates visibility to value opportunities. Portfolio-based investment analysis enables objective selection of the best mix of investments. And, active management of benefits increases the likelihood of realizing the targeted value. ...

... "Discretionary, strategic investments to grow the business or transform the business can take years, involve thousands of person hours and cost millions of dollars. Organizations must carefully choose which of these investments to pursue and then regularly monitor them on a periodic basis to ensure that the business value is still relevant. " ...

Project Portfolio Management: Monitor Investment Value: Via DMReview: Chart Your Course to Strategically Align Business and Technology

Business IT Alignment: Service Catalog Touchpoint ...

Today's IT services transformation is enabled by a business-oriented service catalog with a robust set of supporting service-delivery processes. It is the service catalog that is the key touchpoint driving alignment of IT with the business. Rodrigo Fernando Flores explores the challenge of aligning IT with business goals and the role of business-expressed services in a IT service catalog. ...

... "More and more leading IT organizations are deploying a Service Catalog as the cornerstone of their shift to a more service-driven and customer-focused approach, or as the foundation of their ITIL initiative. As a vehicle for communicating and marketing IT services to both business decision-makers and end users, the IT Service Catalog can help address this trust deficit on two fronts. " ...

Business IT Alignment: Service Catalog Touchpoint: Via TechRepublic: IT Service Catalog-- Rebuilding trust between IT and the business

ITGovernance: Software Quality Assurance ...

Paul Krill reports on the next wave of software capabilities planned by Compuware and NextWave. ...

ITGovernance: Software Quality Assurance: Via Computerworld: Ajax, app quality enhancements are readied ...

... "CARS 5.1 has been integrated with the Compuware Changepoint IT governance solution. A subset of Changepoint capabilities for request management, knowledge management, and reporting are featured in CARS 5.1. " ...

Compuware introduces IT governance solution that provides metrics for software development: a quality index. ...

Via Compuware: CARS 5.0 Provides Maximum Business Value to QA Organizations Through the Implementation of Effective Governance Models to Deliver Reliable Business Applications ...

... "One of the major challenges facing CIOs today is maximizing the business value of IT investments. CIOs know that business value means shareholder value, and increased shareholder value means revenue growth and/or improved operating margins. Previously, these types of goals were left up to the business managers to accomplish through business initiatives. Now business is increasingly looking towards IT to not only be linked with these initiatives, but also to be an enabler to accomplish these goals. With CARS 5.0, Quality Governance™ enables IT organizations to deliver the processes, systems and metrics to accurately assess the value, cost, risk and performance of the services they provide. By integrating with Compuware IT Governance by Changepoint, project portfolios that contain development projects will benefit from new metrics that communicate a software quality index. This integration not only increases the accuracy of tracking and evaluating a project’s health and risk, it also reduces the administrative burden of collecting and entering data into multiple systems for reporting. CARS provides CIOs with more detailed metrics about the quality of the application portfolio. This improves decision-making, and allows for better alignment with the business. " ...

Multi-Project Management; Toyota's Successful Organizational Structure

Ten years ago, Toyota restructured their organization around better integration and management of multiple projects. In 1998, Michael Cusumano and Kentaro Nobeoka wrote Thinking Beyond Lean, which explored this successful approach in detail.

The essence of the restructure was to create multiple centers that each managed a program of related projects. Each center was self-sustaining with its own functional staff, planning group, etc. Also, at the head of each center was a "heavy" senior project manager with a combination of business and technical experience (and, as we know, these people are few and far between).

Each individual project in the center could be led by a project coordinator (since there are not that many heavy project managers to go around). In other words, the heavy project managers were reserved for managing the centers/programs, and were responsible for assuring alignment between project and functional managers in that center.

Finally, anything that wasn't related to the work in those particular centers was moved to a separate center so as not to dilute the efforts of the primary centers.

This approach has since proven to lead to better overall throughput and quality, better alignment and crosstalk within each center, and better leverage of components within each center.

