Key Assignment Outline

 Primary Task Response: Your first task is to post your own Key Assignment Outline to the discussion area so that other students are able to review your plan. Attach your document to the main discussion post, and include any notes you feel are appropriate. The purpose of this assignment is to help improve the quality of the Key Assignment Draft you will complete next week.  example of someone else’s discussion 4 

 

This week’s discussion board post is based off of our Key Assignment Outline for peer review. 

       The company that I chose for my Proposed Strategic IT Management and Planning strategy is North American Financial.  NAF is a banking and financial services corporation serving both large and small businesses, government projects and individual customers throughout North America. Services provided include banking, financial planning, business planning.  Looking from a far, the company appears to be a well-oiled machine.  Driven as an industry leader in delivering projects on time, on budget, and in scope, North American Financials IT processes were efficient, cost effective and on par with industry standards such as CMM, CMMI, ISO9001 and ITIL.  The IT organization consisting of approximately 7,000 professionals one would think all is well and out on the forefront of technology and innovation.  Nothing is always what it appears… until you look again! 

I attached a file:

IT375-1801A-01: IT Management Strategy

Proposed Strategic IT Management and Planning

For

North American Financial

Policies and Processes

Michael Troell

01/24/2018

IP# 4

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Section 1.

Project Outline (Week 1) 4
1.1 Brief Overview of the Organization (company size, location(s), etc.) 4
1.2 Overview of the Current Strategic IT Management and Planning Policies and Policies 4
1.3 Problems with the Current Strategic IT Management and Planning Policies and Policies 5

1.3.1 Limitations of the Current IT Planning Strategy.

5

1.3.2 List of problems with the Current IT Planning Strategy.

5

Problem 1.

5

Problem 2.

5

Problem 3.

5

1.4 Why the Current Strategic IT Management and Planning Policies and Policies are Inadequate.

5

Issue 1.

5

Issue 2.

5

Summary

5

Business Impact

of Each Problem (Week 2) 6
Problem 1 (from Week 1): 6
Business Impact 6

Financial Impact

6
Problem 2 (from Week 1): 6
Business Impact 6
Financial Impact 6
Problem 3 (from Week 1): 6
Business Impact 6
Financial Impact 6
Business Impact Summary 7
TBD 7

Technology Road Map for the Company (Week 3)

8

Information Security Strategy for Company (Week 4)

9
IT Functions and Capabilities Strategy (Week 5) 10

References

11
Appendix A. The “250” Report Memo (Week 5) 12

Section 1. Project Outline (Week 1)

1.1 Brief Overview of the Organization (company size, location(s), etc.)

North American Financial is a banking and financial services corporation serving both large and small businesses, government projects and individual customers throughout North America. Services provided include banking, financial planning, business planning. Looking at the business side of the organization, Bill Harris is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sam Patel Head of Retail Banking, Matt Harper CFO, Cathy Benson, senior vice president of Business Banking Product Management, Michael Cranston Director of Financial Strategy, Ian Ha Senior Director of Risk and Compliance. Led by new and first female Chief Information Officer (CIO) Caroline Weese and Brenda Liu senior director of IT Infrastructure, NAF in-house IT group consisted of approximately 7,000 IT professionals (McKeen, Smith n.d. p. 165).

1.2 Overview of the Current Strategic IT Management and Planning Policies and Policies

Driven as an industry leader in delivering projects on time, on budget, and in scope, North American Financials IT processes were efficient, cost effective and on par with industry standards such as CMM, CMMI, ISO9001 and ITIL. It appears strategies are based off of total IT budget for new development work being allocated by business unit, results were a prioritization process (McKeen, Smith n.d. p. 165). There is no real enterprise IT budget process that looks at all business silos as a whole to determine spending good or bad.

