Posts Tagged ‘Infrastructure’
I.T. Strategic Planning – Objectives
In an earlier post I covered what your KRA’s might look like, in this article I want to go over what your objectives might be in your plan. You know better than I what the hot buttons are in your organization, the critical over the urgent and so on. But your plan is about the bigger picture so you need to always be looking ahead and plan accordingly. You want to also consider dates or deadlines on these objectives, otherwise you may never deliver in a timely fashion.
Here is an example list of Objectives:
1. Implement Core Applications – 1Q – 2011
2. Provide constituent self-serve 24/7 – 3Q – 2010
3. Provide Infrastructure to Support XYZ Application – 2Q – 2010
4. Train staff on all core applications – 4Q – 2010 (before launching)
5. Provide Data to staff where and when they might need it and in the format they want it in. – 4Q – 2010
Traditionally, after you have identified your objectives you would then look at your action plans and set dates for those items as well. I’ll cover that step in our mock I.T. Strategic Plan.
I.T. Strategic Planning – KRA's
Possibly the third step in your plan will be a category called KRA ( Key Result Areas). This area will be different for each organization, this is due to different infrastructures and software that may already be in place. This is more of an observation and desire to improve on existing services provided by your current I.T. team.
I have listed 5 items below that might be on your list under KRA’s, also keep in mind every experienced I.T. leader will view these items differently and might not agree so try to keep an open mind.
Key Result Area’s
1. Integrate Core Application – you may have multiple applications that don’t speak to each other and you want to solve this short coming.
2. Constituent Self-serve Via the Internet – you may want to give more and easier access to data via the internet to staff.
3. Realign and Train Existing Staff – an obvious one for improving the skill set of all staff members using core applications
4. Improve Support To Field Staff – if you have staff in the field, your goal should be to get them more connected to HQ or central office.
5. Provide a stable IT Infrastructure – this should be an ongoing goal from day one and never end.
I hope that helps you in designing your I.T. Strategic Plan, your list will look different based on organizational needs, but you get the idea.
Feel free to leave questions and comments below, until next time.