Information Technology Alignment, Strategy &

Governance, and Efficiency

CSG Winter 2011

Why is Alignment so Important?

Why is Alignment so Important?FY10 Expenditures

- Unresponsive

- Little Accountability

- Inflexible

+ Single Enterprise

+ Efficient

+ Common Support

+ Unit Focus

+ Effective

+ Responsive

- Redundancy

- Costly

- Lacking Standardization

Principles• Mission Specific or Strategic

Importance to Local Unit• Unique• High Touch, High Interaction• Little Cross-Unit Use• Emerging, Immature Technologies• Innovation

Examples:• Computer Desktop Support• Web Development & Content

Management• Academic Application Development

& Support• Research Application Development

& Support

Integrated Technology Services Continuum

Distributed Integrated Services

Continuum

Accountable to Both

Nimble

Good Value

Best

Practices

Transparency

Principles• Institutional Vision & Mission

Alignment• Institutional Mission Criticality• Strategic Leadership Opportunity• Interoperability• Common Need• Institutional Economy-of-Scale

Value• Technology Maturity• Institutional Risk

Examples:

Core

Role of Governance

IT Planning Governance Groups:• Serve as the voice of our customers• Provide input on services and service levels.• Provide priority and sequencing advice.• Help lead and socialize directions and

solutions.

Role of GovernanceIT Planning Governance Groups:• Senate Committee Information Technology (Faculty)• Deans and Chancellors (Academic Leadership)• Academic Technology Advisory Committee

(Associate/Assistant Deans)• Collegiate & Coordinate Campus IT Directors

(Distributed IT Leaders – Academic Units)• Enterprise Planning Group (Distributed IT Leaders –

Administrative Units)• University-Wide Technology-Specific work groups

(Techies)

Role of Consultation

SenateCommittee

EPGATAC

ITLA

IT Strategic Planning Goal

"Identify and invest in technology projects that are transformative and provide competitive advantage, while maintaining the critical technology infrastructure necessary to support the institution."

IT Strategic Planning

• Rolling 6-Year Plan• Rolling 2-Year Plan• Quarterly Work-Plans

IT Strategic PlanningProcess Goals and Principles

Process Goals:• Manage an IT investment portfolio consistent with the

institution’s goals and aligned to its strategies. • Provide University Leaders with the right information

to make major IT investments.• Invest the right resources at the right time.• Manage a well coordinated long-term technology plan

that is financially sustainable.

Project Selection Criteria

• Project Type• Project Value• Project Readiness• Project Financing

Project Selection Criteria

• Two Types:–Strategic (Academic, Research &

Service Unit Projects)– Infrastructure (Maintaining the Base)

Project Selection Criteria

Strategic Projects (Examples):• Constituent Relationship

Management (CRM)• Faculty Activity Reporting and

Expertise• Business Intelligence / Academic

Analytics• U of M Google Apps• Strategic Sourcing (Purchasing)• Research Cyberinfrastructure• Grad School Student Planner

Infrastructure Projects (Examples):• Data Center Modernization Program

• Server Virtualization & Consolidation

• Wireless Upgrade• Identity Management• ERP Upgrade (also continued

compliance and maintenance)

Project Selection Criteria

• Projects in a fiscal year slot meet the following criteria:– Definition - we know what needs to be done.– Functional Ownership - a champion who has business

decision responsibilities.– Business Case - an understanding of demand, business

need, and investment return.– Finance Plan - a refined understanding of total costs and an

associated plausible plan for funding them.

Project Selection Criteria

• Projects in planning and development meet the following criteria:– Definition - although not fully understood, a group is actively

‘working’ on defining the requirements for this idea/need and developing the business case.

– Functional Ownership - there is a good sense of who would champion this effort and have non-technical decision responsibilities.

– Finance Plan - Preliminary sense of cost may be known - but is unrefined. Funding is not known.

Project Selection Criteria

• Strategic Match: The extent to which the initiative aligns with the Institution's strategies/objectives.

• Impact on Institutional Measures of Success: The extent to which the initiative affects the Institution's performance measures.

• Competitive Impact and Advantage: The extent to which the initiative creates understood comparative advantage.

• Interdisciplinary Synergy / Leveragability: The extent to which the initiative can be used as a relationship building catalyst or can be leveraged across organizational boundaries.

• Demand or Need for Project / Program / Initiative: The consequences of not executing the initiative now.

• Financial Impact, Efficiency, Revenue, Cost, Productivity: The initiative's expected quantifiable outcome.

Value

• Organizational Readiness: The extent to which the technical and the functional organizations are poised to deliver and use the system.

• Technical Readiness: The extent to which the technology meets the functional need.

• Architecture Fit: The extent to which the initiative's technology can be connected to - and is interoperable with - existing components and/or systems.

• Definition: The extent to which the initiative's deliverables are described and understood. Element of confidence in the planned approach and its likeliness to change.

• Infrastructure Leveragability: The extent to which the initiative takes advantage of systems and services that exist today - or are already in place.

Risk

Project Selection Criteria

Benchmark / Comparable Information: Over time / Parts to the whole / Peers / Industry Standards

(1) Improvement Categories

(2) Cost Categories

(3) Start-up & over 5 years

(4a) Per impacted

group

(4b) University overall

(5) Net impact (6) Benchmarks

Project Selection

VOI

Discussion Questions

• Are our CIOs positioned to lead the discussions around these ideas?

• Are CIOs empowered to lead these institutional IT activities?

• What can CIOs do to affect a strategically aligned IT management function?