1.3 Problems with the Current Strategic IT Management and Planning Policies and Policies

1.3.1 Limitations of the Current IT Planning Strategy.

Rigorous cost constraints measures implemented by executives at North American Financial specifically towards IT budget meant senior executives only saw the expense of IT, not the value on their IT investments. Correspondence gaps between the business and IT, also adding to business neglect to comprehend the esteem IT is bringing.

1.3.2 List of problems with the Current IT Planning Strategy.
Problem 1.

Inconsistent alignment of total IT development budget with enterprise strategies means there is an enterprise strategy but no way to link them to enterprise spending. With IT budgets being allocated to size of business units the smaller line of units were smaller IT budgets opposed to larger business units. Because of Government mandatory projects budgets for small business un it’s are being eaten up.

Problem 2.

Project approvals were being made by business units with no consistency in addressing cross-unit synergies. There were eighteen separate projects allocated in different parts of the business, this was due to complying with anti-money laundering regulations. This is unacceptable, there needs to be a better way to address the problem.

Problem 3.

Inconsistent business cases show lack of details, inconsistent data provided lacked justification of costs to projects. It is a requirement that all major projects have business cases, clearly the problem with the inconsistencies show deficiencies with a IT strategic plan. Project numbers not making sense from a budget standpoint and not getting business sponsors of these projects not taking ownership considering they are asking for the money for these projects is another problem. Can’t see benefits if not involved.

Problem 4.

Too much emphasis regarding “on-time on-budget” delivery; when a project is approved no one looks at whether the project is still necessary or on track to deliver the benefits expected. Lack of business case reviews while “in-flight” or stop projects once started to assess. Finally, there is no accountability for delivering benefits after a project was developed and implemented (McKeen, Smith n.d. p. 167).

Problem 5.

IT believes the lack of IT housekeeping is causing the budget for maintaining existing systems, interfaces and data to be 60% of IT’s total budget (McKeen, Smith n.d. p. 167). This along with government/bank work only leaves 20% allocated for new development. Business leadership believes the lack of transparency on the part of IT is damaging its internal credibility and not allowing them to understand the need for IT housekeeping.

1.4 Why the Current Strategic IT Management and Planning Policies and Policies are Inadequate.
Issue 1.

Correspondence gaps between the business and IT, thus business neglect to comprehend the esteem IT is bringing.

Issue 2.

There is no enterprise IT budgeting process that looks over all business units and implement what’s effective for the entire enterprise.

Issue 3.

IT Enterprise management made enterprise procedures, however IT didn’t get included in implementing them in the business units.

Summary

It’s clear that North American Financial has major issues with their budget. With a $500 M budget why are the corporate executive’s only seeing large expenses of IT rather than value? Based on the issues, I firmly believe communication resides at the root of the problem. There are major communication gaps between the business and IT. The lack of communication can have adverse effects on many aspects of the business, for example inadequate IT Strategic planning processes and procedures without complete buy-in from both business and IT. All gaps must be closed as it is imperative IT and the business come together for the greater good of the company, its employees, stockholders and customers.

Business Impact of Each Problem (Week 2)

[Instructions: For each problem identified in Week 1, write its business impact on the organization. Map these problems directly to business impacts to determine the precedence of individual problems. These problems should focus on what the business is facing now or will face in the future.Provide at least 2 references to support your research paper.]

Problem 1 (from Week 1):

Inconsistent alignment of total IT development budget with enterprise strategies means there is an enterprise strategy but no way to link them to enterprise spending. With IT budgets being allocated to size of business units the smaller line of units were smaller IT budgets opposed to larger business units. Because of Government mandatory projects budgets for small business un it’s are being eaten up.
Business Impact

The impact of Inconsistent alignment of total IT development budget with enterprise strategies can have the significant effect on the business. In this case, I see mistrust among leadership creeping in causing substantial correspondence gaps between the top business brass and IT leadership. Thus business neglect to comprehend the esteem IT is bringing, or more to the point, show us the value of the spending. A disconnect between inconsistent alignments of IT’s total development budget and business strategy can result in lackluster budgeting and poor strategy implementation, as well as long-term or future planning which could spell doom for a business.

