Introduction What an IT strategy is An IT strategy is a process that organization goes through to identify and define a portfolio of projects that will help your organization achieve strategic In order for the strategy to be successful, these projects must be staffed and budgeted. Otherwise, it's a nice report that sits on the shelf while the organization continues to allocate its IT resources in an ad hoc and reactive manner. It is important, then, that the IT strategy feed into the districts formal budget process. Process We assembled representatives from all the colleges and most of the functional areas. The team met monthly starting in September and culminated its work in early January. Using the district's overall strategic goals as a reference, identify problems and shortcomings with the districts existing IT capability that would constrain the district from meeting its strategic goals. The workgroup felt that the shortcomings could be organized into 5 themes: Institutional ability to deliver The overall lack of project management skills in the district has resulted in either projects failing or else expensive consultants hired to drive projects to completion. IT governance, the process by which decisions are made and standards are established, has been weak at best. The district does not have well-defined and established IT processes. Instead, IT services are demanded and delivered in an ad hoc, uncoordinated fashion, resulting in unhappy customers and overworked, demoralized IT staff. There are big holes in the IT skill sets necessary to support PeopleSoft. The District PeopleSoft team is understaffed, and does not have the range of skill sets necessary to support even day-to-day maintenance of the system, much less implement new modules and functionality, resulting in a heavier reliance on consultants. Sustainable IT infrastructure Tech refresh (that is, the set of processes and policies that ensures that an organization renews its technology infrastructure and maintains an adequate level to support its business operation) is ad hoc and unplanned. It is highly dependent on bond and other, one time funding sources. There is a highly uneven distribution of IT capability not only between the colleges and the district office, but also within the colleges themselves.
Introduction What an IT strategy is An IT strategy is a process that organization goes through to identify and define a portfolio of projects that will help your organization achieve strategic In order for the strategy to be successful, these projects must be staffed and budgeted. Otherwise, it's a nice report that sits on the shelf while the organization continues to allocate its IT resources in an ad hoc and reactive manner. It is important, then, that the IT strategy feed into the districts formal budget process. Process We assembled representatives from all the colleges and most of the functional areas. The team met monthly starting in September and culminated its work in early January. Using the district's overall strategic goals as a reference, identify problems and shortcomings with the districts existing IT capability that would constrain the district from meeting its strategic goals. The workgroup felt that the shortcomings could be organized into 5 themes: Institutional ability to deliver The overall lack of project management skills in the district has resulted in either projects failing or else expensive consultants hired to drive projects to completion. IT governance, the process by which decisions are made and standards are established, has been weak at best. The district does not have well-defined and established IT processes. Instead, IT services are demanded and delivered in an ad hoc, uncoordinated fashion, resulting in unhappy customers and overworked, demoralized IT staff. There are big holes in the IT skill sets necessary to support PeopleSoft. The District PeopleSoft team is understaffed, and does not have the range of skill sets necessary to support even day-to-day maintenance of the system, much less implement new modules and functionality, resulting in a heavier reliance on consultants. Sustainable IT infrastructure Tech refresh (that is, the set of processes and policies that ensures that an organization renews its technology infrastructure and maintains an adequate level to support its business operation) is ad hoc and unplanned. It is highly dependent on bond and other, one time funding sources. There is a highly uneven distribution of IT capability not only between the colleges and the district office, but also within the colleges themselves.
Peralta-CCD-Information-Technology-Strategy.docx