9331 Bluebonnet BoulevardBaton Rouge, LA 70810

225-769-2676www.consultssa.com

Louisiana Council of Information Services Directors

Maximizing Internal IT Effectiveness

Presentation Overview

• Introduction

• Identifying the four keys

• Breaking down the four keys

• Questions and answers

Presenter’s Background

• Over 24 years of IT-related experience• Industry experience includes finance,

healthcare, IT outsourcing, and state government

• Consulting for just over three years– Organizational restructure– Business process redesign– Project management/facilitation– Interim IT management

Identifying the Four Keys

1. IT GovernancePractices

3. Customer Service and

Marketing

4. Performance Management

2. OrganizationalStructure

Effective IT Requires:

• Proper interconnectivity

• Proper balance of roles

• Proper alignment of focus

Defining the Four Keys

1. Governance: How your business organization manages utilization of IT resources (e.g. people, funding, and assets)

2. IT Organization Structure: How well your application support aligns with your agency operations structure

3. Customer Service and Marketing: Getting your IT staff to operate like an external party that has to earn their business and promoting your services

4. Performance Management: Using employee performance reviews to reinforce a customer service philosophy

Key 1:Effective IT Governance

• IT governance is specifying the decision rights and accountability framework to encourage desirable behaviors in the use of IT

• Effective IT governance requires a significant amount of management time and attention

• Well-designed IT governance arrangements distribute IT decision making to those responsible for outcomes

Source: IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage I/T Decision Rights for Superior Results By: Peter Weill and Jeanne W. Ross

Key 1:Effective IT Governance cont…

• The best predicator of IT governance performance is the percentage of managers in leadership roles who can accurately describe IT governance

• Research shows that organizations implementing effective IT governance to support their business strategies realize superior results

Source: IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage I/T Decision Rights for Superior Results By: Peter Weill and Jeanne W. Ross

IT Governance Must Address …

• What decisions to make

• Who should make the decisions

• How to make and monitor the decisions

Source: IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage I/T Decision Rights for Superior Results By: Peter Weill and Jeanne W. Ross

Governance Structure Models

• Model 1: For small organizations where a single tiered central steering committee, chaired by highest level executive, can effectively govern IT deployment for entire organization

• Model 2: For medium size organizations that have two to four operational divisions that are highly dependent on IT resources

• Model 3: For large organizations the have five or more operational divisions highly dependent on IT resources

IT Governance Structure:Model 2

AdministrativeSteering

Committee

Division A Steering

Committee

Division BSteering

Committee

eServicesInter/Intranet

• Chaired by Secretary or appointed official• Meets bi-monthly or quarterly• Defines IT governance structure • Sets decision parameters for committees• Approval board for IT business policies• Includes steering committee chairs• Includes senior IT executive

• IT Steering Committees (ITSC)• Chaired by appointed official• Meets bi-weekly or monthly• Plan/prioritize division projects• Management level participants

Governance Committee

(ITGC)

IT Governance Structure:Model 3

Executive Committee

(ITEC)

• Chaired by high appointed official• Meets monthly initially • Includes Steering Committee chairs• Approval board for IT Business policies• Oversees multi-division IT initiatives

• IT Steering Committees (ITSC)• Chaired by ITGC member• Meets monthly• Plan/prioritize area projects• Management level participants

Governance Committee

(ITGC)

• Chaired by Secretary or appointed official• Includes appointed officials • Meets quarterly• Approves decision parameters for ITGC• Oversees/approves governance structure• Includes ITGC chair and IT Director

AdministrativeSteering

Committee

Division ASteering

Committee

Division BSteering

Committee

eServicesInter/Intranet

Important Governance Factors

• Ideally, your highest level governance committee should be chaired by the agency Secretary

• Active involvement by the highest level of organization management

• Committees should be chaired by business executives

Important GovernanceFactors cont…

• Committees should be organized around key business operations or divisions rather than IT operations

• Top IT executive should sit on the organization’s highest level executive business committee

• Formalized business based methodology for prioritizing IT projects

IT Governance Practices Example: Project Priority Matrix

Priority

Business DriversWT A B C D Score

Return on Investment

6.0

> 30 %

( )

6.0

> 20 %

( )