Financial Impact

Direct Financial Impact

More significant business units, as well as the necessary government projects, are taking most of the allocated funding from smaller business units.

Indirect Financial Impact

The smaller business units that are not Government projects receive significantly fewer budget dollars.

Non-Financial Impact

You are losing the trust of business leaders; the overall morale will be affected. Additionally, there will be difficulties in allocating resources to the smaller projects due to lack of funding.

Problem 2 (from Week 1):

Project approvals being made by business units with no consistency in addressing cross-unit synergies. For example, there were eighteen separate projects allocated in different parts of the business; this was due to complying with anti-money laundering regulations. It is unacceptable the way projects are assigned; there needs to be a better way to address projects across the company to allow for cross-unit synergies.

Business Impact

The resources are not being taken advantages, as duplicate work could be an issue. Great ideas could be missed based on allocated or lack thereof allocated resources. With no communication between organizations, no one knows what the other is working on; thus money could be wasted.

Financial Impact

Direct Financial Impact

IT could be allocating to many funds to some projects and not enough to others. Resources could be better allocated as they could be working on the same projects.

Indirect Financial Impact

IT budget could be decreased as personal could also be decreased.

Non-Financial Impact

Better communication among groups and projects could spawn more ideas and streamline the process.

Problem 3 (from Week 1):

Inconsistent business cases show lack of details, inconsistent data provided by IT management lacked justification of costs to projects. It is a requirement that all major projects have business cases. Apparently, the problem with the inconsistencies and lack of detailed business cases show deficiencies with an IT strategic plan. Project numbers are not making sense from a budget standpoint. Business sponsors of these projects are not taking ownership considering they are asking for the money for these projects. Inconsistent business cases show lack of details, inconsistent data provided lacked justification of costs to projects. It is a requirement that all major projects have business cases, clearly the problem with the inconsistencies show deficiencies with a IT strategic plan. Project numbers not making sense from a budget standpoint and not getting business sponsors of these projects not taking ownership considering they are asking for the money for these projects is another problem.

Business Impact

The business impact is the project budgets are out of control as they lack detail. The inconsistencies for lack of detailed business cases show there is no standard process. With the business owner not taking ownership of the project, the budget allocated to the project could be off, thus the causing leadership to question the value of the project.

Financial Impact

Direct Financial Impact

The direct impact is the project is not being funded properly.

Indirect Financial Impact

The funding for other projects may not be available.

Non-Financial Impact

Projects that could benefit the company are at risk of being started.

Problem 4 (from Week 1):

Too much emphasis regarding “on-time on-budget” delivery; when a project is approved no one looks at whether the project is still necessary or on track to deliver the benefits expected. Lack of business case reviews while in-flight to determine if projects should be stopped. Finally, there is no accountability or communications for the benefits of a project or lessons learned once it has been implemented. (McKeen, Smith n.d. p. 167)

Business Impact

Funding for unnecessary projects could further benefit the company by reallocating the funds to other projects. The benefits of the project are not being taken advantage of because of the lack of communication by IT and business ownership. The lessons learned from the project are not being shared with the company.

Financial Impact

Direct Financial Impact

Funds are being wasted on a project that is no longer needed.

Indirect Financial Impact

The funding for other projects may not be available.

Non-Financial Impact

Projects that could benefit the company are at risk of being started. The company is not taking advantage of completed projects. The lack of a lessons learned process by IT could cause repeated issues with future projects.

Problem 5 (from Week 1):

IT believes the lack of IT housekeeping is causing the budget for maintaining existing systems, interfaces and data to be 60% of IT’s total budget (McKeen, Smith n.d. p. 167). This along with government/bank work only leaves 20% allocated for new development (McKeen, Smith n.d. p. 167). Business leadership believes the lack of transparency on the part of IT is damaging its internal credibility and not allowing them to understand the need for IT housekeeping (system maintainance).

