IT Governance: Prioritizing Projects through Inclusivity, Communications and Transparency Stephen A. Vieira CIO and Executive Director of IT The Community College of Rhode Island October 16, 2012

Agenda  Background about CCRI  What Is and Why IT Governance?  The Process  Project Management Methodology  Advisory Group Structure  Explaining roles  Prioritization Process  Additional Issues to Consider

The Community College of Rhode Island

 Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein Albert Einstein

IT Governance, what is it? Why is it necessary?

What is IT Governance?  The structure, oversight and management processes which ensure the delivery of the expected benefits of IT in a controlled way to help enhance the long term sustainable success of the enterprise.  A process that ensures that IT capacity is being spent on the right things at the right time to enable business goals.  A set of controls that focuses on organizational success while managing associated risks.

Major Focus Areas of IT Governance  Strategic alignment  Value delivery  Resource management  Risk management  Performance measures

Strategic Alignment  How organizations align IT strategy with business strategy  Implementing good ways to measure IT’s performance  Ensure all stakeholders’ interests are taken into account  Guarantee that all proposed projects get “air” time and fair consideration in comparison with its peers  CIO and IT Governance plays/should play a huge role in converting technical jargon into everyday language.

Key Questions for IT Governance  How is the IT department functioning overall?  What key metrics does management need?  What is the return that IT is giving back?  Are the investments made in IT generating business value?  Are IT functions sustaining the college’s strategies and goals?

IT Transformation and Sustainability  The all-knowing “wizards” of IT  “Do more with less”  Demand far exceeds the ability to deliver  Every request is priority number one  Every request needed to be done yesterday  An IT team that is highly-stressed, lacks direction with morale very low  Short-term and long-term IT costs

Benefits of IT Governance  Business unit managers become partners  Compromise becomes the standard  IT services are more effectively and efficiently consumed  IT services diligently distributed across the organization  Change does not occur in a vacuum

Advisory Group Structure Institutional Technology Advisory Committee President’s Council’s primary conduit Academic Technology Advisory Committee Instructional technology Information Systems Advisory Committee Enterprise Resource Planning (Banner) Blackboard Advisory Group Designated Blackboard Faculty Mentors Change Advisory Board Deans, Chairs, Department Heads, Coordinators

Business Case  Cross-functional team consisting of IT team and functional line-of-business managers  Project charter evolves from the business cases  Project descriptive document  Distributed to the Advisory Groups in advance of the first of the prioritization meetings

Business Case Example

Project Descriptive

The Rating Sheet

Prioritization Rating Spreadsheet: Rationale  Rationale  Legal/Regulatory Requirement  Safety/Security Requirement  Strategic Goal  Need  Required  Current State

Prioritization Rating Spreadsheet: Feasibility  Technical Specifications  Technical Resources  Schedule

Prioritization Rating Spreadsheet: Cost  Out of Pocket  Internal Project Cost to Implement  Annual Cost to Operate  Operational Cost

Prioritization Rating Spreadsheet: Benefits  Revenue  Cost Savings  Enterprise Benefits  Increase Effectiveness  Staff or System Effect  Reach/Support Customer Base

Project Prioritization Map Operational Effectiveness Cost Effectiveness PriorityHigh Priority Very Low Priority Low Priority D A B C

Planning

Principles of IT Governance  Actively design governance  Know when to re-design  Involve senior managers  Make choices  Clarify the exception-handling process  Assign ownership and accountability  Provide transparency and education  The importance of having the CIO on the President’s Council

Conclusions  A clear roadmap of IT Projects has been prioritized  Business unit leaders know what is being done and when solutions are likely to be delivered  IT Team knows what it must do

Questions I’ve Been Asked  How often can the roadmap change?  How do you balance keeping things running and doing new things/new projects?  How do you avoid disruption in the process by those who resist change?  How do you address those projects always on the bottom of the list?  How do you get buy-in from the IT Team and Business Unit leaders?

questions Stephen A. Vieira CIO and Executive Director of IT The Community College of Rhode Island 400 East Ave Warwick, RI Desk: