Enterprise Consulting Services
Conduct VIA

Step 2: Conduct Rapid Value Impact Assessments

Using a combination of interviews, focus groups and workshops to ensure a truly objective evaluation, the Rapid Assessment phase generates fast but accurate current state artifacts. This enables the PMO to clearly understand and highlight the gaps between actual operations and best practice. Having gathered this understanding of current state operations, the team will define process improvements, drawing on the ITIL framework to deliver the best return on investment.

In a full VIA engangement, the level 1, 2 and 3 analysis process is conducted simultaneously. Organizations may choose to only pursue 1 or more levels independently, depending on business drivers. 

Level 1 Assessment

A level 1 assessment focuses on IT infrastructure, IT Service Management and Delivery functions and Common Office Productivity Tools. Analysis is conducted to determine function interdependencies across each IT department and evaluate current state, roles and responsibilities, current function performance and new requirements.

IT Infrastructure Support Functions Addressed:

  • Data Centers / DMZ
  • Network Perimeter Security: ACL's, Firewalls, Intrusion Detection, SPAM
  • Network Operating Center (NOC)
  • Wide and Local Area Networks, Wireless Access, Remote Access
  • Network Directory Services
  • Servers: Virtualization, Standardization, Asset Inventories, Refresh Schedules, Procurement methodology, Lease Management
  • Databases: Standardization, Inventories, Maintenance and Support
  • Storage & Backup: Standardization, Inventories, Maintenance and Support
  • Print Services: Standardization, Inventories, Maintenance and Support
  • Voice and Communications: Standardization, Inventories, Maintenance and Support
  • Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery

IT Service Management and Delivery Functions Addressed:

  • Service Desk: Level 1 Help Desk
  • Change Management, Problem Management
  • Level 2 Deskside, Level 3 Desktop Engineering
  • Warranty and Depot Repair Methodology, Facilities and Contracts
  • Client Desktop and Mobil Computing Hardware, Standardization, Asset Inventories, Refresh Schedules, Procurement methodology, Lease Management
  • Client Software Asset Inventories, Standardization, Refresh Schedules, Procurement methodology, Lease Management
  • Distributed Print and Mult-Function Device Standardization, Asset Inventories, Refresh Schedules, Procurement methodology, Lease Management
  • Disposal
  • Client Device and Data Security Protection Methodology and Support Infrastructure
  • Server-side Hardware, Software, Maintenance and Services procurement, Lease Management
  • Application remediation and packaging
  • Device Image Engineering, Distribution, Patch, Upgrade, Release, Test Lab Facilities
  • IT Budgeting, Planned vs Actual Variance Analysis
  • Performance Management, KPI's, Executive Dashboard

Common Office Productivity and End User Computing Functions Addressed:
  • Enterprise Email
  • Office Productivity Solution (eg Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Visio, Project, Access)
  • Common Browser
  • Shared Directory, filing system
  • Collaborative Software and Portal Technology
  • End User Computing solution(s)

An example level 1 Incident Management - Service Desk deliverable is illustrated below. Swim lane charts are used for collaborative projects to ensure the team is on the same page regarding Hot Spots and Black Holes - processes and workflows that have broken down or do not exist.  This chart Swim lane chart indicates that there are issues collecting end user requests for hardware, software or security; prioritization is inconsistently utilized and poorly defined e.g. the difference between severity and priority is unclear and resulting problem and request hand offs to 2nd level IT providers is inconsistent. There is no accountability for 2nd level follow up and no available method for users to check status - request fall into the proverbial "black hole".

swimlane01.jpg

Level 2 Assessment

riskmap02.jpgA level 2 analysis will document high level core business value streams - those front to back workflows in the company that constitute primary revenue generation, regulatory compliance or other key business survival and success drivers. The organization's application portfolio is then mapped against these key flows in order to segregate the portfolio into core and non core business applications.

Core and Non core business applications are plotted using a Risk Heat Map based on   Business Factors (Significance) - the impact of the IT risk element related to the strategic, operational, legal / regulatory, and/or financial reporting performance of the business; and Technology Factors (Likelihood) - the inherent IT risk related to availability, maturity, complexity, confidentiality, and integrity of the application, its architecture, and the IT processes supporting it.

A financial analysis is performed to determine the total cost of application ownership in the form of staff, infrastructure, maintenance and amortization. Strategic what if scenarios are explored with regards to legacy system outsourcing, industry standard package replacement including ASP models, service oriented architectures and hyper focused IT development organization structures.

       
     
             
Level 3 Assessment

To proceed with a level 3 analysis, ECS is best equipped to address companies that face competitive pressures from the following sources:

  • Low cost providers utilizing integrated Enterprise Resource Planning systems
  • Accelerating industry transition and dependency on electronic marketing, product and service presentment and fulfillment, especially related to requirements for Content Management. eCommerce and Digital Marketing
  • Increasingly sophisticated competitors utilizing sales force automation and mobile computing

ECS uses partners with specialized expertise in these areas and can serve as a general contractor to establish a common infrastructure and standards. Without a focal point for integration, short term decisions may generate solutions that are not scalable or sustainable. Most companies large enough to have formal marketing functions conduct or contract for some form of Industry, Market and Competitive analysis but can't respond fast enough to changing conditions with new or enhanced products and services because they are throttled by existing systems and processes that have been institutionalized over years of repetition. Because major initiatives typically cross many department boundaries, the same PMO process utilized in level 1 can be very effective to control cost, schedule and performance constraints when attempting breakaway initiatives.     

The bottom line - what is driving your IT organization and suppliers? Is IT in your organization on auto pilot, saddled with maintenance and never ending "enhancements" driven by unorganized user groups across the company?  Does IT report to the CEO and is it considered strategic?  Is the perception of IT service poor but no one knows what to do about it?  Is there an effective chargeback process leveling demand? Is there a baseline set of services that everyone gets with well defined costs and anything more requires a rigorous cost justification and funding sources?   

Even high level brainstorming or Mind Mapping techniques that tap the organizations key leaders, internal SME's and basic market research to develop a universe of potential initiatives will generate a plan that is better than no plan at all. High level project costing and ROI analysis is then factored to facilitate prioritization of project candidates for consideration when developing the IT strategic plan.