Business Impact

Funds for new projects are limited due to maintenance and government/banking costs. As new systems are added, complexity increases along with risks of something going wrong. IT’s inability to explain to the business the need for housekeeping is not allowing business to approve budget.

Financial Impact

Direct Financial Impact

Funds are being wasted on maintaining older applications, infrastructure and data that may have already been replaced by newer systems.

Indirect Financial Impact

Computer networks could be running slow due to older applications/infrastructure slowing down the network. Thus costing processing time. Increased risks of system failures causing network outage.

Non-Financial Impact

Based on the problem stated here, I do not see a non-financial impact. All potential scenarios lead me to believe are only financial impacts.

Business Impact Summary

In summary, North American Financial has five problems with IT that could have adverse effects on the company. A lack of consistent alignment of IT development budget with enterprise strategies has caused mistrust between leadership and IT. No communication between organizations has caused misallocation of resources and sharing of ideas. Business owners not taking ownership of a project has allowed projects to lack detailed business cases causing leadership to question the value of the project. Projects are not being reviewed once started to determine if they are still necessary, and once a project is completed the benefits of the project has not been communicated to the business. Because of lack of transparency from IT the company doesn’t understand the need for system maintenance.

Technology Road Map for the Company (Week 3)

(Add a new section “Technology Road Map for Company” and discuss where you see the company NOW: People [Do your IT people have the skills to maintain the existing software and hardware systems?]; Processes [Does the company have the policies and processes in place to adequately manage IT strategically?]; Technology [Is the company technology [hardware, software, networks, etc.] up-to-date and able to handle existing challenges, or is it falling behind and in need of major updates/grades?]. Also discuss where you see the company in 5 years: People [Will your IT people have the skills?]; Processes [What policies and processes will the company need?]; Technology [What technology [hardware, software, networks, etc.] will the company need?]. Recommend why your company needs to do to address the gaps between now and 5 years from now. • Provide at least 2 references to support your research.)

Current State

People: 

At first glance, by any standard, North American Financial’ s IT management, and the staff consisting of almost 7,000 professionals are excellent (McKeen, Smith n.d. p. 165). The staff follows all the recommended standards, CMM, CMMI, ISO9001, and ITIL (McKeen, Smith n.d. p. 165). Additionally, North American Financial, appointed a new Chief Information Officer who came up through the ranks and previously held the position of senior vice president of IT (McKeen, Smith n.d. p. 165). As I began analyzing the company’s current state, it became abundantly clear that there was a significant communication gap among the top brass of the business and the IT organization, leading to trust issues. The communication gaps have caused significant problems in the areas of the development budget alignment, business unit allocations (who is/are the customer(s)?), project allocations, wasteful spending (McMillan, A. 2003). Communication is the key to driving the business, without it, you run the risk of folding.

The IT organization as stated above, estimated at around 7,000 professionals in my belief is capable of maintaining the current infrastructure (software and hardware systems) given they have the proper tools and proper processes to do so.

Processes: 

I believe that the company’s policies and procedures are inadequate in their current state, therefore, making it difficult to manage IT strategies adequately. IT has a strategic technology plan but severely lacks transparency to the business, significant gaps in project planning, execution of implementation and project closures not adequately documented and followed.

Technology: 

To put it mildly, the current state of the company’s technology (e.g., infrastructure) is not up to date, yes it may be able to handle existing challenges depending on criticality (McKeen, Smith n.d. p. 165). Also, the IT organization is falling behind and is in need of significant upgrades to remain relevant with industry standards. Out of date or inadequate hardware and software will cause substantial support issues, security vulnerabilities, and deficiency in workflow and slowdowns within the user community.