Below is a PDF report outlining the details of the reorganization...

http://imvp.mit.edu/papers/95/Nobeoka/nobe-3.pdf

EVMS Earned Value Management: Federal Agencies Lag Behind

Primavera studies the adoption and implementation of earned value management processes and systems (EVMS) in federal information technology organizations. Current assessment shows that agencies lag behind on implementation versus their EVMS targets. ...

EVMS Earned Value Management: Federal Agencies Lag Behind: Via Primavera: Study Reveals Disconnect Between Perceived Merits of Earned Value Management and Federal Agencies Readiness to Implement ...

... "Specifically, the study indicates that the federal IT community agrees with OMB that EVM delivers improved project outcomes, with 60.6 percent of respondents reporting that EVM is very or somewhat important to achieving their capital investment goals. Despite this value perception, results do not demonstrate agencies movement from belief to action, with only 37 percent currently utilizing EVM and even fewer prepared to train or hire personnel skilled in EVM within the next 12 months. Respondents cited their top challenges to EVM implementation as unfamiliarity with EVM and lack of trained personnel. These findings indicate that agencies will not only have difficulty developing EVM implementation plans in time for the December 31 OMB deadline, but also will face challenges implementing documented plans. EVM processes, systems, and software enable the continuous assessment of project performance and status - providing a methodology that can help agencies effectively measure project alignment with resources and goals by comparing status to original plans and end goals. EVM can help agencies achieve green marks on the President's Management Agenda scorecard. To achieve and maintain this high score, agency projects must stay within a 10 percent variance from their cost, schedule, and performance goals. Further, OMB issued a memorandum in August 2005 requiring agencies to utilize EVM Systems (EVMS) on all new major IT projects. The memorandum requires development of written policies outlining agency-specific plans for EVM implementation by December 31, 2005. Agencies must also evaluate exiting, cost, schedule, and performance of ongoing IT projects and take any necessary corrective actions by March 31, 2006 and before devoting any FY06 funds to associated projects. In support of this effort, OMB is working with the Federal Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council to develop a model agency EVMS policy for IT projects ... " ...

IT Governance: BoundaryLess IT: Leadership ...

What can a boundary-less IT organization create? Susan Cramm explores involving the information technology workforce and all its leadership to drive alignment and create a boundaryless organization. ...

IT Governance: BoundaryLess IT: Leadership: Via CIO: Leadership at All Levels ...

... "For enterprise integration to be realized, IT governance structures must be in place; for IT efficiencies to be realized, shared services organizations should operate like external service providers and treat the mini-CIOs as customers. " ...

Is IT Strategy Harmful?

Here's an article from CIO Magazine that suggests that IT strategic planning can actually be detrimental, if implemented purely as an annual process. That's because by the time projects are reviewed, the strategy is often no longer valid, so the wrong projects get approved.

Instead, the article suggests that strategic planning and alignment should be an ongoing, dynamic process--not only looking at corporate strategy, but the business units' strategies as well.

Here's the full article...

IT Strategy - Beneath the Buzz - Leadership RC - CIO

CIO: Technology Transformation Through Governance ...

Testimony of military CIO emphasizes the information technology transformation of the military's business processes and the advanced governance practices that are necessary to ensure information technology investments are properly focused. ...

CIO: Technology Transformation Through Governance: Via House of Reps: DAVID M. WENNERGREN DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER: BEFORE THE HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, UNCONVENTIONAL THREATS AND CAPABILITIES UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES REGARDING DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION EFFORTS ...

... "STRONG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE: We have taken a number of steps to both strengthen IT governance and put into place the necessary tools to do effective investment management. Our improved IM/IT governance structure has strengthened, aligned, and integrated our IM/IT efforts across the Navy and Marine Corps, ensuring Department-wide alignment of IM/IT efforts with warfighter priorities. The designation of Deputy CIOs for the Navy and Marine Corps has been particularly helpful, aligning both IT policy and execution, and CIO and C4 responsibilities. Similarly, reporting relationships between Echelon II command Information Officers and the Deputy CIOs has helped to ensure that command IT initiatives stay aligned with the Department's IT vision and architecture. " ...