4.5

> 15 %

( )

3.0

> 10 %

( )

1.0

Efficiency Gains

- One-Time Savings

- Annual Savings

4.0

6.0

> $500K

( )

( )

6.0

> $250K

( )

( )

4.0

> $100K

( )

( )

2.0

< $100K

( )

( )

0.0

Marketing Impact - Improves Customer

Service- Provides New Service

3.0

4.0

High

( )

( )

5.0

Medium

( )

( )

4.0

Low

( )

( )

2.0

Indirect

( )

( )

1.0

Scope of Impact- Multi-Department - Single Department

4.0

2.0

> or = 6

( )

( )

6.0

> or = 4

( )

( )

4.0

> or = 2

( )

( )

2.0

= 1

( )

( )

1.0

Business Risk:- Key IT Resources - Implementation

Timeline

-2.0

-1.5

Hi/Long

( )

( )

5.0

Lo/Long

( )

( )

4.0

Hi/Short

( )

( )

3.0

Lo/Short

( )

( )

1.0

Key 2:Business-Driven IT Structure

• Application team structure needs to effectively align with major operational divisions and governance structure

• “Big Picture” thinking is prevalent amongst the IT management team

• Single point of accountability for these IT areas:

– Overall agency IT management

– Business applications management

– Infrastructure management and support

– eServices development and support

Aligning Applications with Business Operations

AppointedSecretary

Operations Division A

Operations Division B

Administrative Division

FinancePurchasingHuman ResourcesPayrollAuditLegal

Customer ServicesBillingCollectionsRemote Offices

Mail ProcessingImagingDocument Management

IT Directoror CIO

Division BApplications

Division A Applications

Administrative Applications

Application Director/Manager

Infrastructure Manager

CustomerService Manager

eServicesApplications

FinancePurchasingHuman ResourcesPayrollAuditLegal

Customer ServicesBillingCollectionsRemote Offices

Mail ProcessingImagingDocument Management

Business-Driven IT Model

I/T Foundation: Balancing Business Needs and Technology Infrastructure

Customer Demands

Business Services

ApplicationRequirements

TechnicalInfrastructure

Customer VendorCustomer VendorCustomer Vendor

Key 3:Customer Service and Marketing

• Developing an “Internal Consultant” mindset – Every encounter with a customer is a perception opportunity

(favorable or unfavorable)

– Of the individual and the IT division

• Getting IT personnel to identify with the business operations rather than the IT business

• Develop IT business practices that make it easier on the customers to do business with IT

• Job shadowing: spending time walking in your customer’s shoes in their element

Key 3:Customer Service

and Marketing cont… • When IT organizations do their job best, customers

notice you least; IT becomes transparent

• When things are going well you sometimes have to promote your organization, it’s called marketing

• You have to be pro-active in telling your customers about your organization and your efforts; consider an IT Road Show

• The link: the better your customer services are the more credibility your marketing efforts will have

Key 4:Performance Management

• Developing a performance management system that encourages the desired behaviors related to customer service

• Highly-disciplined management team that provides consistent and equitable evaluation of personnel – Maintain a personnel folder on each direct report and their direct

reports– Top IT executive serves a single point of preview and feedback

on every personnel review

• Assemble a management team that understands their role is to put their staff in the best possible position to be successful

Include Customer Servicein Employee Reviews

• Solicit customer feedback and include in each employee’s performance review

• Require IT staff to spend a half to a full day each quarter job shadowing a customer

• Require each employee to provide a half page report on what they learned and share with the entire IT staff

Assessing WhereYou are Today

• Ask your staff: – What business are you in?

• Ask your managers: – Are our processes designed to make life easier for our IT staff

or for our customer?– Have you seen demonstrations of applications you do not have

to support?

• Ask your employees: – How much time do you spend with your customer learning their

business operations?

• Ask your customers: – What is the most valuable service IT provides?

Suggested Reading

• IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage IT Decision Rights for Superior Results, by Peter Weill and Jeanne W. Ross

• Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used, by Peter Block

• How to Market The I/S Department Internally, by L. Paul Ouelette

Errol LabatSSA Consultants(225) 769-2676

elabat@consultssa.com

Thank You!

Questions?