ITVP IT Process Governance Toolkit
Context: Throughout our experience, we have advanced in customising the existing tools for business needs and improved our unique approach towards value creation through IT.
Outcome: We have created a toolkit of IT process Government that can be applied to various business needs in order to optimise business value.
Methods: Value stream mapping, team assessment, WBS definition, processes automation evaluation, control process implementation, continual improvement process abilitation.
Working with clients from different fields of business and having different needs requires flexibility and expertise. Through our experiences with various Clients, we have enriched our expertise in developing strategies and customising the tools for creating value focused on business requirements. We have developed this toolkit, which is our approach to any type of business that can be answered with correct implementation of IT that would bring organisational change and improved business value.
Content of this toolkit is a series of methods and activities that each step requires, that would be applied to organisational material and data flow structures, internal operational roles and across different products; all can be improved through the contribution of IT Strategy.
Main purpose of this toolkit is to introduce an approach that creates a sustainable strategy that is ongoing and in continuous development within the IT lifecycle. Thus, it seeks to have a grasp of the process from scratch until the delivery of IT solutions and digital service strategy transformation, encompassing further iterations to maintain sustainability of product life cycle and continuous development.
Backbone of an IT Strategy that will bring value through operational systems of a business lies within the correct definition of the current business needs. Thus, we put heavy emphasis on the initial phase where we analyse the existing situation, how can it be optimised with the integration of IT and how it can be monitored and measured in the next stages after implementation. The method in this toolkit consists of 3 main phases which are MAP, MANAGE and MEASURE. We will take you through the purpose and methods to be used in each step.
Step 1: MAP
Scope of this phase is to have a closer look at the existing situation of company mission and evaluate its alignment with IT. Thus, we collect data through a series of interviews, direct observation and analysis of documentations.
Having a good grasp of the company mission is essential since it is the component that will take the IT strategy to the next steps. We make this analysis utilising Value Stream Maps, that are commonly used in lean production, which allows us to understand flow of value across the various operational components of an organisation. This defines how the activities aimed at designing, producing or supplying goods and services to customers. Understanding these flows help us to evaluate their link to IT, and how can this structure be improved.
At this stage, interviews also help us understand the current gaps within the organisational structure and have an in depth insight of corporate skills and capabilities.
As a further application, we utilise ITIL methodology to map existing IT processes. ITIL, IT Infrastructure Library, helps us to define the organisational structure to proceed with the development of a sustainable IT strategy that seeks to add business value.
Part of the ITIL method, we project on the Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation and Continual Service Improvement.
As a last phase of the first step, we employ WBS definition in pursuance of a clear representation of the workload division, with the scope of how these can be transformed at a later stage with further integration of IT as organisational activities. In other words, what we aim is to gain insight about current workload division and how can it be redefined with an advanced integration of IT Strategy.
Step 2: MANAGE
We start this step by evaluating the information collected in the previous phase. This evaluation is aimed at how can the organisational activities can be transformed within the framework of visibility and can be optimised for value creation. We take an even closer look at the stakeholder maps, identify the methods of interaction and documentation, seeking for a scenario in which Business – IT processes can be developed with a scope of creating operational synergy.
This step is also where we detect the activities that are causing waste of time, seeing whether or not some of them can be subjected to automation to prevent this loss. This selection is, of course, carried out through a series of criteria, evaluating possible efficiency outcomes. As an evaluation tool we use Process Ranking, to arrive at a list of actions that should be given priority to be automated.
Step 3: MEASURE
At this last stage, we create the monitoring tools and execute automation practices on necessary points. Aim of this stage is to define and manage the steps necessary to identify, define, collect, process, analyse, present and finally implement improvement actions. Throughout the process, we continue to identify opportunities for improvement via constant monitoring measurement of information. We interrupt and iterate on the existing result when we evaluate that it is necessary, aiming to maximise the system’s efficiency and benefit. Having an Agile mindset, we test with client and have their validation, seeking other spaces of improvement within the system in a continuous manner.
Conclusion
Our philosophy at ITVP is to hold a business needs above all. We plan, project and organise IT strategy processes always based on this mindset. With a careful attention to the processes within a structure, we observe and analyse, and arrive at a scenario that would enhance business profit through the implementation of IT. In this article, we explain our IT Process Governance Toolkit, which is a pilot working model that can be adapted based on any organisation’s needs and objectives. For more information about our methods and tools, you can browse our website.