U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Gary B. Granger. Air Traffic Controller monitors the AN/SPN-43 Precision Approach Radar during flight operations off the coast of Okinawa, Japan.

ITIL Leader: David Ratcliffe Pink Elephant

ITIL is the recipe for IT services management success. Philip Quinn catches up with David Ratcliffe, CEO of Pink Elephant. Pink Elephant is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with operations worldwide. Pink Elephant works with organizations, including many of the Fortune 500, to improve the quality of IT services through the application of established best practices, such as the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). ...

Via National Post: Flies around the world four times a year ...

... "We were the ones who launched this best-practice framework we support called the IT infrastructure library. If you think [in terms] of a restaurant ... it's the recipes you follow and the routines around how you keep the place clean... " ...

Additional PMThink References on ITIL:

• For Well-Rounded IT Project Management - Learn ITIL and PRINCE2


• IT Service Transformation Through ITIL Service Catalogs ...


• ITIL Certification BTO Software ...


• ITIL Helpdesk Transformation: Services Model


• ITIL IT Management Processes ...


• ITIL IT Service Management Differentiators


• ITIL Market Assessment: Podcast


• ITIL Microsoft Operations Framework Assessment ...


• ITIL Process Approach: Federated CMDB ...


• ITIL Process: Run IT Like Business ...


• ITIL Project: Cultural Implications ...


• ITIL Projects: Avoid Pitfalls ...


• ITIL Technology Standard Framework ...


• ITIL: IT Service Catalog: Alignment Focal Point ...


• Microsoft ITIL Sans CMDB ...


• Process Models: ITIL ITGovernance ...


• Ready or Not; Here comes ITIL


• Siebel CRM ITIL Ready: Helpdesk Capabilities ...

IT Governance: New Initiatives Executive Alignment

IT Governance still requires a degree of executive alignment before significant investments can be approved. Any delay can seem bureaucratic, however it is necessary to build an executive support network, or coalition, to align behind a major multi-year investment program. Lawrence M Walsh explores the challenges vendors face when they must align their sales cycles with public sector governance processes.

IT Governance: New Initiatives Executive Alignment: Via CRN: VARs Must Play Politics To Expedite Government Sales

... "Even with centralized IT governance, such as Takai's in Michigan, in which the CIO has budget and oversight of all IT deployments, it still takes time to build consensus for new initiatives. " ...

PMThink references on IT governance:

• CA Niku ITGovernance Growth Engine?


• Centralized IT Governance: Enterprise Architecture Modeling Tool


• COBIT Course: IT Governance Controls Framework ...


• Discussion on Distributed IT: Governance ...


• Does Architecture Visualization Enable ITGovernance?


• EPM Software IT Governance Market Growth ...


• From CIO Magazine - A Cry for Full-Cyle Governance


• Governance Alignment: Project Portfolio Management (PPM)


• Governance Software: OMB A123 Compliance


• IT Governance Common Themes ...


• IT Governance Integrated Application Development: Software Solution


• IT Governance Repeatable Processes ...


• IT Governance Road Map ...


• IT Governance Role: Architecture


• IT Governance Solution: Maturity Acceleration ...


• IT Governance Transformation: New York State CIO


• IT Governance: Application Services Flexibility or Efficiency?


• IT Governance: Board-Level Visibility ...


• IT Governance: Board of Directors ...


• IT Governance: SAP ESA Strategy


• IT Governance: Services Transformation ...


• IT Governance: Service Portfolio Management Applications ...


• IT Governance: Shift Investment to Business Value Opportunities


• IT Governance: The Board ...


• IT Governance: Value and Cost Measurement ...


• IT Governance; Where the Value of IT is Hiding


• IT Savvy: Governance Best Practices: Peter Weill


• Leadership and IT Governance


• Microsoft IT Governance Woes ...


• Process Governance Tool Upcoming ...


• Process Models: ITIL ITGovernance ...


• Project Management and Governance


• ProjectManagement ITGovernanceSoftware Linux Capable ...


• SOA and IT Governance ...


• SOA Governance: Best Practice Strategies Webinar ...