Future State (5 years)

People: 

It is my belief that the IT management and staff in place will your IT have the skills to maintain the projected software and hardware systems. With comprehensive training programs in their given areas of expertise will help ensure the skill set necessary to live up to the stands that once made them a strong center of excellence.

Processes: 

First and foremost, the IT strategic technology plan needs an overhaul, it is at the center of most of if not all issues laid out in the current state analysis. The strategic technology plan must include or improve upon the alignment of the IT development portfolio budgets with enterprise strategies to better align business units and allow for a more streamlined approach to budget spending (McKeen, Smith n.d. p. 165). Additionally, an optimized strategic technology plan needs to improve the transparency significantly at all levels of the IT strategic plan, therefore closing the communication gaps with upper management from the business and IT management (McKeen, Smith n.d. p. 167). Support policy standards should be in place and must comply (e.g., regulation or industry norms). By doing this would also help with business unit and project allocations while efficiently helping to continue with mandatory government legislation projects along with other relevant projects such as infrastructure (e.g., hardware and software upgrades) (McKeen, Smith n.d. p. 167).

Technology: 

Based up the budget issues and lack of a strategic technology plan with no alignment of the IT development portfolio budgets with enterprise strategies, new technology development has taken a back seat to maintaining current systems, interfaces and data as well as government mandatory legislative projects (McKeen, Smith n.d. p. 168) . With that said the future state of technology must have adequate budget allocations to upgrade its current state with new infrastructure (e.g., hardware and software) to be able to support company needs.

It is blatantly evident that North American Financial current state has a severe communication problem causing mistrust among its executive branch of the business and IT management. The communication issues have additionally created significant budget issues with poorly allocated business units, inadequate technology infrastructure badly in need of upgrading. A poorly written or lack of a proper strategic technology plan is also at the heart of the issues hindering the advancement of the company.

My recommendation to closing the gaps within a five-year plan would be three-fold. The first component, identify the critical technology needs of the company’s business units, i.e., those technologies required to maintain a competitive advantage and allow for more transparency between the business and IT (McMillan, A. 2003). Secondly, providing a robust strategic technology plan to satisfy the needs within a required timeline of five years. A strategic plan would include closing the gaps of the inconsistent alignment of total IT development budget with enterprise strategies. Therefore, linking them to enterprise spending paving the way for new technology development that brings the value that top business brass believes to be missing. The third component are infrastructure deficiencies causing technical challenges, with support, and participation from the impacted business units due to the budget issues (McMillan, A. 2003).

To summarize, looking at the technology roadmap, a current state of the company is met with severe challenges that must address the issues. Analyzing the company’s workforce, significant communication gaps among the top brass of the business and the IT leadership and staff has led to considerable trust issues. Furthermore, the communication gaps have also caused significant problems in the areas of the development budget alignment, business unit allocations (who is/are the customer(s)?), project allocations, and wasteful spending. Processes, policies, and procedures are inadequate; there is entirely no transparency to the strategic technology plan among organizations. Significant gaps in project planning, execution of implementation and project closures not adequately documented and followed. The current state of technology (e.g., infrastructure) are not up to date. Because of business unit allocations, current technologies are falling behind and is in need of significant upgrades to remain relevant with industry standards. These issues among others are imperative to the way forward success over the next five years.

If successful the future can be bright in five years, IT would have the skills to maintain the projected software and hardware systems. You will have collaboration and cross-group synergies throughout the company. Comprehensive training programs will be in place for personnel to expand knowledge in their given areas of expertise. The training will ensure the skill set necessary to live up to the standards that once made them a substantial center of excellence. Alignment of the IT development portfolio with enterprise strategies will lead to stronger processes and transparency. Also, strict and common standards around IT planning and business., expectations will be aligned. With a stronger strategic technology plan sorely needed infrastructure upgrades can finally be completed to leading industry standards.

Anything is possible in business when communication is robust, transparent, and thriving. Communication is the root of all evil and will (not can) have severe adverse effects on a company when left to decay.

