ITIL CMDB: Survey Insights ...

Evergreen shares insights on aligning data center projects with creation of a configuration management (CMDB) database, which is a core component of ITIL. Current state information is needed to jump-start the CMDB, but the data must be maintained through change management to sustain its value to the enterprise. ...

... "As companies are gathering this data, Evergreen suggests that they adopt a CMDB approach to 1) aid in the execution of the data center initiative itself and 2) ensure that this critical data is kept current and made available to the rest of the organization. Key benefits of capturing and maintaining this data in a CMDB include better capacity and resource planning, reducing risk associated with failed change (and a lack of configuration knowledge), and better IT operations in general due to more current, accurate, and useful data. As a core component of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), a CMDB contains relevant information about IT Configuration Items (CI’s) as well as their dependencies on and relationships with each other. A CMDB can include data specific to IT hardware, software, applications, documentation, personnel, and business domains. " ...

Via Evergreen Sys: Evergreen Systems Suggests Organizations Utilize Data Center Initiatives to Drive CMDB Adoption ...

Application Development Projects: Automated Monitoring ...

FDA uses automation to monitor the performance of distributed application development project teams and provide measures to sustain productivity. ...

... "CAST Application Intelligence Platform is not a burden to the development teams – all analysis is automated. CAST provides the FDA with an automated analysis and monitoring system that delivers productivity benefits to the developers while providing objective information back to management. When selecting a solution, the FDA found that CAST had the only product on the market that can analyze all the languages used in their application portfolio. With the insight provided to IT management on what is happening in application development, and the productivity gains that development can get using CAST, the FDA now sees a way to deliver immediate gains across the organization and turn development into a predicable business process." ...

Application Development Projects: Automated Monitoring: Via Cast Software: US FDA and DTCC Select CAST’s Application Intelligence Platform to Provide Better AD Governance ...

IT Governance Educational Experience ...

The Open Compliance and Ethics Group (OCEG) announces launch of the OCEG IT Forum, which integrates multiple events and publications to create an annual experience where leaders collaborate on best practices and confront their governance challenges together. ...

... "The 2006 OCEG IT Forum program will include a Spring conference on May 9th and 10th at the Harvard Club in Boston, MA; a dedicated issue of GRC 360°, August’s edition of OCEG’s magazine distributed to over 40,000 subscribers and, lastly, a closing conference on November 14th & 15th at the Marine Club in San Francisco, CA. These three components of the IT Forum are integrated to provide a year-long educational experience where participants will investigate, benchmark and validate a broad range of IT governance and compliance practices. " ...

Via OCEG: OCEG ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF OCEG IT FORUM: Annual Program Will Focus on IT Best Practices, Technologies and Architectures Required to Automate and Sustain Governance, Risk and Compliance Management Operations ...

Project Manager Certification: PM3 Level

Alcatel advocates PM3 level and beyond for project manager certification for complex project engagements. Alcatel plans to sustain project management training and to certify 30 project directors per year and 200 project managers. The company is committed to develop project management as a core competency. ...

... "During an official award ceremony at Alcatel's headquarters in Paris recently, the 2005 certified top project directors of Alcatel have been welcomed by the board of directors. Two years ago, Alcatel launched an innovative accreditation program for its project managers. This program, which includes the Project Management Institute (PMI) certification, enables the project managers of the Group to continuously improve their skills in complex project management. At the end of the program, the candidate receives Alcatel's accreditation.

Beyond the PMI certification, Alcatel proposes the PM3 and PM4 levels. Four levels of competence along a career path are clearly defined: project leader (PM1), project manager (PM2 or PMI equivalent), project director (PM3) and executive project directors (PM4). The PM3 accreditation allows Alcatel to identify a key competence and to ensure that all the project directors within the Group have the same language and share the same strategy. In front of the customer, the business skills of the project managers are today a key criteria in the selection process of a vendor. The PM3 accreditation permits the customer to assess the competences of the project director, which will be its interface in a complex project. " ...

Project Manager Certification: PM3 Level: Via Alcatel: Alcatel launches an accreditation program for its employees awarding the management of complex projects ...

Sustaining Innovation: Growth Through Creativity ...

Creativity fuels the innovation engine. How can we increase creativity to accelerate innovation? What are leadership principles necessary to drive growth through the creative organization? Here are some great insights ... Marc Babej provides excellent summary of Peter Georgescu, Young & Rubicam, on sustainable innovation from the Fortune Innovation Forum. Peter emphasizes three points on innovation: Embrace creativity, emphasize human values, and support active involvement in investing in future generations through education. Creativity is seen as a core enterprise competency that requires a special type of leadership to cultivate and sustain. ...