• SOA IT Governance


• Software Supports ITGovernance CorporateGovernance

Business Strategy: Align Objectives and Execute

IBM launches new software that enables workers and managers throughout an organization to align their personal and departmental objectives with business strategy and drive execution of their workplace activities ...

Business Strategy: Align Objectives and Execute: Via IBM: IBM Software Helps Employees at All Levels Align Their Objectives With Company Strategy ...

... "According to feedback from IBM's customers and partners, more companies are recognizing that while they have lots of data and a sound business strategy, the execution of the strategy needs improvement. IBM Workplace for Business Strategy Execution helps employees understand their company's strategy in concrete terms, focus on what is important, and remain current on status and risks. A department leader can use IBM Workplace for Business Strategy Execution to clearly communicate team objectives and how they fit into the company's strategy; link to and monitor internal and external dependencies that could affect the ability to reach objectives; track progress toward the objectives though intuitive scorecards and dashboards; and initiate actions to correct gaps in performance. " ...

PMThink references on strategy and alignment:

• Achieve Strategy Execution: Accelerate Plan Funding Support


• Business Continuity Project: Key Part of IT Strategy ...


• Business IT Alignment: Business-Relevant Metrics


• Business IT Strategy: Successful Alignment


• Governance Alignment: Project Portfolio Management (PPM)


• IT Alignment: Cost Benefit Analysis ...


• IT Governance: SAP ESA Strategy


• IT Strategy: Motorola Exec Podcast ...


• ITIL: IT Service Catalog: Alignment Focal Point ...


• Microsoft Framework: Business IT Alignment


• PMO Role: Align Business and IT ...


• Project Failure: A Success Strategy


• Project Management Strategy Integration Conference December2005


• PublicSector CIO: Enterprise View IT Strategy


• Software Aligns Project Management With Enterprise Strategy: Enhanced Portfolio Analytics ...


• Strategic Alignment: Project Portfolio


• Strategy: Visualize the Design ...

ITIL Helpdesk Transformation: Services Model

Patrick Thibodeau reports on the ITIL transformation of the helpdesk at GuideStone into a services model ...

ITIL: IT Operations Services Model: Via Computerworld: Execs Use Services Model to Reshape IT Units ...

... "One of the driving goals of ITIL is to reshape IT operations into a services model by spelling out service levels and detailed processes for delivering, managing and supporting technology. Proponents say the standard can help cut IT costs and improve alignment with business units, which may explain the interest in it among IT managers ... " ...

ITIL: IT Service Catalog: Alignment Focal Point ...

The IT service catalog is the focal point of alignment between IT service delivery groups and the business customers. Implementation of ITIL service management processes and a robust, business-oriented service catalog are the foundation of an IT services transformation. Service management vendors, such as newScale, continue to invest in new levels of functional capability to enable best practice digitized service processes.

ITIL: IT Service Catalog: Alignment Focal Point: Via newScale: newScale Expands IT Service Portfolio Management Solutions with newScale AlignmentCenter 2005: New Product Offering Focused on ITIL Business Perspective ...

... "As prescribed in the latest ITIL publication, Business Perspective: The IS View on Delivering Services to the Business, the IT Service Catalog is the focal point for communication between IT and the business. newScale AlignmentCenter 2005 enables IT organizations to rapidly deliver a business-oriented, ITIL-compliant Service Catalog in support of the ITIL service level management and business relationship management processes. With newScale AlignmentCenter 2005, IT executives and IT relationship managers can use the Service Catalog to define service offerings, manage agreements, and communicate the value delivered by IT to internal business customers. Driving IT-Business Alignment: newScale developed newScale AlignmentCenter 2005 to help IT executives improve alignment between IT services and business needs by giving business unit executives greater visibility and control of the IT portfolio of services, including agreements, service tiers, consumption, cost, and quality. " ...

PMO Project Management Office: The Rocky Road ...

PMO Project Management Office: The Rocky Road: Via CIO: Beneath the Buzz: Project Management Office ...

It takes awhile to win the hearts and minds of the workforce and to gain the leadership alignment necessary for true success of a PMO, project management office. The path to success is a rocky road, filled with boulders and ditches that mirror the culture of the organization. N. Dean Meyer explores the dark side of the PMO and how scoping its role can avoid the common causes of failure ...