Information Security Strategy for Company (Week 4)

(Discuss your company’s business critical information and your company’s cyber, physical, cultural, and procedural vulnerabilities. Recommend what your company needs to do to address its security strategy gaps. Recommendations should be actionable and linked directly to the Technology Road Map in Week 3. Provide at least 2 references to support your research paper)

IT Functions and Capabilities Strategy (Week 5)

[Discuss your company’s data management strategy, including collaboration and policies toward social media. Discuss your company’s strategy for developing and maintaining IT capabilities, to include such things as training, hiring, and contracting and/or outsourcing. Recommend what your company needs to do to address its data management and capability strategy gaps.. Provide at least 2 references to support your research paper.]

References

Unit 1

McKeen, J. D., & Smith, H. A. (n.d.). IT Strategy. Retrieved from

https://ebooksbvd.my-education-connection.com/read/9781323599488/filep70004944060000000000000000009f5_xhtml#P70004944060000000000000000009F5

McMillan, A. (2003). Technology roadmapping: Roadmapping–agent of change. Research Technology Management, 46(2), 40-47. Retrieved from

https://proxy.cecybrary.com/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.cecybrary.com/docview/213804556?accountid=144789

Appendix A. The “250” Report Memo (Week 5)

[Directions: Complete the “250” Template as a memo to a specific decision maker within your business impact assessment plan:

To:
Address the memo to a specific decision maker within the case.

Business Issues Summary:
Summarize your company’s data management strategy, including collaboration and policies toward social media; and your company’s strategy for developing and maintaining IT capabilities, to include such things as training, hiring, and contracting and/or outsourcing.

Recommendations:

Present what your company needs to do to address its data management and capability strategy gaps.

Word Count:
State your word count. The memo must not exceed 250 words.

Author:
Identify yourself.

To:

Business Issues Summary:

Recommendations:

Word Count:

Author:

IT375
–
1801A
–
01: IT Management Strategy

Proposed Strategic IT Management and Planning

For

North American Financial

Policies and Processes

Michael Troell

01/
24
/2018

IP#

4

IT375-1801A-01: IT Management Strategy
Proposed Strategic IT Management and Planning
For
North American Financial
Policies and Processes
Michael Troell
01/24/2018
IP# 4

Running Head: INNOVATIONS AT INTERNATIONAL FOODS

1.1 THE COMPANY OVERVIEW

The International Foods Group (IFG) Tower was a Chicago landmark as well as part of the company’s logo, which appeared on the packages of almost every type of food one could imagine—breakfast cereals, soft drinks, frozen pizza, cheese, and snack foods, to name just a few. IFG was now the largest purveyor of food products the world had ever known. , IFG kept right on growing, gobbling up dozens of companies each year—some because IFG wanted to stomp on its competition and others because it wanted their good ideas.

1.2 Current IT Strategic Planning and Management

IFG has taken over Glow-Foods since the company has done well in using social networking, mashups, and multimedia to support its marketing strategy and has an impressive ability to reach the under thirty demographic with technology. IFG has traditionally marketed its products to women with children missing out on the youth. It has a functional Web site—a place where customers can find out about its products and where to buy them. More recently, it has added the products nutritional content, some recipes, and a place where customers can contact directly with questions, but it is unidirectional and pretty dry. Enough of what had been done in Glow-Foods succeeded that demand for the company’s products had skyrocketed. Young adults and teens had responded en masse to the opportunity to post pictures of themselves drinking their Green Tea Shakes in unusual places on the Glow-Foods Web site and to send a coupon for their favorite Glow-Foods product to a friend. Serialized company mini-dramas popped up on YouTube and viewers were asked to go online to help shape what happened to the characters—all of them using Glow-Foods products extensively. Contests, mass collaboration in package design, and a huge network of young part-time sales reps linked through Facebook all contributed to making the brand hip and exciting—and drove sales through the roof.