Via Being Reasonable: Peter Georgescu on Sustaining Innovation ...

... "First, embrace creativity as the most vital enterprise resource. The only leverageable asset on a company's balance sheet. Creativity is the cure for lack of differentiation, and in turn it begets profits. It's an inexhasutible resource, but also fragile. Creative output requires a new type of leader, one who refuses to manipulate or manage through fear. " ...

David Tanner, Tanner & Associates, Inc., discusses harnessing and increasing the creative capability in a research and development environment. These techniques should apply to most innovation scenarios. ...

Via Winston Brill: Creativity and Innovation in R&D ...

... "It's vital to set aside quality time specifically for people to learn the techniques of creative thinking. This first step satisfies an essential criterion for cultural shift - that is, it gives status to the effort. What resources can you use to focus on this subject? In-house seminars, books and articles on creativity, and outside creativity experts. " ...

Ben Simonton expands on the leadership techniques necessary to increasing the enterprise creativity competency ...

Via Corante: What Drives Innovation?. IdeaFlow: Discussion about innovation and creativity -- new products, strategy, open innovation, commercialization of technologies, patents, idea generation, customer input in the NPD process, more.

... "The brain controls creativity, innovation, productivity, motivation and commitment. I will attempt to explain a superior leadership strategy which turns on brains to the maximum extent and thus greatly enhances innovation. ... A superior leadership strategy inspires people to do more, dream more and learn more. We all know that people are our most important asset and that the best ones are self-motivated self-starters. Unfortunately, only 5% or so are naturally that way. A superior leadership strategy is capable of making the vast majority of employees self-motivated self-starters who are highly committed and highly productive, up to 300% more so than if poorly motivated. So what is this strategy? " ...

Innovation Metric: The UnBalanced Scorecard ...

Balanced scorecards enable an enterprise to measure performance against its strategy. With innovation on the mind of most companies today, what metrics can support and sustain innovation? Geoffrey Moore shares insightful comments on shifting the balance of emphasis to clear areas of differentiation to create an imbalance in the marketplace and sustain that imbalance for competitive advantage. ...

Innovation Metric: The UnBalanced Scorecard: Via Dealing_with_Darwin: Unbalanced Scorecards, Please ...

... "I think they should call for an unbalanced scorecard, not a balanced one. Our work in innovation makes clear that unless companies differentiate beyond the norms of the competitive set in which they participate, they cannot get paid a differential return. " ...

Innovation is Everyone's Business ...

Business innovation does not come naturally in large organizations and is a key ingredient companies are searching for to create and sustain growth in their markets. Fred Smith, CEO Fedex, offers insights on business innovation and the responsibility of the workforce. This responsibility must be nurtured until it become a norm or core value of the enterprise. ...

Innovation is Everyone's Business: Via Business Innovation 2005: Interview with Frederick W. Smith: Innovation and business excellence at FedEx ...

... "Frederick W. Smith: Everyone in the company is responsible for innovation, though executive management must encourage innovation, reward it and measure it to determine success. We strive to have a culture where each member of the team feels free to advance good ideas for improvement. " ...

IT Governance: Enterprise Architecture Common Language ...

The role of IT governance is to establish an enabling framework of decision-making for information technology investments. Those involved in the orchestration of the governance process need to support a balanced view of the program management and enterprise architecture spaces. This can be accomplished through a clear view into the information technology portfolio, which should highlight the major strategic programs, but be clear about the architecture investments necessary to build or sustain the targted business and technology capabilities. George Paras, VP Troux Technologies, explores enterprise architecture and program management disciplines in the public sector and discusses bridging the barriers between the PMO and the enterprise architects. ...

IT Governance: Enterprise Architecture Common Language: Via Federal Times: Enterprise architecture: Seeing the big picture

... "Develop a common language on IT governance, portfolio management and enterprise architecture. An important focus of this common language will be to educate executives about the relationships between the program management and enterprise architecture groups. " ...

PMThink! resources on Enterprise Architecture:

• Centralized IT Governance: Enterprise Architecture Modeling Tool


• Does Architecture Visualization Enable ITGovernance?


• Enterprise Architecture PMO: Common Framework For Investments


• Information Technology Architecture: Operational Excellence Projects ...


• IT Governance Role: Architecture