... "Meanwhile, relations between Henry and his peers became strained. The other senior managers in IT resented Henry when hot strategic projects were taken away from them and given to him. They resented his control over their resources. They resented his looking over their shoulder, judging their progress and reporting on them to their boss. " ...

Project Portfolio Management PPM: Two Models ...

Project Portfolio Management PPM: Two Models: Via Journyx PM Journal: Yes or No - The Two Models for Implementing Project Portfolio Management ...

PPM models discussed ...

... "The budget alignment model corresponds with an operational environment where the value of projects varies, and project costs are expense overhead. Decisions and behavior are driven by the need to squeeze value out of the available budget. Examples of the budget alignment business model include enterprise IT and product development organizations. " ...

Business IT Strategy: Successful Alignment

Business IT Strategy: Successful Alignment: Via CIO insync: The two common traits of successful IT/business alignment

... "First, the CEO takes a genuine interest in and makes an effort to understand IT. Second, the two leaders spend time discussing high-level business-IT strategy. This approach facilitates better understanding of underlying issues and problems and ensures the top executives are on the same page. " ...

Process Governance Tool Upcoming ...

Process Governance Tool Upcoming: Via Business Engine: Business Engine Forms New Company, Appoints New CEO: New Company Purchases Assets of Old Company, Announces New Customer Wins and New Product ...

... "Business Engine - has also announced that it will be releasing a new product in October codenamed Cascade. Cascade simplifies process governance, compliance and management decision-making and will be formally unveiled at Business Engine's upcoming Global User Summit in Orlando, FL September 25-27, 2005 " ...

Established in 1985, Business Engine is a leading provider of enterprise software for 'running the business of IT'. The Business Engine Network allows global IT organizations to manage IT strategy, financial governance and operational execution within a single Web-based solution, creating enterprise transparency that dramatically improves IT investment decisions, business alignment and delivery results. Business Engine serves over 80,000 end-users at global organizations including 20 Fortune 100 customers such as Boeing, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Northrup Grumman, Pfizer, and Siemens.

IT Service Transformation Through ITIL Service Catalogs ...

IT Service Transformation Through ITIL Service Catalogs: newScale Showcases ITIL Service Catalog at 2005 itSMF USA Conference: IT Service Catalog Leader Shares Best Practices ...

newScale will demo their best-practice ITIL service catalogs, which are key to enabling IT service transformations, at upcoming conference ...

... "newScale®, Inc., the market leader in IT Service Catalog and Service Portfolio Management software solutions, announced today that it will showcase examples of best practice Service Catalogs at the itSMF USA Conference and Expo. newScale will demonstrate the benefits of the ITIL Service Catalog solution used in production today by many of America’s most admired companies. Conference attendees can find newScale in booth # 731 at the expo to be held at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois, September 19-23, 2005. " ...

Founded in 1997, the itSMF USA is a rapidly growing non-profit organization which promotes the use of industry best practices and standards on the provision and management of IT Services. Current membership exceeds 3,000 members, with affiliated Local Interest Groups serving more than 21+ cities nationwide. The itSMF USA organization is affiliated with the itSMF international association, formed in 1991 and is headquartered in London, England. This global organization has over 2,500 member companies, with international chapters in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and USA.

newScale, Inc. is the leader in Service Portfolio Management software solutions for Global 2000 companies, with more than 800,000 users worldwide. newScale solutions enable IT and other service organizations to catalog their portfolio of services, govern demand for services, manage delivery of services, and optimize service quality. newScale customers – including Hewlett-Packard Company, Intuit Incorporated, and Starbucks Coffee Company – benefit from increased operational efficiency, reduced costs, improved service levels, and greater IT/business alignment.

Enterprise Portfolio Management Across Diverse Investment Areas ...