1.3 PROBLEMS CITED IN THE CURRENT IT PLANNING STRATEGY

The team has encountered some problems during the strategic planning. Access to instant messaging and Facebook require prior approval from Rick Visser’s group. They need to know why Josh’s team needs it. Ben demands that the team goes through him since he is the contact person and claims he should be present in all meetings. Sheema requested that the team should request their proposed work, with costs and benefits for the fiscal year beginning six months from now. The team is not sure how the plan will play out, it could be great and would need lots of resources to scale up or could bomb and fail.

2.0 BUSINESS IMPACT OF THE PROBLEMS

Since access to instant messaging and Facebook require prior approval from Rick Visser’s group, this could affect communication and information could fail to deliver on time. The information could also fail to reach the receivers incase Visser’s group fails to approve the information. Ben demands that the team goes through him since he is the contact person and claims he should be present in all meetings. Incase case Ben is engaged elsewhere and is not able to attend a meeting, it means that the meeting will be postponed and this is a waste of time and resources. Sheema requested that the team should request their proposed work, with costs and benefits for the fiscal year beginning six months from now. The team is not sure how the plan will play out, it could be great and would need lots of resources to scale up or could bomb and fail. For this reason a definite budget cannot be made.

3.0 TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP

International Foods Group (IFG) will connect directly with customers about new product development ideas through an interactive Web site with real-time response from internal staff. The company will then reach out to different communities and gain insights into their needs and interests, which in turn will guide the future marketing plans. These and other ideaswill be implemented on the ‘cloud,’ which will enable the team to scale up or down rapidly as it needs to while linking with company databases.

4.0 INFORMATION SECURITY STRATEGY

Successful accomplishment of the goals and objectives will result in realizing the vision and the transformation of the company’s operations, technologies, processes, and people. Program managers, users and supporting personnel will have confidence in the information needed to achieve their missions. Decision makers will share a seamless, enterprise-wide, and common view of information, networks, and systems, allowing them to jointly make decisions. The secure enterprise architecture will allow appropriate sharing of information and knowledge and enable multiple levels of information sharing across security environments.

Cyber security capabilities will be dynamic, sufficiently robust, and agile – reconfigurable on demand, available, and consistently controlled at all points of access, with reduced possibility for human and machine error. Cutting-edge protection, detection, and response technologies will be rapidly deployed across all systems and networks, outpacing adversaries’ efforts to exploit vulnerabilities.

Processes and governance principles will support mission accomplishment in a networked environment, will be continually improved, and will be sufficiently dynamic and agile to accommodate rapidly changing needs.

Cyber security personnel will consistently demonstrate the highest skill levels in managing and deploying the latest technologies and methods. The entire team workforce will recognize the importance of cyber security, understand their role in it, and will be constantly vigilant.

5.0 IT FUNCTIONS AND CAPABILITY STRATEGY.

Different models can help executives construct an IT strategy, most contain certain key elements including:

· A high-level overview of the IT department that covers its mission, core values, objectives and approaches to accomplishing its goals.

· Current budgets and fro spending forecasts a multiyear timeline.

· An outline of current and future IT projects and initiatives with timelines and milestones.

· A catalog of existing enterprise architecture; IT department capabilities and capacities; and future needs and requirements with details about infrastructure, staffing and other necessary resources.

· An analysis of IT’s strengths and weaknesses.

· A list of the internal and external forces (such as market and industry trends) that shape current technology requirements and innovations as well as the future forces expected to shape IT.

· A prediction of the potential opportunities and vulnerabilities that will necessitate technology responses to best position the organization for success.

6.0 REFFERENCES

Erica Olsen. (2006) Strategic Planning for Dummies. Teachers College Record,177 (4)

George Steiner (1979). Strategic Planning. The Free Press.

Rosa, M., & Soffer, P. (2013). Business Process Management Workshops. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.