Enterprise Portfolio Management Across Diverse Investment Areas: Via Instantis: Driving Corporate Performance: Unmatched Customer Momentum Drives Four Consecutive Quarters of 40% Growth for Instantis: New Wins with Industry Leaders and Advanced Enterprise Performance Improvement Capabilities within Instantis EnterpriseTrack 4 Extend Company’s Market Leadership ...

Hexion leverages Instantis performance improvement tool to manage full breadth of project portfolios across enterprise investment areas, such as Capex, NPD, IT, M+A, etc. ...

... "Hexion; formerly Borden Chemicals (7,000 employees and over $4 billion annual revenues), headquartered in Columbus, Ohio with 86 production and distribution facilities in 18 countries in the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Hexion Specialty Chemicals is the world's largest producer and has the broadest range of thermoset resin technologies to offer the market, with world-class research, applications development and technical service capabilities. To install, the Hexion team was able to migrate seamlessly from an earlier competitive tracking solution to the more advanced and flexible enterprise performance improvement features of EnterpriseTrack 4 in order to support seven different languages and better manage initiatives within Capital Projects, New Product Development, IT, Product Execution and Mergers and Acquisitions. " ...

Instantis is a leading provider of Enterprise Performance Improvement software for Global 2000 companies like Lockheed Martin, McKesson and Xerox that have deployed Six Sigma and other structured, project portfolio based business improvement methodologies. Instantis software automates the end-to-end execution, management and reporting of these methodologies. With a unique capability to provide a bridge between strategic priorities and execution, Instantis solutions allow industry leaders to deliver improved financial results and better alignment of goals and activities throughout the organization.

Project Portfolio Approach: Continuous Improvement ...

Project Portfolio Approach: Continuous Improvement: Via IDD Aerospace Lean Manufacturing Operations: Six Sigma Process Controls Improve Quality and Reduce Manufacturing Lead Times ...

Continuous improvement projects are managed using a portfolio approach to strategic alignment at IDD ...

... "Project Management: At IDD Aerospace, we take a Project Management Office (PMO) approach and methodology for managing our cost reduction and Continuous Improvement efforts. All project candidates, whether they are Six Sigma, Lean Kaizen, Technology advancements, etc. are prioritized, planned, and managed according to our objectives and goals. ... " ...

IDD Aerospace is part of the Aircraft Systems Division of the Zodiac Group. The company is located in Redmond, WA and is a leading provider of illuminated light panels, control panels assemblies and integrated switch panels, bezels and keyboards for aircraft flight decks to customers worldwide.

IT Alignment: Cost Benefit Analysis ...

Via ITSMWatch: Bored With Business-IT Alignment?

Mardi Merdinoglu explores the complex and challenging issue of business IT alignment ...

... "To achieve global alignment, organizations must launch company-wide alignment initiatives that typically analyze the overall business-IT relationships, and improve them to benefit the organization to achieve its strategies that at the end will result in with increasing market value. Since this is a global effort, the senior management support and championship needs to be secured by presenting not the popular lingo, but the costs and benefits in dollar figures. " ...

Microsoft Framework: Business IT Alignment

Microsoft Framework: Business IT Alignment: Via Microsoft: Microsoft Solutions for Management: Service Level Management

Microsoft Framework for service management offers methods for business IT alignment ...

... "The IT life cycle contains four phases: planning, preparing, building, and operating: Planning. Identifying business needs, technologies, and solution options in order to align business and IT plans. " ...

Business IT Alignment: Business-Relevant Metrics

Business IT Alignment: Business-Relevant Metrics: Via BMC: Stars In Alignment

Transforming IT? Growth in business IT alignment requires a new set of business-relevant metrics for managing IT services levels. Steve Ulfelder explores "The Biggest Obstacles Between You and Alignment – and How to Avoid Them" ...

... "Enterprises seeking to align business and IT often get deep into the process before realizing that they need to adjust their approach to metrics. They must, for example, expand their concept of traditional service level agreements (SLAs), which focus primarily on technology, to include measuring service from an end-user perspective. " ...

Governance Alignment: Project Portfolio Management (PPM)

Via IBM: Project Portfolio Management (PPM): Aligning business and IT

Alignment of business and IT through a meaningful governance process enables selection of the right projects from the portfolio. Ashok Reddy, IBM, explores investing in IT like managing a financial portfolio of investments ...

... "Governance relates to the most important questions for software development and IT managers: Are we working on the right things, and are we building the right system? If their teams don't get this right, nothing else matters. A project might be successful from a schedule, budget, or scope perspective, but if it fails to meet business objectives, it fails overall. Efforts to align business and IT objectives are often thwarted by governance issues... " ...

Program Management Software: Operational Excellence Portfolio...

Program Management Software: Operational Excellence Portfolio: Via PowerSteering Software, Inc.: POWERSTEERING SOFTWARE EXPANDS OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE MARKET SHARE, ADDS SEVERAL LEADING SIX SIGMA CUSTOMERS: Strong Demand Spurs Funding to Support Continued Expansion ...

Program management of a portfolio of Six Sigma projects requires visibility to enable smart decision making on the road to operational excellence. Software that enables program management, such as PowerSteering, becomes a key enabler when managing a globally-distributed, diversified portfolio of operational efficiency projects. Executive leadership is interested in the value potential, time-to-value, and probability of success of the portfolio. Providing these answers allows more robust program management. ...

... "As Operational Excellence strategies like Six Sigma continue to exhibit a strong resurgence in the market, we have seen an increased need for PowerSteering to provide executives with global visibility and real-time decision making, said Stephen Sharp, President and CEO of PowerSteering. With words and actions, analysts, customers, investors and partners are all telling us the same thing, PowerSteering is the leading company for Six Sigma and other Operational Excellence programs. " ...

PowerSteering Software, the leader in Enterprise Performance Improvement, provides OnDemand program management solutions for Lean, Six Sigma, and other Operational Excellence initiatives and large-scale programs. PowerSteering’s solutions provide executives with real-time visibility, strategy alignment, and enhanced program and team effectiveness, empowering more than 65 customers, including GE, Raytheon, Textron and Tyco, to drive strategy and accelerate results across the enterprise. PowerSteering’s solutions manage more than $25 billion in target savings, support more than 75,000 active users, and track more than 150,000 projects.

Tag: Portfolio Management

Strategic Alignment: Project Portfolio

In process of building a bottoms-up project portfolio for 2006 without clearly articulated IT strategy. Plan on developing portfolio and identifying themes for alignment to potential business strategies. Interested in suggestions for harmonizing top-down strategic planning that is out of synch (calendar time) with bottoms-up project planning ... Flexible, dynamic planning techniques may be the answer. What other methods for consideration?

IT Governance Integrated Application Development: Software Solution

IT Governance Integrated Application Development: Software Solution: Via FlashLine: Full Lifecycle IT Governance Solutions ...

Software solution integrates IT governance with application development to support full lifecycle visibility in the project portfolio ...

... "Flashline extends IT governance into application development, ensuring better business/IT alignment. With Flashline, you can link your project portfolio and architecture to your portfolio of software assets. " ...

Transformation Initiative Leverages Project Portfolio Management ...

Transformation Initiative Leverages Project Portfolio Management: Baylor Health Care System Uses IT Portfolio Management for $140 Million Clinical Transformation Initiative

Baylor HealthCare leverages project portfolio management to drive its clinical information systems modernization, a key investment in its transformation initiative ...

... "PlanView, the leading provider of comprehensive IT portfolio management solutions announced that Baylor Health Care System has implemented the company's solution to align, manage and track projects and resources across the healthcare provider's network of hospitals, in conjunction with the organization's $140 million clinical transformation initiative, the largest project of its kind in the Dallas Metroplex and throughout the Southwest. " ...

PlanView has been a market leader and trusted partner in software for comprehensive IT management. Our flagship product, PlanView Enterprise, brings the most comprehensive IT management solution to the market, combining adaptive IT management best practices, best of breed resource management and portfolio management software. PlanView enables business leaders to integrate the decision-making process to improve alignment of IT resources with business strategies. We serve an active and growing global customer community of over 400 organizations in the financial, insurance, healthcare, government and other industries. PlanView is privately held and has been profitable for over a decade.